If I have a Non-O spouse visa, and my spouse dies, would I still be able to maintain and extend my visa - or would the Thai government compassionately invite me to leave their country? I guess in other words, under Thai law, does the death of a spouse effectively terminate the marriage and your visa? If it does than it would be too bad for the extended family -- step-son, grandkids, grandma, aunts, cousins, etc -- that directly benefit from my support.

We're both getting up there in years. My wife brought it up in a discussion, obviously in concern for the extended family.

You would no longer be allowed to extend your permission to stay based on being married to a Thai national.

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Maestro

The day the marriage ends (divorce or death) is the day you have to leave Thailand. In the case of death of your spouse immigration seems to be lenient and doesn't expect you leave right away, but your permission to stay expires all the same.

Instead you would need to extend your stay based on another reason. Some people will qualify on for a stay on other grounds, like having a Thai child or based on retirement. Hard as it is some will indeed have to leave the country.

But leaving the country could be as benign as a border run for a visa exempt entry or an overnight for a tourist visa. They would also have the same ED visa options as others use to stay longer.

That would probably mean coming up with an additional 400K for a retirement visa which would be 400K that is not available for living expenses -- but it probably would help some Bangkok banker afford another BMW for his mia noi. Considering that money doesn't grow on any of the trees that I have in my garden, that would put a serious crimp in family finances. I guess on the flip side there are a truckload of eligible middle aged Thai women out there. I guess a marriage in the mutual interest of personal security isn't out of the question. Like Tina Turner sang, "What's love got to do with it..." Just funny though -- that Thais haven't figured out that kicking the primary breadwinner out of the country is detrimental to the Thai family that receives the support. I guess it should be expected in a country where xenophobia runs deep. Anyway, hopefully she outlives me for everyone's sake.

It (retirement extension) would require proving each year access to 800k or a monthly pension of 65k or a combination - you could use that for living expense as there is no requirement to keep in a bank account all year.

That would probably mean coming up with an additional 400K for a retirement visa which would be 400K that is not available for living expenses -- but it probably would help some Bangkok banker afford another BMW for his mia noi...

You seem to believe that an immigration officer can lay his hands on the money a foreigner has in a Thai bank account for the purpose of applying for an extension of stay. What made you thinks so?

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Maestro

That would probably mean coming up with an additional 400K for a retirement visa which would be 400K that is not available for living expenses -- but it probably would help some Bangkok banker afford another BMW for his mia noi...

You seem to believe that an immigration officer can lay his hands on the money a foreigner has in a Thai bank account for the purpose of applying for an extension of stay. What made you thinks so?

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Maestro

Not so... I said that I would have to put and additional 400K baht in my bank account that would then "effectively" becomes unavailable for the support of my family. I inferred that it only benefits the bottom line of the bank and I said that , " ...it probably would help some Bangkok banker afford another BMW for his mia noi...". That statement was sarcasm and it was meant to be. I'd rather my money go to the support of my prai ไพร่ family and not some amart อำมาตย์ bankster.

Please re-read the thread. I never said or inferred that any immigration officer could access anyone's bank accounts. R.t.f.t. ครับ :jap: