800,000 in my Thai bank account, yes.
Valid passport, plus yellow house book and pink Thai ID card, yes.
Wife that doesn't live with me, yes. So won't bother with a spouse extension.
Is it better to enter the country with a visa extension and go straight to the immigration office and apply to change it to a Non Immigrant visa based on retirement, then also a 12 month extension.
Or apply for a non immigrant visa based on retirement outside of Thailand, enter on that and then go to the immigration office to apply for a 12 month extension?
One of those requires insurance?
Which could be okay. Do they have a partner insurance company that offers a decent competitive package? Or are you on your own to get your own insurance?
I was told that agents in Pattaya offer retirement extensions for maybe 28,000 BAHT for the first year then 15000 BAHT every year after? And you don't need to keep 800,000 BAHT in the bank? Is that true?
I can buy a small studio apartment for 800,000THB that would rent for 5,000 BAHT per month, even if unrented for 4 months every year it's still 40,000 BAHT which covers the agent fees plus some change.
But the main question is about which is better, arrive with no visa or arrive with a non immigrant visa for retirement? And insurance. Which one requires it? Do they have an insurance package set up that is used for it?