Countries offering retirement visas

[Lancelot]

Not really. The Thai Embassy's site lists only one "Retirement Visa."

A Thai "Retirement Visa" is actually an "Extension of Stay for Purposes of Retirement.

Starting from scratch entails applying for an O Visa Other- Retirement in your home country or an O visa in a country other than Thailand (often only successful in your home country) then converting the O Visa Other to an Extension of Stay- Retirement.

Renewing an Extension of Stay in Thailand omits the need to first receive an O Visa. One less major step

http://www.thaiembdc.org/dcdp/?q=Non...rant_Long_Stay

[ItDontMeanAThing]

If one is interested in general information about Thai visas, the worst place to ask is on a forum populated by expats in Thailand. They don't do 'general'.

[Lancelot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ItDontMeanAThing If one is interested in general information about Thai visas, the worst place to ask is on a forum populated by expats in Thailand. They don't do 'general'.

Uh, OK.

You referred to "An Official Retirement Visa" as opposed to the un official one.

I have the visa you described as unofficial, so what is the "Official" one? Got a link?

[ItDontMeanAThing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ItDontMeanAThing Agreed. If I had to do it over again I'd have paid the price in time, money and hassle up front to get the official retirement visa instead of the unofficial one which must be extending every year.

Erase, erase. Both visa types used by retired expats in Thailand must be extended every year. It appears that what I saw in 2007 as the benefits of the official retirement visa no longer exist.

[Lancelot]

You might have been thinking of this program Thailand Elite

thailandelite.com

The least expensive member ship tier costs $16,000 for a five year visa.

No thanks

[NYEXPAT]

FWIW, Peru has a retirement visa that is very easy to get. requires $1,000.00 month income and $500.00 more for each dependent. With that you can easily get bank accounts and Peru has no taxes on retirement income.

If you do not want the hassle then many expats come on a 183 day tourist visa and pay the $1 a day fine when ever they choose to leave.

[BTravlin]

DW and I have Residente Permanente visas in Mexico and they cost us about $375 each and they do not expire. Had to show a certain level of combined assets and/or income stream to qualify and it was not an excessive amount. We do not have to file federal taxes here if we have no earned income within Mexico and our retirement income from U.S. based assets don't count. We have no bank accounts here in Mexico so we don't have that extra issue with the IRS and FATCA.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BTravlin DW and I have Residente Permanente visas in Mexico and they cost us about $375 each and they do not expire. Had to show a certain level of combined assets and/or income stream to qualify and it was not an excessive amount. We do not have to file federal taxes here if we have no earned income within Mexico and our retirement income from U.S. based assets don't count. We have no bank accounts here in Mexico so we don't have that extra issue with the IRS and FATCA.

Do you have any financial complications from being Estadounidenses permanently living in Mexico?

Ha

[BTravlin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha Do you have any financial complications from being Estadounidenses permanently living in Mexico? Ha

Nothing too daunting so far. Banking is the most difficult thing we've had to contend with but we were prepared by setting up numerous accounts with different banks before we left the U.S. This has allowed us flexibility in drawing funds from the U.S. in the most cost efficient manner without having to set up accounts in Mexican banks. We have shied away from this due to triggering FATCA issues with the IRS.

Other than that, I concentrate on watching exchange rates for the most advantageous times to convert USD to MXN.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BTravlin Nothing too daunting so far. Banking is the most difficult thing we've had to contend with but we were prepared by setting up numerous accounts with different banks before we left the U.S. This has allowed us flexibility in drawing funds from the U.S. in the most cost efficient manner without having to set up accounts in Mexican banks. We have shied away from this due to triggering FATCA issues with the IRS. Other than that, I concentrate on watching exchange rates for the most advantageous times to convert USD to MXN.

Thank you for this information.

Ha

[papadad111]

Good thread ...

The philippines also has a retirement visa scheme. Can qualify as early as age 35 if I recall. Details follow:

http://www.pra.gov.ph/main/srrv_program?page=1




Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

[NYEXPAT]

This is a link to the Peruvian retirement scheme:
Legally Speaking: Visa for Rentistas (Residual Income) - Peru this Week
There is no age requirement.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYEXPAT This is a link to the Peruvian retirement scheme: Legally Speaking: Visa for Rentistas (Residual Income) - Peru this Week There is no age requirement.

NYEXPAT, there is a serious problem here, under Documents Required:

Quote:

7. A bank account in Peru, to receive the funds in-country and to prove that you are receiving said funds in an effective manner. (For this purpose, it is necessary to first obtain the “special permission to sign contracts” before going to a bank. Some banks also require a reference or guarantee before opening the account for someone who does not yet have a Carné de Extranjería and many times the banks are reluctant to open an account at all without residency.)

Banks in other countries are refusing to create accounts for Americans because of the onerous reporting requirements imposed by our gummint. You will not have this problem, being married to a Peruvian. Not everyone is so fortunate.

Are you aware of any bank in Peru that will accept Americans for an account?

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by papadad111 Good thread ... The philippines also has a retirement visa scheme. Can qualify as early as age 35 if I recall. Details follow: PRA: Philippine Retirement Authority

Same problem here.

Quote:

5. Depository Bank PRA Designated Banks

Kramer, if you are out there today, are you aware of any PRA Designated Bank that will accept an American client?

[coldnose]

Would having account with a bank like HSBC, which has branches in Peru, The Philippines and the US suffice? I'm not sure if having an account in one country equates to being able to open an account or do transfers automatically in another, but it seems like it should.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hsbc#m...HSBC_World.svg

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I don't know, coldnose. I contacted HSBC recently and they would not deal with me as I am working and living in Azerbaijan at the moment. Vanguard would not open a brokerage account for me for the same reason I called them back and said I was retired. Then they did. Our government is making life difficult for us expats. I have read that the increase in renunciation of citizenship is simply due to onerous banking regulations. Expect more.

[Kabekew]

An alternative if you're below pension or social-security age and need to meet a "guaranteed fixed income" requirement for your retirement visa, is to put money into a "payout" mutual fund like Vanguard's ( http://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-...anaged-payout/ ). That fund sends you a fixed amount per month. A statement from Vanguard attesting that will also probably qualify as the "bank statement" a lot of them require.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Quote:

A statement from Vanguard attesting that will also probably qualify as the "bank statement" a lot of them require.

That would be nice, but those web pages seem to explicitly say an in-country bank.

I hope our members on-the-ground in the P.I. and Peru can clarify for us.

[kramer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed_The_Gypsy Same problem here. [/LIST]Kramer, if you are out there today, are you aware of any PRA Designated Bank that will accept an American client?

To my knowledge, no Philippines (PI) bank will reject an American client. This is still playing out, but PI is currently negotiating one of those country-wide FATCA agreements with the USA so that the banks will report FATCA stuff to this PI entity which will then forward all the info to the USA Treasury Department. The USA links are way too strong in the PI to not allow American clients. Also, most of the rich and foreigners here use US-dollar accounts. They even have special protection under the law that Peso accounts do not have (more secrecy).

The PRA-designated (PRA = Philippines Retirement Authority) banks are about 7 banks, a few are in the top 8 Filipino banks by size. Basically, you buy CD's denominated in dollars with the bond money you have put up for the visa. The interest rate is lower than you would otherwise get in an open account, so include this cost in your calculations. The interest goes into a regular passbook account that you can spend.

The PI FDIC equivalent, called the PDIC, is well funded but only insures money up to 500,000 pesos (about $11,500). I have $20,000 in one of these accounts so if the bank went broke I would lose the difference. I just tried to choose a strong bank. Also, I could have split it, $10,000 at 2 banks, but I just didn't want to bother.

And I keep my other bank accounts (one dollar account and one peso account) at a different bank for this reason of low PDIC insurance.

Since this visa put my total overseas holdings at over $10,000, I now file an FBAR each year. For someone with a simple setup like me, it is only about 2 hours total time after you have done it the first time. It is all done online.

Banking is pretty easy here in the PI, I never have to wait in line, and everything is in English. I just write $5,000 checks on a USA checking account to fund my local dollar account when I am at the bank to make a withdrawal -- it clears in about 17 business days and there is no fee. For security reasons, I don't have an ATM card associated with my dollar account, just my local peso account. I also use USA-based ATM cards sometimes to get Pesos. I have diversified myself with respect to banking and sources of funds.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Thanks, Kramer! There is nothing like the voice of experience!

This is why this thread is so valuable.

Now if NYEXPAT would chime in again....