Retirement Visa - When To Apply?

[Jingthing]

No police report is required for extensions based on retirement done in Thailand. No medical reports either. Those are required if going for an O-A visa from your home country. So if you plan on starting with a retirement extension in Thailand from an O visa, a good time to apply is 30 days before expiration of your permission to stay, and don't worry about the police report, don't bother getting it!

[Jingthing]

Actually you do not need 800,000 baht on deposit. The regulations state that you prove to Thai authorities that you have available income of 65,000 baht a month / 800,000 baht a year. This could be 400,000 in a Thai bank and proof of 35,000 baht a month coming from offshore sources. In fact you could have less in the bank, but this would only be advisable to retirees with seasoned retirement visas in their passports.

In short, you must show Thai Immigration that you have access to funds in the amount of 800,000 baht, both in-country and offshore available at the time of visa application. You just have to prove your financial responsibility. It is possible to live upcountry on 15,000 baht a month and leave the balance in a Thai bank. There is also a hidden advantage here, in that baht deposits are returning more revenue (currency Exchange) in dollars and euros than U.S. or Euro banks.

Get the visa - just smile allot, and present a neatly ordered application package. Easy.

The OP asked about the 800K method. You're right, it's not the only way to qualify.

If using the combination method as described, I don't agree with you that there is a problem with a small bank account as long as the income plus the bank account goes over 800K per year (be careful about exchange rates though). For example if you have a pension of 750K baht and a bank account of 50k baht that's just as "OK" as a pension of 200K baht and an account of 600K baht. Your point about people needing to be long term extenders to have a small bank account baffles me.

[Lite Beer]

Just to confirm that a Police Report is not required and will not be asked for.