Retirement Visa

[ProThaiExpat]

The easiest way to obtain retirement classification is in Thailand in my opinion. Here is my SUMMARY based on my own experience.

Terminology is important in this area!!

Entry into Thailand is based on a VISA, obtained from a Thai consulate or embassy abroad.

Entry into Thailand permitted at the airport is an ENTRY PERMIT, difference is the latter is granted by immigration.

There is no such thing as a RETIREMENT VISA.

There is a long stay classification for aliens termed "RETIRMENT" and the requirements to qualify for this classification is well documented in the Thaivisa information sections.

Documents required according to the immigration website are:

"Application for further stay to spend the remainder of life

in the Kingdom of Thailand

1. Immigration form 7 (Tor Mor 7)

2. Copy of passport

3. 4 cm. x 6 cm. photograph

4. 1,900 bath application fee

5. Financial Evidence:

- Bank account pass-book, bank statement

- Evidence showing reception of pension accompanied with Thai translation

certified by the embassy or consulate of the country paying the pension

- Evidence presenting other sources of income or evidence of money

transferred from overseas

6. In cases of having dependents (husband/wife, children), the applicant must

provide evidence indication their relationship. Evidence must be translated into

Thai and be certified by the embassy or consulate of the aliens.

7. Health Certificate for those who apply for further stay after Nov. 14,2002.

8. The officials reserve the rights to examine or ask for additional documents, if

necessary.

Name Webmaster (203.156.96.*) [ Saturday 15 May 2004 เวลา 16:16 น ] Comment No: 1"

The easiest way to get a long stay retirement classification is to do it in Thailand at the 4th floor office of the main immigration building in Bangkok.

The difficulty in obtaining this classification abroad is the differing requirements from Consulate to Consulate. Sydney consulate told me in no uncertain terms that each Consul General had the right to interpret the regulations any way he wanted and in Sydney I needed a police clearance certificate from my home country, among many other things. Cambodia said forget it, don't even try.

The long stay retirement classification is based on a NON-IMMIGRANT O VISA and a change to this visa can be accomplished in Thailand at the 4th floor office from any other visa type, including TOURIST. However, not from an entry permit.

As explained by immigration on their website, visas are the sole province of the Consulates and Embassies, while entry, deportation and regulation of the length of your stay is the province of immigration, a police agency.

To obtain your change of visa classification at the 4th floor office of the main immigration building you need to take with you a bank letter stating you have the required funds for retirement classification, ie. 800K Baht. The letter should include the date of the transfer of the funds into your account, the source institution of the funds and the country from which the funds came. The STANDARD BANK LETTER, one that merely states the amount on deposit on any given day is INSUFFICIENT for the change of status process, while it is fine for any annual extension thereafter. This was the case with ME, others may have got by with the standard letter?

There is an option to qualify for retirement financial status through pension verification, but that is a very difficult approach, requiring an Embassy verification of the pension. The difficulty is the individual immigration officer involved may choose to explore the stability of the source of your pension. Conceivably, the pension could be terminated or suspended for a number of reasons during the year and you would then be left penniless, if no other funds were available. Thus a combination of pension and savings account in Thailand is a better approach if you can manage that.

A health certificate is required obtainable from any emergency room of any hospital (preferred) or clinic or the like. Exam may not even occur. 50 Baht or more is charged.

Signed copies of all documents including every page of your passport is required.

4cmX6cm colored photograph. (Buy more than one just in case)

No Embassy letter is required unless you are trying to qualify financial responsibility by a pension.

No police or criminal clearance document is required.

Dress very well, be extremely polite, try to keep your head at or below that of the officers involved, don't stand over them when they are seated as that is seen as very intimidating or threatening.

Most importantly, have a mental frame of mind that you will do ANYTHING required of you, including numerous trivial and unnecessary tasks when requested. Your mind set is that you are not going away, you are there to stay the course until the document sought is obtained.

Your first extension under your non-immigrant 0 (retirement) status will probably be for only 90 days. I was given two 90 day extensions and then an extension for the balance of the first year dated from when I entered the country.

Expect 30 days between the application and the approval, ie. two trips to immigration to allow for processing. After that, extensions can be obtained from any immigration office.

Dr. Pat, lopburi3 and any other "gurus" are invited to make corrections, add information or otherwise comment on the foregoing, in hopes that I can have a complete canned guideline that I will post when this question is asked again and again.

For those who have questions, please PM me if you choose not to post questions.

[DogNo1]

Hi,

The description of how to get a retirement visa is quite clear, thanks. I am wondering whether income from an annuity will qualify as a pension. I will receive more than the monthly required amount of 40,000 from my annuity for the next 23 years, at which time I will be 84. I hope that this may qualify. One issue of concern is that the original post quoting the official in Chiang Mai mentioned having to report to immigration every 90 days after receiving the year-long extension of an "O" visa. Is this really required?

Thanks,

Mooneye

[ProThaiExpat]

My guess regarding an annuity is that it won't qualify unless you can prove that you can't touch the principal, ie. no control over it. Then you can properly describe it as a pension, assuming it is with an institution which is fail-safe.

Certainly, a letter from the holder of the annuity would be required verifying your lack of ability to alter the terms of the annuity or the principal and that the amount certified would not change during the year in question. Embassy would have to issue a letter as well and the annuity letter would have to be translated into Thai.

Having said that, each Thai immigration officer has some individual discretion, so predicting what will be accepted or not is difficult. Suffice to say, the stricter you comply with the regulations, the less likely you will be turned down.

If there is anyway you can get the 800k Baht together and place it in a Thai bank account, even to borrowing the money and paying it back each year out of the proceeds of the annuity in your home country, your qualification would be a slam dunk.

Perhaps others have tried with an annuity and will comment.

As far as reporting every 90 days to immigration, the regulation is clear and enforced these days. Fines apply for late reporting. There are some very good threads dating back about a month or so which you can review to see the exhaustive discussions that have transpired regarding this regulation.

If you leave the country during your year extention and return, the entry document you sign and give to airport immigration will act to trigger another 90 days.

[Roger13]

One issue of concern is that the original post quoting the official in Chiang Mai mentioned having to report to immigration every 90 days after receiving the year-long extension of an "O" visa. Is this really required?

Everybody is required to report every 90 days.

This Requirement is Item 5 on the Departure Card

Section of Form TM.6 - (Stapled inside your Passport

by Immigration on arrival).

The Arrival Card section - signed by you - is kept by Immigration.

No one can claim ignorance of this requirement.

Roger

[Roger13]

If you do get a Non-Immigrant 'O' visa get a single entry, not a multiple one as when you go to extend it you lose all the multiple entries. I believe there is a reference to this on the site.

http://www.thaiimmigration.com

This is true, it happened to me.

If you intend to extend on your first entry

then obviously a single entry would suffice.

A Multi Entry was suggested as the enquirer

indicated that he would not qualify by age until

next year - and would therefore not be extending

on his first vist.

[Roger13]

The easiest way to obtain retirement classification is in Thailand in my opinion. Here is my SUMMARY based on my own experience.

Terminology is important in this area!!

Entry into Thailand is based on a VISA, obtained from a Thai consulate or embassy abroad.

Entry into Thailand permitted at the airport is an ENTRY PERMIT, difference is the latter is granted by immigration.

........

The long stay retirement classification is based on a NON-IMMIGRANT O VISA and a change to this visa can be accomplished in Thailand at the 4th floor office from any other visa type, including TOURIST. However, not from an entry permit.

I thought that all Visas were converted to Entry Permits

at point of Entry ?

I would suggest that you mean "Visas on Arrival" cannot be converted

to O type.

Please correct me if you think otherwise.

[Roger13]

Initialed photocopies of all documents including every page of your passport is required

I would suggest that a Complete Guideline

should contain an amended version:

Copies of all RELEVANT Passport Pages and copies of all other documents

should be SIGNED by the Applicant

[thaihome]

The easiest way to obtain retirement classification is in Thailand in my opinion.  Here is my SUMMARY based on my own experience.

Terminology is important in this area!!

Entry into Thailand is based on a VISA, obtained from a Thai consulate or embassy abroad.

Entry into Thailand permitted at the airport is an ENTRY PERMIT, difference is the latter is granted by immigration.

........

The long stay retirement classification is based on a NON-IMMIGRANT O VISA and a change to this visa can be accomplished in Thailand at the 4th floor office from any other visa type, including TOURIST.  However, not from an entry permit.

I thought that all Visas were converted to Entry Permits

at point of Entry ?

I would suggest that you mean "Visas on Arrival" cannot be converted

to O type.

Please correct me if you think otherwise.

This has been explained many times.

A visa is a document placed in a passport by a Embassy or Consulate outside Thailand (with some exceptions when converted by Immigration in country).

An Entry Stamp is stamp placed in the passport on entry by Immigration that states how long you may remain in the country. The date is based on visa or lack of visa. This date is extended by Immigration within Thailand when applying for long stay.

There are 3 basic ways a foreigner may enter Thailand:

Visa - Based on the type of visa (tourist, Non-Imm B or O), this tells the Immigrations officer what "may remain in country until" date to put on entry stamp.

Visa waiver - Citizens of most western countries may enter Thailand without a visa and receive a 30-day entry stamp.

Visa-On-Arrival - Citizens of many countries not eligible for visa waiver may purchase a visa on arrival. They then receive an entry stamp with a "may remain in country until" stamp based on that visa.

The long stay (1year) is accomplished by applying for an extension of a Non-Imm (B or O) visa at an Immigration office within Thailand. Apparently a tourist visa may be converted to a Non-Imm (if qualified) and then extended as well. A 30-day visa wavier may not be converted to Non-Imm, nor extended for long stay.

I hope I summarized this succinctly and accurately.

TH

[dutch]

Thaihome,

Quote The long stay(1 year) ...........applying at an immigration office WITHIN Thailand. unquote.

Some months ago Dr.PP stated that it would be possible to obtain at the Royal Thai Embassy such a visa.

To be sure I e-mailed my question to http://www.imm3.police.go.th last June 2nd.

The question was; Can I apply for a ONE year O-A non immigrant visa at the Royal Thai Embassy in Jakarta.?

I received my answer dated June 3, by Mr/Mrs Annop.

" Currently applicants of Non-immigrant visa category "O-A" may apply for multiple entries and valid for one year.The fee is $125.00.

I will surely give it the try in November and will let you know the outcome.

It can be important if I want to enter on a retirement visa and have my goods come in duty free.This can only be done on a 1 year visa.So a 3 months visa would force me to store my goods for 3 months.

If this doesn't work I will go for the spouse visa and let my wife import the household goods.

Another point is that I am really impressed by the speed of the answer

[ProThaiExpat]

Roger 13 thanks you are absolutely right about the signature on photocopies.

I like you style in some of your posts where you really tell them how it is when they want to argue.

I question your statement regarding "converting visas to entry permits". My understanding is the visa is a basic status oonferred by the MFA that is extended by immigration by additional documentation such as an entry permit or extention, not a "conversion". My understanding is as posted by Thaihome.

Dutch: Your point about your ability to bring in household goods is affected by obtaining your non-immigrant O (retirement) prior to arrival in Thailand is an interesting one and the first time I have heard of that.

Please keep us posted, while most advice by experienced expats is the cost of bringing household goods into Thailand is not worth the cost, if in fact you do desire to do that and your visa status affects it, is important information that we would like to know when you do it, so please keep us advised as to your success.

Especially if your visa status affects the duty!!

[smithash]

I am british living in switzerland and married to a thai wife for 2 years with one child aged 10 months (british citizen dual nationality thai). I will be retiring to thailand in approx 4 years and would like to ship personal effects etc from europe prior to arrival.

If I obtain a 1 year O marriage visa can I import goods tax free or should I wait until we are resident in thailand. The plan is to live in Europe 3 months and thailand 9 months each year. My apologies if this is off topic I am not used to forums.

Thanks in advance

smithash

[JimGant]

Everybody is required to report every 90 days.

This Requirement is Item 5 on the Departure Card

Section of Form TM.6 - (Stapled inside your Passport

by Immigration on arrival).

The Arrival Card section - signed by you - is kept by Immigration.

No one can claim ignorance of this requirement.

And you can do all of this via mail. A lot more convenient, it would seem.

Particulars at the following:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...reporting&st=15

[Eneukman]

I'm obviously being a bit thick here but I'm still a bit confused about the requirement or otherwise of a letter from the Embassy (British) in my case. When I retire to Thailand, I will be relying on having sufficient funds in a bank account within the Kingdom.

It is my interpretation of the rules that as I am NOT relying on my pension, a letter from the Embassy will not be required. Am I correct in this, or is a letter from the Embassy required in every case?

My plan of action at the moment is to come over to Thailand in June next year, a few days after my 50th birthday on a Non-Immigrant O visa. Get this converted to a Retirement Visa as soon as conviently possible and then find somewhere to stay. Towards the end of July, I plan on returning to Edinburgh for a couple of weeks or so to get various loose ends tied up before returning to Thailand to live on a permanent basis.

To begin with, anyway, it is my intention to live in the Pattaya/Naklua/Jomtien area.

Anyone see any problems with my plans?

Thanks.

Alan

[dr_Pat_Pong]

The key to importing goods without taxes is to be the holder of an extended non-immigrant O visa ( extended in Thailand ), or by getting an O-A visa in your homeland. That visa gives you a full one year stay on arrival, and thus, gives you those importation rights of personal goods. Generally, the O-A is a hassle, with police and medical clearances required, along with notorizations etc. After that first year the annual renewals of the O-A are exactly the same as the renewals for the O visa.

[ProThaiExpat]

Alan, you plan appears sound, right on, and approaching it the easy way, although you could do it with a touris visa as well, if that is any easier to get in the U.K.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I'm obviously being a bit thick here but I'm still a bit confused about the requirement or otherwise of a letter from the Embassy (British) in my case. When I retire to Thailand, I will be relying on having sufficient funds in a bank account within the Kingdom.

It is my interpretation of the rules that as I am NOT relying on my pension, a letter from the Embassy will not be required. Am I correct in this, or is a letter from the Embassy required in every case?

My plan of action at the moment is to come over to Thailand in June next year, a few days after my 50th birthday on a Non-Immigrant O visa. Get this converted to a Retirement Visa as soon as conviently possible and then find somewhere to stay. Towards the end of July, I plan on returning to Edinburgh for a couple of weeks or so to get various loose ends tied up before returning to Thailand to live on a permanent basis.

To begin with, anyway, it is my intention to live in the Pattaya/Naklua/Jomtien area.

Anyone see any problems with my plans?

Thanks.

Alan

When you go home after extending the stay don't forget a re-entry permit. Have you got that bank account in Thailand ?

[Eneukman]

I've still to open a bank account but plan to arrange that when I'm in Thailand on holiday in November.

Once I've obtained my retirement visa, it would be my intention to immediately apply for a multiple entry visa. I'm not sure how often I would be leaving the country each year but it would simplify matters for me just to pay the extra fees there and then. At least, it would ensure that i did not have to apply for a re-entry permit if I wanted to escape from Pattaya at Songkran.

One question about the Embassy letter. It seems that this is required if you're relying partly on income to obtain or renew a retirement visa. However, is it required if you're relying solely on having sufficient funds in a Thai bank account?

Alan

[ProThaiExpat]

Alan: An Embassy letter verifying your pension income is only required when you are relying on that basis to meet your financial responsibility requirements for retirment classification.

While there is much information on various threads in Thaivisa that a combination of pension and bank account to meet the minimum requirement on an annual basis is allowed, latest information suggests that that is not going to be allowed.

If you can go bank account, do it. If you can't, you may have to have the full 65KBaht in pension income per month to qualify.

My recollection was a Phuket immigration boss opined that a combination was not allowed, if memory serves correctly. Again, that may only apply to Phuket, but forewarned is forearmed.

My experience dictates that it is so much easier to go the bank account route, that if it was me and I didn't have the 800k Bhat, I would borrow the money from a bank and pay the loan off with the pension. Living on half the minimum pension requirement is quite possible if your careful, and that you could do to save up enough to forever have the bank account in the minimum amount required, refilled by the pension so at the time of each years extention application, you have the minimum in the account.

[RDN]

I've still to open a bank account but plan to arrange that when I'm in Thailand on holiday in November.

Good move - exactly what I did. Try Krung Thai. (Some banks are not allowing tourists to open accounts. Dress smartly. )

Once I've obtained my retirement visa, it would be my intention to immediately apply for a multiple entry visa.

Good move - exactly what I did. Only used it once, though, to go back to the UK and sell up!

[RDN]

The easiest way to obtain retirement classification is in Thailand in my opinion.  Here is my SUMMARY based on my own experience.

Excellent post PTE. I quite agree about your way being the easiest. But I would like to say that I think the least risky way is to get a non-immigrant type O-A visa from the Royal Thai Embassy in London. I say that because you don't have to do anything about your job or house or pension until you have the visa and have been to Thailand and got you one-year entry stamp and multiple re-entry permit.

At that point you can chose:

1. do I go back to England and continue working for those b*****ds, OR

2. do I go back, give them two fingers , sell my house, cash in my pension and come back to live in Thailand?

No prizes for the correct answer.

Doing it this way also means that if something goes wrong (like they find out about that little "smoking" conviction you had in the 60's) and they give you the bad news, then you're still in the UK with a job and house, as opposed to being in Thailand, en route to the airport with nowhere to go!

I think the people who come here on a tourist or other visa and then sort it all out when they get here, are very brave. Or maybe I am just chicken. But I did have a very well paid job and I had to be sure I could stay here, before giving up the income, because I could not afford to live in England without the salary from my job.

Going the O-A visa route is not so bad, really. It just needs a lot of planning. I went to the Thai Embassy in London only three times and I got my bank account in Thailand (Krung Thai Bank) during one of my regular holiday trips. After I transferred the money, my Thai girl friend went to the bank and got me the necessary statement and letter and sent them to me in England. I got my visa and went to Thailand pretending I had only a one-way ticket. So they had to look at my visa and give me the entry stamp with a departure date of one year later.

(There was in fact a big problem with this - the lady official at the airport immigration desk did not know about type O-A visas, and said "3 months" to me several times. Each time I pointed to the O-A visa and said "No. One year". But she gave me a three months stamp. So I didn't move and said "One year" again. She called someone over who got someone else and we went through the gate to talk. He said "Sure, one year" and we went back to the immigration officer and he told her "One year". He modified the departure date and signed it. I will be always grateful to the guy at the RTE London who told me as he gave me back my passport "Make sure they give you a one year stamp at the airport." Good man!)

Anyway, I got the stamp, went the following week to Immigration Division in Bangkok and got the multiple re-entry permit.

THEN, and only then, could I choose where I wanted to live. Obviously option 2. above. ( times a million)

[Eneukman]

Thanks Pro Thai Expat And RDN. I thought that that was the case with the Embassy letter.

My pension alone will almost certainly be less than 65,000 baht per month though once my investment income is taken into account (once my flat has been sold) my total income will be well in excess of that. Keeping 800,000 baht in a bank account will not be a major problem for me.

I've actually given up a fairly well paid job for health reasons and am now back temping for the same organisation, but in a different area! They've also just offered me a 6 month contract which, with a bit of luck, will be renewed at the end of December.

Once I have my retirement visa, I'll be returning to the UK for 2 or 3 weeks to tidy a few lose ends and decide what, if anything I want to get shipped over to Thailand. The option of starting work again in the UK is a definite non starter for some reason

Alan

[JimGant]

Pro,

While there is much information on various threads in Thaivisa that a combination of pension and bank account to meet the minimum requirement on an annual basis is allowed, latest information suggests that that is not going to be allowed

Still hard to get a straight answer on this. Nongkhai immigration's website says you CAN still combine pension and bank account; and when alerted to the Phuket immigration captain saying 'no, you could not,' Nongkhai got huffy and blamed the Phuket Gazette! Go figure.

This can be found at:

http://www.thaiimmigration.com/inv/index.php?showtopic=82

Hard to tell how 'official' the Nongkhai website is.

[harpman88]

Hello all,While it's true that the "official" rules state you can combine

bank balance and pension income,I would

(for those people such as myself who easily qualify on pension/investment income alone) to have a substantial bank balance in reserve for "emergency" purposes,as suggested by Dr.PP on more than one occasion. Thai immigration likes to see this,and satisfying them is the name of the game.

One question tho,Could anyone elaborate on

the bank letter having to be issued on the same day one goes to apply for the OA extension?? Also,do you have to go to the same branch at which the account was opened (in my case was BKK bank on Sukhumvit,in BKK) to get the letter,or will any (in my case BKK bank) branch in the kingdom be able to do this? I will be living in C.Mai,so maybe some of you C.Mai retirees could chime in on this.

All the best ,the "Harpman".

"You've got to move fast cause I ain't gonna wait for you,Ive got a whole lotta places to go and a whole lotta things to do.",Kim Wilson,Fabulous Thunderbirds.

[RDN]

Could anyone elaborate on the bank letter having to be issued on the same day one goes to apply for the OA extension?? Also,do you have to go to the same branch at which the account was opened (in my case was BKK bank on Sukhumvit,in BKK) to get the letter,or will any (in my case BKK bank) branch in the kingdom be able to do this? I will be living in C.Mai,so maybe some of you C.Mai retirees could chime in on this.

Krung Thai Bank in Patong did not understand when I asked them to transfer my money from their Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok, branch to Patong. I wanted to do this because I knew that I would have to go to bkk to get the letter for my one-year extension of stay. But they did not seem to understand the concept of transferring money from one branch to open a new account in their branch. And when the Patong branch asked me if I knew the telephone number of their Sukhumvit Road branch, I gave up. Eventually I opened a new account in Phuket City and transferred the 800,000 baht into that, from England.

As for "timing", for my original type O-A visa application, I am fairly sure that all documents presented to the Embassy had to be valid within three months of the application date, so some planning was required to get medical certificate, criminal record, bank letter etc. all valid within a 3 month window.

Maybe your bank will give you the "guarantee letter" at any branch, but I know Krung Thai won't - they won't even let you inform them of a change of address unless you go to your account-holding branch with your passport and bank book. This is another good reason to open a new account if you move a long way from your original branch (provided you have the money) .

Edited June 6, 2004 by RDN

[RDN]

Once I have my retirement visa, I'll be returning to the UK for 2 or 3 weeks to tidy a few lose ends

Took me four months!

and decide what, if anything I want to get shipped over to Thailand.

Gave all my stuff away to my mum, brother and his family Couldn't be bothered with shipping headaches.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Alan:  An Embassy letter verifying your pension income is only required when you are relying on that basis to meet your financial responsibility requirements for retirment classification.

While there is much information on various threads in Thaivisa that a combination of pension and bank account to meet the minimum requirement on an annual basis is allowed, latest information suggests that that is not going to be allowed.

If you can go bank account, do it.  If you can't, you may have to have the full 65KBaht in pension income per month to qualify.

My  recollection was a Phuket immigration boss opined that a combination was not allowed, if memory serves correctly.  Again, that may only apply to Phuket, but forewarned is forearmed.

My experience dictates that it is so much easier to go the bank account route, that if it was me and I didn't have the 800k Bhat, I would borrow the money from a bank and pay the loan off with the pension.  Living on half the minimum pension requirement is quite possible if your careful, and that you could do to save up enough to forever have the bank account in the minimum amount required, refilled by the pension so at the time of each years extention application, you have the minimum in the account.

It is said that Phuket Immigration now acknowledge that a combination of income and savings is still OK. The official rules are clear that that is quite OK. Thai Immigration remain a law unto themselves.

[ProThaiExpat]

Dr. Pat to the rescue!! Thanks. The accuracy of my posts is important to me and knowing your there gives me a lot of confidence that they will not remain incorrect long. Will not revise, as your message won't make sense otherwise.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

The easiest way to obtain retirement classification is in Thailand in my opinion.  Here is my SUMMARY based on my own experience.

Excellent post PTE. I quite agree about your way being the easiest. But I would like to say that I think the least risky way is to get a non-immigrant type O-A visa from the Royal Thai Embassy in London. I say that because you don't have to do anything about your job or house or pension until you have the visa and have been to Thailand and got you one-year entry stamp and multiple re-entry permit.

At that point you can chose:

1. do I go back to England and continue working for those b*****ds, OR

2. do I go back, give them two fingers , sell my house, cash in my pension and come back to live in Thailand?

No prizes for the correct answer.

Doing it this way also means that if something goes wrong (like they find out about that little "smoking" conviction you had in the 60's) and they give you the bad news, then you're still in the UK with a job and house, as opposed to being in Thailand, en route to the airport with nowhere to go!

I think the people who come here on a tourist or other visa and then sort it all out when they get here, are very brave. Or maybe I am just chicken. But I did have a very well paid job and I had to be sure I could stay here, before giving up the income, because I could not afford to live in England without the salary from my job.

Going the O-A visa route is not so bad, really. It just needs a lot of planning. I went to the Thai Embassy in London only three times and I got my bank account in Thailand (Krung Thai Bank) during one of my regular holiday trips. After I transferred the money, my Thai girl friend went to the bank and got me the necessary statement and letter and sent them to me in England. I got my visa and went to Thailand pretending I had only a one-way ticket. So they had to look at my visa and give me the entry stamp with a departure date of one year later.

(There was in fact a big problem with this - the lady official at the airport immigration desk did not know about type O-A visas, and said "3 months" to me several times. Each time I pointed to the O-A visa and said "No. One year". But she gave me a three months stamp. So I didn't move and said "One year" again. She called someone over who got someone else and we went through the gate to talk. He said "Sure, one year" and we went back to the immigration officer and he told her "One year". He modified the departure date and signed it. I will be always grateful to the guy at the RTE London who told me as he gave me back my passport "Make sure they give you a one year stamp at the airport." Good man!)

Anyway, I got the stamp, went the following week to Immigration Division in Bangkok and got the multiple re-entry permit.

THEN, and only then, could I choose where I wanted to live. Obviously option 2. above. ( times a million)

With an O-A the funds can still be kept at home until you want to extend the visa at the end of year one. As part of the approval process for the O-A, you need to prove the funds to the satisfaction of the Embassy/ Consulate.

[ProThaiExpat]

RDN: Thanks for your less risky approach. Please amplify regarding the financial responibility aspects of your method.

Are you saying that you can get a non-immigrant O-A (retirement) visa with a 365 day extention in U.K. WITHOUT having the 800K Baht in a Thai bank??

The only risk I can see to entering on a tourist visa, bringing the money in while here and then applying for the non-immigrant O retirement with 365 day extention during your first 30 days is the difficulty in returning your funds to the U.K. if your turned down for the change of classification here. Am I missing something?

[dr_Pat_Pong]

RDN: Thanks for your less risky approach. Please amplify regarding the financial responibility aspects of your method.

Are you saying that you can get a non-immigrant O-A (retirement) visa with a 365 day extention in U.K. WITHOUT having the 800K Baht in a Thai bank??

The only risk I can see to entering on a tourist visa, bringing the money in while here and then applying for the non-immigrant O retirement with 365 day extention during your first 30 days is the difficulty in returning your funds to the U.K. if your turned down for the change of classification here. Am I missing something?

For the O-A the funds can still be at home. At renewal time, the 800,000 baht ( or 400k if applicable ) need to be in a bank in Thailand. An O-A enables one to be granted a full year stay on arrival at the airport.

If the funds are formally tranfered with proof that they came from abroad, there'd be no difficulty repatriating the money if there were problems with Immigration.