I want to thank everyone on this board for some great input on all topics.My situation is that i am planning to move to the Jomtien area in about 3-4 months and will be living there year round with maybe 1 month in the US. I can easily get a retirement visa as I am 52 yrs. old and have the 800,000 bht to put into a thai bank. My question is that I am planning on getting a teaching certificate and hopefully working part-time teaching english. I understand that I will need a work visa when I start to teach and receive income from it. I am not sure when I will enroll in school to receive my cert. for teaching so should I just get a retirement visa and then get the working visa when needed or should I be getting a different type of visa now.

Thanks.

Eric

You can do it in several ways.

1. Obtain a single or multi entry O visa from a small consulate and use that for either retirement or work extension later.

2. Obtain O/A in US without need to send money for first year and convert visa later for work.

Be advised that you cannot work on a retirement visa.

You need to obtain a non immigrant visa that is good for one year but only allows you to stay in the country for 90 days. You will have to make visa runs. When you get a job your employer will apply for your work permit.