Switching 60 day tourist visa to retirement possible?

[Seismic]

I have a friend who is 56 and meets the monetary requirements for retirement visa. He is not married, but has lived with the same Thai lady for over 20 years.

He will be arriving on a tourist visa from the states, is it possible for him to switch this into a one year O and then into a retirement extension ??

regards

Fred

[sunnyjim5]

If your friend wants a one year Visa he will have to apply for an O/A visa in the States.

Converting a tourist visa entry to a non "O" entry will only provide a 90 day stay and during the last 30 days of that stay, an application for an extension of stay based on retirement could be made. Your friend will need 800.000 Bht in a Thai bank for two months prior to application or a certified monthly income of 65,000 Bht.

[Jingthing]

Essentially, yes. He can get legal retirement status in Thailand.

For an O-A visa (an option, not required) yes that would need to be done in home country.

BUT he can do this.

First do a CONVERSION from the tourist visa to 90 day O visa (not O-A) available at Bangkok.

At Jomtien they will send to Bangkok. Not sure about other offices but definitely can do Bangkok.

Then with that 90 day stay, apply for the first annual retirement extension at his LOCAL immigration office during the last 30 days of it.

Important detail: It will be required to show proof in finance for BOTH of those applications.

If using bank account, for the CONVERSION part, the funds must show that they were IMPORTED into Thailand.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Jingthing

[ubonjoe]

The above give the options but an important point is where is he living so we can give the best advice.

[Jingthing]

Yes please state where he will be living in Thailand and ALSO what financial method he plans on using.

There are three:

800K in Thai bank

65K per month income shown by embassy/consulate letter

COMBINATION

Alternatively, if deciding on an O-A application in home country, refer to details on the embassy/consulate websites there. It will be different. For example the bank method money can be shown in home country.

[Seismic]

Thanks for the quick replies, here is the other info you request.

He will ensure he has over 800K in the bank for three months before he applies for extension.

He currently lives in Bang Phli, Samut Prakan.

I am not sure if he can convert the tourist to an O at Samut Prakan immigration or whether he will need to go to Chaeng Watthana.

regards

Fred

[Jingthing]

The money seasoning requirement for the FIRST extension is two months, not three months. Subsequent extensions require three months.

Money must be in a THAI bank account. Important: The account MUST be in his name only! Not a joint account with Thai partner!

For conversion application, the money MUST have been imported from abroad.

Not an issue for extension applications, only for conversion.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Clarification:

Bank account money SEASONING is not required for the CONVERSION application but of course it is required for the EXTENSION application(s).

[ubonjoe]

Thanks for the quick replies, here is the other info you request.

He will ensure he has over 800K in the bank for three months before he applies for extension.

He currently lives in Bang Phli, Samut Prakan.

I am not sure if he can convert the tourist to an O at Samut Prakan immigration or whether he will need to go to Chaeng Watthana.

regards

Fred

He should be able to do the change of visa status at Samut Prakan immigration. Bangkok has authorized several of the nearby office to accept the applications that are then sent to them for approval.

The money only has to be in the bank on the date he applies for the change of visa status. It only has to be in bank for 2 months when he applies for the extension.

[PaDavid]

On a similar vein. I am nearly 10 months into a 12 month multiple entry visa, or whatever it is now called. I have a Thai bank account into which I have paid more than 800,000 baht although there is nothing like that now as I paid off my gf's mortgage. My income into my UK bank account from my pensions is £1,600 (80,000 baht) pcm, though I have not had this validated by the Embassy. I live an hour or so South of Loei, maybe not in the middle of nowhere, but certainly somewhere close. I think my nearest immigration office would be Chiang Kahn.

What does the panel suggest I need to do to get myself onto a retirement visa

[Suradit69]

On a similar vein. I am nearly 10 months into a 12 month multiple entry visa, or whatever it is now called. I have a Thai bank account into which I have paid more than 800,000 baht although there is nothing like that now as I paid off my gf's mortgage. My income into my UK bank account from my pensions is £1,600 (80,000 baht) pcm, though I have not had this validated by the Embassy. I live an hour or so South of Loei, maybe not in the middle of nowhere, but certainly somewhere close. I think my nearest immigration office would be Chiang Kahn.

What does the panel suggest I need to do to get myself onto a retirement visa

"On a similar vein. I am nearly 10 months into a 12 month multiple entry visa"

You need to clarify ... do you have a non-imm O-A visa or non-imm O issued by an embassy or consulate outside Thailand or are you on an extension of stay (not a visa) based on retirement issued by an immigrations office in Thailand?

If you're in the first year of a non-imm O-A, just before it expires you can leave Thailand and return immediately and you will be given an additional one year permission to stay. During the second year, since the visa will have expired, if you want to travel in and out of Thailand, you'll need a re-entry permit and, as always, to report to immigrations every 90 days, but no requirements regarding money in the bank.

If you're currently on a non-imm O entry or already have an extension of stay based on retirement that expires in a couple of months, to get the extension of stay or renew the extension, and if you're asking about financials, you'll need to satisfy the income or money in the bank requirements.

You'll need baht 800,000 in a Thai bank (for two months for the first extension, three months for renewals) OR proof from your embassy that you receive a minimum of Baht 65,000 per month from pensions, etc OR you can combine the two. If you combine income and bank balance, your monthly income plus the money in the bank have to add up to Baht 800,000, e.g, Baht 40,000 x 12 income, plus Baht 320, 000 in the bank = Baht 800,000.

If you use the combination method, MOST offices don't require that the money be in the bank for the two or three months before application, but SOME offices insist that the bank balance be there for the two or three months.

Edited February 13, 2016 by Suradit69

[Guest]

Folks ... let me give you my very best advice.

Whenever you see a question regarding Visa's ... passports .. etc.

Scroll until you find Ubonjoe .. read it .. take notes and go to another thread.

There is a thing in life called a "subject matter expert" ... That .. he is.

[ubonjoe]

On a similar vein. I am nearly 10 months into a 12 month multiple entry visa, or whatever it is now called. I have a Thai bank account into which I have paid more than 800,000 baht although there is nothing like that now as I paid off my gf's mortgage. My income into my UK bank account from my pensions is £1,600 (80,000 baht) pcm, though I have not had this validated by the Embassy. I live an hour or so South of Loei, maybe not in the middle of nowhere, but certainly somewhere close. I think my nearest immigration office would be Chiang Kahn.

What does the panel suggest I need to do to get myself onto a retirement visa

You will need to get a income letter from the UK embassy which you will obtain by mail. See: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-obtain-a-pensionincome-letter-for-thai-immigration.

Chiang Khan.is the immigration office you will use.

We do still need a clarification of what visa you have now.

[Suradit69]

Folks ... let me give you my very best advice.

Whenever you see a question regarding Visa's ... passports .. etc.

Scroll until you find Ubonjoe .. read it .. take notes and go to another thread.

There is a thing in life called a "subject matter expert" ... That .. he is.

I agree that he is indeed a source of excellent advice, as are some other posters, and that at times some posts by others do more to muddy the waters than to clarify, but this is a community message board and the posted experiences of others does often add to our knowledge. You'll be shocked to learn that things do happen in Thailand that fall outside the written rules and being alerted to unexpected experiences benefits us all.

There is a thing in life called "collective wisdom." We're all in this together.

Edited February 14, 2016 by Suradit69