Do I need 800,000 baht in a bank account or a steady pension to apply for a retirement visa in Thailand?

Robert Curtis Totally agree with you. It's surprising how so many people manage to struggle through life with university, marriage, car, having kids, mortgage on a house, and then fall apart when they have to produce a few documents (which you can get on a list anyway) and filling in a form. I just wonder how these people made it through life! What I was referring in not preparing for retirement is that so many retirees don't have the equivalent of 800,000 baht in savings or a 65,000 baht transfer each month (yeah go figure!) and they're happy to pay an agent upwards of 25,000 baht to pay a bribe to an immigration officer to "overlook" this requirement. It's quite sad actually. Good on you for going nearly quarter of a century without paying a cent to a visa agent! 👍

@Steve *******

you have no idea how difficult some offices can be. They give you the requirements and then change them when you go back. They string you along for so long that in the end you have to use an alternative. I expected them to give me full and valid information and they simply did not. It is much easier to deal with immigration in areas where there are many foreigners but not so easy out in the sticks.

@Nick ***********

Can't talk of provincial immigration offices, I only have experience with Bangkok, but I find that if you get the current list and present this with the ticks next to each criterion, there's never a problem (not for me or the handful of old codgers I've helped out). Thai immigration is very anal, and I've found that if you have everything presented in the right order, with one copy of each original document, it often elicits slight smiles (not full blown ones) when the officer is going through the stack of papers. Fortunately (for this instance) I'm a little OCD so it helps that I must have everything in order anyway. The other thing in my favour, is my complete anti-visa agent stance. I simply cannot justify throwing money away!

@Steve *******

come extension time in Feb I will try again at local IO. I will have had the full amount of baht in my account for 18 months! The problem stems from them giving me dud information regarding non o 3 month Visa in the first place and now I have a Visa extension from Bangkok they will find some reason not to extend it again for me. It might be better to let my existing extension lapse while I am abroad and start all over again. I could have done that by not getting a re entry permit when I came back to the UK last month. But I did!

@Michael ******

Yes it says ANY of the following, which means take your pick! 😆

@Bobby *******

in the past some immigration offices did accept a combination of funds in the bank and monthly income. Best as always to speak to the local office.

@Ron *****************

A combination yes, but the topic here is does an applicant need 800,000 in a bank account PLUS 65,000 per month. The answer to this is no.

@Bobby *******

with that I agree. You either need B 800k or B 65k or where allowed a combination.

Mai bpenh rai, it probably will be teamoney again. By the way, I often read your posts and think they are a great help for every Farang here. Thanks and keep up the good work.