Got My Retirment Visa Today

[jimbbc]

I only had a visa on arrival so I had to convert to a non-immigrant visa and I only had about 400,000 baht in the bank. My first step was to go to Bangkok, the US Embassy and get a notarized letter stating I had a pension and how much it was. I used the current exchange rate times my annual income and added that to my bank account and came up with more than the required 800,000 baht, then I went to the bank to get a letter saying my funds had been there more than three months.

I went to the Pattaya/ Jomtien immigration office to get the required documents. He only gave me one page, so I guessed at the rest.

Bank book original and 2 copies of all used pages.

Bank letter original and 2 copies.

Passport and 2 copies of front page and visa page.

2 pictures

That's all I can remember. It went fairly fast and is pretty much a blur.

I arrived at 0900 and saw the retirement officer in about 15 minutes. he promptly sent me to the non-o officer who set up the paperwork and sent me next door to make the copies I didn't originally have. He also collected 2000 baht for the non-o and 1900 baht for the retirement visa. He put a non-o in my passport, then sent me back to the retirement officer, who stamped in my passport a couple of times and sent me behind him to, I guess, the female officer in charge. She checked the paperwork, stamped my passport with a retirement visa, gave me a number and told me to come back at 2 pm. That trip was about 1:15 minutes. I came back at 2 pm and collected my passport, complete with one year retirement visa in about 5 minutes.

The whole thing was painless and the immigration officers were helpful when I wasn't completely prepared.

Before coming here, I was quoted 25,000 baht and 20,000 baht to help me get the retirement visa. they both said they had an inside person to take care of all the details. I guess we don't need outside help to get this all accomplished.

Good Luck.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Very well done. Thanks for the report.

[ProThaiExpat]

Wow, all in one visit. Many of us are required to wait two of the three months involved with the non-imm-O before applying for our extention. At least in Chiang Mai the last few months.

Now that you are an old hand at this, henceforth you should call the "retirment visa" by its correct name, an extention of a non-imm O (based on retirement)

[BigSnake]

HMMM! Good for you hope it work that smooth for all concern.

[naka]

Before coming here, I was quoted 25,000 baht and 20,000 baht to help me get the retirement visa. they both said they had an inside person to take care of all the details. I guess we don't need outside help to get this all accomplished.

That's right, it's a very simple process. You can have a HUGE celebration for 20-25 k.

Naka.