Smudgy

That's good to know. If it isn't a prerequisite at least I could talk to immigration about our plans and hopefully make progress. I have been told that Hua Hin immigration are pretty decent.

Thanks. We both intend to get our Non-O visas in the UK so I think the only query remaining is how long I need to arrange accommodation for so we can both get a certificate of residence. If we need to take a longer lease to obtain it then so be it but I would prefer to do a month or two then do some viewings to get the right place.

I'm currently in Hua Hin with my wife on a research trip with one eye firmly on retiring here, possibly later this year. We both plan on obtaining a Non-O Retirement Visa and getting the 1 year extension but there are a couple of points I'm a little confused about. I understand one of the most urgent tasks after arriving would be to open Thai bank accounts and deposit 800k in each but to open accounts we need a certificate of residence and to get that we need to present a lease agreement to immigration. How long would that lease need to be? Ideally what we'd like to do is, ahead of our arrival, secure a very short term let of maybe 1 or 2 months, perhaps through AirBnB or suchlike, whilst we look for a longer term property. Would immigration accept that and would they put both of us on the certificate?

Thanks guys. I think I'll just hold on to them and change them when I get back to the UK if it isn't going to be easy.

I've just returned to Hua Hin after a few days in Cambodia and I have three $100 bills left over that I was planning to change for baht. I had no idea that this was an issue but, although these notes are seemingly new and unused, they are series 2008 and I've just read that there can be an issue exchanging them? Is there anywhere in Hua Hin that is likely to exchange them?

At the moment, leaving the equivalent of 1.6m in a decent UK savings account would be worth around 64k so it's an avenue that could be worth exploring if it made the process simpler more than anything

What I thought was both of us would need to open Thai accounts at the earliest opportunity then transfer 800k into each of them ready for our first renewals but what you suggest is one of us leave 800k untouched in their account whilst the other utilises the 65k income method? At what point might it be worth using an agent and how do they alleviate the need for keeping money in the bank?

We'd definitely organise the O visas back here in the UK then get bank accounts opened as soon as possible after arriving in Thailand as I understand it can be problematic. The financial requirements of the LTR would be too high for us but the 800k or regular 65k would be ok. I can see that leaving 800k untouched is the simplest method but obviously we'd need money besides that to live on so if we transferred 65k each every month, even though it may be in excess of what we actually spend, it would at least then give us the option for future renewals and, if not needed for anything, we could transfer the original 800k back to our UK accounts. Having read a bit further into it though I think we'd probably just leave the 800k in the bank.

From what I've understood so far there doesn't seem any real advantage to getting visas as a British married couple so I think we'd apply individually and keep our finances separate as well.

No not married but would do it if it simplified matters. No Thai accounts as yet but tying up 800k wouldn't be a problem especially if we switched to regular income for the second year. I only found out about the DTV a few days ago and I'd certainly consider it as a plan B if necessary and I could obtain the necessary documents. I am naive as far as relocating is concerned but I've been to Thailand on several holidays and spent 2 months there earlier this year which is when we starting seriously thinking about living there.

Thank you for that. I didn't realise you couldn't do it for the first year.

My partner and I are both retired and are contemplating moving from the UK to Thailand possibly in around 12 months time and we are heading over at the beginning of next year to do a bit more boots-on-the-ground research. I've done a lot of reading about visas and would most likely apply for non-immigrant O visas here in the UK ahead of relocating but I have a couple of questions regarding finances. We both have eSIPP pensions alongside stocks and shares ISAs maintained by an investment company here in the UK. I understand that if we opt for showing a lump sum to satisfy the financial requirements we'd both need to move around £18000 into bank accounts ahead of any visa application this end and then show it as 800,000 baht in Thai accounts ahead of applying for a visa extension at the end of the initial 90 days but does it matter what type of account we opened? Is it possible to put it in savings accounts that accrue interest or does it have to go into current accounts where it would effectively lose value due to inflation? We've also considered the 65,000 baht per month regular income option to satisfy financial requirements but are unsure how this would work. For our part we could arrange for the GBP equivalent to be deposited regularly into our UK accounts and then transfer to our Thai accounts on the same date each month but how would we prove it as regular income when applying for the visa extension as we would only be able to show probably 2 months of transactions after setting up Thai accounts? I've assumed that the regular income option would be advantageous in that we could spend the money used to prove our finances rather than having to leave it dormant in a bank account but would appreciate some advice.