James207

"Even mentions doing them at police station.." Well going back quite a few years I was sure an expat friend talked about doing it a police station. The mariage visa definitely seems the way to go. I could opt not to draw so much down on the private penion and/or invested savings leaving more in the pot for a rainy day. I was concerned about draining more than I actually need then leaving it senselessly sitting in a Thai current account. My wife is a nurse so has a pretty good salary, for a Thai. In fact if I can go off topic again, my wife works for a Government hospital. I understand as a spouse of a Government employee I am entitled to health care in Thailand. Anybody else married to a Thai Government employee can confirm this?

In the case I mentioned in my first message I understand the operson concerned if having to prove they can meet the requirement to have 800,000 baht on deposit "AND" income of at least 65,000 baht. I thought it was "OR" not "AND". They can't meet the money on deposit hence the back hander. I still think that there is something fishy going on.

"A marriage Extension requires less money in the bank." Can I clarify that. Under a retirement visa it is 800,000 baht on deposit "OR" 65,000 baht deposited each month. For marriage visa what is needed in the bank and is there monthly income requirement? Also when checking a website it mentions having your Embassy in Thailand authorise a letter from the bank confirming money transferred from the home country. A bit surprised that the UK Embassy would do that. I intend to deposit all of my savings off shore otherwise they will incur UK taxes. Then I only pay UK tax on state and private pension. UK Embassy will not authorise foriegn interest payments made directly to a Thai bank account. Does anybody else have this problem?

Ok I rather suspect that if the person concerned could do it by post or online so queuing isn't an issue then something else is going on. I assume I could also opt for a marriage visa. Would that have advantages over the retirement visa?

I don't know whether what I am about to ask is permitted or not but I will have a go anyway. I hope to get a retirement visa next year and I thought the process was straight forward as was the 90 day registration which is done at a police station. I am getting third had stories that one retiree registers every 90 days at Immigration and pays a bribe, which is escalating, to avoid queuing. I rather suspect that something else is going on here. Is the 90 day registration at Immigration or the police station and is it straight forward or are back handers required? No offence intended but this is the story that I am being told.

On another reply I inticated that that I was thinking of a 60 day stay simply because the Annual multi trip insurance has a maximum trip length of 60 days. Probably thinking of coming and going depending on if any freelance work came up in the UK. But given the work situation after covid that seems highly unlikely. If I am thinking of extentions or what ever then I will need a single or flexible ticket. All this is academic at the moment as with UK based annual multi trip I don't see how I can get the damn Thailand pass.

I can probably just scrape the 40K baht monthly income from UK state pension depending of the exchange rate. Might have to top it up a bit.

May be. I will look again.

I know that Bangsumran fishing park is significantly cheaper as an expat rather than a tourist. What is a Non O marriage visa? 400,000 baht, nearly £9000 UK is a large chunk of money sitting dead in a Thai bank account when it could be invested and growing. That is why I wanted to avoid the non O. Initially I was thinking of a 60 day stay as that is the maximum length of stay I can get on an annual multi trip travel insurance. Eventually I plan to stay permanently, assuming I can get a visa. I am a bit worried about the amount that has to be deposited to mainatain the retirement visa status. Just not ready to take my private pension until next year as I don't need to draw it. Unless that is I need to show the income to get a visa.

Is there a visa that I can apply for by virtue of being the spouse of a Thai national. I can't do a retirement visa as I am not yet ready to draw my private pension and the UK state pension will not be sufficient to meet the transfer requirements. I did look at the non Immigrant O but that seem to have an even higher transfer requirement than the retirement visa. It seems all I could get is a tourist visa but that doesn't give any residency rights eg for a Thai driving licence and expat discounts and is not multi entry.