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Do New Insurance Rules Apply to Thai Marriage Visas?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Marriage Visas and specifically recent rules that are being promulgated with respect to Insurance in association with the Thai Retirement Visas.  I have had some emails here recently from people who have asked me  "Do I think that this will apply to Marriage Visa holders as well?" 

Let me preface this video by saying all of this is purely speculation at the time of this video. We do not know exactly what the regulatory scheme is going to look like with respect to Insurance because those rules have yet to be brought forth. That being said, there has been a lot of information out there. We have done other videos on this channel with respect to translation of the specific announcements with respect to Retirement Visas and in those announcements, Marriage Visas were not mentioned. These were specifically the insurance information, the announcement with respect to insurance, was specifically announced in the context of Retirement Visas. 

That being said, there has been some speculation on this and I think it is noteworthy that there have been some who have been out there basically speculating on this as well and I want to go ahead and read from the thaiexaminer.com and this is Thai Examiner.com, Thailand's News for Foreigners. The article is titled:  Thai Government's New Compulsory Insurance May only Apply to Retirement Visas for Foreigners. Quoting directly:  "New regulations appear to apply only to Non-immigrant type O-A Visa applications for now. The new regulations appear to apply only to foreigners over 50 who are seeking a new O-A Immigration Visa and to those seeking to renew such visas. It has been suggested that if the policy submitted for a new Visa or renewal of Visa is with a Thai Company, the new policy at a later stage from the International Company may not be acceptable.” What they are talking about in that latter part is Insurance abroad vs. Insurance in Thailand.  But whoever wrote this article notes that this is specifically O-A Visas; so that is retirement category. Quoting further, "Comments by Thai Government officials tend also to suggest just a specific Visa type.” We have read a translation of the main announcement on this from the Director of the Ministry of Health.  I urge those who are watching this video to check out our videos about that topic specifically but quoting further from this, "Many foreigners in Thailand hold Non-immigrant Visas for work in addition to foreigners with Thai wives who are also allowed to work in Thailand with an appropriate Work Permit. The brief given by the National Services Secretary General Doctor Nattawuth Prasert-siripong has led to speculation on this point. On Monday he said:  "The Government has found that foreigners who are in their elder years staying on this type of Visa have more health issues than other foreigners staying on other types of visas. This seems to suggest that the regulation is limited to the non O visa O-A long-stay which is specifically aimed at retirees or individuals not seeking work in Thailand." I think that that is a fairly safe presumption to make. This seems to be specifically aimed at or targeting retirees here in the Kingdom. It does not seem to be at this time looking at those who are married to a Thai and does not seem to be looking at those in Business Visa status. We made another video contemporaneously with this one that is on this channel with respect to B Visas and whether or not this insurance scheme is going to affect them but the thing to take away from this video is I think at least for now, Thai Marriage Visas are not going to be impacted by the rule change with respect to insurance for Thai Retirement Visa.

One asterisk I want to put at the end of this video and this is purely speculation on my part and I am not bringing this up to scare anyone, but if there was going to be a Visa category that in my opinion might in the future become subject to Insurance rules and it is a Visa category that is outside of the Retirement Visa category, I think the Marriage Visa category is more susceptible from a policy standpoint to having this insurance requirement added on to it. I think the reason for that is that aunt and number of people in Thailand on a marriage visa who are in fact over a certain age, generally speaking older people here in the Kingdom, and I think it is possible that they might attack on the insurance requirement for those on Marriage Visas over a certain age. There is nothing I have seen in writing to support that, but this is just a policy thinking standpoint. There is a part of me that thinks that it is possible we may see that in the future, but let's be clear, it is going to take them time to get these rules into place and this regulatory structure into place for the Retirement Visas alone so I don't think it is prudent, or I don’t think it is particularly warranted to go ahead and presume that this would apply to O Marriage Visas anytime in the near future, but maybe those who are on an O Retirement Visa, keep in the back of your mind, insurance may one day be required for you as well.