It’s up to you. It doesn’t matter how long you intend to leave your home country. You choose the visa that you can qualify for and that meets your needs to reside in the foreign country.

You can buy a condo in your name but not a house. Condo or house, don’t buy anything you aren’t willing to walk away from.

@Ruth ******

I have an LTR. plan to use a tax firm this year to see what the form looks like. If it is easy enough then I can try to do it myself in the future. The cost of paying someone to prepare a tax return is going to be much less expensive than paying taxes if you didn’t have the LTR. The LTR is still a great benefit.

@Joe ******

The standard advice is to get an O in your home country. That gives you more time to open a bank account. Otherwise I would think that is best to use the immigration office where you plan to live long term. Bangkok immigration is big but professional. That is where I started. The same time I moved to Kantharalak I switched from my OA visa to an LTR visa so I don’t have any direct experience getting an O at the Sisaket office. I have been there for other things though.

@Ken **********

John is saying more than that. We have always become tax residents at 180 days. It just didn’t matter to me and others because we could always claim that the money remitted was acquired the year previously. Even so, I guess technically, we were obligated to file a return with that reporting and claim. Thailand being what it is, I didn’t think about it and I don’t fear anyone is going to go back and look. This year seems different so I will go ahead and file even though I am here on an LTR visa.

I’ve never been bothered by the air quality in Bangkok or here in Sisaket province. The AQI in these places is often half the AQI in northern Thailand. So not as nice as the coastal regions but not really a problem unless you are particularly sensitive about it.

@John *********

Fine. I’ve been retired here 7 years and this year is the first time to hear this mainly because no one was discussing taxes before and I have never earned income in Thailand. I will do it this time with the aid of a tax firm.

Like many have said, it depends. Another aspect to this question is, even if you will not have to pay taxes will you still have to file tax return?

I would apply for the visa yourself either in your home country or in Thailand. From what I hear, opening a bank account has been increasingly difficult. You might want to look for an agent just to open the bank account which is a one time thing. After that you would be free of the agent.

I opened a Bangkok Bank account in Kantharalak last month. It was easy but I had a yellow house book which might have made a difference. It took less than an hour and they were very friendly. I’ve got an American passport which usually deters banks but it wasn’t a problem for me.

The Sisaket immigration office has a reputation for being very helpful.