GBP vs THB

[Super Joe]

they just determine that 800,000 Baht is the amount a retiree can live on without having to work illegally/be a burden on the state.

I'm not a retiree, but the way I see it, 800,000 baht per year equates to almost 100,000 baht per month. If I was needing to spend that much money each month in order to live here, I wouldn't be living here in the first place. I really can't see how a retiree would go through that much money, particularly if they own their own property, unless they're playing golf on all the top courses

As far as being a burden on the state is concerned..............we're all entitled to zilch, so how could any of us become a burden.

It's around 66k, so a fair bit less than 100k. I'm sure thats plenty for many, others maybe not. Some retirees have 20k rent, 20k/month school fees for 2 kids, maybe 5k maintaining a car & motorbike (ie: averaged out including replacing them when required), 5k utility bills. That's 50k gone without shopping, TV, phone bills, nsurances, medical bills, socialising, trips, alcohol intake, internet, bit for the in-laws, bit of golf etc.
Obviously if they own the house outright and have no kids then its less than the above, but presumably when the government set the amount, they can't assume all retirees will 'own' a house, or that they won't get divorced and maybe then have to rent.

What I mean't by burden on the state, probably not the best choice of words, was things like the foreigner having to do some (non-WP) work to suppliment their income, maybe not being able to pay hospital bills, and this repatriation thing after you kick the bucket, there was a lot of fuss about how much that cost the local authority in cases where no friends/relatives footed the bill.

I'm not sure if it's the right amount or not, but it is what it is I guess. Just hope they don't one year hike it up by a large amount to account for the number of years its remained at 800k, especially with the exchange rates as they are at the moment.

Cheers,
SJ

[sargeant]

Plus all the 400K people were grandfathered in on 400K and still are to this day

hence i put 33,000 a month which is also the marriage visa ammount

[lomuamart]

Thailand has always been good at grandfathering and long may that remain.
After all, some have been here for ages and set up a life, in many instances with Thai partners and children.
For the moment, as long as you continue to renew your annual extension on time, you'll be financially judged on the amount from when you first started doing so. Ie, I believe that there will be some retirees who qualify with 200K in the bank. If they miss the renewal date they're stuffed. It's up to 800k immediately.
Anyone retiring here and selling up back home had better make sure they've got their sums right. Exchange rates can vary wildly, there may be no more grandfathering (although I think that's unlikely) and prices here go up.
Personally, I've done a million border runs in my life, but now at over 50 I'm "retired". I don't want to have to do another million.

[Korkenzieher]

@ Steve G.

Me too. But mine is in Euro
You can tell the date I agreed the rate - it coincides quite nicely with the day the Euro began to fall!
Where are you? PM if prefer.

[charleyboy]

Don't automatically think that you will be "grandfathered."
Circa 2004, 200,000 baht was required for the extension of visa for marriage.

[STEVE G]

@ Steve G.

Me too. But mine is in Euro
You can tell the date I agreed the rate - it coincides quite nicely with the day the Euro began to fall!
Where are you? PM if prefer.

I'm working in Luxembourg, it has a very high standard of living and if I can't be in Thailand I don't want to suffer too much!

[lomuamart]

Don't automatically think that you will be "grandfathered."
Circa 2004, 200,000 baht was required for the extension of visa for marriage.

And those who have continued to annually extend their visas since then - on time, so no break in continuity - will still only require 200K in the bank each year.
It's 400K for new applicants or for those who, for whatever reason, have had a gap in their extensions since circa 2004.

[Super Joe]

Plus all the 400K people were grandfathered in on 400K and still are to this day
hence i put 33,000 a month which is also the marriage visa amount

If you're talking about retirement extensions being grandfathered in to this day, then it's 200k or 20k/month (when retirement visas were only for over 60 years old) and 500k or 50k/month (when retirement visas were only for over 55 years old). The cut-off for them was October 1998.

Just as an aside, I don't think the grandfathering issue for the over 50 year old retirement visa/extension has ever come up yet.

Don't automatically think that you will be "grandfathered."
Circa 2004, 200,000 baht was required for the extension of visa for marriage.

And those who have continued to annually extend their visas since then - on time, so no break in continuity - will still only require 200K in the bank each year. It's 400K for new applicants or for those who, for whatever reason, have had a gap in their extensions since circa 2004.

I got the impression they never did grandfather the 20k/month or 200k based on threads I've read. The immigration notice at the time (April 2004 which I can't find now) was not clear, but never specifically mentioned grandfathering. But that may all be wrong.
But in any case the grandfather clause in the next big immigration update in October 2006, order no. 606/2549, only allowed for 400k bank money.

SJ

[Khundon1975]

I'm not a retiree, but the way I see it, 800,000 baht per year equates to almost 100,000 baht per month. ??
Actually just over Baht 66,600 a month.

As SJ has said, plenty for some but not others.

I have to confess, that It would be very easy to exceed that amount each month without really trying.

[miked]

all very interesting but could we get back on subject. the U.K. has been warned that it's AAA rating is under threat causing a significant fall in it's currency. i think that Cameron should, and will be forced to bring the cuts forward. lets hope so, the deeper the better.
miked

[Korkenzieher]

@ Steve G.

I'm working in Luxembourg, it has a very high standard of living and if I can't be in Thailand I don't want to suffer too much!

Currently Hannover, dullest town in the universe. Previous form in Frankfurt.

[Korkenzieher]

@Miked
100% of why I think the UK isn't a basket case - not to imply that it is out of the woods though!

It is the *only* global scale economy, where the government is actually grasping the nettle, and there is no real controversy about it! There might be the odd demo at some point, but you do get the feeling that in the UK, there is a genuine consensus that it has gone too far and it is time to bite the bullet. It will take years before the southern European states achieve what the new team in London will do in 1.

To miss-quote Mrs Thatcher, the problem with the European Social Model is that sooner or later, you run out of German money to spend!

[miked]

i'm not saying that the U.K. is a basket case. what i'm saying is stop talking about cuts and implement them. 6 billion this year is going to make sod all difference. stop borrowing money and stop printing money.
just as an ex pat living here has to live within a budget so does a country. cut now and cut deep and take an axe to the welfare state and the public sector and stop them draining the country.
thank god brown has gone taking the labour party with him. can you imagine if we had two more years of that incompetent.
miked

[Korkenzieher]

Miked,

I am happy to agree that the UK has a chance precisely because of the change of government. The so called progressive majority in England, as opposed to the UK, is and never was. Factoring in Scotland may or may not alter that. The only reason Labour wasnt anihilated IMHO was because of the numbers that owe them their pay packet. The cuts are going to be hard, deep and necessary. I just feel a bit sorry for Joe Public who has to bear the brunt of it. I dont blame the banks at all / I blame Government / they assumed the banking cashcow would last forever, and now it hasnt. Not only has government lost the tax income but they have also to pick up the pieces of the broken machine. The election was 6 May. The emergency budget is after 50 days, that is a legal nicety since parliament has to agree the spending, or cutting, program. After that, the cuts will begin. If you have been looking at the debt servicing costs, now projected to be 70bn , it will make it the fourth largest department of state! If it could begin sooner, it should, but I dont think it can.

[Korkenzieher]

This is getting worrying - I only said this a week ago (about a page back), to watch out for sabre-rattling from the BOE. This is in todays Times online edition:

THE Bank of England could be forced to abandon its “highly expansionary” monetary policy — and raise interest rates — in the second half of the year, according to a member of its monetary policy committee. Andrew Sentance, writing in The Sunday Times today (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/b ... 148991.ece), casts doubt on the Bank’s official view, which is that the spare capacity left over by the recession will bring inflation down.

He writes that there may be less spare capacity than thought and that it has had less impact than expected. Inflation, currently 3.7%, is higher than was expected by the Bank following the recession, and is higher than in other countries.



Time to be long the pound, methinks.