Can my wife apply for a Trailing Spouse visa on my Non-O Retirement Visa in Thailand, or does she need her own?

May 26, 2024
6 months ago
Serge ************
ORIGINAL POSTER
My wife and I are presently on a 1 year ED Visa in Thailand. I'm 56 and my wife 51 years old, both Canadian. At the end of the ED Visa, I'm planning to switch to a Non-O Retirement Visa within Thailand. Can my wife be a "trailing spouse" on my Retirement Visa or does she need to get her own Retirement Visa? Can she use the same 800 000 baht that I already have in a Thai bank account to get her own Retirement Visa? We got married in Thailand, not Canada and have all paperwork in order.
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TLDR : Answer Summary
The user is currently on an ED Visa and plans to switch to a Non-O Retirement Visa at the end of their current visa. They are inquiring whether their wife can be a trailing spouse on this Retirement Visa or if she must obtain her own. Additionally, they ask if they can use the same 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account for her Retirement Visa application. Responses suggest that they can change the reason for their extensions without needing to leave Thailand and that the policy may allow the wife to switch her ED extension similarly, but the specifics should be clarified with local immigration authorities. The option of transferring the 800,000 baht between accounts for visa renewal purposes is also mentioned.
NON-O RETIREMENT VISA RESOURCES / SERVICES
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Adrian **********
Could yo do your retirement visa 3 month apart and switch the 800k from your bank to hers each time you renew?
Graham ******
@Adrian *********
Then you don't meet the requirement of meeting the 400k for the rest of the year and the transfer would not be international
Adrian **********
@Graham *****
ah, yes, I forgot that 400k is the limit it can drop to. ๐Ÿ‘
Tod *********
I would wager that neither of you are on ANY visa at this time ๐Ÿ˜ฎ and if you looked at the stamp in your passport you'd see that it says "extension of stay permitted until" and has a date on it

What I'm getting at is that you won't be switching to any Non-O anything visa, all you'll be doing is changing the reason for your extension from the one you have now based on education to a yearly extension based on being over 50 (retirement).

There shouldn't be much problem for you to switch reasons, you would get the documents from your school saying you stop studying on xxx date, get all the documents, bank letter, copies etc, go to the immigration office that issued the ED extension, cancel it and immediately apply for a new yearly extension based on retirement.

NOW as far as if your spouse can do the same thing but change the reason for her ED extension to one based on trailing spouse of a retiree, that's gonna be between you and the immigration office you deal with for the extensions.

I'd say go over well before your current extensions expire, tell them you plan on "changing the reason for your extension" do not say you want a Non-O nothing, because they'll tell you that you have to leave to do that <- which is true.. You don't want ANY new visa, you just want to change the reason for why you have an extension.

Will it work for her, honestly don't know at all, but it should work for you without any hiccups. You're going to have to talk to your immigration office about the "reason changes" for the extensions and see what they say
Tod *********
only one person can use the 800K baht

remember though

seeing as you come from canada

if you get the affidavit of income from abroad notary letter from your embassy stating you get a minimum of 65K baht a month income from canada you can use that to show proof of funds without banking any money here
Serge ************
ORIGINAL POSTER
Thank you for your detailed explanation Tod, very much appreciated. You are correct about the "extension of stay permitted until". My bad. If this doesn't work at the Immigration office for my wife, can she still be a trailing spouse if I get out of the country and get a Non-O Retirement Visa? I've read and heard so many different opinions on trailing spouse on Retirement Visa and if it can even be done at all. To be honest, you're basically the only person I truly trust with Visa advice...
Luke *******
@Serge ***********
this guy knows he's stuff ๐Ÿ‘
Serge ************
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Luke ******
Absolutely! To his credit, Tod is very humble but that doesn't change the fact that he's the absolute Guru of Gurus!
Paul *********
@Serge ***********
true, he tells it as it is. A legend ๐Ÿ™
Tod *********
@Serge ***********
there is no place that will sell that Non-O 90 day visa for a trailing spouse of a retiree, ๐Ÿ˜• No consulate in the area sells it anymore.

They should be able to switch the reason for the extension from education to trailing spouse (there's nothing that says they can't) BUT it's gonna come down to what your immigration office says.

I'd go well ahead of this, see what they say and find out so you're not caught out with no time left and no idea what to do

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