We usually travel on a 3 month tourist visa issued by the Consulate in France, which gives us 58 days in Phuket. Now that we are retired, we would like to stay for four consecutive months - Nov-Feb. Are we eligible for a non-immigrant O visa? Is an O visa valid for only 90 days? If so, can we extend it beyond 90 days for a further 30 days at the Immigration office in Phuket? What documents do we need to present in Phuket for an extension? I am addressing these questions to the forum because the Consulate does not answer the phone. We do not wish to make a visa run or a large bank deposit. Thanks for your advice.

Thai consulate in France is not known to be easy. So what you can do is deposit 800,000 Baht in Thai bank, then convert your visa or visa exempt entry and obtain extension of stay for one year.

If you do not want to deposit the money, your only choices for 90 day in country are either non-imm "o", or tourist visa extended 30 days. After 90 day you will need to do a border run or visa run, no further extension is possible except the one indicated above.

Edited September 30, 201411 yr by paz

I was in precisely the identical situation a couple of years back (although I travel from the US). Prior to departure I obtained a 90 day Non O visa from a Thai Consulate in the US. Then, at the end of that 90 days I went to the local immigration office with the necessary paperwork (I visited the immigration office a week or so prior to find out the specific document requirements) and obtained a 30 day extension - no need for a border run nor bank funds.

The process was pretty easy and painless.

Edited September 30, 201411 yr by SpokaneAl

I was in precisely the identical situation a couple of years back (although I travel from the US). Prior to departure I obtained a 90 day Non O visa from a Thai Consulate in the US. Then, at the end of that 90 days I went to the local immigration office with the necessary paperwork (I visited the immigration office a week or so prior to find out the specific document requirements) and obtained a 30 day extension - no need for a border run nor bank funds.

On which basis you obtained a 30 days extension? As there is no 30 days extension except for tourist visa and visa exempt.

I was in precisely the identical situation a couple of years back (although I travel from the US). Prior to departure I obtained a 90 day Non O visa from a Thai Consulate in the US. Then, at the end of that 90 days I went to the local immigration office with the necessary paperwork (I visited the immigration office a week or so prior to find out the specific document requirements) and obtained a 30 day extension - no need for a border run nor bank funds.

On which basis you obtained a 30 days extension? As there is no 30 days extension except for tourist visa and visa exempt.

My visa and extension were for the purpose of visiting family. Of course not knowing the precise situation of the OP, this may or may not work for him.

My visa and extension were for the purpose of visiting family. Of course not knowing the precise situation of the OP, this may or may not work for him.

For visiting family the extension is 60 days, if you check that is what you should have got.

Clearly, it does not apply to the OP.

AS stated earlier it has been reported that the Embassy in Paris has not been very friendly in the past. If they will issue you a double entry tourist visa I think that would be your best and cheapest option, 1000 baht/entry. You could stay up to 6 months with one border run and two 30 day extensions, you could stay 3 months with one extension or one border run or you could stay 4 months with one border run. I don't know their requirements and the website is in French which is Greek to me.

Thanks for the replies. To apply for the visa, we need to send a copy of our airline ticket. It's a catch-22 situation because we will be buying tickets whose dates cannot be changed. From the replies, it seems the surest solution is to buy a ticket for three months, request the tourist visa and extend it 30 days in Phuket. Are extensions to tourist visas ever denied? I understand from the replies that the O visa cannot be extended in Phuket, and would require a visa run for a further 30 days. Since we don't want to do that, it seems we are limited to three months. You'd think the authorities would introduce better visas for property owners, no?

With the non immigrant O-A visa you can stay 12 months in Thailand without any border runs. Reed the requirements on the embassy website. You wrote that you are retired so I suppose you are 50 years or older

Edited October 1, 201411 yr by larsjohnsson

A single entry tourist visa will give you 60 days on entry and can be extended at immigration for 1900 baht. I've never heard of TV extension being denied. Sounds like Paris still wants travel documents for both entries which is a bummer.

buy Thai elite visa only 2 million baht and be treated like Thai citizen oh plus 20,000 baht a year to renew good for 5 years and free limo from airport.

My wife and I from Australia live here in Pattaya.
We have a permanent retirement Visa, which allows us to stay for 12 month +
Here in Pattaya there is a Visa Expert that did all the paperwork for us.
I mean everything.
WE did NOT have to do the 800.000 baht or anything else at all.
All we did was give them our Passport for 2 days. Plus a photo of each of us.
It is 13.000 per person, and they asked us to produce our marriage certificate, and we got 7.000 baht discount.
All up it cost us 19.000 Baht for both of us.
Cant ba any easier and cheaper than that

My wife and I from Australia live here in Pattaya.

We have a permanent retirement Visa, which allows us to stay for 12 month +

Here in Pattaya there is a Visa Expert that did all the paperwork for us.

I mean everything.

WE did NOT have to do the 800.000 baht or anything else at all.

All we did was give them our Passport for 2 days. Plus a photo of each of us.

It is 13.000 per person, and they asked us to produce our marriage certificate, and we got 7.000 baht discount.

All up it cost us 19.000 Baht for both of us.

Cant ba any easier and cheaper than that

You do not have a permanent retirement visa as it doesn't exist. It might be an extension of stay.

And is not a legitimate extension of stay either, so you could have a problem sometime if the scheme is investigated.

YMMV

Two 60 day tourist Visas would have done it for you but after the first 60 days you would be required to leave the country and renter to activate the second Visa. Perhaps a train trip to Kuala Lampour or Singapore. You do not wish to retire here so no money need be deposited in a Thai bank. If you already have the first Visa take the trip and go to the Thai consulate or Embassy in Kuala Lumpor or Singapore and get another 60 day tourist Visa.

The OP did not say they wanted to retire here. They are retired and want to come for a 4 month visit as tourists. A lot of posters have jumped to the conclusion that they want to retire in Thailand. They did not say that. Read the original post.

The OP did not say they wanted to retire here. They are retired and want to come for a 4 month visit as tourists. A lot of posters have jumped to the conclusion that they want to retire in Thailand. They did not say that. Read the original post.

Still doing the regular retirement extension is convenient for them. Bt 1,900 each plus 1,000 re-entry permit and one is set for q year.

They could even use prof of income without depositing money.

Thai consulate in France is not known to be easy. So what you can do is deposit 800,000 Baht in Thai bank, then convert your visa or visa exempt entry and obtain extension of stay for one year.

If you do not want to deposit the money, your only choices for 90 day in country are either non-imm "o", or tourist visa extended 30 days. After 90 day you will need to do a border run or visa run, no further extension is possible except the one indicated above.

You do not need 800,000 THB if you have provable income of 65,000 THB a month in Government or other Regulated Retirement. I am US Citizen and I go each year to US Embassy and get a notarized letter to accompany the Visa extension request. I get a Visa Extension for a year and Mulitple re-entry Permit because I travel a lot. You should be able to do this in France or Thailand.

The OP did not say they wanted to retire here. They are retired and want to come for a 4 month visit as tourists. A lot of posters have jumped to the conclusion that they want to retire in Thailand. They did not say that. Read the original post.

Even if they don't want to retire here they could apply for a non-o and extend for 1 year by reason of retirement and not have to deposit money in bank if they can show monthly income of 65,000 baht and letter from embassy to affirm that. Doesn't mean they have to live here full time to be retired could stay for 1---month to a year and come and go as they please with rentry permit.

We are very grateful for all the replies. The Consulate finally got back to me and identified two options: two tourist visas requiring (1) copies of all air tickets sent to them with the application and (2) a visa run; or one non-immigrant O visa valid for three months with an further extension of 30 days in Phuket at the Immigration Office. The latter will work fine for our present needs. Thanks to all!

We are very grateful for all the replies. The Consulate finally got back to me and identified two options: two tourist visas requiring (1) copies of all air tickets sent to them with the application and (2) a visa run; or one non-immigrant O visa valid for three months with an further extension of 30 days in Phuket at the Immigration Office. The latter will work fine for our present needs. Thanks to all!

You cannot extend the non-imm 'O' for 30 days. You can only extend for one year with either money in bank, proof of income, or combination, as described above.

With the tourist visa you can get an extension of stay of 30 days, no documents needed.

It is known that consulate employees do not know what are extension regulations. It is not their job, and they don't care about learning.

We are very grateful for all the replies. The Consulate finally got back to me and identified two options: two tourist visas requiring (1) copies of all air tickets sent to them with the application and (2) a visa run; or one non-immigrant O visa valid for three months with an further extension of 30 days in Phuket at the Immigration Office. The latter will work fine for our present needs. Thanks to all!

I don't really belive the consulate told you to get a non O visa and then extend it to a 120 day stay

The Consulate did indeed say we could prolong the 90 day O visa. However after reading the replies here, I contacted them again informing them of the info shared on this forum. I received this reply, which confirms what was said on the forum.

C'est le service IMMIGRATION qui a pouvoir décisionnaire.

L'extension du visa O+50 ANS peut être possible si vous justifiez de revenus minimum mensuels de 65000 bahts par personne (environ 1400 €) qui doivent être légalisés par l'Ambassade de France à Bangkok ou compte bancaire thaï crédité de 800 000 baths par personne + justificatif de domicile en Thaïlande.

Sinon vous demandez une re-entry permit à l'immigration pour sortir et revenir 30 jours.

Deleted

Edited October 4, 201411 yr by larsjohnsson

The last sentence of that message in French gives totally wrong information. No re-entry permit from an immigration office is needed to leave Thailand and on the return to Thailand get a visa-exempt entry which will give a French national a new permission to stay for 30 days.

Retirees wishing to stay 4 months - which visa?

From reading this thread it seems evident there are various options (rather than only one single "correct visa" or way) for those wishing to partially "retire" to Thailand (i.e. for 3-6 months each year), with pros & cons to each method.

Just an observation from reading this discussion.

Edited October 4, 201411 yr by oldthaihand99