News from Thailand – February 12, 2015
This page contains a selection from the Thai news. We list headlines from major news sources including: Bangkok Post, The Nation, ThaiPBS, MCOT, etc.
There is a web link behind the news items. When you click on it you can read the full article at the English source.
News from Thailand – February 12, 2015
The Nation opens today with the message that former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra wants to apply for asylum in the United States. The American chargé d'affaires, Patrick Murphy, says he is not aware of this message and does not want to comment: http://goo.gl/ezzqfJ
Bangkok Post also comes with the editorial that Yingluck would like to apply for political asylum in the US. These rumors allegedly arose after the arrest of her car at a checkpoint in Chiang Mai: http://goo.gl/9FAHVf
At a meeting of the NCPO for 21 military attachés and 4 embassy employees, the army once again denied that the criminal prosecution against Yingluck and her deposition is not a political settlement, but a regular criminal case.
– Road and rail links to U-Tapao Airport (near Pattaya) will be built to further develop the commercial use of the airport. The Ministry of Transport has signed an agreement for this with the Thai Navy, which owns the airport. The intention is that U-Tapao will handle more charter flights and passengers. That number should grow from about 100.000 passengers per year to 800.000 passengers per year: http://t.co/40zhdMBn2x
– Thailand will take steps to reform the tourism sector in the country. The adviser to the Minister of Tourism and Sports, Auggaphol Brickshawana, said that the first step will be area-based development. There are currently eight tourism clusters in Thailand. In 2015, the emphasis will be on five clusters. Thammasat University will also prepare a report with advice for all sectors of Thai society. More attention will also be paid to the development of sustainable tourism. In addition, Thailand wants to focus more on tourist niche markets: http://goo.gl/06uJ2G
– The refusal of a breathalyzer test by the police is dealt with more harshly. A 28-year-old woman from Nakhon Pathom noticed this when she refused to cooperate with a breath test at a checkpoint in Bangkok. Due to her refusal, this lady can be sentenced to 1 year in prison and/or a hefty fine: http://t.co/Yi6G8SV6lr
– You can read more current news on the Twitter feed of Thailandblog.nl: twitter.com/thailand_blog
If the Thai government wants to promote sustainable tourism, a spearhead could also be that the government pays more attention to the influx of pensioners, read the visa policy, eg longer periods for the Non-Immigrant O or OA pensioners.
A retiree spends no less than 12 X 1 month in Thailand per year, that is 12 tourists who stay here for 4 weeks. If one manages to recruit 100.000 new retirees, that means 12 tourists that visit Thailand every year.
I wish the Thai government a lot of wisdom in making decisions, they should involve pensioners in the formation of opinions about the revision of the visa.
Nico B
It all starts with a calculation error. A year does indeed have 12 months, but in any case also 13 periods of 4 weeks. This follows a fallacy: a pensioner is not a tourist, does not intend to do so, and does not behave accordingly. A tourist strives for a comfortable holiday within a short period of time, a pensioner strives for a permanent residence for perhaps the rest of his life. In addition, the government does not even involve its own ranks in the decision-making process, let alone penionados.
Quite right, wanted to keep it simple, 13 periods of 4 weeks, so it is 1.300.000.
Also quite correct, a tourist is different from a pensionado.
But I read so often here on Thailand blog that pensioners would like to have land in their own name if necessary and that is just not possible.
I too, that many will then give ownership of the land to their beloved wife or partner, that many will then have a house built and then lease it for 30 years or arrange usefrukt or a company.
Which implies that these retirees spend large one-off sums of money on their long-term stay in Thailand.
No tourist can compete with the spending of such a pensioner, even if he comes to Thailand several times a year.
Say, land 1 million THB, house ranging from 1 million to 5 million, average 3 million, car 1/2 million, that's a total of 4.1/2 million, certainly not a small amount, That is more than 20 Euro for a retiree who has lived in Thailand for 5.000 years. I do not see that on average for a tourist traveling to Thailand to spend in Thailand, a large part of that budget is spent on the plane ticket. Apart from the fact that a tourist does not only go on holiday to Thailand.
This will not be the case for every pensionado, but the calculated amount will then include the daily expenditure of the pensionado.
There are also pensioners who spend more to create their permanent residence than the amounts I have assumed here.
My thesis is therefore that a pensionado as a permanent "tourist" spends a lot more in total than a tourist and therefore it can be good for Thailand to stimulate this.
The suggestion to contact Thammasat University is a good one, then I can work out the calculation more accurately. Does that lead to any influence on policy??
Nico B
Article Tourism sector reform.
In short, they want to keep their Thai identity for themselves and the tourist.
Preferably a rich tourist who throws money, of course, but the Dutch tourist is certainly welcome too.
The Netherlands makes the most investments in Thailand per capita, after Japan.
Surely they will take us seriously?
You can even contact Thammasat University.
There they do research on the wishes of the people on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Why wouldn't they mean you? They report that tourism is a large part of the income.
Have also been browsing the website RoyalThaiconsulateamsterdam.nl. And then with special interest also for O / OA. You seem to only need € 600 p / month in income. Is really there.
So if you go to Thailand at the minimum age of 50, you will be short of 15-17 years of state pension accrual.
I will even say 20 years, that is to say AOW at the age of 70 (then the grandchildren who read along will hopefully also benefit from it). Even those with their meager state pension have 60% of the state pension just enough to meet the requirements for Visa O at the age of 50. Nice is not it ?
They do not even have to build up a supplementary pension, but they will have to get used to it. And whether it would be wise, everyone can decide for themselves. The Thai authorities are satisfied. Further requirement of €20.000 is of course mainly for such cases without insurance.
I can't say for sure if all this is true. Whatever happened to 65.000 Bt ?
No insurance in old age abroad. Isn't it true that we Dutch are completely alone in this in Europe? Will the rest of Europe remain without health insurance? On the other hand, we seem to build up the highest pensions and as a Dutch person you will of course be taken back for that. It seems, reading the previous response, whether you have to leave the country every month with visa O or something. According to the website, report 4 times a year, renew every year. Don't see the problem. Then I will look for alternatives around Thailand and further into Asia.
Most countries immediately drop out because you can whistle at half of your AOW. Don't they take you there. The Netherlands simply does not pay. But yes, that's just how it is. Remains : Japan unfortunately much too expensive and in Korea the streets are full of Hyundais. Then we have Indonesia! The Nasi Goreng is of course tastier than the NederChinese, but otherwise… quite demanding!
No, you will see that they are not so unreasonable in Thailand. Thailand is simply the logical choice.
Seems logical to me that you have to continue to meet the requirements, that you have to be able to support yourself.
What they could perhaps do was to immediately make Thai ZKV mandatory when applying for a Retirement Visa for, let's say, 30 euros? An obligation or a strict requirement for those who think they can do without it. Oh well, it can always be better of course.
The art is enjoying what you have.
Dear Edwin,
The 600 Euro requirement that you read on the RoyalThaiconsulateamsterdam.nl website is only for the “O” visa. The visa has a validity period of maximum 1 year (multiple entry) and you must leave the country every 90 days.
http://www.royalthaiconsulateamsterdam.nl/index.php/visa-service/visum-aanvragen
This amount of 600 euros did not come out of the blue. Corresponds approximately to what is stated on the MFA Thailand website, i.e. 20 Baht.
http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/123/15398-Issuance-of-Visa.html – See Non-Immigrants – Documents required
“Evidence of adequate finance (20,000 Baht per person and 40,000 Baht per family)”
If you want to extend this later in Thailand, you will have to meet the financial requirement of 800/000 Baht, and that has nothing to do with whether or not you have insurance.
If you cannot meet this requirement, you can always obtain a new “O” visa, of course.
There is nothing about an “OA” Visa on the RoyalThaiconsulateamsterdam.nl website.
This is because you have to go to the embassy for this and there the financial requirement for a Visa “OA” is a comparable amount in Euro of 800 000/65 000 Baht.
http://www.thaiembassy.org/hague/th/services/42919-Doing-BussinessStudyLong-Stay-or-other-purposes.html – see Long stay
http://www.royalthaiembassy.nl/site/pages/visaservices/doing_business-study-other.html – See Long stay
“A copy of bank statement showing a deposit of the amount equal to and not less than 800,000 Baht or an income certificate (an original copy) with a monthly income of not less than 65,000 Baht, or a deposit account plus a monthly income totaling not less than 800,000 Baht”
It has a Multiple entry and with each entry you get one year of uninterrupted residence in Thailand (only report every 90 days)
This can also be extended later in Thailand and you will also have to meet the 800 000/65 000 Baht requirements.
I'm not going into too much detail. For this you can go to the Dossier Visa.
https://www.thailandblog.nl/dossier/visum-thailand-2/
https://www.thailandblog.nl/wp-content/uploads/TB-2014-12-27-Dossier-Visum-Thailand-volledige-versie.pdf
Dear RonnyLatPhrao,
No, okay, that's clear then. 65000.
That 20000 is then about thrift, which they tolerate for a short time in the beginning.
Thank you very much
Dear niceB retirees do not earn a penny from tourists who come for 4 weeks. That's why it won't be any different, if at all. You really have nothing to say or contribute to their professed gr Marcel
An Aow'er who only spends his annual Aow of say 10.000 euros in Thailand, which is now about 360.000 THB, that is really not the amount that an average tourist spends in and on 4 weeks in Thailand, see my response above. Remember, the requirement at immigration is 65.000 baht per month, which is no less than 1.800 euros.
I think my statement that an average pensioner spends many times more per year than a tourist, whether or not returning.
See also my response above.
Nico B
The comparison was between 1 pensionado for a year and 12 tourists who come for a month, so together for 1 year.
The immigration requirement is 65.000 Baht per month, 800.000 Baht in the bank, or a combination of money in the bank and income.
And the AOW is often not 100% if people have left for Thailand before their retirement.
True, certainly, those are the requirements at Immigration and true, not everyone has 100% Aow, but there are also many who have much more than a reduced Aow as income to spend, given their accrued pensions.
Also those who have considerable or not significant assets, for example through the sale of their mortgage-free house in the Netherlands or not, and spend it during their long-term and permanent stay in Thailand.
There is also the category of state pensioners who currently still receive a partner allowance.
In short, it is my firm belief that the permanent "tourist" pensionado spends more than 12 tourists for 1 month per year, moreover, not every tourist stays in Thailand for a month.
Nico B
The only way retirees become attractive to Thailand is if they want to open their wallets for extra privileges with visas, or for permanent residence.
Pensioners generally spend considerably less on average per day than tourists.
He usually only builds a house once.
After that it becomes a lot more frugal.
Furthermore, people who live in Thailand are more difficult for the Thai government, because they want to have rights in Thailand.
You don't get that with tourists.
There are two kinds of money.
It may sound strange, but money from abroad is worth more. That's money they didn't have before someone came in with it. One may spend a year publishing it as a Pensionado. Others throw the money in the air with buckets at the same time during the holidays, but, and they can act so wildly, none of them arrive at what a 65+ spends annually. Will I still be able to take it? Doesn't matter, all money. Spent quickly or for a year, both okay. Money is money and they didn't have our money yet. They had to let us in for that. Our money enters the Thai economy with us. They like it and that is why we are all equally welcome with money. The job of a Thai doesn't yield that much, put it strangely again. The salary earned only goes around within Thailand. Of course money has to roll and that is only good. However, our money is supposedly falling from the sky and yes. your money too, every month.