Is it possible to obtain a non-o retirement visa from a Thai embassy in our home country (US in my case)? It seems that it's easier to show proof of pension income at an embassy outside Thailand.. In my case, documentation from a state agency showing proof of my pension. I'm hoping this way I wouldn't need to place 800k baht in a Thai bank.

 

Also, would my wife (non-Thai) be able to piggyback on this somehow, as she doesn't have her own pension to meet the requirement? We would both be at least 50 years old. I very much appreciate any info here.

Just keep in mind a non O will get you 90 days. After that you'll still need to consider funds in Thailand for extension past that. 

You can get O-A Visa in USA and keep the money in US bank.

Would need to provide police report and health insurance with this option.

HIGHLY recommended you do so.

27 minutes ago, tonray said:

Just keep in mind a non O will get you 90 days. After that you'll still need to consider funds in Thailand for extension past that. 

I see, thanks. I guess we may have to put money in a Thai bank.

3 minutes ago, lubam said:

I see, thanks. I guess we may have to put money in a Thai bank.

You can use the income method which would involve transferring at least 65k baht to your Thailand bank account every month. Some offices may ask for pension documents as a backup but not usuually. But the transfers must show as overseas into Thailand.

18 minutes ago, Lite Beer said:

You can get O-A Visa in USA and keep the money in US bank.

Would need to provide police report and health insurance with this option.

I've actually been considering this as an option. The only hangup may be the insurance thing. I have a US hmo insurance which is supposed to cover us for urgent/emergency care for overseas travel (Kaiser). I wonder if the Thai embassy here in California would accept that for OA? If so, that could work because we plan to return to California every year for a couple months..so theoretically we could just get a new OA while we're back home, rather than extending within Thailand, therefore not having to keep money in a Thai bank..?

9 minutes ago, lubam said:

I've actually been considering this as an option. The only hangup may be the insurance thing. I have a US hmo insurance which is supposed to cover us for urgent/emergency care for overseas travel (Kaiser). I wonder if the Thai embassy here in California would accept that for OA? If so, that could work because we plan to return to California every year for a couple months..so theoretically we could just get a new OA while we're back home, rather than extending within Thailand, therefore not having to keep money in a Thai bank..?

It's possible but your insurance company will need to sign a Thai document stating you have 400/40k baht coverage, which is unlikely to happen. 

7 minutes ago, tonray said:

It's possible but your insurance company will need to sign a Thai document stating you have 400/40k baht coverage, which is unlikely to happen. 

That's right, I forgot about that document requirement with the 400/40k stipulation. Yeah, that would probably be a pain to actually get signed here, especially having to do it repeatedly every time we wanted to get a new OA.