Jeremy Miller hmm. That’s a great way of putting it. The MM2H cost us $34,000 USD that has to be tied up in a Malaysian fixed deposit while in the program. BUT, it pays 3.5% albeit in Malaysian Ringgit. Still more than we can make if we withdraw it while living in Thailand unless we invest it in the stock market. But here in Thailand, I only need to tie up $23,000 USD making 0.5% for 90 days a year.

And almost any nation issues non immigrant visas with small print stating they have the right to change the program rules without notice at any time. Our Malaysian MM2H is an example of that.

@Charlie ********

ok I’ll try it. Thanks

@Charlie ********

oh. I don’t live there so would have little interest or anything in common. But thanks anyway

@Charlie ********

what group is “eb”?

Amen. Now, if that could only apply to every Chiang Mai group, life would be great

@Len *****

No; there’s no joint privileges in Thailand. My wife “follows” or “piggybacks” off my retirement extension because she’s not yet 50 Basically this means we applied for retirement extensions based on marriage and because she’s not yet 50, she didn’t need her own 800K in a Thai bank account but rather, we went to the US consulate to get a standard boilerplate latter that swears we are married. The consulate doesn’t need any proof and in fact is not legally allowed to even look at your marriage certificate because they are not allowed to verify documents issued by a state. So it’s really stupid but it’s basically the honor system. It’s $50 USD for the letter and takes two minutes but you need an appointment so plan ahead. They treat her visa exactly the same as mine with the same retirement privileges and same expiry dates. We both do individual 90 day reporting

I’m also told if you’re not using an agent you should probably bring the original marriage certificate or certified copy.

Thanks for the comments

Enjoy your trip and get ready for one completely different nation

Go see Jim Tachinamurthy in Penang. He is the resident expert on all visas for Thailand in Penang and got us our non O single entry which we then extended based on retirement. He knows all the rules and has ins with the consulate. You can messenger him by typing his name