Interesting development. I was planning on splitting my retirement there next year spending 1/2 our time in U.K. and 1/2 in Thailand. Someone mentioned you have to show up at an immigration office every 90 days if you are on a retirement visa. Problematic if you are in U.K.
Half and half would be a good idea. No one knows about the new tax regime yet, but it will only apply to people who are considered being tax resident in Thailand. The criterion for this is those people who have been in Thailand for more than 180 days in a single tax year. Doing what you propose doing would be a good way to avoid any taxation. Don't worry about the 90 day reporting. If you are in Thailand for more than 90 days, you have to report. For a long time I went to the local immigration office, but for a few months now I've been doing it on-line. It's very straightforward. If you leave Thailand, the clock stops ticking. When you re-enter Thailand, you need to start the process again and once you have been in Thailand for 90 days after you enter you will need to report, but it's easy. The 90 day reporting is easy. What is more of a hassle is the TM30 reporting, which entails registering your address. If you're a tourist staying in hotels, the hotel does it by giving a list of all guests to immigration. If you live in Thailand in somewhere that's not a hotel, the property owner is supposed to do it. If you leave the country, you have to re-register your address when you come back. If you register your home address but go to stay at a hotel for the weekend, the hotel will register you at their address, and you are meant to re-register yourself again when you return home. Immigration can be a hassle in Thailand and it is only made worse by not being very consistent. Things can change between one office and another, and one official to another. The bottom line is that all decisions are at the discretion of the person you are dealing with. You'll figure it out soon enough!
@@expatlivinginthailand if I want my U.K. pension to increase I need to be tax resident in U.K. which is 6 months and 1 day. Otherwise it stays frozen. Up side is no tax liability in U.K.
@@jimirons833 That's another very good point. You get pension increases if you retire to the Philippines, but not Thailand. I should start receiving my pension in 2027. My situation, with a wife and two kids, is such that I have to remain in Thailand, so I am resigned to the fact that I won't be getting any increases. I know that there are campaigns to change this, but the government doesn't seem to be very sympathetic to expats in Thailand.
Unfortunately I'm not wealthy enough to stay beyond the standard 30-day tourist visa 🙁 Once I was given just a 15-day stay period (which to be fair was more than enough) ostensibly because of my previous short visits. I recall from your other channel that you took a 20-hours Thai speaking course when you initially arrived in Thailand. What was the spread like (e.g. 2hrs per day for 10 days?) and are such courses still available? If yes, can they be taken while on a tourist visa?
I think it makes a difference whether you arrive by air or land. By air, you will probably get 30 days, but if you come across the border by road, they may only give you 15 days. This new visa information doesn't really affect Malaysians and Singaporeans coming for short visits. I actually put my course notes on-line! You can find them at phil.uk.net/thai/lesson1.html It looks like some of the Amazon links have broken (which I will fix), but all the information on my lessons is still there. At the time, I couldn't read or write, so the notes are in horrible transliteration. I did 10 x two-hour lessons, but you can ask for whatever you want. Despite there being lots of language schools in Hat Yai, I had great difficulty finding a course. The courses are normally for Thai students learning other languages. There might be courses for farangs learning Thai elsewhere in Thailand, but not in Hat Yai. Finally, I found a place that agreed to put together a course for me. In Thailand, you can get anything if you are willing to pay! You're not working and you're not staying for a long time, so I don't see any problem with a tourist visa. Many tourists visiting Thailand like to take short courses on cooking Thai food. I don't see a short language course as being any different.
There's very little detail in that article, and it doesn't say. Another source says that the official application process has yet to be confirmed dtv.in.th/en
@@johnwallace5284 It was only announced two days ago and the details at the moment are very sketchy. No doubt, more information will be forthcoming soon!
Saw an interesting report from CNA Insider just a few weeks ago ""Kids Are Too Expensive!” How Thailand Became One Of The World's Fastest Aging Countries | Insight" which was also a suprise to me because I was thinking Thailand should be the more affordable country to be in. One of the factors for economic growth is presence of a strong labor force. i.e young and skilled graduates for the current industry demands. Thailand has a strong agriculture and manufacturing industry, but I suppose it doesn't pay well ? I'm afraid boosting tourism will only solve the short-term problem. I would prefer quality over quantity of tourism.
We agree on so much! Not only is the labour force getting smaller, but people are living longer and there is a big (and growing) population of older people who need looking after. The old age pension is Bt600 per month. As I've mentioned in previous videos, Thailand's main tourist resorts are already too busy. If they attract millions more tourists, these tourists will go to exactly the same places. They always do. Phuket's roads are constantly jammed and Phi Phi island ran out of water recently. It will just continue to overload the infrastructure. Also, if Willy Gates and the WHO decide that there will be more l0ck-d0wns in the future, and all your eggs are in the tourism basket, that won't be good when you depend so heavily on tourism. Anyway, this is just supposed to be short-term in order to give the economy a boost. You make a good point about quality over quality, but Thailand seems to want both. There was a move against backpackers a few years ago and some people think the new tax regime is about discouraging poorer retirees. They want wealthy visitors, but they also want a lot of them. Just recently, I've read several articles about the low fertility rate in Thailand. People nowadays are generally very materialistic and they would rather spend their money on 'things' than kids. Also, Thais have very different expectations now compared to the past. If they have kids, they want their kids to go to the top schools and universities. A Bachelor's degree is worthless now, so kids really need a Master's. This means paying for 20 odd years of education. Education fees here are very expensive. My two kids cost me around Bt150k per year, and they're only young. Wages are ridiculously low. My wife, a graduate and experienced teacher, earns Bt15k per month. That's not enough to do anything. There are calls for it to be raised to Bt25k, but that will cause costs to rise and exports will become even less competitive. This business in California with paying McDonalds' workers $20 an hour is causing restaurants to close because the food is now too expensive. You have to let the markets decide costs and wages. As soon as governments start to intervene, it all goes wrong.
Tourism is obviously a huge cash cow, but I'd like to see some other ideas instead of simply pushing for more tourists all the time. More tourists won't be spread around the country. They will go to the same old places - Phuket, Pattaya, Samui, etc - and this will further exacerbate the infrastructure and overtourism problems. But it's up to the Thais. Nothing to do with us.
My understanding is that they are people who work online, travelling from country to country, while not staying in one place for very long. Previously, it was difficult or expensive to stay in Thailand long term if you didn't have a regular job, were under 50, or weren't married. One option was the Elite visa, but these are expensive. This new DTV visa allows for stays up to 180 days, and an extension of another 180 days is possible. There appears to be no age limit, but there are financial requirements. The announcement was only made a couple of days ago, and, as yet, details are sketchy. Further details should be made available soon.
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Interesting development. I was planning on splitting my retirement there next year spending 1/2 our time in U.K. and 1/2 in Thailand. Someone mentioned you have to show up at an immigration office every 90 days if you are on a retirement visa. Problematic if you are in U.K.
Half and half would be a good idea. No one knows about the new tax regime yet, but it will only apply to people who are considered being tax resident in Thailand. The criterion for this is those people who have been in Thailand for more than 180 days in a single tax year. Doing what you propose doing would be a good way to avoid any taxation.
Don't worry about the 90 day reporting. If you are in Thailand for more than 90 days, you have to report. For a long time I went to the local immigration office, but for a few months now I've been doing it on-line. It's very straightforward. If you leave Thailand, the clock stops ticking. When you re-enter Thailand, you need to start the process again and once you have been in Thailand for 90 days after you enter you will need to report, but it's easy.
The 90 day reporting is easy. What is more of a hassle is the TM30 reporting, which entails registering your address. If you're a tourist staying in hotels, the hotel does it by giving a list of all guests to immigration. If you live in Thailand in somewhere that's not a hotel, the property owner is supposed to do it. If you leave the country, you have to re-register your address when you come back. If you register your home address but go to stay at a hotel for the weekend, the hotel will register you at their address, and you are meant to re-register yourself again when you return home.
Immigration can be a hassle in Thailand and it is only made worse by not being very consistent. Things can change between one office and another, and one official to another. The bottom line is that all decisions are at the discretion of the person you are dealing with. You'll figure it out soon enough!
@@expatlivinginthailand if I want my U.K. pension to increase I need to be tax resident in U.K. which is 6 months and 1 day. Otherwise it stays frozen. Up side is no tax liability in U.K.
@@jimirons833 That's another very good point. You get pension increases if you retire to the Philippines, but not Thailand. I should start receiving my pension in 2027. My situation, with a wife and two kids, is such that I have to remain in Thailand, so I am resigned to the fact that I won't be getting any increases. I know that there are campaigns to change this, but the government doesn't seem to be very sympathetic to expats in Thailand.
Unfortunately I'm not wealthy enough to stay beyond the standard 30-day tourist visa 🙁 Once I was given just a 15-day stay period (which to be fair was more than enough) ostensibly because of my previous short visits.
I recall from your other channel that you took a 20-hours Thai speaking course when you initially arrived in Thailand. What was the spread like (e.g. 2hrs per day for 10 days?) and are such courses still available? If yes, can they be taken while on a tourist visa?
I think it makes a difference whether you arrive by air or land. By air, you will probably get 30 days, but if you come across the border by road, they may only give you 15 days. This new visa information doesn't really affect Malaysians and Singaporeans coming for short visits.
I actually put my course notes on-line! You can find them at phil.uk.net/thai/lesson1.html It looks like some of the Amazon links have broken (which I will fix), but all the information on my lessons is still there.
At the time, I couldn't read or write, so the notes are in horrible transliteration. I did 10 x two-hour lessons, but you can ask for whatever you want. Despite there being lots of language schools in Hat Yai, I had great difficulty finding a course. The courses are normally for Thai students learning other languages. There might be courses for farangs learning Thai elsewhere in Thailand, but not in Hat Yai. Finally, I found a place that agreed to put together a course for me. In Thailand, you can get anything if you are willing to pay!
You're not working and you're not staying for a long time, so I don't see any problem with a tourist visa. Many tourists visiting Thailand like to take short courses on cooking Thai food. I don't see a short language course as being any different.
when can you apply for the DTV visa?
There's very little detail in that article, and it doesn't say. Another source says that the official application process has yet to be confirmed dtv.in.th/en
@@expatlivinginthailand yeah its not on the thai embassy website yet here in australia
@@johnwallace5284 It was only announced two days ago and the details at the moment are very sketchy. No doubt, more information will be forthcoming soon!
Saw an interesting report from CNA Insider just a few weeks ago ""Kids Are Too Expensive!” How Thailand Became One Of The World's Fastest Aging Countries | Insight" which was also a suprise to me because I was thinking Thailand should be the more affordable country to be in. One of the factors for economic growth is presence of a strong labor force. i.e young and skilled graduates for the current industry demands. Thailand has a strong agriculture and manufacturing industry, but I suppose it doesn't pay well ? I'm afraid boosting tourism will only solve the short-term problem. I would prefer quality over quantity of tourism.
We agree on so much! Not only is the labour force getting smaller, but people are living longer and there is a big (and growing) population of older people who need looking after. The old age pension is Bt600 per month. As I've mentioned in previous videos, Thailand's main tourist resorts are already too busy. If they attract millions more tourists, these tourists will go to exactly the same places. They always do. Phuket's roads are constantly jammed and Phi Phi island ran out of water recently. It will just continue to overload the infrastructure. Also, if Willy Gates and the WHO decide that there will be more l0ck-d0wns in the future, and all your eggs are in the tourism basket, that won't be good when you depend so heavily on tourism. Anyway, this is just supposed to be short-term in order to give the economy a boost.
You make a good point about quality over quality, but Thailand seems to want both. There was a move against backpackers a few years ago and some people think the new tax regime is about discouraging poorer retirees. They want wealthy visitors, but they also want a lot of them.
Just recently, I've read several articles about the low fertility rate in Thailand. People nowadays are generally very materialistic and they would rather spend their money on 'things' than kids. Also, Thais have very different expectations now compared to the past. If they have kids, they want their kids to go to the top schools and universities. A Bachelor's degree is worthless now, so kids really need a Master's. This means paying for 20 odd years of education. Education fees here are very expensive. My two kids cost me around Bt150k per year, and they're only young.
Wages are ridiculously low. My wife, a graduate and experienced teacher, earns Bt15k per month. That's not enough to do anything. There are calls for it to be raised to Bt25k, but that will cause costs to rise and exports will become even less competitive. This business in California with paying McDonalds' workers $20 an hour is causing restaurants to close because the food is now too expensive. You have to let the markets decide costs and wages. As soon as governments start to intervene, it all goes wrong.
These ideas come up now and again about tourism.
Im sure they will change their minds again next week😅.
Tourism is obviously a huge cash cow, but I'd like to see some other ideas instead of simply pushing for more tourists all the time. More tourists won't be spread around the country. They will go to the same old places - Phuket, Pattaya, Samui, etc - and this will further exacerbate the infrastructure and overtourism problems. But it's up to the Thais. Nothing to do with us.
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Who are digital nomads? What are requirements or how they are able to stay long term in Thailand ?
My understanding is that they are people who work online, travelling from country to country, while not staying in one place for very long.
Previously, it was difficult or expensive to stay in Thailand long term if you didn't have a regular job, were under 50, or weren't married. One option was the Elite visa, but these are expensive.
This new DTV visa allows for stays up to 180 days, and an extension of another 180 days is possible. There appears to be no age limit, but there are financial requirements.
The announcement was only made a couple of days ago, and, as yet, details are sketchy. Further details should be made available soon.
Your wife was born in 1992? You Must be rich for her to marry someone over twice her age. Lol 😜
1982. She's almost 42. I'm 63. I'm as poor as a church mouse. She married me for my charm and good looks 🤪