I'm 43 years old male married to a thai woman and we have a 1 yo kid holding a dual citizenship Thai and German. I also got a dual citizenship - English and German this time. We like to move to Thailand for permanent stay. I don't have a job in Thailand yet.

When I was at the Thai consulate in Hamburg/Germany last friday to fetch some informations and the application form, I've been told by the employee that I will need to have an account holding 3M THB in case I'm not working. Is that true? Does it matter witch passport I use for the visa?

I'm a little confused because my wife got a different information from immigration office in Bangkok.

After 1+ year we like to open a shop serving Thai and tourist. Any sugestions where I can get information about the requirements?

Thx a lot.

As a person married to a Thai, you are entitled to A Non-Immigrant O visa from abroad. To get that one year extension each year, you need to have a bank account in Thailand with 400,000 Th Baht in it, or evidence of income and savings. You can then get a work permit with a qualified employer.

That is correct and you can use either passport. Under 50 and without a job you are unlikely to obtain a support for Thai wife extension of stay so the 3 million investment visa would be your best choice to remain here without visa runs. That investment can also be in a new condo if approved in advance.

But if you have 40k per month that you can declare as income from abroad confirmed by your Embassy that should be considered as having a job and allow you to obtain an extension of stay under the support for Thai wife provision.

If you obtain employment here you can obtain extensions of stay on that basis and that could be as your own business. Sunbelt or Indo-Siam who post and advertise here can provide details.