Gents, fresh from the Pattaya Forum a plea for advise on retirement with a dependant. I have owned a house for a couple of years now ( well, the company has) and I am in the process of building another. My wife (Chinese) and I hope to retire to Thailand after I am fifty. We will be able to meet all the financial requirements, but have a problem. Our son is autistic (however, good natured and a great kid) and will sadly in all honesty not be able to leave the old family nest. As he will be over eighteen when I retire, I was wondering if anyone could share any experiences in getting a foreign dependant a visa to stay with his family post eighteenth birthday. The Consulate in HK say in is purely at the discretion of the Immigration Officer on the day, so any views on a good office to start the process??

I am not sure there is a best. The final authority lies in Bangkok but you can always appeal there if you fail elsewhere. I would use the office where you plan to locate.

Suiging...........when i replied to you in the Pattaya Forum you never mentioned your sons age and i assumed (my mistake) he was under 18.

My advice still stands though use the Pattaya office rather than Bangkok.............you and your wifes applications are straightforward.............your son would normally have to take care of his own visa obviously.

I/ll be honest i/m not sure how he will stand............your best bet is to contact Pattaya Immigration next time you are here (if you aren't here already of course) and see what they have to say.

I've no doubt its going to be down to discretion rather than anything wrote down in law.

Sorry can't be more helpful.

Thanks to all. I have a feeling it will not be easy but we will see. I have made some good Thai friends who have offered to come with me to add support, nice people indeed.