Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the notion of "grandfathering” in to a Thai Retirement Visa. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Thai Immigration Policy: Shape of things to come. I urge those who are watching go check out that article in detail, there is a lot of good information in there. Quoting directly: "Yet some pundits believe that the current systems will remain basically in place perhaps with cosmetic changes such as more regular checking of expats' bank account balances or extensive use of "grandfathering" which means giving existing expats immunity from any future rule changes."

A couple of things here: No it does not, and I don't mean to get semantic especially with Pattaya Mail; I really enjoy Pattaya Mail's publication; they put a lot of good information down there, so I am more making this out of sort of clarification rather than trying to like nitpick. What I mean when I say "grandfathering" that doesn't mean immunity from future rule changes. What I would foresee in a context wherein for example there was a major overhaul of the rules associated with the Thai Retirement Visa. Let's say for example, this is hypothetical, this isn't happening so don't flip out if you are watching this video but hypothetically speaking, let's say they did add an insurance requirement to the O Retirement Visa but then they said "but we are going to "grandfather in" all those people that were already in O Retirement Visa status so long as they continue to extend their status under prior terms". That doesn't mean those folk are not susceptible to the possibility of having that rule imposed upon them, and I can see a scenario where that can happen wherein somebody lets their visa status lapse and they were in the old system and now they have got to get their visa sorted out and now they are under the current rules. That is a perfect example of where "grandfathering" does not create immunity. “Grandfathering” is just simply "look this is how you have been doing it, we are changing the rules, we will allow folks that have been doing it the way they have been doing it and were adhering to the rules up to the point they were changed, to continue to maintain themselves under those rules so long as they keep their status up to date." That is the scenario that I think could happen. I stress, I am speculating as much as the next guy to a certain extent. Now it is speculation based on a lot of experience dealing with the Thai Immigration system and researching the Thai Immigration system.

So I think it would be very disruptive if they came in and made a massive change that impacted a lot of retirees that couldn't meet the requirements. For example, retirees over 70 are going to have a real problem getting insurance so to my mind it makes sense to "grandfather" those folks in who were in the system previously, maintained their status correctly and legally, it seems pretty inequitable to just sort of push those guys out of the system when the rules change. For that reason I think it is possible we could see some "grandfathering". Do not conflate “grandfathering” which is being fully immune from any further changes to the Immigration Rules because that is far from the case. Instead, what it is is it saying "look yes, you still are allowed to use the old rules; we will continue to let you extend under the terms of the old rules provided that you do in a timely manner and you don't let yourself fall out of status", but again don't mistake that with just full immunity from any rule changes that maybe forthcoming. Also bear in mind, it is not a foregone conclusion if they were to change rules regarding Thai Retirement Visas, that "grandfathering" would be allowed in any event.

That said, I think it is highly likely it would occur because that methodology was used not once but twice during the 90s to go ahead and "grandfather in" folks who had been maintaining Retirement Visa status to that point under prior terms. So I think it is very likely we will actually see "grandfathering" but again don't conflate that with some notion of immunity.