Retirement Visa problem - New Rules

[david555]

17 minutes ago, Lambik said:

23 years difference between me and my wife, I am 70+ now.

She is still a " green leaf " for me,

but old enough for a full widow pension.

O.K.  I rephrase to" Fluo" Green Leaf...

[JAI DEE MAK]

On 04/02/2019 at 14:35, Jarrod2518 said:

Ok let me clarify - I showed them the two bank books. The book covering the regular had up to the issue of the Bank confirmation letter more than adequate funds. It showed the transfer that morning to the Special Interest account.  The Special Interest deposit, account book which had a six figure amount was also shown but returned to me as not counting as it was "an investment account".   Fortunately I had a Plan B.  However, it highlighted to me that they were purposely driving you into the arms of the agents. Now why would they do that?  Is there a benefit to them to do that? 

Bingo, and when all the "agents" have been removed who then can you (turn to) to fix the problem !!!!!!!!!.

JDM

[Tarl]

36 minutes ago, JAI DEE MAK said:

Bingo, and when all the "agents" have been removed who then can you (turn to) to fix the problem !!!!!!!!!.

JDM

Agree. Think there is a lot of bad things said about agents but many people use them because they hate dealing with various govt agencies and bewildering decisions and feel it is a waste of their time. I know lots of people who are complying in all aspects but use an agent for their visa, licence, bank accounts, health insurance etc

[Pumpuynarak]

On 06/02/2019 at 11:56, david555 said:

In Belgium they changed the payment for the widow if she is not 45 yet , in that case only 1 or 2 years payment , over 45 years she is entitled to a full widow pension for life at a single  rate pension (some exceptions if there are children …)….. the gov. does not grant us a " green leaf " anymore ...just only " oldies" ….just they are jealous I guess 

My wifey's widows pension will not be coming from the UK state but from my ex employers defined benefit company scheme and there are NO RESTRICTIONS on the widows age or how long you were married, i met and married wifey when she was 24yo and if i had died the following day she would receive the 50% of my pension for the rest of her life, not bad ehh considering there's a 31 year age gap between us ?

There were and still are a wonderful company to work for. 

Edited February 7, 2019 by Pumpuynarak

[Srirachapocalypse]

1 hour ago, JAI DEE MAK said:

Bingo, and when all the "agents" have been removed who then can you (turn to) to fix the problem !!!!!!!!!.

JDM

 

53 minutes ago, Tarl said:

Agree. Think there is a lot of bad things said about agents but many people use them because they hate dealing with various govt agencies and bewildering decisions and feel it is a waste of their time. I know lots of people who are complying in all aspects but use an agent for their visa, licence, bank accounts, health insurance etc

And as I've been exploring various options I do note that the 30K US Thai Elite Visa would take care of most all of those things. If one is a bit short on the 800K baht however the 30K US Elite Visa would be further out of reach, so I guess the next option is to hope to find the right favorite charity of whoever can make a decision on your situation and approve you? 

And to the questions of what kind of retirees do they want in LOS, I'd wager those that pony up 30K US for the elite visa would be dead center of their target group.

Edited February 7, 2019 by Srirachapocalypse

[Tarl]

8 minutes ago, Srirachapocalypse said:

 

And as I've been exploring various options I do note that the 30K US Thai Elite Visa would take care of most all of those things. If one is a bit short on the 800K baht however the 30K US Elite Visa would be further out of reach, so I guess the next option is to hope to find the right favorite charity of whoever can make a decision on your situation and approve you? 

And to the questions of what kind of retirees do they want in LOS, I'd wager those that pony up 30K US for the elite visa would be dead center of their target group.

Looked at that myself. Huge issue for me is it locks my retirement into Thailand. If I decide in a few years to move somewhere else it is wasted money. Be awesome if it was an ASEAN Elite Visa

[Srirachapocalypse]

1 minute ago, Tarl said:

Looked at that myself. Huge issue for me is it locks my retirement into Thailand. If I decide in a few years to move somewhere else it is wasted money. Be awesome if it was an ASEAN Elite Visa

Yup more and more I keep thinking my future decision will end up an SRRV in The Philippines and then frequent 90 day stays in Thailand even though my preference would be to retire in Thailand when I finally pull the trigger on retirement. Right now I'm in that stressy space where I am old enough to retire and can more or less afford it, but I'm making more money than I've ever made before, and every month I work adds bucks to my eventual social security checks, and every year I work replaces years where I didn't make much in the US "best 35 years" scheme of calculations. And I find it bitterly amusing that the worst two remaining years in my 35 were my last 2 years in the US Navy ... and they wonder why I got out as a 3rd Class Petty Officer and went to college instead of remaining in the navy  

[biggles]

"Yup more and more I keep thinking my future decision will end up an SRRV in The Philippines and then frequent 90 day stays in Thailand even though my preference would be to retire in Thailand when I finally pull the trigger on retirement."

I have had my SRrV for 7 years now, it gives me Residence in the Philippines, with an ID card and I have NEVER reported to immigration in that time. GF and I spend 5 months a year in Thailand (we keep a permanent place) 2X2 months and 1X30 days. Being Filipina she doesn"t pay for her visa, mine costs 1600pp.

i have never regretted my decision not to get involved in Thai retirement.

[Scuba+]

"Yup more and more I keep thinking my future decision will end up an SRRV in The Philippines and then frequent 90 day stays in Thailand even though my preference would be to retire in Thailand when I finally pull the trigger on retirement."
I have had my SRrV for 7 years now, it gives me Residence in the Philippines, with an ID card and I have NEVER reported to immigration in that time. GF and I spend 5 months a year in Thailand (we keep a permanent place) 2X2 months and 1X30 days. Being Filipina she doesn"t pay for her visa, mine costs 1600pp.
i have never regretted my decision not to get involved in Thai retirement.

What's a SRRV? is it an American thing?

[Tarl]

@biggles not a bad option and not one I had considered. Thanks

Edited February 7, 2019 by Tarl

[timbota]

15 minutes ago, biggles said:

"Yup more and more I keep thinking my future decision will end up an SRRV in The Philippines and then frequent 90 day stays in Thailand even though my preference would be to retire in Thailand when I finally pull the trigger on retirement."

I have had my SRrV for 7 years now, it gives me Residence in the Philippines, with an ID card and I have NEVER reported to immigration in that time. GF and I spend 5 months a year in Thailand (we keep a permanent place) 2X2 months and 1X30 days. Being Filipina she doesn"t pay for her visa, mine costs 1600pp.

i have never regretted my decision not to get involved in Thai retirement.

Good idea.  I'm guessing what really makes this work is the fact your gf is a Filipina?  If she was Thai, probably forget it.

 

[joe_momma]

Special Resident Retiree's Visa (SRRV)

https://www.philembassy.no/consular-services/visa/special-resident-retirees-visa-srrv

 

 

[Harlequin]

On 04/02/2019 at 14:35, Jarrod2518 said:

Ok let me clarify - I showed them the two bank books. The book covering the regular had up to the issue of the Bank confirmation letter more than adequate funds. It showed the transfer that morning to the Special Interest account.  The Special Interest deposit, account book which had a six figure amount was also shown but returned to me as not counting as it was "an investment account".   Fortunately I had a Plan B.  However, it highlighted to me that they were purposely driving you into the arms of the agents. Now why would they do that?  Is there a benefit to them to do that? 

FYI - Today, Phuket immigration - showed bank book and letter from 6-month fixed deposit account, only - visa extension approved.

[david555]

9 hours ago, Pumpuynarak said:

My wifey's widows pension will not be coming from the UK state but from my ex employers defined benefit company scheme and there are NO RESTRICTIONS on the widows age or how long you were married, i met and married wifey when she was 24yo and if i had died the following day she would receive the 50% of my pension for the rest of her life, not bad ehh considering there's a 31 year age gap between us ?

There were and still are a wonderful company to work for. 

I think you must be still worth the  money enough to keep you still alive ...

[cbmgolfer]

On 04/02/2019 at 00:14, Soi7 said:

..... if only everybody we're on the same page it would be so much easier

Come on man, that would take the fun right out of it...

[Lambik]

18 hours ago, Srirachapocalypse said:

what kind of retirees do they want in LOS

So far it seems they want that retirees from Australia, Great Britain, U.S.A. have 800000 ThB on a Thai bankbook, or that they transfer ,at least monthly 65000 ThB to a Thai bank account.

Other nationalities, providing they can obtain a Letter of Income, can transfer the amount they want, when they want, and don't have to have any amount on a Thai bank book.

 

[usexpat46]

39 minutes ago, Lambik said:

So far it seems they want that retirees from Australia, Great Britain, U.S.A. have 800000 ThB on a Thai bankbook, or that they transfer ,at least monthly 65000 ThB to a Thai bank account.

Other nationalities, providing they can obtain a Letter of Income, can transfer the amount they want, when they want, and don't have to have any amount on a Thai bank book.

 

Or they want those Embassies like America to do their job.  I first did the monthly income and when I went to the US Embassy all I had to do was raise my hand and affirm that the amount I wrote on the form was true.  I had my proof with me but they didn't want to look at it.  It only takes a minute to look at ones 1099 form to verify the income and they receive $50 for that very difficult task.

[Tarl]

1 hour ago, usexpat46 said:

Or they want those Embassies like America to do their job.  I first did the monthly income and when I went to the US Embassy all I had to do was raise my hand and affirm that the amount I wrote on the form was true.  I had my proof with me but they didn't want to look at it.  It only takes a minute to look at ones 1099 form to verify the income and they receive $50 for that very difficult task.

Easy enough now to fake all sorts of documents. They would prove nothing unless the embassy sourced them themselves.

In Oz it is a serious offence to make a false oath declaration. Mightn't concern others but I certainly wouldn't take the chance of being charged when I fly back to Oz.

[Jebb]

23 minutes ago, Tarl said:

Easy enough now to fake all sorts of documents. They would prove nothing unless the embassy sourced them themselves.

In Oz it is a serious offence to make a false oath declaration. Mightn't concern others but I certainly wouldn't take the chance of being charged when I fly back to Oz.

Correct Tarl.

Source Wikipedia.

Australia

Australian law defines a statutory declaration as a written statement declared to be true in the presence of an authorised witness. The Statutory Declarations Act 1959 governs the use of statutory declarations in matters involving the law of the Australian Commonwealth, Australian Capital Territory, and other territories but not including the Northern Territory.

Any person within the jurisdiction of this law may make a statutory declaration in relation to any matter. The declaration may be used in connection with matters of law, including judicial proceedings, but what weight is given to the declaration is a matter for the judge to decide.

Statutory declarations must be made in a prescribed form and witnessed by a person as specified in the Statutory Declarations Regulations (1993). Prescribed witnesses include legal and medical practitioners, Justices of the Peace, notaries public, police officers, military officers, registered members of certain professional organisations (i.e. National Tax Accountant's Association and Institution of Engineers Australia), and certain other Commonwealth employees.

Intentionally making a false statement as a statutory declaration is a crime equivalent to perjury, and punishable by fines and/or a prison sentence of up to four years.

The states of Australia each have their own laws regarding statutory declarations.

[biggles]

"Good idea.  I'm guessing what really makes this work is the fact your gf is a Filipina?  If she was Thai, probably forget it."

Not necessarily. The only advantage is that she doesnt pay for her visa due to ASEAN, but by the same token a Thai wouldnt pay for a 60 day tourist Visa Philippine visa from the RP embassy in Bangkok. 

Unlike Thailand the Philippines has very easy conditions for long term stay,; arrive on a 30 day no visa entry and extend every 2 months up to 3 years. Then leave and re-enter and start again. This would apply to a Thai as well as a westerner so a Thai with a Western BF could stay longer in RP than a Filipina could in LOS. 

It would not be too hard for a westerner with a Thai GF to get 3x60 day visas in a year in Manila (done this myself)  and divide time between both places. 

[Scuba+]

I started a thread over at thaivisa a few weeks ago asking about Philippines as a retirement option and the general consensus from people living there was Thailand is better, didn't sound great and i ruled it out

[timbota]

34 minutes ago, biggles said:

"Good idea.  I'm guessing what really makes this work is the fact your gf is a Filipina?  If she was Thai, probably forget it."

Not necessarily. The only advantage is that she doesnt pay for her visa due to ASEAN, but by the same token a Thai wouldnt pay for a 60 day tourist Visa Philippine visa from the RP embassy in Bangkok. 

Unlike Thailand the Philippines has very easy conditions for long term stay,; arrive on a 30 day no visa entry and extend every 2 months up to 3 years. Then leave and re-enter and start again. This would apply to a Thai as well as a westerner so a Thai with a Western BF could stay longer in RP than a Filipina could in LOS. 

It would not be too hard for a westerner with a Thai GF to get 3x60 day visas in a year in Manila (done this myself)  and divide time between both places. 

All true, but I was thinking more along the lines of the willingness of a Filipina to live in Thailand vs. the willingness of a Thai to live in the PI.  Depends on the girl and generalizing here, but I think people from the PI have an upper hand on adaptability when compared to Thais.   Whether it be the mentality of the people, standard of living in their respective countries or whatever, but I could easily imagine any of the Thai girls I've been with to be much more willing to live in my home country as opposed to living in the Philippines.   I've taken Thai girls to the PI and, like me, they feel the quality of life is much better in Thailand when compared to the PI.

 

[Garzan]

19 hours ago, biggles said:

have had my SRrV for 7 years now, it gives me Residence in the Philippines, with an ID card and I have NEVER reported to immigration in that time. GF and I spend 5 months a year in Thailand (we keep a permanent place) 2X2 months and 1X30 days. Being Filipina she doesn"t pay for her visa, mine costs 1600pp.

What are the details on the $10,000 timed deposit? Is that money locked away somewhere you can't access, or is it a one shot balance you can start spending down, or what?

 

[usexpat46]

2 hours ago, Tarl said:

Easy enough now to fake all sorts of documents. They would prove nothing unless the embassy sourced them themselves.

In Oz it is a serious offence to make a false oath declaration. Mightn't concern others but I certainly wouldn't take the chance of being charged when I fly back to Oz.

Those are the exact same documents that Americans must file to the IRS when filing their Federal taxes annually. We receive 4 copies each year, 1 to file with federal taxes,  1 to file with state taxes, 1 to file with local taxes and 1 for our personal records.

[Srirachapocalypse]

12 minutes ago, Garzan said:

What are the details on the $10,000 timed deposit? Is that money locked away somewhere you can't access, or is it a one shot balance you can start spending down, or what?

 

 

24 minutes ago, timbota said:

All true, but I was thinking more along the lines of the willingness of a Filipina to live in Thailand vs. the willingness of a Thai to live in the PI.  Depends on the girl and generalizing here, but I think people from the PI have an upper hand on adaptability when compared to Thais.   Whether it be the mentality of the people, standard of living in their respective countries or whatever, but I could easily imagine any of the Thai girls I've been with to be much more willing to live in my home country as opposed to living in the Philippines.   I've taken Thai girls to the PI and, like me, they feel the quality of life is much better in Thailand when compared to the PI.

 

 

31 minutes ago, Scuba+ said:

I started a thread over at thaivisa a few weeks ago asking about Philippines as a retirement option and the general consensus from people living there was Thailand is better, didn't sound great and i ruled it out

As I understand it the money is kept in escrow in case you ever want it back, you can however use it to invest in say a condo.

I would agree life is better in Thailand, however the cost savings and less hassle might be such that being based in the Philippines and then maxing out tourist visas in Thailand would be quite a reasonable situation.

I'd almost guess the folks at thaivisa.com might be a wee bit biased towards Thailand. Check out some expat forums for the Philippines they probably bash Thailand. Truth is probably a compromise between them, all depends on what you are comfortable with.

It seems that Thailand is almost doing everything they can to discourage me from retiring there. I'm still leaning towards Thailand, but it's not by as much of a margin as it could be if the visa situation in Thailand were a bit more like the Philippines.

Edited February 8, 2019 by Srirachapocalypse