Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing whether or not there may one day be a "better" Retirement Visa. And what we are talking about here is I have had a lot of correspondence with folks in the older expat community, the kind of retiree community and by the way thanks folks for your positive feedback and some of your negative feedback sometimes; there is constructive criticism out there. There are also some people who just like giving me giving me some guff. 

In any event, the reason for the video is I have had a lot of people ask me especially in light of the fact they have been talking about these new Visa categories that have yet to fully be hammered out; we have yet to see any rules promulgated on this but these new categories and could we see a better Retirement Visa? Well it is possible but I would say it is rather unlikely. What I think a lot of people would like to see is things like the 90-day reporting be rescinded or TM30 go away or not needing to go through the renewal process every year. I think for the most part we are probably stuck with that. 

Now the reason for that is those are all products of the Immigration Act of '79 and I don't see that Act being amended or being replaced anytime soon. Quite frankly, in an Immigration context both in the United States and here in Thailand, look the Immigration just isn't always a major priority politically. Now I understand it is a bit of a hot button issue in the US but I am talking about inside the belt wave thinking, it doesn't get a lot of traction when it comes to the notion of really doing a major overhaul of Immigration Law, US Immigration Law in this case and I think the same can be said for Thailand. So I do understand there have been a lot of people asking: "Well is there are like a longer term visa and things like this?" We saw the O-X created a few years back which has been used by virtually no one that I have been able to ascertain which allows sort a 5 year in 5 year Retirement Visa but the financial criteria are quite substantial. We have seen the Elite Visa being used as kind of a de facto long term Retirement Visa for certain individuals and depending on their circumstances, that may work for them. But do I think that there is going to actually be like a new Retirement Visa that will have applicability and usability for a broad number of retirees in Thailand? I find it rather unlikely.