FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Three chaiyos for the new retirement-visa rules 

Three chaiyos for the new retirement-visa rules 

Over the past few months there have been many letters highly critical of the new financial requirements for obtaining the non-immigrant retirement visa.

But having just renewed my retirement visa, I have nothing but praise for the new system.
Previously I had to drive the near 400-kilometre round trip from Rayong to Bangkok to obtain the Australian Embassy stamp on a statutory declaration of my income. Incidentally, mine was a truthful declaration, unlike many expatriates who lied about their finances.
Now all I have to do is go to the local branch of my bank and obtain a 12-month statement showing the remittances into my account from Australia.
The cost of a 12-month statement is Bt200, so not only do I save myself the long trip to Bangkok and back, but I save on the Bt500 the embassy used to charge to witness my statutory declaration.
For good measure, I was in and out of the Maptaphut Immigration Office in less than 25 minutes.
David Brown
Rayong

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