Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Retirement Visas. I have had a lot of people send me messages, emails, things of this nature, correspondence, talked to people in person who have watched a number of my videos I have made in the last 10 days or so and they have been somewhat concerned, I understand why. I have been accused of beating a dead horse in talking about this too much, especially in the comment section of some of my videos. I have also sort of been accused of scaremongering; I always love it when people accuse me of scaremongering. It's happened many times before, predictions I have made about changes to the Immigration System have actually come true. Yeah I have been sort of accused of fear-mongering and sort of, I don't know, it is not my intention to fearmonger. I hoped that by saying in these videos explicitly nothing had changed but we are just looking at how things are moving and when somebody that has been in charge of Immigration, that is now arguably even sort of further up the chain if you will, makes comments about Retirement Visas that one should take heed. 

That said, I think that this is a good video to make. Now let me be clear, this is my personal opinion; I am engaging in a level of speculation here as to what I think the future of the Thai Retirement Visa is. I think it's very stable, however you want to look at it, I think ultimately I don't think it is going anywhere; I don't think they are going to radically change it. What I do think we could see, probably some time in the next couple of years, maybe a little longer, it takes some time to do these things. Just because one person says something, doesn't mean it is going to immediately happen, especially with regard to complex Immigration Policy but yeah I could definitely see in the forthcoming years ahead that they do raise the financial requirement and bear in mind that they haven't raised that since the late '90s. I think it was '97 or '98 that was the last time that they raised up the financial requirements to the present requirement we deal with of 800,000 Baht in a Thai Bank Account or 65,000 Baht in terms of continuous monthly pension funds being remitted into one's Bank Account. I think those could go up, yeah I think that could happen. In fact if I was betting, I would bet and by betting I mean that euphemistically, I don't mean it literally. What I am saying though with regard to this is, yeah I could kind of see it going to a million Baht, going from 800 to a million some time in the years ahead. Not saying that is going to happen; don't take that as "Ben said it's going to change from 800,000 to a million Baht!"  No, I don't think so. I think it's possible. I could also see the 65 going up to 85 or 100,000 Baht a month in terms of the requirement associated with pension. What I do not foresee happening in my opinion I do not think it is likely, that we will see a major overhaul of the Retirement Visa I don't think we will see; I also think there will probably continue to be a discrepancy between O-A and O Retirement Visas in terms of insurance. I have said for years that I think it is very possible they can consolidate that requirement but as time has gone on, I am starting to think that they are probably not going to. My reasoning behind that is, if they were going to do that they could have done it already by regulation and they didn't and I think that that is not a major priority. Again there is a differentiation between the O-A and the O Retirement Visa. I think that that difference will continue in the forthcoming years as time goes on. 

But the thing to take away from this video and the thing to understand is, no I do not believe there is going to be a cataclysmic end of the Retirement Visa. Do I think possibly down the road they may come to the decision to raise up some of the financial requirements? Yeah, I think that is, I would go out on a limb and say that is probable over a long enough timeline. Now how long a timeline that is remains to be seen but let's bear in mind again, the last time we saw changes on this was the late '90s so that at this point is some 20 odd years in the past, nearly a quarter century at this point so it doesn't seem totally unlikely if for no other reason than they just do it as sort of a cost of living adjustment. They just say "look I mean 800,000 might have been sufficient in the late '90s to be able to live and maintain oneself in Thailand but these days we think a million is more in line with that due to inflation for example, just due to inflation".

So again, all speculation, purely my opinion. None of this is changing. There are no rule changes that have been openly discussed in a policy sense although we may see it. Again when the Deputy National Police Chief makes comments about it, it is worth noting but the thing to take away from this video is I don't see it changing any time in the near future. I don't think that this should deter people in the long term as well. I see a lot of comments and things, "well we are going to take our money elsewhere and things." Okay, fair point. You have the right to do that but one, I fail to see where there's another jurisdiction on the planet that provides as many benefits as Thailand does to a retiree for as little input. What I mean to say is a Retirement Visa, yeah it requires a certain balance in the bank account, it doesn't require that that money is gone. You are not paying that money, you are just maintaining it in a bank account in order to maintain one's status. It remains your money; you are not paying that out to the Government to give you the visa. It is just something you need to show that you can basically maintain yourself here in Thailand, you can support yourself here in Thailand. The same thing can be said for pensions. Again when I hear people say that, I usually think to myself, "that's certainly your right. If you don't feel like you want to live in Thailand, you are going to go look for something else, go ahead." But that said, especially in Asia, and I would say around the world, the Retirement Visa, the standard Thai Retirement Visa is a pretty substantial benefit as I said for a pretty insubstantial amount of the input on the part of the applicant when you compare the Retirement Visa program in Thailand to virtually any other program in any other country that I am aware of.