Thank you for your advice regarding my earlier questions. If I choose to stop working and not have my work permit renewed in December, do I need to return to England at that time to apply for a retirement visa? Also is this 800,000 baht a one off transfer ie can I simply top up the actual money I spend here from England in order to apply for renewals or am I expected to transfer in this sum of money every year?

You can apply for the retirement visa here in Thailand and that is usually the easy way to do it.

800k in the bank at each renewal should do it by current policy but you should keep record of transfers so it can be shown they come from outside Thailand if questioned.

Thank you. How long before my current visa expires should I apply for this?

I expect you would need to do it immediately after you cancel the work permit.

My understanding is that you are allowed to remain in the Kingdom for seven days after your work permit related visa is cancelled; so best to get all your paperwork ready and then apply for your retirement visa as soon as your other visa is cancelled.

In my case, my company cancelled my work permit; then had to wait for three or four days for a letter before they could cancel my visa; and it was from this latter point that the seven day countdown started; although I got my retirement visa within a couple of hours of having my other visa cancelled. I will admit I do not really understand the relationship between a work permit and the visa that goes with it; but they do seem to be different things!

Hugh

My understanding is that you are allowed to remain in the Kingdom for seven days after your work permit related visa is cancelled; so best to get all your paperwork ready and then apply for your retirement visa as soon as your other visa is cancelled.

In my case, my company cancelled my work permit; then had to wait for three or four days for a letter before they could cancel my visa; and it was from this latter point that the seven day countdown started; although I got my retirement visa within a couple of hours of having my other visa cancelled. I will admit I do not really understand the relationship between a work permit and the visa that goes with it; but they do seem to be different things!

Hugh

You probably had a B ( for business ) class Non-Immigrant visa with the work permit. They converted it to an O class for retirement