This is a bit of an academic question for me at the moment but the idea popped into my head that a safer way to explore the viability of retiring in another country would be to get a retirement visa in the new country while still keeping the current Thailand retirement annual extension valid with a reentry permit.

 

Thinking about this I doubt it's that rare especially with so many expats in Thailand moving to Cambodia. I assume some or many of them keep current extensions valid as a backup option.

 

So does anyone know if Thailand immigration would care about that? People having valid retirement visas (and/or extensions) for two countries in their passport at the same time?

 

My guess is that they wouldn't even check for such a thing but some countries have really big and colorful visa stamps or stickers, so they certainly might notice.

 

Of course the other obvious question is if the immigration authorities in the new country would care (if they noticed) that they were granting a retirement visa to a person with the same type of thing in another country. I assume that they wouldn't care as they would probably assume that you're going to be leaving that other country (Thailand) anyway as you're applying to stay in their country. 

To expand on this a bit, anyone considering this type of tactic (a safer back up option stepped tryout of a new country) you first need to find out the residency policy of the new country. Thailand for example has almost no residency requirement for those on retirement extensions. In other words you could literally fly in for a few days a year and deal with your new extension and then leave Thailand until the next year's extension time. Why anyone would want to do that is another question.

 

But it's my understanding that most countries DO have some kind of residency requirements for those on retirement status. Sometimes they are very severe (like don't even leave for a very long time) and sometimes more reasonable. So you'd have to know those specific rules for the new country if the plan is skip between countries for awhile.

I very much doubt that officials in Thailand or Cambodia would care about an existing visa or extension granted by another country. However, a cancelled visa, on the other hand, could lead to questions by officials of the second country 'why it was cancelled'.

I doubt they would care, on more than one occasion I have had retirement visa for Thailand and work visa for other countries, not the same scenario, but none of the countries had any interest in other country visa's.

Yes you can do that. Many people have multiple visas from multiple countries in their passport.

 

The only thing is if you have a few expensive multi year visas then do not lose your passport. Some countries will not replace visa vignettes, meaning the cost and hassle involved in replacing multiple visas could be a burden.

27 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

...So does anyone know if Thailand immigration would care about that? People having valid retirement visas (and/or extensions) for two countries in their passport at the same time?...

 

Thai immigration would not care about it.

Removed a troll post.

9 minutes ago, Maestro said:

 

Thai immigration would not care about it.

Not one little bit.

1 hour ago, Thailand said:

Not one little bit.

NO They only care about MONEY.....

I know several people who have and maintain a retirement extension in Thailand while also having some kind of residence status in another country that isn't their home country. I've never heard of this being an issue for anyone.