Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing so-called "false Retirement Visa applications." What are we talking about here? Well I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Nation, that is nationthailand.com. Bear in mind, this article is a little bit older but I have talked about these topics at length in many other videos. But every once in a while, I'll come upon an older article, and I'll say there's some pertinent data points in there that I think are good for the expat community and it needs to be sort of reiterated; so this is one of those situations. The article is titled: Immigration Bureau cracks down on false Retirement Visa applications, says report. Quoting directly: "Thailand’s Immigration Bureau has announced a major change regarding the financial requirements for foreigners seeking Retirement Visas, Thai Visa has reported. The new requirements are reportedly aimed at ending the practice of Visa agents falsifying bank statements for foreigners who do not have enough money to meet the financial demands for a Retirement Visa Extension". It's not exactly fair to say there was a falsification going on. What was happening was it was just an instantaneous extremely short-term loan if you will, and the mechanism accommodated for that. It was possible to do that up until a few weeks back and I have discussed that at length. I thought it was worth drilling down deeper in this video, and this article provided an opportunity to do that. I know it may sound disingenuous or whatever, but it wasn't false. I mean the money was there, there was a bank statement issued and then people would get their extension based on it. I get that there is a level of disingenuousness perhaps to it but per the rules that existed theretofore, it was acceptable. Moving forward as we have discussed in other videos, there are all kinds of banking issues now popping up associated with possible affidavits associated with, and "freezing" people's bank accounts for periods of time which as we will get to, aren't even prescribed by Immigration, it's just the banks coming up with this on their own. 

My hope is with the possibility of a new incoming Government, we will see some substantial changes to this stuff. And I hope that the new incoming Government sees the financial benefits that do come from foreigners being here on Retirement Visas. I can understand they want to make sure that foreigners do have financial means to be here but there are a lot of onerous burdens that are being placed on the foreign Community here in Thailand and I am hoping that the incoming Government sees that and maybe makes possible policy changes accordingly. 

That said, quoting further: "The online news site said that from March 1, 2019, foreigners who apply" - well this again is an older article, but it is pertinent to now - "March 1, 2019, foreigners who apply for retirement extension will need to keep 800,000 Thai baht in the bank for 3 months after the extension and 400,000 baht in the bank thereafter." Now again, there is no hard and fast rules on this. Different Immigration Offices have different prerogatives regarding this. Quoting further: "It was previously acceptable for foreigners to only show 800,000 Baht in the bank and the time of application, with no time limit. Foreigners must still be able to show 800,000 Baht in a Thai bank two months before the application for the Retirement Extension." 

Again, the point of this video is to sort of cross-reference this and these data points, which again are a little bit old, against what is going on right now which is basically they are trying to show, or they are trying to have a system that ensures that people who are showing money in the bank actually have the money in the bank. Now this is in turn becoming problematic and some banks are even "freezing" people's money in their accounts, which I don't understand where they get the legal ability to do that but that's where I stand on that. 

That said, what do you need to understand with regard to this one? The big rule of thumb I would have from here on out - at least for the immediately foreseeable future - again hopefully the new Government coming in will kind of look over this and maybe ease up, especially going in to what could turn out to be a rather less than optimal high season. I think we could also possibly look at changes to Tax Policy as a way of dealing with that as well. But that said, if it does change, great. But if it doesn't, a rule of thumb I would maintain at least for the foreseeable future is you are probably going to have to at least show your bank balance at up over 800,000 for at least 2 months; call it before, call it after, call it either side of your renewal date, basically be able to show that balance. That said, exactly how this plays out remains to be seen, so we will be keeping you updated on this channel as this situation evolves.