Can a British citizen apply for a one-year retirement visa in Thailand after arriving on a 30-day visa exemption?

@Roger *******

I paid 8000 baht plus 4000 for a multiple re-entry permit. They do the 90-day reports for no extra charge.

Worth it for me, though I know others will disagree 😊

@David ******

sounds sensible to me...

@John *********

Roger is referring to the 30 day extension here I believe.

@Roger *******

I typed this for someone else, just to give you an idea:

Visa Procedure

I was applying for the Non O ‘for Retirement’. I just followed the online instructions- though I had most documents etc ready on my iPad.

From memory, I uploaded:

1. Photo of details page of passport;

2. Headshot of myself taken on phone (when I submitted I got a warning that the photo might not be good enough but submitted it anyway and it was accepted);

3. Declaration form which appears during application- I printed it off, signed it and took photo;

4. My occupational pension statement. I’m too young for State Pension and the occupational pension amount isn’t very high;

5. I used a bank statement as proof of residence showing well over £10k in account, though I only uploaded one month;

6. No travel history so I wrote ‘None’ on a piece of paper and took a photo;

7. Photo of me holding passport;

8. Flight details - return flight 92 days after arrival;

9. hotel booking for first week;

10. Insurance that included 100k Covid. I was getting insurance anyway, used a Thai agent/broker and they provide a one page summary for me to upload;

11. Paid the £60 fee.

I did everything on my ipad and had no problems. Uploads each need to be less than 2mb but it’s easy to choose size of file on ipad. Some had to be jpg but PDF was ok for others.

I got the visa in about 3 days.

@David ******

Thought insurance is not needed for non O visa?

@Howard *********

it isn’t for annual Extensions once in Thailand but it is listed as a requirement for the initial application in the U.K. and other countries.

I always get Travel Insurance anyway so I just made sure the one I bought matched the requirements. I actually got it through a Thai broker as I knew they’d provide whatever paperwork I wanted. They were also very helpful when I made a claim during my last trip to Thailand.

@David ******

also did you get insurance just for 3 months or for 12 months?

@Howard *********

I took out an annual multi-trip as I’d planned 2 trips of 3-months each. The broker is well known on various FB groups (especially during Covid). Arawan Namak

@David ******

Thanks for your help David

@David ******

Can you send me details of the Thai broker you used,thanks

@David ******

really helpful. Thanks