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As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing so-called Long Term Residence Visas or LTR Visas. As we have noted in other videos on this channel, it is not technically a Residence Visa. I know I probably sound like a broken record but I think it is really worth remembering that because it is kind of a misnomer. I think people think they are resident here and they are just simply not; it's a really long Non-Immigrant Visa is basically the way to look at it. Furthermore, we are starting to see some developments as this has recently been promulgated, they have rolled out this Visa category and I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Thailand's 10 year visas will be launched September 1. Quoting directly: "Amongst the downside factors are a registration fee, compulsory and ongoing medical insurance, regular checks with the internal Revenue Service and the need to renew the visa after 5 years: it's actually 5 x 2 years." Good point, and I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in detail, a lot of information in there. I am just quoting a little excerpt from that.

But yeah, very, very good point and we saw this with the so-called O-X Visa. It was initially touted as a 10-year Retirement Visa but when you started getting into where the rubber hit the road on actually getting the Visa issued and maintaining one's status it was found that "hey look you have got to maintain the same criteria on-going for the first five years. There is sort of a re-adjudication to grant the second five years", it is not just sort of a one-off "boom" you have got a 10-year Visa, you are done. You are not dealing with anybody in Immigration ever again; you are not dealing with anything associated with that visa for that decade. No, point of fact, it is actually you are going to have to go back and deal with sort of a re-adjudication if you will or I guess you can kind of think of it as being somewhat akin to what is called a Lift of Conditions in the United States where somebody has what is called a Conditional Resident, a Green Card, they are a Conditional Lawful Permanent Resident. Usually we see these in Fiancé Visa Cases where they need to go back two years after they get married and have the Green Card. They have to go back and just basically show "hey we are still in a valid relationship" in order to sort of unlock if you will their true Lawful Permanent Residence, their unconditional Lawful Permanent Residence. In a way this is kind of similar. There is sort of a reassessment halfway through the 10 years and this could pose problems for folks because if their situation fundamentally changes between the time that they apply for it and that five year mark where they have to go get their other five years, they might not get that second five years. There could be substantial developments that could wind up essentially leaving them out in the cold for the other half of the 10-year visa. 

So it is something to bear in mind and again as we have discussed, we are still seeing this being rolled out so we will continue to keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.