@Marshal ********

I have the pensioner LTR. They are explicit about targeting “wealthy” individuals which excludes a lot of digital nomads so I agree, it didn’t really address the needs of the digital nomad opportunity. I think about half the LTR’s have gone to pensioners.

@Marshal ********

How so? I’m quite happy with mine.

This is from the Thailand Board of Investment website for the wealthy pensioner LTR

“Personal income under LTR : Wealthy Pensioners’ definition is “unearned income such as a pension, rental, capital gain, dividend, etc”.

@Jo *********

Somehow I knew about this when I applied for the LTR so I looked for the fast track lane when I returned from the US last June.

@Jack ***************

It is considered long term because 1 year extensions are considered long term. Can you use the fast track lane at the airport? - No

@Nicolas *********************

I found the application process to be very easy one year ago. All of my income was pension income which was easy to see on my tax return. The barrier for most people is the financial requirements of $80,000/yr passive income. If your passive income is more complicated than pension income then the application process will be more complicated.

Once they start working on your application the Board of Investment staff are a pleasure to work with.

Using the fast track lane is one of the benefits of the LTR

Dr. MacBook?

@Dee *****

It has always been the case that you can qualify for an OA visa with money in your home country bank. At some point, 1-2 years later, you will be going to Thai immigration inside Thailand to apply for a one year extension of the OA visa. To get the 1 year extension you must have money in a Thai bank account.

The O visa is a different visa with different requirements. Most people pursue an O visa because it doesn’t have a yearly health insurance requirement. The OA visa does have a yearly health insurance requirement.

I bought into Pacific Cross in 2018 when I was 62 years old. I discovered them from a YouTube video comparing several insurance companies in Thailand. The agent I talked to was very helpful and the overall customer service has been great with regards to yearly renewals and syncing my policy term to my OA visa dates and responding to any immigration questions.

Note that I signed up with PC before the OA visa health insurance requirement implemented in 2019. I bought Thai insurance when I realized that my US policy would not cover me as a full time resident of Thailand. Last January I switched to a 10 year pensioner LTR visa and my existing PC insurance qualified for the LTR visa.

I also liked the option for a relatively large deductible to keep the costs down. The cost of my PC policy was a little less than my US policy. I have a 10 million baht policy with a 40,000 baht deductible. I do have a few exclusions to my policy. I am essentially self insuring for routine care in Thailand which I find to be very affordable and of excellent quality. I have some savings, still in the US, earmarked towards healthcare costs that won’t be covered by insurance.

I have yet to make a health claim so I can’t speak to probably to most important aspect of insurance - will they pay when I need it to pay. On the other hand I am getting a substantial premium discount for not having made any claims.

My circumstances of coming here on an OA visa and not having a US policy that covers me for full time residency in Thailand is of course behind my choices. Others will be considering this question from a completely different perspective.

Whenever I’ve seen people ask for health insurance company recommendations I see responses from people who either love or hate a particular company. In the end you will acquire the names of a few companies and you will have to go out and talk to them yourself. Costs will depend on your age, health status, amount of coverage, and the deductible you are willing to accept so other people’s cost are not of much use.