Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing retirees in Thailand and whether or not they have cause to complain. We are talking about this specifically in the context of Immigration. This really isn't being made to sort of point out or put on the spot retirees here, it is more made in a comparative capacity to just sort of put some perspective on the overall situation with respect to retiring in Thailand and Retirement Visas. 

So the reason for the video I got to thinking of making it, I had done an interview with another American lawyer who is based up in Korea and primarily the thrust of it was we were talking about Immigration Policy, Immigration Law for Thailand; getting a Visa to Thailand etc., and the thrust of that conversation was basically talking about Retirement Visas and I put out the criteria. I sort of put the cards on the table with respect to what you would be looking at: 800,000 Baht in a bank account roughly $23,000, again not paid to the Government or anything, it is just held in the bank account as evidence of a retiree's financial abilities or you can use pension, 65,000 Baht per month or more but the minimum 65,000 that you can show via evidence and then basically you can renew that on a yearly basis and you are just retired in Thailand. He was kind of flabbergasted; my counterpart was kind of flabbergasted that there was any issue with that because many of the other Immigration programs throughout the world and I am not going to get into a detailed comparison, but at the end of the day they are not really that affordable. I mean in the sense that again, $23,000 this isn't paid out, it is just held in a bank account in your name that you utilize as financial evidence. That is not having to pay for a Golden Visa or some other type of Long Term Visa, a Residence Visa in some of these countries. I mean, yeah I do get it. It is renewable on a yearly basis in the case of the just sort of standard O-A or O Retirement Visa but once you are in the status in my opinion it is, as I have said many times, you can't call anything in Thailand 'easy', also probably should never use the word 'fast' sometimes but in the case of Retirement Visas, especially renewals, once somebody's in the system, their initial documentation has been adjudicated, they maintain their documentation in such a way that there is no reason to override the original adjudication, you're looking at a system where, or a situation where yeah you are probably going to be renewing in a straightforward manner as can be done here in Thailand.

I mean in a lot of ways, another way to compare it is look folks that are under the age of 50 Thailand they have got to run the gauntlet of things that they have got to do. Even folks that are just married to Thai. As we made many videos on this topic in the past, O Retirement Visa holders based on marriage, they are subject to a lot more inspections associated with that because there was some fraud issues years ago associated with that Visa category. Meanwhile folks that are in Business Visas with Work Permits, I mean the criteria for meeting the thresholds to keep up a Business Visa and Work Permit they are quite high and many have said and could argue that they are rather cumbersome. It's rather difficult to maintain Business Visa status here in Thailand. Again, and for those who talk ED Visas, remember when they start cracking down, ED is the first place they always have gone to at least in my experience and for that reason I don't think ED is the greatest Visa out there. Retirees don't have any of those issues with respect to a Thai Retirement Visa.

So at the end of the day I just thought it was kind of worth making this video. Again it is not to put retirees on the spot, I am not doing that. I am simply making this so folks realize that look there are a lot of benefits to coming to Thailand and it's a very affordable place to retire.