Fore Man

Im an elderly American married for decades to my Thai wife. We now live in the USA but will be moving back to Thailand late this year. She is also a U.S. citizen. I will likely predecease her and want to locate a reputable financial & tax advisor in Thailand from whom she can receive expert advice on how she must handle various tax, IRA and investment issues that she will eventually have to negotiate once on her own. If anyone can post recommendations or thoughts on this topic, please do so. Very much appreciated.

Dear fellow posters, I have looked into applying for a visa through the Thai Consulate website in Washington, DC. It looks like a straightforward effort to complete the online application, albeit a stilted experience in mastering the site's peculiarities. But I could not find any reference to a Type 0 Non-immigrant visa. The only choice that I could see germane to my situation was the type 0-X visa...pertaining to a non-immigrant married to a Thai spouse. So I dutifully began the electronic application leading to this type of visa. Is this the correct visa for my situation? I am a year away from our anticipated departure from the USA so cannot complete the entire application at this time....have no airline booked yet because we don't really know exactly when we will be ready to fly. Does anyone know how long the site will retain my information before deleting it from inactivity? Thanks in advance for all responses.

Much obliged, Andrew. When my wife and I met with the Nan IO last July, I am almost sure we didn't mention the idea of first obtaining an O visa and then using that as our basis for extension based on retirement. We have friends in Nan and will ask them to pay a visit to that same IO to confirm the advice you have given. And as others on this thread have suggested, obtaining a visa from the Washington, DC consulate isn't the onsite hassle it was in the past. I will investigate that route first.

Great advice; thanks BritTim

So sorry to learn this! What a fine man he was to have assisted thousands of fellow expats all his years of service. RIP Joe!

Ubonjoe, sorry, I am just now seeing your response,,,a year after you posted it. I returned to the USA and missed your reply as well as others due to PC crash and the litany of repair issues in its aftermath. Thank you for taking your time to advise me!

Thanks; that’s what I thought too…but I seem to recall that an IO in Nan nixed that idea when I asked her last August during a home visit with my wife. I believe but am not sure that what you proposed can be accomplished, but perhaps not all provincial IOs are in agreement.

Right! I meant to say that I plan to enter Visa Exempt. Can such a short term visa be converted to a Non-O, then extended for purposes of retirement? what I’d really like to avoid is going the Thai Consulate route and acquiring my visa in the U.S. We live 500 miles from the DC consulate and would incur big expenses to drive up there and spend the necessary day or two lodging in that costly area. I’d heard that a tourist visa can be extended once in country.

Hello Mates, A fairy robust septuagenarian, I am relocating back to LOS next year after spending the past 3+ years in the US with my Thai wife. Whereas we lived in Chiang Mai for 16 straight years before returning to the States, this time we will be resettling in upper Nan Province where we own property. I try to keep up with the latest in Thai Immigration policies but seem to be stymied by this one: Can I enter Thailand with a Visa on Arrival next year and then apply for a Non-O in the Nan Immigration Office, followed by an extension of stay based on retirement? I already have a bank account solely in my name established in a Nan City bank, but will need to deposit enough to cover the THB 800K requirement several months prior to my return. I'd heard anecdotally that Nan Immigration may not authorize this type of conversion whereas most provinces do, such as in Chiang Mai and BKK. I am also of the understanding that I must submit my application only to the Nan office as we have no legal domicile in any other location. If anyone knows of a good agent up in Nan, please do suggest them to me. I normally did not use agents when living in Chiang Mai except for my annual retirement extension of stay, and once I've converted to a Non-O visa, I will probably just do the annual paperwork myself. Thanks in advance for any advice and cheers...

Can a person apply for an extension of stay based on retirement using a 45-day visa on arrival, or must it only be done with a non-O visa obtained from outside Thailand?

Can you please clarify which passport name you used to book flights for each journey? My wife’s Thai passport uses her maiden Thai surname while her U.S. passport was issued in her married (my) surname. I’m not sure how book a round trip for her….because the airline will likely not accept the Thai passport at check-in for the return flight to the U.S. if it doesn’t match the name shown in the U.S. passport used to travel to Thailand for the outbound leg.

I had same problem at our home in Chiang Mai. We had songbirds chirping up a cacophony every morning at sunup…too early for yours truly to rise and shine. I solved the problem by buying some 1/4-in plywood and cutting out a long strip matching the dimensions of our balcony, then I drove nails through the wood, creating a spiked surface that the birds decided wasn’t any fun. They flew over to my neighbors house instead ????. Then we had cats jumping up to vertical airflow slits formed in our concrete carport wall to roost and look for mice below. I used the same plywood/nails design and put an end to that problem…our furry friends venturing in from the street quickly decided to go elsewhere in search of prey. ????

I am interested in this topic as well. In early August after my Thai wife and I had been vacationing in Thailand visiting her family, I was nearing the end of my 30-day exempt visa which had been extended for an additional 30 days. This extension was granted by the Nan Immigration office. During this visit, my wife inquired if I could, in a future visit to Thailand, convert my initial exempt tourist visa to a 90-day Non-O at this office, as has been suggested by many in this forum as an easier, less difficult method to remain in Thailand and then apply for a subsequent annual retirement-based extension of stay. The officer explained that it was not possible to convert an exempt tourist visa that had been granted upon entry into a Non-O at their Nan office. This bit of news surprised me but I did not dispute what the young female captain told us, but simply went away confused as we prepared to fly back to the U.S. two weeks later. Does anybody truly know which immigration offices will grant a Non-O based on a visa exempt tourist entry? Based on our experience at Nan, it appears that not all offices will honor this procedure.

I was with my (Thai) wife visiting family in upper Nan Province and Mueang for six weeks back in June/July. I am very familiar with Nan as well, having spent a lot of accumulated time there over the past two decades. I can tell you that Nan is quite rudimentary when compared to Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai. Services and goods availability drop off dramatically compared to the larger northern cities. The only bikers I ever saw were simply using bikes to commute around Mueang Nan. Big C sells bikes but I can't speak to pricing, size/type or quality. Nan will also be getting chilly soon...coldest during December/January..so factor the weather in too.

Yes, you'd assume any sailing yacht of this size would have fitted an auxiliary or an outboard.