Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing 90-day reporting in the context of these recently proposed, and that is really the only way to really call it yet, we are seeing some of the benefits sort of firming up but we have yet to see this practically rolled out in a concrete manner. But something that has come up, a lot of folks have been talking about is the possibility that they may be exempt from 90 day reporting. I find that very difficult to believe that that will be the case and I will explain here in a moment. The reason I was thinking of this was a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Retiring to Thailand just got more Confusing. Quoting directly: "The Government's recent announcement of long-term residency or LTR Visas for retirees aged at least 50, adds yet another layer of complexity to an already overcrowded field. In exchange for a 10-year Visa (actually 5x2) and the privilege of avoiding the queues at immigration for  90 days reports, (I will get back to that) applicants must show an annual income of at least US$40,000 plus US$250,000 in government bonds or yet to be defined real estate purchase."  

Now we have discussed this in other videos. This is not a Residence Visa. No matter what they call it, unless they change the statute it is not to the best of my understanding going to be a Residence Visa. Residency is Lawful Permanent Residence in Thailand. There is a specific process for going through that we have done a number of videos on Lawful Permanent Residence in Thailand and how you deal with that and I urge you to go into the search function of our channel and check that out if you want to look at Residency.

But as we have discussed in other videos on this channel these visas are by definition Non-Immigrant. Residency does not have an end; residency is perpetual so when you become a Thai Permanent Resident you are perpetually in Resident status. More importantly for the purposes of this video, you are covered under a different section of the Immigration Act whereas if you are being in Non-immigrant status 90 day reporting just applies. We have done the videos on this where we compare the different sides of the Act if you will, the different portions of the Act. There are specific provisions for Non-immigrant and specific provisions for Residents and unless you become an actual bona fide resident you are still subject to 90-day reporting. The only way that we could see that change is if they amended the Immigration Act of '79 and that would require an act of Parliament to do that. I think that's highly unlikely that that will happen. I just don't think we will see, I could be wrong, there may be some structure that could be created to circumvent this but I highly doubt it. Barring an actual amendment to the Act itself, the Act is clear. Non-Immigrant Visa holders are required to do 90-day reporting. 

So again like with many things that the media kind of glosses over, this is one that I think has just gotten out there and people are just saying "oh yeah, 90 day reporting is going to be exempt," I think they are just kind of blowing smoke on that because ultimately unless there is an amendment to the Act I just still think 90-day reporting is going to be a requirement.