Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the LTR, so-called Long-Term Resident Visa. I don't mean to sound like a broken record; it does not provide residence; it does not provide lawful permanent residence here in Thailand. It is basically sort of a long stay Visa; it can be issued with - effectively if used correctly - you can get 10 years of validity out of it. But again, as we've discussed in other videos there is apparently as this isn't a very new Visa, there is an audit in the middle of the process associated with the Visa which I'll get into here in a moment, and again there's a lot of ambiguity surrounding this thing. I have been a bit standoffish about this. One, it was made up out of whole cloth; Two, the work authorization side of this whole thing is completely ambiguous and I don't see where they have the authority to issue work authorization on this thing to begin with which not all of them have work authorization; that's another ambiguity. Then on the tax side of things there's even more ambiguity. Let me get into it. 

So I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is patttayamail.com, the article is titled: Foreigners and their overseas income: what next? Quoting directly: "Holders of the 10-year Long-Term Residence Visa who are exempt from declaring any foreign income in any case." And again I'm quoting an excerpt. I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in detail. But yeah, that's not my understanding. It is my understanding they have stipulated to a given tax rate - it's 17% if I remember off the top of my head - then the other issue becomes well what is 'foreign income'? Okay you may be exempt under this LTR scheme from having to factor in money you may have made offshore, but that doesn't really matter anyway because it only counts for lack of a better term, if funds are coming into Thailand. Again if this jurisdiction has physical if you will, territorial tax jurisdiction over the money. So again whatever somebody's doing offshore anyway, if they don't bring it to Thailand it's not really an issue anyhow. Then meanwhile, any funds coming into Thailand how do you determine that that is foreign income as opposed to Thai income? Again any foreign remittance, bank wire transfer, PayPal, anything that comes in from overseas, again how do you determine that that's exempt. 

Again, this is just one of the reasons I have been very hesitant to just sort of embrace this whole new scheme with open arms because there's a lot of, for lack of a better term, there are a lot of holes in it; it's like Swiss cheese or something. It's not real clear where the boundaries are with this thing and quite frankly, a lot of the explanations I have heard are not overly convincing. So that being said, the thing understand and take away from this video, the LTR Visa may be a great fit for you. If it is, feel free to contact us. We have assisted a number of folks with the LTR Visa but also understand there is a lot of ambiguity and in my mind there is quite a bit of nebulousness going on when you start to talk about funds coming in to Thailand and this type of Visa status because again it's not overly clear, at least to my mind.