Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Retirement Visas and Bank balances that need to be maintained now up to 7 months. For those who are unaware, if you maintain a Retirement Visa - standard O or O-A  Retirement Visa in Thailand - which is the vast majority of retirees in Thailand, you have to do that either maintain an ongoing bank balance of 800,000 Baht, or 65,000 Baht a month in demonstrable, oftentimes pension attributed income, on a monthly basis in order to continue to renew a Thai Retirement Visa.

I thought of making this video after reading a recent email and this person sent me an email - and tip of the hat to them - under the heading, Major Bank Imposing New Policy for Visa Renewal. 

Before I jump in really quickly I've had a lot of folks ask us over time or me specifically or send in correspondence to the firm, to say "Hey, we really appreciate what you do. You do get a lot of information out to the expat community, is there anything we can do to support you? We know you're not monetized, and I don't necessarily need to avail myself of a lawyer", which by the way, isn't a bad thing necessarily. But folks have asked us, or me, if there is anything we can do to support and look links are in the description below. My better half and I set up a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok. The name is Pancake Palace, as the name implies, breakfast any time as well as American Diner style food: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, buffalo wings, as well as glass-bottled Cokes. We've also got hot dogs, chilli dogs, we've got really all kinds of sort of Americana food. So if you are interested, check out the links in the description below and come see us. 

That being said, quoting directly: "Great channel, informative and necessary viewing in order to keep abreast of what's happening here in the Kingdom of Thailand. You've done this before many times but maybe this is a new development. Quoting further: "In a visit to my bank today, I was informed that in order for me to obtain a bank letter for the renewal of my non-O extension of stay for another year, I must have had the 800,000 baht in my bank account for 4 months before the bank will issue the required letter." 

Now let's keep in mind, this is Bank Policy. Immigration is not setting these rules, the banks are. I would really like to know why, especially in light of a recent clip I put up under - the thumbnail title was: Thai “Real” News or the The “Real” News but I was quoting a clip and the link is there; I'll try to find it again, I'll maybe put it in the description below. It's a clip from a guy talking to Tucker Carlson and this person worked in the economic sector and he came to Thailand in the aftermath of the '97 financial crisis and pointed out that banking interests, including possibly the Central Bank here, had an interest in driving Thailand's economy into the ground and then using that as a pretext to buy up assets in Thailand really, really cheap. My question is, "why were the banks making these policies?" Because retirees make up a pretty good chunk of folks sitting over here in Thailand, for lack of a better term like milk cows, just paying out money. Basically just bringing their pensions over and spending money in Thailand. Now you can get into the international trade deficits and things of that nature and whether or not these things are ending up being a benefit to Thailand; I think on balance they do. But my question is why is the bank interceding in this stuff to affect directly Immigration Policy on a subgroup of folks here in Thailand that to the best of my knowledge only bring in positive benefits, as opposed to other new visas that got created in the aftermath of 2023, by a Government that in my opinion was heavily influenced by the World Economic Forum et al and they were creating all sorts of visas that were bringing in people that to the best of my knowledge, I'm not saying everybody, but there is a much larger subset of people under those immigration policies that I would beg the question, what are they doing here? Are they really providing any benefit to Thailand. 

With retirees, the benefits are clear, but we are going to discourage those and make it easier for folks that don't really seem to be contributing anything into the economy directly; we're going to make it easier for them? And meanwhile it's the banks pushing this. Does anyone else find this odd? Quoting further: "I always adhere to immigration rules, and I brought my bank balance up before 800k for 3 months already despite immigration rules stipulated two months before and 3 months after, never dropping below 400k. When I mentioned this policy, the teller said they will provide the letter only if I agree to my account being frozen for 4 months from date of letter being issued, no accounting for the three months already." Yeah, that's the interesting thing. If the concern is that the money is really there, then why add another four months on? And again, this is all emanating from Bank Policy, not immigration policy. Quoting further: "This is totally not acceptable. I have no choice right now but accept if I am to continue my retirement here in Thailand. In a nutshell, Immigration requires 800K Baht to be in an account for 5 months but taking into account this bank's policy it means tying up the funds for 7 months. What legally gives this Bank the right to do this to its customers and how can higher authorities continue to turn a blind eye to such things?" I don't think the Bank has this authority; I don't see where they get it from. And meanwhile, in light of that clip about how the banks were the ones that seemed to be pushing for things to go the way they did in '97 and then utilize that situation as a pretext to go ahead and buy up assets and things on the cheap. I brought this up over the last summer when Fitch was saying or implying that there was something shaky about the Thai financial institutions, in the background by the way was an attempt at what can only be described as a Communist push by a former Communist who was the acting Prime Minister at that time who was trying to dissolve Parliament, a prerogative he did not possess, in order that the vote would be done by the people that he stuck into the Interior Ministry to actually count the vote, and then Fitch is sitting there implying that there's something unsteady about Thailand's banking system. Then meanwhile, the final paragraph of the article that I was citing said, "well actually after stress tests, nothing seems to be a problem." 

It looks to me like there is a lot of undue foreign influence being brought to bear and it's being brought to bear on the things that Thailand has built to strengthen their economy like the retiree visas. The retirees are just here. I mean truly, they just come here and spend money. Why are we going after these people? Why are we hassling them like this? And then meanwhile, they are issuing five-year long ostensibly - and again we can get into that because it's not meant to be a Visa you live here on, it's Nomads whatever - but the upshot is everybody thinks it's a five-year Visa; they are issuing five-year visas to folks that show a balance of $15,000 in a bank account, and that's not even an account that's in Thailand. How is any of that in Thailand's interest, let alone the interest of retirees here in the Kingdom of Thailand?