Transcript of the above video:

I made a recent video wherein we were discussing so-called "mixed" financing with regard to Thai Retirement Visas. What are we talking about here? Generally speaking, the hard and fast rule with regard to financial evidence associated with Thai Retirement Visas, be it either the O-A Visa sought abroad or an O Visa, particularly an extension sought here in country, in Thailand. Now in the past I had seen, as we talked about in the other video, I had seen information on websites overseas which said yeah you can sort of mix if you will the 800,000 Baht requirement with the 65,000 Baht income requirement. As we had talked about in the past, and I am kind of vaguely remembering this analysis from the past, I think I did it once before when talking about Embassies and Consulates abroad but I had never talked about it domestically because to the best of my knowledge up until literally yesterday, the day before the making of this video, it was my understanding that here domestically, there was no hard and fast rule outline regarding even the possibility of "mixing" and that "mixing" was done on a discretionary basis by Immigration Officers here in country. I have to stand corrected on that. I was talking in one of the comment threads not something I usually do, but I was talking in one of the comment threads and somebody was saying "well look, it looks to us like you could do it, it's just your opinion that you can't". And I said well show me where it says domestically here in country that "mixing" is possible? Now in the back and forth I never got that information but it just kind of bugged me so I thought about it for a little bit and I sat down, it took me about an hour sitting down - got to the computer and just sort of started poking around. I was specifically looking for Government websites and lo and behold I did find one so again happy to stand corrected here.

I am quoting this from immigration.go.th, so that's the Immigration Department here in-country, that is their website. Under the Retirement Visa category: In case of retirement, first of all I think it is notable and I will get into this analysis in a minute, I think it's noteworthy to point out this says "Criteria for Consideration" so bear in mind this is all subject at the end of the day, to the discretion of the adjudicating Immigration Officer. That said, okay “1) Must have evidence of having income of no less than 65,000 Baht per month, or, so as an alternative, at least 2 months prior to the filing date and at least 3 months after being granted permission, an alien must have a deposit in a Commercial Bank located in Thailand of no less than 800,000 Baht”. So those two are the standards. We have known this, we have been talking about this for years - 800,000 Baht in a bank account or 65,000 Baht provable monthly pension. Quoting further: "After being granted permission for 3 months, an alien can withdraw the said deposit and must have the remaining balance in the bank account of no less than 400,000 Baht.” Okay, we have talked about that before. That was really enforced quite stringently back in around 2018 going into 2019 when specifically "Big Joke", Surachate "Big Joke" Hakparn was the head of Thai Immigration and anybody that has been following me since then we all remember that. 

Okay moving forward, but this is the important one and in the past I had never seen this on a Thai Immigration website, so again it may have been there, I may have missed it, whatever, but I did after having that conversation in one of the comment threads, I did go out and I said to myself just because nobody brought it to you, you should at least go out and maybe take a look around and I did that. Like I said, I set aside an hour to do that research and I went out and yeah lo and behold “No. 3 [5]. Must have an annual earning and a deposit in a Commercial Bank located in Thailand," (and again the language on this, I will get into the analysis in a minute) "with totaling of no less than 800,000 Baht as of the filing date." So you have essentially got to cobble together 800,000 somehow before you can even file for the Retirement Visa. Then it gets even more murky. "They said deposit must remain in the bank account prior to and after the permission is granted and the withdrawal can be made under the same condition in criterion (4)." Well, now they are referring back if you look, to the 800,000 Baht provision which calls into my mind, again I think what this was designed for if you will, rules wise, the rules were sort of designed especially for a new Retirement Visa although it does say you have got to have a total of no less than 800,000 at the time you file but you can use a balance and a proof of income to prove that up. Then it goes on to say "withdrawal may be made on the same condition in criterion (4)." Well that says okay you have got to have the 800,000 two months prior to a filing date presumably for an extension and 3 months after being granted the permission but then after that you can draw down to as little as 400,000 Baht and then you got a bump it back up before you again file for a new extension and proceed further. 

So the way that I would look at this is, this was sort of designed to clarify the parameters if you will of Thai Immigration's ability to use their discretion when issuing a new Retirement Visa, so when they put someone into Retirement Visa status initially, and then down the road when you are looking at extending that status they then start using the analysis of the 800,000 drawn down to 400,000 on a roughly 5 months out of a total number calendar year basis. So the way to look at this, I don't think the way you look at this is say: "Oh I can just use “mixed’ so to speak finances to continuously extend my Visa, my Retirement Visa into perpetuity". No the way I look at this and again one man's opinion, but the way I look at this is Immigration Officers can exercise their discretion in favour of a Retirement Visa applicant, they can exercise their discretion in favour of a Retirement Visa applicant at the outset and say "okay, look you don't quite meet either the requirements of 800,000 or 65,000 baht in and of themselves so we will allow mixing at the outset but you do need to start applying the rule regarding 800,000 or presumably even 65 if you would just move over to a pure pension finance evidence; you would sort of move over to the pure pension thing. But the way I really just from the construction of the rules within that that we are quoting, we will throw those up on stage, but just within the rules of that, just within the stated rules it looks to me like okay this is being designed to use discretion initially to allow somebody to get into retiree status but then when they have to renew on a yearly basis, you do revert into the 800,000 Baht requirement which is pretty hard and fast. You have to have 800 for 2 months prior to seeking an extension and 3 months after and then you can draw down to 400 before then re-upping it another time as you extend thereafter. So again, not trying to make this more confusing but first of all yes, Immigration Offices here in country based on my research now it looks to me like yes there are delineated rules on how they can adjudicate "mixing".

That said, I stand by my original analysis. You never want to be in a position where you are at the mercy of Thai Immigration Officers' discretion. It's much better to be in a category where you can just point to an exact number and say I have met or exceeded that threshold, that is always a more advantageous position to be in. But that said, it does provide a little bit of discretion on the part of Thai Immigration Officers especially to my mind at the outset of getting into retiree status and then thereafter you have to deal with the rules, I would argue more stringent rules, when you are dealing with extensions. That is how I sort of read this. So I hope this has provided some further clarification and I hope that this correction has sort of cleared up any misconceptions that are out there regarding finances associated with Retirement Visas here in the Kingdom of Thailand.