O visa with non-Thai wife, need 800k times two?

[lubam]

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!

[sirineou]

I dont think so ,

I think one of you gets the retirement visa and needs the funds, and the other gets a dependants visa and does not need the funds.

But others more educated in the subjects will verify. 

[ubonjoe]

Your wife can get an extension for being a member of you family based upon you having an extension for retirement. No financial proof is needed.

She will need a non-o visa issued by an embassy or consulate.

[lubam]

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.

[fishtank]

The choice is up to you.

You can both get retirement extensions in your own right.

Or one of you can get an extension based on being a spouse.

[pipbcn]

20 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Your wife can get an extension for being a member of you family based upon you having an extension for retirement. No financial proof is needed.

She will need a non-o visa issued by an embassy or consulate.

they cannot get the non- o visa in Thailand at the same time as spouse dependant? How she can get the non-o visa at the embassy or consulate if the husband /wife don't have one? 

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, pipbcn said:

they cannot get the non- o visa in Thailand at the same time as spouse dependant? How she can get the non-o visa at the embassy or consulate if the husband /wife don't have one? 

If they were both able to get the non-o visa at a embassy or consulate it can be done.

If he was not able to get a non-o visa prior to arriving he could apply for a 90 day non immigrant visa (category O) entry at immigration based upon qualifying for an extension of stay based upon retirement. Then he could get the one year extension during the last 30 days of the 90 day entry.

Immigration will not issue a non immigrant visa for a family member of a person who has an extension based upon retirement.The family member would then have to go out for a single entry non-o visa at a nearby embassy or consulate. It could be done after the visa is issued by immigration to the one getting it based upon retirement.

[Bunker]

If you meet all the qualifications your wife will be considered as your dependent and receive the same visa as you. It has applied to me for fifteen years now, with no problems.

 

[ubonjoe]

Some off topic posts and replies to them have been removed.

[soisanuk]

41 minutes ago, Bunker said:

If you meet all the qualifications your wife will be considered as your dependent and receive the same visa as you. It has applied to me for fifteen years now, with no problems.

 

True, BUT as mentioned by Ubonjoe, the dependent spouse must have a Non-Immigrant "O" Visa for the first such extension which they cannot obtain in Thailand -- their spouse (the retiree) if they entered on a Tourist Visa or Visa Exempt can apply for the "O" Visa in Thailand, receive it with a 90 day permission to stay, and then apply for a one year stay based on retirement. The retiree spouse will need to meet the age and financial requirements.  However, that option to obtain a Non-O Visa withing Thailand is not available to the dependent, although if they wish, they too can apply as a retiree in their own right, requiring they be at least 50 years of age and show another 800k baht.

 

The dependent spouse, if they entered using a Tourist Visa or Visa Exempt (a one time extension of 30 days to their permission to stay can be obtained in Thailand), will need to leave Thailand and apply for a Non-Immigrant O Visa at a Thai Embassy/Consulate on the basis of being a dependent to a retiree (proof of spousal relationship and retiree having been granted a long stay extension will be needed). If the spouse accompanies them, they will need to be sure and get a Re-Entry Permit to keep their extension valid.  When the dependent spouse returns on the Non-O Visa, they will receive a 90 day permission to stay.  They along with retiree spouse can go to Thai Immigration and apply for a long stay extension based on being the dependent spouse - no additional financial requirements are necessary.  They will receive a permission to stay that will expire at the same time as their retiree spouse.

 

The following year, they simply go to Immigration with the retiree spouse obtaining a one year extension based on their meeting the financial requirements and the dependent spouse "piggy backing" and getting a similar extension of stay based on the retiree spouse's extension.

 

[Max69xl]

21 hours ago, lubam said:

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.

You save a lot of money when using the dependency method. Better when you just need 800k in the bank, instead of 2x 800k in the bank. But the account in the thai bank must be in your name only when using it for immigration purposes. 

[Letseng]

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

If they were both able to get the non-o visa at a embassy or consulate it can be done.

If he was not able to get a non-o visa prior to arriving he could apply for a 90 day non immigrant visa (category O) entry at immigration based upon qualifying for an extension of stay based upon retirement. Then he could get the one year extension during the last 30 days of the 90 day entry.

Immigration will not issue a non immigrant visa for a family member of a person who has an extension based upon retirement.The family member would then have to go out for a single entry non-o visa at a nearby embassy or consulate. It could be done after the visa is issued by immigration to the one getting it based upon retirement.

We recently applied for non O visa ME in Austria. Although the website didn't state it, they wanted twice proof of 20.000€. Not the website shown 5.000€ ea.

Rules differ depending where you apply.

Beware of suddenly changed goal posts.

Edited December 20, 2019 by Letseng

[captpkapoor]

When we first came to Thailand, having obtained our initial Non-Immigrant O-A in our home country, they were happy to accept my wife as dependent and only I needed to maintain 800 k baht. About 3 years later, we were at Chaeng Wattana for the yearly extension, and the lady IO asked my wife also to have her separate 800 k. Luckily I had enough money to go to the bank next day and open a separate deposit for her. Only then did she get her extension! Now we both just keep our separate deposits.

[Max69xl]

1 hour ago, captpkapoor said:

When we first came to Thailand, having obtained our initial Non-Immigrant O-A in our home country, they were happy to accept my wife as dependent and only I needed to maintain 800 k baht. About 3 years later, we were at Chaeng Wattana for the yearly extension, and the lady IO asked my wife also to have her separate 800 k. Luckily I had enough money to go to the bank next day and open a separate deposit for her. Only then did she get her extension! Now we both just keep our separate deposits.

You should have asked for a supervisor that time at CW, because the IO was wrong. The dependancy option is still officially available. 

[pipbcn]

11 hours ago, Max69xl said:

You should have asked for a supervisor that time at CW, because the IO was wrong. The dependancy option is still officially available. 

same happened to me in Trat and the supervisor said "no way both need 800.000" 

[ubonjoe]

9 minutes ago, pipbcn said:

same happened to me in Trat and the supervisor said "no way both need 800.000" 

Perhaps show them this page on the immigration website. https://www.immigration.go.th/content/service_20

A extension based upon retirement is clause 2.22.

[Max69xl]

1 hour ago, pipbcn said:

same happened to me in Trat and the supervisor said "no way both need 800.000" 

Then he also doesn't have a clue about official dependancy options. This option has been available for many years. I read about it 2005. 

[pipbcn]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Perhaps show them this page on the immigration website. https://www.immigration.go.th/content/service_20

A extension based upon retirement is clause 2.22.

yes, I showed him the page and he said no, then I showed him the bankbook of adjoining account with 1.600.000 and he said no, separate accounts. He doesn't like farangs. At last we have to have separate extensions. 

You know better than nobody that there's no fixed rules, is always a lottery. 

[fishtank]

40 minutes ago, pipbcn said:

yes, I showed him the page and he said no, then I showed him the bankbook of adjoining account with 1.600.000 and he said no, separate accounts. He doesn't like farangs. At last we have to have separate extensions. 

You know better than nobody that there's no fixed rules, is always a lottery. 

There are fixed rules but some of those clowns seem to enjoy not following them.

Edited December 21, 2019 by fishtank

[Max69xl]

1 hour ago, pipbcn said:

yes, I showed him the page and he said no, then I showed him the bankbook of adjoining account with 1.600.000 and he said no, separate accounts. He doesn't like farangs. At last we have to have separate extensions. 

You know better than nobody that there's no fixed rules, is always a lottery. 

He was correct regarding the separate accounts,but still not correct about the dependancy part. Did you ask for a supervisor? 

[pipbcn]

7 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

He was correct regarding the separate accounts,but still not correct about the dependancy part. Did you ask for a supervisor? 

he was the high level supervisor, the Boss... 

[Max69xl]

6 minutes ago, pipbcn said:

he was the high level supervisor, the Boss... 

Maybe he didn't read the official police order in thai? ????

[lubam]

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.

[ubonjoe]

9 hours ago, lubam said:

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.

You should not have to worry about having the 800k baht in a bank. The posts that said they needed it are a rarity and there might of been extenuating circumstance that caused it to be needed.

You can earn interest on the funds. There is no rule than you cannot. You can have the funds in a fixed term account instead of a standard savings account that pays a higher interest rate.

[lubam]

Nice, thanks for that info.

[Max69xl]

31 minutes ago, lubam said:

Nice, thanks for that info.

You get 1,5% interest in a 12 months FDA compared to 0,5% in a savings account. This is at Bangkok Bank. 

[captpkapoor]

On 12/20/2019 at 10:07 PM, Max69xl said:

You should have asked for a supervisor that time at CW, because the IO was wrong. The dependancy option is still officially available. 

I'm too scared to argue with them. It's a stressful time for me to be dealing with Thai bureaucracy in any form. I showed her our respective passports (in my country, the name of the spouse is also printed on the last page), and our marriage certificate from 1980, and she said: "But maybe you leave her one day, and she have no money. So she must have her own deposit."

[captpkapoor]

9 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You should not have to worry about having the 800k baht in a bank. The posts that said they needed it are a rarity and there might of been extenuating circumstance that caused it to be needed.

You can earn interest on the funds. There is no rule than you cannot. You can have the funds in a fixed term account instead of a standard savings account that pays a higher interest rate.

Yes, absolutely correct. all our deposits are 18 months. both at Krungsri and Bangkok Bank, you get 1.5% interest.

[Max69xl]

5 hours ago, captpkapoor said:

I'm too scared to argue with them. It's a stressful time for me to be dealing with Thai bureaucracy in any form. I showed her our respective passports (in my country, the name of the spouse is also printed on the last page), and our marriage certificate from 1980, and she said: "But maybe you leave her one day, and she have no money. So she must have her own deposit."

One problem is that every person at immigration doesn't know everything about the different types of visas, especially dependency visas. It's nothing wrong asking for a supervisor.