Due to the end of a contract, and nothing new on the horizon I am planning to put myself into exile for a year from July 2012.

I want to see if I can do the something creative that i always said I would do if i had the time. Probably not but if not now when.

What Visa wise is the most efficient and hassle free way for me to live in Thailand for a year ?

I am Single

UK citizen (English Caucasian)

Aged 52

Resident in Singapore (PR expiring in 2015)

I am able to fully fund myself and able to provide reasonable proof of that re bank statements or whatever.

I have a bank account in Thailand which has been open for a year.

I can provide some reasonable work and personal references but all my college and education certs were lost by movers 4 years ago.

(Lesson learned: take a scan of everything and store it on a thumb drive in at least two locations)

I have mild dyslexia so any pointers to a blindingly obvious step by step guide would be helpful.

Thanks

You can do 270 days with a multiple entry tourist visa but this does involve border runs. When it expires an embassy run to get a new one.

At your age you can also apply for a Non Immigrant O visa (90 days) and extend this visa for a year on the basis of retirement.

No border runs but you will need to have 800k baht in your Thai bank and make regular reports to the local immigration office.

Edited February 20, 201214 yr by necronx99

You can do 270 days with a multiple entry tourist visa but this does involve border runs. When it expires an embassy run to get a new one.

At your age you can also apply for a Non Immigrant O visa (90 days) and extend this visa each quarter on the basis of retirement.

No border runs but you will need to have 800k baht in your Thai bank.

Just to add extensions are annual on basis of retirement, not quarterly.

Edited February 20, 201214 yr by partington

You can do 270 days with a multiple entry tourist visa but this does involve border runs. When it expires an embassy run to get a new one.

At your age you can also apply for a Non Immigrant O visa (90 days) and extend this visa each quarter on the basis of retirement.

No border runs but you will need to have 800k baht in your Thai bank.

Just to add extensions are annual on basis of retirement, not quarterly.

Correct sorry, I was thinking of the 90 day reports.

He could also meet a sweet 20 something, fall in love get married and extend on that basis and then come on TV and post all about his problems, money, new relatives etc

Edited February 20, 201214 yr by necronx99

I did something very similar a couple of years back, I was 47 at the time so couldn't apply for a retirement visa.

I spent a year mostly in Thailand but also visited a number of surrounding countries when the visa ran-out. I went to Indonesia (three times), Vietnam, Cambodia (twice) and Singapore. Some of these trips, especially the Indo visits were up to a month. Therefore its fairly easy to get through a year on tourist visa / 1 month clearance on arrival. Using Air Asi / Jet Star etc and planning a bit ahead the flights weren't prohibitively expensive.

Funnily enough, I did get a bit bored half-way through and decided early retirement wasn't really for me. I saw the year out and then went back work. Might give retirement another go in a year or so.

Hope you enjoy yourself.

Simon

he's resident of singapore so maybe he can't get a triple entry tourist visa with 6 months validity ?

so 270 days on the one visa may not be available,

if he can only get a double tourist visa that's good for upto 6 months, to stay a year he can always get another double tourist visa after from laos/cambodia etc .

you maybe able to apply for a 1 year type O-A in singapore if your resident there :

http://www.thaivisa.com/318.0.html

5000 baht for multi entry 1 year .

i'm no expert in these visas, but if you can apply for a multientry 1 year is a good one to get.

just get a multi o from thai consulate in singers,good for 15 months with 4 visits every 90 days out of the country.

That visa is valid for any number of entries and each stay can be up to 90 days. It is not limited to 4 visits.

Savannakhet, obviously the new Darling of non-immi-O hunters, is giving SINGLE or MULTIPLE non-immi-O Visas without any proof of deposit on a Thai bank ?

Yes (single entry normally never requires more than the nominal 20k funds) as is the case in most home country Thai Consulates.

sorry, I guess my question was not 100% clear.

i should have asked: they do not only give single non-immi-O, they do AS WELL give MULTIPLE non-O as long as you are 50 or older ? without any proof, or just proof of a few Bucks ?

There is nothing about being over age 50 to obtain visa for a Thai wife. Currently Savannakhet is not asking to see any funds for multi entry non immigrant O visa issue on basis of having a Thai wife if you have the normal marriage certificate/wife ID card/home register.

your absolutely right about scanning everything. google "dropbox" that way wherever you install the program anything in it is accessible and if you lose your thumb drives you can easily recover the files.

you can install it on your phone, computer or whatever. i have 200 recipes on it so if im working i can just download a recipe to my phone instead of lugging books all around the world.

its handy and gives me peice of mind.