First retirement visa application must from Bangkok imigration ? ! ?

or is it also possible to recieve it from any local imigration office in Thailand?

pattaya; phuket etc.

Thanks

Application for an extension of stay based on retirement (it is not a visa) is made to the immigration office responsible for the area in which you live.

There are few offices near Bangkok where you can apply for a non immigrant visa entry based upon qualifying for an extension of stay based upon retirement. The application is then sent to Bangkok for approval. If you do not live where one of those offices are located you would have to apply in Bangkok.

Jomtien immigration in Pattaya is one of the offices where you can apply.

If not living in or near Bangkok it is best to go to a nearby embassy or consulate and apply for a single entry non-o visa because it requires 2 trips 15 days apart to get the visa/entry stamp.

Vientiane and Penang are the best places to apply for the non-o visa..

If you are in country and wish to convert your existing Visa to a Non Imm O, then that requires two trips to Bangkok, 15 days apart. Alternatively, you can do what I did and have a short vacation to a neighboring country and apply for a Single Entry Non Imm O and use that for your extension of stay application at any Immigration Office in Thailand.

First retirement visa application must from Bangkok imigration ? ! ?

If you're in the country on a non-imm O or O-A visa entry, you'll want to apply for an extension of stay based on retirement (not a visa) at the immigrations office that serves your residential area.

If you need to first apply for a conversion to a non-imm O entry in the expectation that you will later apply for the extension of stay, that can be done at some regional offices, but only it's the office that serves your residential area (you can't just try in Pattaya or Phuket or wherever unless it's where you legally reside), and if they accept the application they would then forward it to Bangkok.

If the office in your area can't do that, you'd have to do it in Bangkok.

Edited July 19, 201510 yr by Suradit69