Can I enter Thailand as a tourist without a visa if I'm coming from England?

Vince Wheeler “I need to go to my Thai bank at 3 months and get a letter and take it to immigration then hopefully I will have my retirement visa then.”

*** if you enter visa-exempt, you still get stamped in for 60 days. You then must apply for the “change of visa type” to the initial 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa.

You need a minimum of 15 workdays left on your visa-exempt admitted stay permit, in order to be able to apply for the “change!

*** after you get the 90-days Non-Imm-O Visa stamped, you must wait until 30 days are left of this 90-days stay permit.

*** you will then use the bank letter and apply not for the retirement visa,, but you apply for the one-year extension of the temporary stay permit based on retirement (which many people call wrongly “retirement visa” but which is not a visa at all but simply an extended stay permit)

*** If your newly applied 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa gets issued BEFORE you fly, then you will get stamped in for a 90-days admitted stay permit.

You will then only have to wait until 30 days are left of this 90-days stay permit, before you apply for the 1-year extension. You will need the bank letter and 1900 Baht fee.

*** KEEP IN MIND: Immigration will only service you if you are properly registered in an accommodation by the TM30 system

Vince Wheeler please watch your wording. A visa is used to enter, and once you entered, you do not have a visa, you are in Thailand on a stay permit. What you call "retirement visa" actually is the 90-days Non-O Visa. The 1-year extension is not a retirement visa, it is a one-year stay permit (a "1-year extension of stay permit based on retirement"). . . . .Your plan to enter visa-exempt or on a tourist visa is good, you will be able to apply on Immigration for the "change of visa type" from a touristic entry to the initial 90-days Non-Imm-O Visa. The fee is 2000 Baht. For this, you need a rental contract and you need to prove that a minimum of 800,000 THB is already sitting in your Thai bank account. And you need to prove that this money has come from abroad. At this moment, there is no requirement for a seasoning of the deposit. Only when the 90-days stay permit is at 30 days until its expiry, you can apply for the "1-year extension of the stay permit". The fee is 1900 Baht. For this application, you need the bank letter that confirms the deposit has been in your account for a minimum of 2 months . . . . .NOTE: the Immigration Jomtien has slightly different requirements than the official police order. You would need to pick up their list of requirements as soon as possible after you entered in case you use this Immigration. You should ask for this list anyways, regardless where you want to apply

David Cook Thank you.

Bob Howe It’s very confusing. We are coming mid August. We have a holiday home and stay for about 90 days twice a year. In the past we came in under the 60 days visa free entry and then extended it for a further 30 days at the Immigration Office. Now we’ve read that this is no longer possible! Maybe apply for a 90 day multi-entry Retirement Visa?

@Brent ********

sorry, yes an onward ticket

@Neil *******

you are a Tommy (Thomas Atkins).

@Neil *******

'Tommy' is a nick name for a Brit.