Transcript of the above video: 

Yeah folks look, I want to preface this by stating in this video, everybody kind of chill out, calm down. I'm not making this video to freak people out. I'm more making it because I have seen correspondence and frankly comments in prior videos where people are being somewhat negative or saying, "I'm really apprehensive. Should I continue with my Retirement Visa etc.?" 

First of all, I've gone into this in great detail. I'm kind of hoping cooler heads will prevail especially with regarded tax policy and I think as time moves forward folks here in Thailand especially in a policy making capacity are going to see that a lot of this talk, all of this OECD stuff with this Tax IDs for people that have an inbound remittances and things of this nature that I think they're going to see that a lot of that is having a detrimental impact overall on Thailand and I think or at least maybe I should say I hope, there will be something of a policy reversal on that. 

That said, if you are already in Retirement Visa status here in Thailand - especially if you are in the classic Retirement Visa status like O Retirement Visa - my personal opinion is the best thing to do is just stay in it because as I have discussed in other videos, one it's my opinion that if they do make massive changes to the Retirement Visa category, folks will be grandfathered in, much as they were back in the '90s when we saw changes get made to the Retirement Visa category and in all the iterations of that - I think there were three , three changes or two changes with sort of three sets of criteria if you look back on it - that was a situation where at the end of the day, the people that were in the prior iteration of the system were grandfathered in, so that's one thing to keep in mind. Secondly, frankly I still think the standard O Retirement Visa is the most optimal way, and I think it's about the cheapest and value for money, the best option for retirement in Southeast Asia.

Now as we have discussed in other videos, there's a lot of volatility if you will in the Retirement Visa process right now. We are seeing a lot of tightening; we are seeing a lot of things that we were able to do a few months ago that we are not able to do with regard to getting people into status, but it doesn't so much pertain to folks that are renewing their status. If you are in valid status and you are looking to renew, presently it does not look like there are going to be any major bars to that. Now again, maybe next week there could be some major change; I kind of don't think so. As I have discussed in other videos and as we have also discussed on our paid new service, and for those who are interested in that I go into much greater detail in this stuff in the paid new service, you can email us [email protected], and basically the thrust of what's going on with respect, when I have talked about this in the news service and before, is the fact that one, the cure for a low season, especially a really bad one where we're really seeing a dearth of people around is a low season. I do think policy makers are aware when they see that, "oh my gosh, these long-term expats aren't around," our regular recurring, not necessarily expats, they don't necessarily live here all the time, but they come in, they spend two months, they leave, they're gone for a few months, come back, spend two months etc., that's a very different calculus for those folks these days because everybody's worried about the 183 days and whether or not you are physically present in Thailand. I have to imagine that these things, the ramifications of that, and the fact that we are seeing a really "low" low season at the moment is going to be seen and eventually felt by folks in a policy making capacity, basically folks in the government. Moreover, one bright spot of the current government is it is elected and it's pretty accountable to its constituents. And I have to imagine folks in the tourism sector as well as “little” Thais if you will – Thais that do vote; they don't own a hotel but they own a little restaurant or a guest house or something – they are going to make their feelings noted to their representatives in Parliament as well about, “hey these policies regarding freaking the foreigners out with tax stuff; these policies regarding tightening up all of this Retirement Visa stuff,” I have to imagine that's going to percolate up through sort of the constituency system here and to the folks that do ultimately make decisions regarding policy here and that can have a positive impact.

So the point I am trying to make is yeah, for folks that are new looking to come in, that can be a little overwhelming and look it is complex and not the most straightforward method of getting into Retirement Visa status at the moment. We have solutions for folks. We urge those who are new and are looking to come in and get Retirement Visa status, contact us, we probably will have some solutions for you - again depending on your circumstances. Meanwhile though, those folks who are currently in Retirement Visa status and who are kind of asking themselves should I extend, I think personally it's not a bad idea to keep it extended if for no other weird reason, maybe explore other options, but maintain the ability to maintain your status here in Thailand in an ongoing way because frankly these things do pass. I've been through a number of these cycles and yeah, they tighten up and then they kind of relax a bit because again there is a negative implication with respect to the overall market here especially in terms of Tourism and things. So that's sort of where I stand with respect to this. I'm making a long form video here shortly for the paid news service where I go into that in further detail and some other things. Probably going to be talking a little bit about Permanent Residence and maybe citizenship. I got some feedback; somebody wanted to see me talk about that a little more at length. I'll be talking about that a little bit in the paid news service. Again [email protected] for that.

For those who are in Bangkok and who are looking to have some food, especially some American “diner” food, Pancake Palace here on Soi Tarntawan, near our office, yeah that in my opinion is a good place; we will stick that up on screen, the address and the sign for that. But yeah, the point I am trying to make with regard to this video is if you are in status sit tight, don't freak out. I know folks are really getting kind of agitated at the moment or anxious. These things kind of come and go; these cycles come and go. The other thing is and it's ironic to say this coming from me, but maybe don't listen as often about sort of all this talk about Retirement Visas because if you are in status and it's 9 months until you need to renew, it is probably not a pressing concern for you exactly what the small minutiae are with regard to Retirement Visa status at this very moment. That being said, we will certainly be keeping people updated on this channel as the situation evolves.