I am currently in Thailand on a 60 day tourist visa, I am retired over 50 and divorced, and now wish to obtain a Retirement visa.

I understand I will need to have a local bank account with at least Bt. 800 k in it in order to get the Retirement visa but my questions relate only to obtaining the initial 90 day Non. Imm. 'O' as I understand I cannot go directly from a tourist visa to a Retirement visa.

What is the correct terminology for this (90 day 1 entry Non. Imm. 'O') ? .

Can I get this visa at the Penang Consulate.

How many days to issue.

Is a minimum local bank balance required for this 90 day O visa.

( it will take a couple of weeks for the 800 k to arrive from overseas )

Any advise would be most welcome.

Believe several people have recently been able to go directly from tourist visa to retirement visa here in Bangkok by contacting (room 301?) with the money in a Thai bank account so it seems to be something that can be done. I would not try to do anything, except ask questions, before you have the money in a bank account and believe Penang would want to see that also prior to issue of a non immigrant visa. If you wire transfer funds it should not take more than 36 hours to be in your account here.