Hello all! I wanted to follow up with the group and share what happened with my recent under 50 dependent on a retirement visa application… as a thank you to the people who replied and for the benefit of the people who follow behind me.
So, after my post on February 27th and reading the advice offered, my wife (over 50) and I (49) decided to try for the Non-Immigrant Type O visa with me as a dependent. We engaged a well known and advertised Thai legal firm (that was not Thai Visa Centre) to assist us with the e-visa application (and only the e-visa application, as we are moving to Hua Hin and not in their service areas for other assistance). To be clear, we didn’t realize Thai Visa Centre was a group admin otherwise we would have consulted with them! We paid a US$495 fee per person, as we figured that any assistance they could provide to “tip the scales” might work in our favor. That fee included our e-visa fees, so call it US$810 total for the service.
In our application, we provided all the necessary documents and the required proof of funds in our bank accounts (actual balances not investments, and well over the minimums, which I hope reinforced that we were not applying to avoid the minimum 2x800k baht deposits but solely on account of my age being not-quite-50).
Application was submitted on Monday, March 10th to the Los Angeles consulate. My wife’s retirement visa was approved 10 days later (March 20th), but the officer used their discretion to approve my visa as a Tourist visa. I inquired as to if it could be a multiple entry Tourist visa, but that would have required a new fee and a new application (and wait). We went back and fourth on that issue, but ultimately my visa (60 day Tourist, or the same thing as the current visa exemption policy) was approved on the 26th.
So, in short, we tried it and it didn’t work. The next officer at the same consulate may have exercised their discretion differently, but… I thought we had a pretty strong “application package” and still struck out. I share this with others to hopefully save them some time and money on their visa process.
I am coming to Thailand for medical services, so I will likely pursue the medical soft power DTV once I’m there and can make sufficient appointments (we tried DTV from the US, but couldn't make more than one appointment at a time until we see the doctors). I’m sure I’ll have questions on DTVs soon, but in the mean time I’m thankful for all the information and advice this great group has shared.
