I have an Australian acquaintance 72 years old who wants to stay in Chiang Mai. He arrived recently on a 30 day tourist visa. Can he go to immigration and apply for a 90 day O visa with the goal of future retirement? And then later apply for the OA visa for one year? I believe his pension is under the 65K Baht per month but he could open a bank account and deposit enough to reach 800K per year. I believe he would also need to go to the Australian embassy in Bangkok to obtain pension verification. Thanks to all the expert posters on this forum, I have been helped in the past and appreciate it.

He can apply for a change of Visa to a Non Imm O (2,000 Baht) and then probaly 60 days later apply for a 12 month extension (it is not a visa) for retirement if he qualifies.

(1) The alien has obtained a temporary visa (NON-IM);

(2) The applicant is 50 years of age or over;

(3) Proof of income of not less than Baht 65,000 per month; or

(4) Account deposit with a bank in Thailand of not less than

800,000 Baht as shown in the bank account for the past 3 months at the filing date of the application. For the first year, the applicant should have that amount in his bank account for not less than 60 days or

(5) Annual income plus bank account deposit totaling not less

than Baht 800,000 as of the filing date of application

If he can put 800k into bank account no Embassy letter will be required (just letter from bank along with bank passbook). If he needs to also use the income then both will be required. If using both there is no requirement for money to be in account two months and immigration may do both processes at one time (change at 2,000 and extension at 1,900). If not it is likely new sets of paperwork will be required later for the extension of stay. It is not an O-A visa - it is a retirement extension of stay.