4 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You need the medical insurance for every entry allowed by the OA via.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I was hoping it won’t be needed during the bonus year/months of visa validity. 
I would perhaps just go into the non-O or visa exempt entry and apply for extension based on retirement.

One more question please.

I have a bank account already and have slowly building my funds in baht. It has been active for quite some time. If I decided to go for visa extension, I would just top up to get it to 800k. Do they check that it should all come from overseas transaction? It did all come from overseas funds. My problem is that, it has been open for 5 or so years already, and sometimes I deposited my leftovers from my vacation. It is cash transaction though obtained from money changers. 

1 minute ago, ryanqqq said:

Thanks for the clarification. I was hoping it won’t be needed during the bonus year/months of visa validity. 
I would perhaps just go into the non-O or visa exempt entry and apply for extension based on retirement.

One more question please.

I have a bank account already and have slowly building my funds in baht. It has been active for quite some time. If I decided to go for visa extension, I would just top up to get it to 800k. Do they check that it should all come from overseas transaction? It did all come from overseas funds. My problem is that, it has been open for 5 or so years already, and sometimes I deposited my leftovers from my vacation. It is cash transaction though obtained from money changers. 

I had a (Bangkok Bank) bank account for about 5 years before I applied for my extension based on retirement. I actually had to reduce it to 800k because IO in Phetchaburi was trying to squeeze me.  I finally acquired my extension in Nonthabhuri and was never asked to prove it came from the UK ( it did circuitously via a paid invoice), nor indeed anything other than the amount and timescale.

2 minutes ago, DaLa said:

I had a (Bangkok Bank) bank account for about 5 years before I applied for my extension based on retirement. I actually had to reduce it to 800k because IO in Phetchaburi was trying to squeeze me.  I finally acquired my extension in Nonthabhuri and was never asked to prove it came from the UK ( it did circuitously via a paid invoice), nor indeed anything other than the amount and timescale.

Thanks for this info. One less worry. 

I’m planning on staying in Bangkok as I prefer the bustle of city life. So hopefully they are OK with this as well. Worst case is I’d just transfer what is needed and use my current funds for  living expenses.

 

btw, sorry to Grecian for sort of hijacking his thread. I just have similar plans as you do, and I didn’t  want to create a similar thread.

On 5/7/2021 at 11:41 PM, Grecian said:

I'm 53

 

Some might have said your a little young, I haven't read the responses yet, but I retired at 55, but not before making sure I had enough $'s to back me till I am 101 years of age based on my monthly budget of 70,000 baht per month.

 

On 5/7/2021 at 11:41 PM, Grecian said:

would like to live there with a retirement visa

 

That's the easy part, but if you haven't considered private health cover, that would be the first thing I would look at, and a modest budget of 50,000 baht per month on top of whatever you private health insurance is going to cost you, then multiply that by the amount of years you intend on staying alive.

 

A lot of guys here struggling from poor planning, noting the pound, $ fluctuates, and living off of a pension, well good luck with that, sorry to all you pensioners, but I could live like that, call me a snob.