lubam

7 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

The Department of Consular Affairs of the MFA will not legalize a foreign marriage certificate. It has to legalized in your home country or embassy here if they will do it. 

Thanks, I very much appreciate you sharing that info. We may very well decide to go that route.

9 hours ago, mikebike said:

The non-O would be cheaper and less hassle with the younger of you following the elder as dependant. You must have marriage cert and MoFA legalization of marriage cert.

Nice, thanks. I had heard about needing the marriage certificate, but didn't know about ministry of foreign affairs legalization. That's good to know.

9 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

It's a long way off (possibly never) just be aware that for a married coupe to live in Thailand (both non-thai) only one of you would need the non O retirement.

The other can obtain extensions based on your dependent. 

Look into that if one day  plan live in Thailand full time.

We definitely will look into that route. I appreciate the advice.

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

Are you 50+

Not yet, but we both will be pretty soon. There are also some family reasons that may delay us living in Thailand, but we're still making tentative plans for now. I've been looking at the Non-O option based on retirement, if we decide to try to live there full time, rather than just half the year. It's going to depend on some things back home though.

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

It's an excellent visa.

Some problems do/can arise when used to live almost continuously in Thailand. 

Many countries have visa exempt entry. Some folk max out the METV and with 2 border visa exempt entries allowed per calendar year then by obtaining extension for each then in reality your living in Thailand. 

Not passing opinion on that.

That's why I mentioned in previous post that "time out of Thailand" also comes into play. I don't mean a weekend.

For someone to use a METV for eg 7 or 8 month stay and spend the next 4or 5 outside of Thailand then most likely can do ongoing.

I was using TV when first living in Thailand. In those days you could buy a triple (think so, long time ago). 

My routine was to take a break in the wonderful Saigon and obtain tourist visas. 

Eventually the io said to me ..."why you no have retirement visa you 50 up"

After that I obtained my first non O (retirement)

 

That makes sense. My wife and I are considering possibly just visiting Thailand (rather than living there all year), but for at least 6 months every year, then coming back to California for the rest of the year. Then hopefully repeating that indefinitely. It seems like a decent option for us, although we also wouldn't mind just living full time in Thailand too. We still have some time to see what's best for us in the near future. Thanks again.

21 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

I'm guessing your asking about a FUTURE plan. Hopefully when/if entries become somewhat back to pre covid times then METV is excellent way to have extended stay in Thailand and doing that ongoing. The time spent between the the stays also helps. 

Currently not really practical. 

 

Yes, sorry I should've mentioned I'm asking about post-covid times regarding metv. It does seem like an ideal option for someone who wants to stay in Thailand for several months every year, rather than all year. I appreciate the feedback.

I see. Thanks ubonjoe. 

I apologize if this has been answered already. It seems that the rules (or at least the enforcement of some rules) are in a state of flux sometimes. Question.. Are multiple entry tourist visas a reliable option for someone to stay in Thailand for 6 to 9 months every year, indefinitely? Or do you see immigration eventually not allowing someone in after seeing he has used that route for several years? It seems to be an ideal visa for the snowbird type of part time expat. Thanks for any personal insights or experiences.

7 minutes ago, tonray said:

It's possible but your insurance company will need to sign a Thai document stating you have 400/40k baht coverage, which is unlikely to happen. 

That's right, I forgot about that document requirement with the 400/40k stipulation. Yeah, that would probably be a pain to actually get signed here, especially having to do it repeatedly every time we wanted to get a new OA.

18 minutes ago, Lite Beer said:

You can get O-A Visa in USA and keep the money in US bank.

Would need to provide police report and health insurance with this option.

I've actually been considering this as an option. The only hangup may be the insurance thing. I have a US hmo insurance which is supposed to cover us for urgent/emergency care for overseas travel (Kaiser). I wonder if the Thai embassy here in California would accept that for OA? If so, that could work because we plan to return to California every year for a couple months..so theoretically we could just get a new OA while we're back home, rather than extending within Thailand, therefore not having to keep money in a Thai bank..?

27 minutes ago, tonray said:

Just keep in mind a non O will get you 90 days. After that you'll still need to consider funds in Thailand for extension past that. 

I see, thanks. I guess we may have to put money in a Thai bank.

Is it possible to obtain a non-o retirement visa from a Thai embassy in our home country (US in my case)? It seems that it's easier to show proof of pension income at an embassy outside Thailand.. In my case, documentation from a state agency showing proof of my pension. I'm hoping this way I wouldn't need to place 800k baht in a Thai bank.

Also, would my wife (non-Thai) be able to piggyback on this somehow, as she doesn't have her own pension to meet the requirement? We would both be at least 50 years old. I very much appreciate any info here.

Got it..thanks so much.

I appreciate all the info regarding my previous question about the 800k in the bank. I have another question re: non-immigrant O visas based on retirement..

It seems that the initial 90 day O visa that is issued to you is only a single entry visa. When it comes time to apply for an extension based on retirement age, is it possible to get it as a multiple entry? My wife and I will be traveling a lot, and I will have to make many trips back to the US due to aging parents. Thanks again for the advice..this site has been a good resource for us.

Nice, thanks for that info.

I appreciate all the feedback. It's all very helpful, including some of the experiences of being told to have two separate 800k bank accounts. That is good to be know, even if the IO's are technically incorrect.

Quick followup question.. Are we able to earn interest on that 800k in the Thai bank account? That would at least make things more reasonable to me, especially if we eventually had to open two separate accounts with 800k each.

Thank you both for the quick replies. I very much appreciate it. That is a reassuring answer to the question. Hopefully, the visa rules won't get even stricter over there in the future. I guess only time will tell. Thanks again.

I apologize if this has already been answered already, but I was wondering if anyone knows the rule regarding the following:

My non-Thai wife and I plan to retire in Thailand (from the US) in the near future, at which time we’ll both be in our 50’s. To avoid the insurance requirement, we plan to enter Thailand on either a visa exempt 30 day or a tourist visa, then later get an extension of stay based on retirement on an O visa. I understand this requires 800k baht in a Thai bank at least 60 days before applying for the extension of stay. My question is, do we need two separate Thai bank accounts with 800k baht in each account, as there are two of us? Or is there a provision allowing for my wife to obtain an O visa as a spouse/dependant, so that she doesn’t also need her own 800k baht in a Thai bank account?

We have the funds to store what comes out to about $26,000 USD in a Thai bank indefinitely, but doubling that amount (for the two of us) starts to make things a bit more unreasonable for us. I do appreciate any info regarding this!