Must Leave Thailand. Retirement Extension Options?

[Sam Drucker]

I'm 54 years old, been living in Thailand for 4 years and my visa is a retirement extension. It is coming up for renewal immediately after the new year.

Unfortunately, I have some family issues back in Farangistan that are going to force me to relocate back there in January. My heart is in Thailand, but I don't expect I can do much more than come back for a brief holiday during the next year (or maybe the next few years).

It will be easy enough to renew my retirement extension before I depart Thailand this time, just to have the freedom of returning during the next year and staying if something in my situation changes.

I have two questions:

1) What if my retirement extension expires? How mush hassle is it to get back into one later? Should I make it a point to be here at renewal times in future years?

2) My current renewal date is rather inconvenient, being the 2nd of January. It forces me to be in (or come to) Thailand at a time that is not desirable to travel (around Christmas/New Years.) Is there any way to shift the expiration date on a retirement extension (either forward or back?)

[TerryLH]

Let it expire now and get a new visa when you're ready to return.

Terry

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Terry

Disagree here. There might well be advantages to maintaining a string of continuous Retirement extensions of a Non-O visa.

Look back to October 1998 when the Immigration rule on funds in the bank was changed from baht 200,000 up to bah 800,000. People who already had a Retirement extension prior to October 1998 were grandfathered under the new rule, to this day.

Sam, if your extension is due 2 January, go in on 2 December (oops, that's Sunday, make it Monday or Tuesday, and extend then. 30 days prior is normal, some times earlier if there's a good reason.

Mac

[lopburi3]

As said you can extend up to 30 days early so for this year it would seem your best option and a single re-entry permit immediately after getting the new extension stamp. To continue you would have to visit sometime in December each year for next extension but if you can not the only loss would be possible grandfather rule in case of change. It is easy to restart.

[Sam Drucker]

Okay, thanks for the replies. Pretty much what I expected.

As for the question on shifting the expiration date of the extension either forward or back, apparently no way to do that other than letting the current extension lapse, then starting fresh again at an opportune time, right?

Sent from my GT-N8000 using Thaivisa Connect App

[lopburi3]

Right. But remember extension would be from 90 days after actual arrival on the non immigrant visa entry.