Retirement Visa problem - New Rules

[Scuba+]

With regard to BJ talking about a 10 year retiree visa, and I realize this is all speculation, I assume there will be some difference between this new visa idea and the current 10 year visa, which requires 3M in a Thai Bank if I remember correctly. That number starts moving past my "fortunate" level.

Main difference is with the new visa you need compulsory medical insurance, great lets all line up and get it

[ChiFlyer]

32 minutes ago, Scuba+ said:

Main difference is with the new visa you need compulsory medical insurance, great lets all line up and get it

I have a strong aversion to the word compulsory, but healthcare insurance coverage is something I have been wondering about. I am an American and we do not have as good of coverage as some other countries. I will spend 9 months of 2019 in Thailand and will likely up that number in 2020.

I am impressed with the healthcare options in Thailand. The have some very good medical facilities Pattaya-Bangkok Hospital seems good. I once went to Bangkok Hospital in Bangkok (about 15 years ago) and was wow'd by the service level and relatively low costs. I had an eye infection. I was prepared to spend an entire day in a 3rd world hospital. I was out of there in 1 hour with meds that worked very well. The cost was about $100 USD. I would have easily paid triple that in the US and would probably still be filling out forms.

My other understanding is that on more serious matters (heart attack, stroke, and other very unpleasant things) this cost advantage goes away and emergency catastrophic healthcare in Thailand can be as expensive as in the US. I currently have US Medicare Advantage coverage thru a major US Insurance company. It is not that great, but does cover me well on the high end of problems. I pay the Social Security Medicare deductible ($135 a month) plus an additional $79 a month to the Insurance Company.

My US Medicare based insurance does not cover me outside the US. I recently inquired to Cigna about healthcare insurance in Thailand and they quoted me just short of $400 US a month. That insurance is only good within Thailand. Sounds like robbery to me. I am wondering what others do about this.

[ChiFlyer]

1 hour ago, Scuba+ said:

I got a residence certificate on a tourist visa at Jomtien yesterday so that's ok. I opened a bank account a week ago and didn't need a residence certificate

Glad it worked for you, but I think you are supposed to have one. I know TiT.

[Scuba+]

I have a strong aversion to the word compulsory, but healthcare insurance coverage is something I have been wondering about. I am an American and we do not have as good of coverage as some other countries. I will spend 9 months of 2019 in Thailand and will likely up that number in 2020.
I am impressed with the healthcare options in Thailand. The have some very good medical facilities Pattaya-Bangkok Hospital seems good. I once went to Bangkok Hospital in Bangkok (about 15 years ago) and was wow'd by the service level and relatively low costs. I had an eye infection. I was prepared to spend an entire day in a 3rd world hospital. I was out of there in 1 hour with meds that worked very well. The cost was about $100 USD. I would have easily paid triple that in the US and would probably still be filling out forms.

My other understanding is that on more serious matters (heart attack, stroke, and other very unpleasant things) this cost advantage goes away and emergency catastrophic healthcare in Thailand can be as expensive as in the US. I currently have US Medicare Advantage coverage thru a major US Insurance company. It is not that great, but does cover me well on the high end of problems. I pay the Social Security Medicare deductible ($135 a month) plus an additional $79 a month to the Insurance Company.

My US Medicare based insurance does not cover me outside the US. I recently inquired to Cigna about healthcare insurance in Thailand and they quoted me just short of $400 US a month. That insurance is only good within Thailand. Sounds like robbery to me. I am wondering what others do about this.

Cigna was recommended to me but I'm not a fan, apart from the high quotes they don't stop harassing you once they get your email and telephone

[Scuba+]

Glad it worked for you, but I think you are supposed to have one. I know TiT.

The residence cert requires the same info the bank required, they've probably realised the cert is a waste of time and just ask for contract and invoices. A friendly and pragmatic bank manager yippee 

 

 

[Garzan]

49 minutes ago, ChiFlyer said:

My US Medicare based insurance does not cover me outside the US. I recently inquired to Cigna about healthcare insurance in Thailand and they quoted me just short of $400 US a month. That insurance is only good within Thailand. Sounds like robbery to me. I am wondering what others do about this.

Perhaps not wandering too far off topic with the compulary health insurance talk for 10 year visas. I don't think it would bother me if it were just a compulsary level of insurance from whatever company you wanted. 

I still have a dependant daughter from a previous marriage in the US, so I still have a court ordered requirement to provide for her health insurance in the US. My insurance is Blue Cross / Blue Shield, and through unfortunate circumstances, I have already tested both its inpatient and outpatient payment for healthcare services in Thailand. It has been excellent, particularly with the inpatient care, since that got direct billed back to BC/BS. Outpatient takes a little longer since I have to pay first, submit a web claim, and wait for reimbursement to be direct deposited back to my bank account. 

Perhaps it's easier paying for healthcare as an American. We have F.A. for universal healthcare, so we're used to paying for any sort of heathcare coverage we might have (or do without when we can't afford any). If anything like National Healthcare Coverage* existed in the US, I could see being a bit more annoyed having to pay for coverage over here. 

*not counting Medicare for seniors, which Congress seems hellbent on taking it away from seniors. 

[Kahoy]

5 hours ago, Scuba+ said:

I got a residence certificate on a tourist visa at Jomtien yesterday so that's ok. I opened a bank account a week ago and didn't need a residence certificate

which bank and branch if you don't mind?

[dave01]

14 hours ago, Soi7 said:

This link confirms no international transfer ever takes place when using Transferwise

https://transferwise.com/help/article/1779442/basic-information/how-does-it-work-a-video-guide

You better tell BKK bank that.. Because EVERY transfer I do  (and I do plenty) with them is shown as "International Transfer" ... 

[Soi7]

14 minutes ago, dave01 said:

You better tell BKK bank that.. Because EVERY transfer I do  (and I do plenty) with them is shown as "International Transfer" ... 

Others have also posted that but they've posted it's been hit-and-miss and when transferwise uses tmb or kasikorn it's not showing as International transfer a poster on Thai Visa said he was told by transferwise they could not guarantee which bank would handle the transfer. I hope it works for everybody I just think there's a big risk let's say a guy's done it for 7 months and then another bank handles it one of the two that don't mark it as international the guys fucked. I think the next few weeks are going to tell the story about guys going down trying to get the renewal. I just read about a guy that went down with six months of deposits and they simply looked at him and said no you have to have 800,000 in the bank. It's just crazy hopefully it'll sort itself out.

[ChiFlyer]

4 hours ago, Garzan said:

Perhaps not wandering too far off topic with the compulary health insurance talk for 10 year visas. I don't think it would bother me if it were just a compulsary level of insurance from whatever company you wanted. 

........

*not counting Medicare for seniors, which Congress seems hellbent on taking it away from seniors. 

I will open a separate thread on this as it is off topic in some regards. I will probably keep it in the same forum, as I think it has some visa implications.

Thanks for the info on BC/BS. I use Humana. They do not allow internet access from outside the US. When I called them to ask why, they said that I have to realize that we live in a dangerous world. My retort of "it has always been a dangerous world" did not seem to resonate, so I use a VPN to spoof that I am in the US. Other than that, they are not a bad company to deal with and their stock price has nearly doubled over the last few years.

Sorry to hear about your daughter. Hope she is doing better.

[sexy man]

17 hours ago, Kahoy said:

Let me be the first to report that a prominent agent told me they can not do the transient bank deposit or issue a residency certificate to obtain a bank account in Pattaya for the time being. I did hear second hand that some agents feel there will be no problem in the longer term.

my mate tony [soi 7]knows him

hw was worried about the new rules as he has usd an agent for six years. he contacted him and had to go and see him  a week ago . the agent took him to abranch of bb and his bank book was fixed he had to go to immigration jontien with the visa agent to get his photo taken

he went in the agents car with 3 other spplicants

everything went ok and he got his visa extebsion and his passport back the next day everythng ok this was befor march 1st the agent told him he has 9 others to do that day

his visa expired on 28th may  his new extension lasts till 28th may 2020 so he got an extra 3 months on his visa [you cantnormally renew  more thn 30 days in advan

so they are still bending the rules

[Soi7]

Happy to hear Tony has been sorted. I think as they let him extend 3 months early that means they will not be able to help in the future due to the new rules. The agents are making the last money grab.............. for now anyway

[Scuba+]

Interesting that agents appear to be building up to stop their antics from 1 Mar.

It seems to me the various immigration offices don't buy into these changes so I'm wondering if people can continue the workaround but direct with immigration

 

 

[chris2004]

18 hours ago, Soi7 said:

Check the link I posted it specifically states that no money comes from overseas. And I would be willing to bet Hard Cash that they are going to insist on the fact that came from overseas.

As TW only transfer money into Thailand i would have thought that any TW funding MUST be from overseas. At some point they must fund their Thai banks just not at the time you do your transfer.

[Scuba+]

As TW only transfer money into Thailand i would have thought that any TW funding MUST be from overseas. At some point they must fund their Thai banks just not at the time you do your transfer.

I haven't checked their process flow but I'm guessing they do one consolidated huge FX every day or less frequently

[Ru4Real]

I've always had my suspicions TransferWise used the hawala system (in which case the money isn't coming from abroad) but then I'm not sure they would get covered by the various regulatory organisations around the world 

[Scuba+]

I've always had my suspicions TransferWise used the hawala system (in which case the money isn't coming from abroad) but then I'm not sure they would get covered by the various regulatory organisations around the world 

They are authorised by the FCA in the UK so there is protection but not much use if you need for retirement purposes

[Ru4Real]

9 minutes ago, Scuba+ said:

They are authorised by the FCA in the UK so there is protection but not much use if you need for retirement purposes

Covered by various regulatory bodies around the world. I wasn't I wasn't thinking about money being protected, more I find it doubtful hawala would be able to get the legitimacy of being covered.

[Soi7]

As TW only transfer money into Thailand i would have thought that any TW funding MUST be from overseas. At some point they must fund their Thai banks just not at the time you do your transfer.

no idea there are all kinds of reports of guys getting transfers and they're not showing up as International. Then they're guys that are getting transfers such as Dave that posted in this thread that he is having no issue. I just think anybody doing it this way is going to be at risk as I don't think you can be sure exactly what bank is going to do the transfer and he asked me to set before kasikorn and tmb thanks do not show do not show the transfer as International. One thing for sure it's going to be a klusterfuk

Sent from my LG-H962 using Tapatalk

[dave01]

3 minutes ago, Soi7 said:

no idea there are all kinds of reports of guys getting transfers and they're not showing up as International. Then they're guys that are getting transfers such as Dave that posted in this thread that he is having no issue. I just think anybody doing it this way is going to be at risk as I don't think you can be sure exactly what bank is going to do the transfer and he asked me to set before kasikorn and tmb thanks do not show do not show the transfer as International. One thing for sure it's going to be a klusterfuk

Sent from my LG-H962 using Tapatalk
 

I am not the only one who has reported if YOU have a BKK Bank account here, transferwise transfers are routinely shown as "International Transfers"... I can not speak to what any other local bank does. But it makes sense that if you nominate a BKK Bank Account as the receiving account of your transfer, and transferwise do business with them, then they would use that bank in those cases. If you have an account with any of the many other banks, other than the two other partners, it would be a domestic transfer... it actually makes sense to me...

Just speculation on my part, as is most of this thread, because the new Immigration Rules came into force yesterday.. It will be interesting to see how immi treats the 12 x 65K transfers per year method. I did read somewhere that they were prepared to offer a bit of leeway for the first 12 months..  Interesting times ahead

 

[Scuba+]

22 minutes ago, dave01 said:

But it makes sense that if you nominate a BKK Bank Account as the receiving account of your transfer, and transferwise do business with them, then they would use that bank in those cases.

That doesn't appear to be the case, otherwise if Kasikorn was the recipient account they'd use Kasikorn as the local partner, same with TMB. But Bangkok Bank does seem to be showing more as International, but there are reports of them also being shown as domestic so maybe you are lucky so far.

You can't choose which local partner they use, i asked them a few weeks ago

[Jarrod2518]

1 hour ago, Scuba+ said:

It seems to me the various immigration offices don't buy into these changes

I do not use an agent and follow the rules as required. However, I do appreciate that the new requirements will make it difficult for quite a few people, especially long term residents  who for a variety of reasons will have depleted their cash reserves and require the services of "agents". As I see it, the officials who were opening the back door for the agents will also be faced with difficulties.

Many of the officials will have become dependent on the additional cash income, to support their mortgages and car loans etc, and will be very reluctant to forego the income permanently. So, allow for a temporary period of disruption. It will be as the TV stations indicate "Normal Service will be resumed as soon as possible, please do not adjust your sets "

[dave01]

2 hours ago, Scuba+ said:

That doesn't appear to be the case, otherwise if Kasikorn was the recipient account they'd use Kasikorn as the local partner, same with TMB. But Bangkok Bank does seem to be showing more as International, but there are reports of them also being shown as domestic so maybe you are lucky so far.

You can't choose which local partner they use, i asked them a few weeks ago

OK up2u.... when or more likely IF I do a transfer to my BKK Bank Account and it shows as domestic, I will let you know....

All I said was it makes sense... nowhere did I say that I choose who THEY use... I nominate my BKK account for the funds to arrive, and invariably they do arrive within a day or so, and are shown as International... my experience.

BTW, do use transferwise and have them deposit into a BKK Bank account?  I do.

[Soi7]

8 minutes ago, dave01 said:

OK up2u.... when or more likely IF I do a transfer to my BKK Bank Account and it shows as domestic, I will let you know....

All I said was it makes sense... nowhere did I say that I choose who THEY use... I nominate my BKK account for the funds to arrive, and invariably they do arrive within a day or so, and are shown as International... my experience.

BTW, do use transferwise and have them deposit into a BKK Bank account?  I do.

I agree with Dave 100% on the point that he's using Bangkok Bank himself so it would only be logical they would use Bangkok Banks partner to put it into his account. In my opinion that makes perfect sense. Hopefully that will continue I would just be concerned with only one time they use another partner Bank during one of the twelve transfers and you're stuck trying to explain it to immigration that it is indeed an international transfer.

[Scuba+]

I agree with Dave 100% on the point that he's using Bangkok Bank himself so it would only be logical they would use Bangkok Banks partner to put it into his account. In my opinion that makes perfect sense. Hopefully that will continue I would just be concerned with only one time they use another partner Bank during one of the twelve transfers and you're stuck trying to explain it to immigration that it is indeed an international transfer.

"only be logical" you've probably read reports that those with Kasikorn accounts they don't seem to be using Kasikorn as local partner as default. So logic doesn't seem to follow