Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Retirement Visas yet again, Banking and "Big Joke".  I know there are probably some long time viewers in our audience that may be saying to themselves "look, I am getting kind of a little bored hearing about Retirement Visas." This is pretty big news though and I do think that we are probably seeing if you will, if you would look at this as a deep pool of water, a churn has started happening at the very depths if you will which can ultimately lead to waves on the surface down the road. For now, again we are dealing primarily with speculation; nothing has changed with regard to the laws here in Thailand. It is still possible to get a Thai Retirement Visa under the terms and conditions it had been possible to do last week, last month or even for that matter about a year ago as far as it goes, notwithstanding the Emergency Decree associated with COVID. It is possible to maintain a Retirement Visa. Do I think it's going to change? Yeah, I do think ultimately we will see changes eventually. Exactly when remains to be seen.

The comments recently made by Surachate "Big Joke" Hakparn or more specifically Police General Surachate who is the Deputy National Police Chief, regarding Retirement Visas and talking about how he thought the requirements were too low and they needed to be changed and updated, again that is merely commentary. We have not seen any changes to the laws and to the regulations but when somebody like him who is the former Head of Immigration now the second or the Deputy, one of the Deputies I believe, who is a Deputy I should say, National Police Chief who may be in the future may be the National Police Chief, again that is pure speculation, but when somebody at that level is talking about these topics, it is a very good idea in my opinion to take note. I think it is also a good idea and I don't think it is overly pedantic to really kind of drill down and try to figure out what the underlying thinking is, if for no other reason than to have a game plan and to kind of have an idea in one's head of how this may play out. Now again, this is something of an exercise in speculation. We don't know exactly what is going to happen but I don't think it is a bad idea to be a little bit prudent and to kind of think ahead on this. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Top Thai Cop urges Retirement Visa rules to be tightened. Quoting directly: "Thailand's best known crime cracker, Police General Surachate Hakparn, has openly stated that one year Retirement Visas and extensions of stay are plagued by out of date regulations and corrupt practices. In an interview with the Bangkok Post, the Deputy National Police Chief said that the requirement to have 800,000 Baht in a Thai bank, or its equivalent in annual foreign remittances, was too low as it failed to screen quality applicants. Police General Surachate added that "window-dressing" of applicants' bank accounts was a serious problem as Visa agents and even some Immigration Officers colluded by providing short-term "loans". Yeah, so what are we looking at here? When we saw Big Joke in the past as Head of Thai Immigration, he seemed a little bit concerned and I hesitate to say this but I don't think it is too far out of line, concerned to the point of I often wondered if he was almost a little bit obsessed with the issue of folks’ Thai Bank Accounts because if you go back a couple of years ago, well at this point about five years ago now, back to about 2018, we were doing videos on this channel at the time about requirements that you show a certain amount in the bank account prior to seeking extension of status or seeking a Visa and then you even had to show the balance in the account some 3 months later oftentimes. At the time it was a little gray as to how exactly they were enforcing that and then on top of that, different offices were kind of doing different things. But long story short, it was a real concern amongst folks here in Thailand that their bank account was sort of going to be overly monitored or scrutinized heavily and how that could impact their ultimate ability to maintain long term status. 

The thing to take away from this video, again nothing has presently changed but that said, over the course of the next coming years or something, we could see some changes. Is it possible that we see some changes with regard to the rules associated with Bank Accounts? I think it is possible. I don't think it is a foregone conclusion but we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.