Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Retirement Visas, specifically the bank account paradox. I have discussed this at length in other videos, I'll get into more here. 

That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent comment on our channel, quoting directly: "Here's something for you to get your teeth into Ben. Things have gone crazy bank account wise in this country. To get a Retirement Visa here, an evil farang..." -  maybe let's leave out some of the hyperbole - that said: "..an evil farang has to deposit X amount monthly" - it's 65,000 baht a month, monthly - "..or have 800,000 in an account for 3 months prior to application for renewal. But a tourist, which we all are prior to retiring" - well that's not true, let me get into that in a moment - "...can no longer open an account. Therefore they meet the primary requirements to retire.." - I think they don't meet the primary requirements to retire. - "Hello, Thai logic. Meanwhile, someone who does want to retire is finding Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines very, very welcoming." I have talked about this before. There seems to be like this ongoing cold war in the travel industry in this region where I often wonder if commenters and various other folks that are making content that's going up on YouTube, like to denigrate Thailand and sort of play up other jurisdictions.

Just real quick, first of all Vietnam has no Retirement Visa at all; Cambodia, yeah, they have options over there; I have talked about them somewhat in the past. That said, in the aggregate, as I have discussed in other videos, and I may make one here sooner rather than later regarding this again, while I like Cambodia, I don't have any problem with it, Cambodia's infrastructure, quality of life, many things over there, are markedly different than Thailand; let's just call it what it is. So to compare the two purely on visas and then sort of leave the implication that they are the same qualitatively in terms of what it's going to be like living over there, and all of that, it is a bit disingenuous. I say that because again it is not the same thing, it's just not. Now Cambodia is fun, I like Cambodia. If I had found Cambodia before Thailand I have often wondered if maybe I would have been more attached to over there just in terms of it was free and easy and interesting at the time. That said, I'm pretty sure I probably would have gravitated to Thailand one way or the other. But that said, the comparison, okay maybe they have a slightly easier Visa process - depending on your circumstances - but to compare them is not an apple to apples comparison in terms of quality of life for retirement there. I think similar could be said of the Philippines, although to less of an extreme in terms of comparison. That said, I have talked to a lot of guys over here who said the Philippines has its own issues too. I personally have never been to the Philippines; I'm not making this video to throw any of those countries under the bus. I just think it's worth noting that I often wonder if there's perhaps some movement to kind of make Thailand look bad and then sort of play up these other jurisdictions. That said, quoting further: "Oh wow, Thailand whines about no one coming anymore." Well nobody is really whining about that; maybe I am. I made a video where I talked about sort of perfect storm in this low season and things but again, I think that there is a real overestimation in the minds of many expats, especially retirees, just as to how much of a contribution they make in terms of relative contribution to the rest of GDP.

Thailand is not some backward place, okay? I mean it's an industrialized nation; I think at this point it makes the most automobiles of any place in the world or does the most automobile manufacturing in different parts of the supply chain. It's sophisticated and again that's why comparing it to some of these other economies, most notably places like Cambodia and the Philippines, it's not a one-to-one comparison. Maybe with regard to Vietnam it's getting to be, and I would say in the urban areas over there, it is probably getting to be more of a one-to-one comparison, but to compare Thailand to some of these places that's not really all that honest and it's worth pointing that out. Quoting further: "I wonder why. Be interested in your insights into this logic."

Well one, I have been talking about this paradox forever, okay? I've been making videos since October 2016, okay? I am coming up on 9 years haven't made these videos I think I’ve made nearly 8,000 of them. In there I have probably at least a half a dozen, maybe over a dozen videos where I do talk about the banking paradox where ‘you need the Bank Account to get the Visa, you need the Visa to get the Bank Account’. The other presumption that is made in this comment is that ‘everybody always came in on a Tourist Visa’. I think this person means a Visa Exemption stamp and everyone always used that to convert into Retirement Visa. That's never been the case. We have assisted folks in getting Retirement Visas from abroad for years, of various types - O and O-A - and we have also assisted folks in converting their status here in country. Again it always depended on circumstances. The fact of the matter is, banking rules, their own internal rules by the way, have been driving changes to the Immigration System. I am a big believer in credit where credit is due, and I will be the first one to criticize Immigration policies if and when I see it necessary. But it's worth noting, this stuff, especially this 4-month affidavit and all of this talk, all of this is coming from one Big Bank's own internal policies and that is driving immigration outcomes, as I have discussed in other videos. 

That said, yes I think it is evident and it is apparent to me, that we are also maybe seeing efforts that have been utilized in other jurisdictions, I'll put it that way, to use non-official institutions to implement policy in such a way that the outcomes get what a particular group or a particular paradigm would like to see, so the outcome being I think that there is a concerted attempt unduly, and I would call it undue influence, undue foreign influence to undermine Thailand. One of the ways they want to do this is by undermining the experience of retired expats here in Thailand and one way that they can do that without being overt about it is by going through this banking channel rather than by going through policy making channels within immigration where there is more accountability. 

So the thing to understand and take away from this video is yeah, this paradox has always existed. We assist people all the time in getting their ducks row in such a way that they don't have to deal with this paradox. Now this shifts from moment to moment and circumstances shift and the circumstances in which one is processing their visa will dictate the legal analysis regarding the best way to proceed to get both a Retirement Visa as well as a Bank Account here in the Kingdom of Thailand.