The "retirement" Avenue - Few Questions

[bangkokburning]

I am giving up on the TR deal and looking into a "Retirement Visa". Biggest trouble is I am 49 in about a month.

Reading on TV seems possible to leave my cash in an US account and get a notarized letter to the embassy Thai OR

Swear a statement to US State Dept official. If I do the former I will also need some sort of police clearance.

Is it possible to have a "Retirement Visa" fixed in say Pattaya - but then report to BKK? My primary residence will be BKK and I will not be going anywhere near Pattaya (an old haunt) but traveling a good deal in the south.

Is it possible for my non-prostitute girlfriend with stable job and apartment sponsor my non-o under guarrantor? Would it matter?

What sort of complications does the multi bring?

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This year do you think I can I beg a Non Imm O (3x) for purpose of setting up a bank account, transf money and conversion to the proper retirement visa class?

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Thank you. I'll be on Ko Adang/Rawi and Tarutao and ot able to check the post. Thx in advance.

PS: While I would like to list my gf's flat as my residence, I will not have any receipts in my name. Will this be required? In fact, I can't think of any bill I would have sent to the residence. I don't have bills. Problem? Workaround? I plan on spending about ten days traveling w/o her, ten days with her and ten days with her in BKK (Nov-May). Monsoon season I will spend much more time in BKK. Thx

Edited March 2, 2010 by bangkokburning

[Mario2008]

You seem not to qualify for a non-immigrant visa untill you are 50. You could study, for example Thai language to qualify for a visa. Costs are around 29,000 a year, plus around 8,000 for your extensions.

You would not need a sponsor.

When you turn 50 you can apply for a visa based on retirement. There are two different visas you can apply for if you are over 50. The regular non-O which only requires you to have sufficient income or money and the O-A which also requires a police and health check.

For extending the your permission to stay it doesn't matter, the same rules apply. Currently you either have an income of 65,000 a month OR 800,000 in a bank account in Thailand OR a combination of yearly income and money in the bank totaling 800,000. (This is only for the extension, not to get the visa).