I’m considering going with a retirement visa later this year. Again, thanks to all who contributed to my other thread about this.

I’ll probably be opening my bank account in Bangkok as it seems easier there, according to reports.

It looks like I’ll be staying in the vicinity of Chumphon, so I’m considering initiating all my visa conversion/extension business at the immigration office in Ranong. Anyone with experience with these things, and this office, have any words of caution or encouragement to share?

If doing it all out of Bangkok involves less grief in terms of red-tape I would probably prefer to deal a few extra bus rides rather than go chasing documents, approvals, etc.

You want to have bank account where you live if you are going to use it as any transaction outside of local area will incur an extra bank fee; and that includes a basic ATM withdrawal.

I would agree with Lopburi3, open a Bank Account local to where you live. For your retirement visa you will need a letter from the Bank and maybe a local Bank might not do this if the account was opened elsewhere.

With regard to Ranong Immigration Office I find the staff friendly and normally not too busy so processing does not take long. Follow the advice found in the forum for what is required, the only thing I would add is, take a few extra passport photo's with you for they maintain big ledgers recording what they do and fix a photo to each record.

It is worth noting that on every second Tuesday of the month Immigration Officers can be found on the first floor (beside the gold shop, western end) of Chumphon's Tesco. I have not used the service yet, just noticed it when going shopping. However, as you mentioned bus rides this would certainly save long trips to Ranong.

You may find it useful to open an account with bank of choice in Bangkok and then go to the same Bank in your area and open your real account there. You really have no choice about which immigration you use as it has to be the one where you live

Opening a bank account is sometime an issue especially in a outlying area. But it has been mentioned on the forum before that by already having an account with a Bangkok branch of your bank of choice paves the way for an account in out of the way places.