I will be moving to Thailand on an non immigrant O (retirement) visa. I will not be working in Thailand but may work elsewhere in the world (Singapore, Europe etc). Work outside Thailand could be short time consulting (one to two weeks) or longer term (6-18 months) assignment.

Are there any rules or restrictions in place regarding need to physically reside in Thailand after I have the O retirement visa? Do I have to report anywhere on a regular basis to prove that I am physically 'in country'?

thanks

You have to renew every year and if in the country report your address every 90 days. There is no restriction on amount of time you must be resident in country.

Lopburi3 -- doesn't this arrangement (working outside of Thailand for part of the year on a retirement visa) violate the terms of the retirement visa? We can say that the Thai government might not know, but if they did -- would they cancel the visa? Are there any reports of that happening?

The only restriction on your travel is the use of re-entry permits. There is no requirement to stay or not stay any set time. The retirement extension of stay does not prohibit work in any case - it is the Labor Office not issuing work permits that does not allow work inside Thailand - last year or two they did issue permits for a time and people were allowed to work inside Thailand during that period.

I have retirement extensions for over 3 years and always buy multi-re-entry permits to keep them alive.

I still spend most of my time working in Japan waiting to eventually being able to spend most of my time in Thailand

You need to be in country to aplly for your extension for the time of the application within one month before your period of stay expiry

Actually, the written transaltion of the rules say 'proof of income' rather than pension for the 65K monthly requirement. I get my letter from the UK Embassy proving that Ihave a salary above the requirement but earned and paid outside of Thailand.

My former neighbor was on a retirement extension of a non-imm-O he obtained based on his retirement in Thailand, however, when he got the visa he made it clear to immigration that he was a oil rig manager and spent about half his time, ie. a month here and a month there earning his income. No problem they said as long as you don't earn your money in Thailand as the retirement extension specifies no work "in Thailand" they mean not no work at all.