Can I apply for a Non-Immigrant O Level Visa while in Thailand and return to Australia during processing?

Appreciate the post is only 3 hours old. Good to see 100% agreement in the responses.

Why not get married first; then you would have more options for visas?

A TM30 accommodation registration is required by law.

Without being properly registered in an accommodation, you can expect not to be serviced for anything on Immigration.

The owner of a building who has the blue housebook, or a foreigner who has the yellow housebook, can register the premises in the online TM30 system of Immigration. He will receive a Login-ID and a password.

So, when a guest arrives, the owner can register the guest with name and passport number in the TM30 system.

So, if you stay with a friend who is the owner of the premises, your friend must register you in the TM30 system within 24 hours of your arrival.

In case you sleep in your girlfriend’s house, she can register you per TM30 only if she is the owner of the premises.

She can only register you if she already has registered her house or apartment in the online TM30 system based on her blue housebook, and only if she has been issued a Login-ID and a password.

If your girlfriend is only renting the premises, the landlord or owner is required to register you per TM30.

It is your responsibility to make sure the hotel, your friend or the landlord has TM30 registered you. This is because it will be you who will have to pay the fine, not the hotel or the landlord, if you get caught out without it.

Actually, if you get checked by the police anywhere in Thailand and they find out that you have no TM30, you can be fined for up to 5000 THB! Many people are not aware of this.

If you need any service from Immigration like a 30-days touristic extension, or an application to a 1-year Extension of the Stay Permit, you visit Immigration and they find you haven’t been TM30 registered, you can expect a fine of 2000 Baht.

You won’t be able to leave an Immigration office before you haven't paid the fine. After that, you are free to try to get that money back from the landlord or the hotel that didn’t follow the law.

You can theoretically dismiss the TM30 in case you don't have any business on Immigration during your stay.

When you exit Thailand, nobody will check if you had been TM30 registered before or not.

There are several roads leading to the 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa and to the subsequent “1-year Extension of Temporary Stay Permit based on retirement”, which is a long-term stay permit

MIND YOUR WORDING:

you do not apply for the “retirement visa” on Immigration after you have entered Thailand on the “90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa” you obtained through the E-Visa online system outside of Thailand.

When you enter Thailand on the 90-days “Non-Imm-O retirement visa”, you get stamped in for a 90-days stay permit. The visa itself will become invalid or “used”. It cannot get “extended”. This is technically just not possible. Don’t fall for the wrong wording used by Thai Immigration, for whom a visa and a stay permit erroneously are the same thing.

I am talking about the most common misunderstanding regarding the rules for applying for the “retirement visa” and the subsequent “one-year extension of stay permit based on retirement”. Misunderstandings happen because a “retirement visa” can mean seven (!) different visas and stay permits, but please let’s remain on topic. The most erroneous wording is from people who call the 1-year extended stay permit a “retirement visa” – a mistake that always makes me cringe.

*** The best way is to show up in Thailand on a “90-days single entry Non-Imm-O Retirement/over 50 visa”. It will get you stamped in for 90-days stay permit. Within this 90-days period, you have plenty of time to arrange for the application to the “1-year extended stay permit”.

The important fact is, that entering on this visa-type enables you to get a Thai bank account opened. If you enter on a tourist visa or visa-exempt, you cannot get a Thai bank account opened any more since February 2025. Only a handful of agents offer a service around the law, and it costs up from 60,000 Baht and I have already been quoted 90,000 Baht.

There is NO mandatory health insurance or a police record check or a medical checkup required for the Non-O visa-type. These are requirements only for the application to the 365-days Non-Imm-O/A Longstay Visa, which is a completely different visa-type.

You will need the Thai bank account in case you want to convert the 90-days stay permit into a “1-year extension of the stay permit”.

You can theoretically fly on a one-way ticket because this visa allows you to receive a long-term stay in Thailand. Some airlines might not accept this explanation and will ask you for an onward travel proof out of Thailand within these 90 days, that’s why you should communicate with them by email and see what they say.

In order to apply for the “90-days single entry Non-Imm-O retirement visa” through the online E-visa system at the Royal Thai Embassy of your home country or any other country, you can

EITHER

use proof of income of a monthly minimum of 65.000.- THB, by using your original pension or other income documentation,

OR

you can use a deposit of a minimum of 800,000 THB or the equivalent in your home country currency, or on your home bank account, or on your Thai bank account (if you got one), or just anywhere in the World – as long as it is in your sole name.

Most Thai embassies will require 3 months of account statements. You need to check the website of the embassy you will use for the exact info.

ATTENTION! . . .For the application inside Thailand to the “1-year extension of the stay permit based on retirement”, the financial proof will be slightly different. You cannot use any original income/pension documents from your home country.

If you are a citizen of a country whose embassy in Bangkok does not issue a certified “income affidavit” any more –

(which are the embassies of USA, Canada, UK, Norway and Australia)

you would need a “12 months bank statement” showing that for the past 12 months, you have been transferring from abroad to your Thai bank account a minimum of 65,000 THB, consecutively month for month, not missing a single month.

If your embassy still issues a certified affidavit of income, you can use it for the financial proof. You would need a monthly income or pension of a minimum of 65,000 THB.

For British, Canadian, Norwegian, Australian and U.S. citizens, in the first year there is no other way around than depositing a minimum of 800,000 THB in your Thai bank account - at least in the first year

The alternative would be, if you don’t have that kind of money or are not willing to deposit 24,000 Dollar in a Thai Bank account, is paying an agent to “arrange” the requirements to get around the law.

As soon as you have accumulated 12 consecutive months of 65,000 THB transfers, month for month, you can apply for the next 1-year extension of the stay permit, using the 12-months bank statement. After been issued the next extension, you can theoretically take your 800,000 THB out of your bank account.

There is a fee of 1900 THB for the application to a 1-year extension, and you can theoretically do it all by yourself. You are free to accept the help of an agent for the simplified legal service.

NOTE: It is income OR deposit.

There is a third method, called the “combination method”: A combination mix of income and deposit.

Some immigrations don’t allow the combination method in the first year.

And some Immigrations want the deposit part to exceed a minimum of 400,000 THB.

The combination method means that the sum of the deposit AND the monthly income exceeds 800,000 THB in one year.

But let’s continue with the “normal method” (visa issued in your home country, followed by the application to the 1-year extension inside Thailand):

On the day of application to the 1-year extension, the 800,000 THB must have “seasoned” in your account for two months, and this has to be confirmed with the “bank letter of guarantee” (in Thai: rab roong thanakan).

After been issued the “1-year Extension of the Stay Permit based on Retirement”, the 800K need to remain in the account for 3 more months. After these 3 months, the deposit shall never go under 400,000 THB. And before the application for the next “1-year Extension of Stay”, a minimum of 800,000 THB must have seasoned in the account for two months, again.

On the day you get issued the “1-year extension of stay permit”, you should buy a re-entry permit.

A re-entry permit will keep your 1-year stay permit alive and valid in case you want to travel around and exit Thailand before the expiry of the extension.

A single re-entry permit is 1000 THB on Immigration. A multi re-entry is 3800 THB. On a multi re-entry permit stamped, you can exit and re-enter as many times as you wish during the whole 1-year stay permit period.

Again, watch your wording, because many people fail in doing so: the re-entry permit is not a “re-entry visa”. It is just a permit.

Good Luck and a great time in Thailand

The best thing you can do right now is explain yourself in English exactly what you want and don't do it abbreviated

Q1: How long do you plan to be back in Australia for?

Q2:Do you already have a Thai bank account in your name only?

If you answer yes to question 2, you can apply for the Non-O inside Thailand, but as

@John *********

said, you'll have to stay in Thailand until the visa is approved. If you answered no, then you should apply for the visa in Australia, through the Thai Consulate if you will be in NSW, or the Thai Embassy if you will be anywhere else in Australia. Then when you return to Thailand and open a Thai bank account in your name only (if you don't already have that), and deposit your 800k+Baht asap. The initial Non-O Visa allows you 90 days stay upon entry. As soon as your 800k Baht has been sitting in your Thai bank account for 60 days, you can go to the nearest Immigration Office and apply for a one year Extension of Stay.

Applying for the Visa in Australia, you're probably going to need to allow something like two weeks for the approval.

Opening a bank account in Thailand now, is pretty much impossible unless you have a long term Visa, such as a Non-O

In the past was possible to get the visa while here, but think that's all changed now

Get visa in home country, probably 2 or 3 weeks, come here and apply for retirement visa, but you have to remain here until approval.

Every year on your renewal date, you have to be in Thailand. Also get multiple entry at same time, saves some grief later on

Your girlfriend does a form TM30 for you at her condo and she signs a declaration that you live with her

No

Easiest & cheapest way to, if you are in Thailand now and if you have time & are going back to Oz , Apply for a Non-O via the Thai embassy website in Australia when you arrive back & wait for it to be approved - then when you come back , go to the nearest immigration & get a list if what they require to get the 12 month extension ,

Not sure quite what you mean. If you want to apply for a 12 month visa based on retirement your only option is the Non-OA visa which you can only apply for in your home country. If you are talking about applying for a 90 day Non-O visa inside Thailand you can't leave the country while that is being processed

Get her to fill out a TM30