Hi Folks,

I was told at the Mae Sai immigation office that I could only get a retirement extension on a non imm o visa and that I had to prove a 40k baht per month income. I'm not married so how and where do I get this visa? Laos? Malaysia? I have 800k baht on the way from the States but I don't have a 40k baht per month income.

Help please,

Joe

Either you misunderstood or Mai Sai did.

1. If you have more than 21 days remaining on a visa exempt or tourist visa entry Immigration can issue a non immigrant O visa at a cost of 2,000 baht for those that meet the requirements for extension of stay. Mai Sai may not be able to do but suspect Chiang Mai could.

2. A retirement extension of stay requires you to be older than 50 and have 800k in a Thai bank account for the previous 3 months or have 65k per month pension as listed in a letter from your embassy or a combination of the two.

3. 40k per month income is only for those with Thai family (marriage).

4. With proof of funds and explanation of why you may be able to obtain a single entry non immigrant O visa in Laos or Malaysia or Singapore.

Edit: I see on second read you do not yet have the money in a Thai bank and can not use income so you will not be in a position to make an extension of stay application for over three months.

Lopburi3,

Thanks for the info. I was geting information from Mae Sai for the future, 3 months from when my money arrives. Good to know that I can get the non imm o in Panang or Laos or Chiang Mai.

Cheers,

Joe

lopburi3: A nuance if you please, assume otherwise qualified applicant applies for non-imm-O from a tourist visa or entry permit with 800K money in bank but not aged 90 days at that point, but would be aged at the time the extension would be applied for in 70 days.

Would a non-imm-O probably issue, ie. is the 90 day aging required for the non-imm-O based on retirement as it is for the extension???

As far as I know immigration is still using the old criteria for change of visa (believe that is the question) and would issue a non immigrant visa on the basis of 800k in a bank account - only for the actual extension of stay would it have to have been in account 3 months (if using bank account method).

In this case the money is not yet in Thailand so would not meet conditions for extension before the 3 month visa expired if he needs the visa immediately.