Do I need to change my METV to a Non-Immigrant visa before applying for a Retirement Visa in Thailand?

@Bi**

, please make your own new post about what you're tryin' to do for your wife. It totally high jacked the thread by

@Phi***

, and is not related to his questions.

@Amornrat *********

, can a Filipino get a 90 day single entry Non-O based on being married to a person who has a yearly extension based on retirement in Vientiane without a police report or a medical certificate?

@T**

, looks like we can have a few free beers in Chang mai, we saved some one Thb.

I'd wait until you wring as much time out of that 6 month METV as you could before I'd switch over.

From a tourist visa it's a two step process

FIRST You apply for a 90 day Non-O visa inside the country based on being over 50 (retirement) by meeting the financial requirements it costs 2000baht, It will go under consideration for 14 days, then you go back get the Non-O visa along with a new 90 day stamp inked into your passport.

Then when you have 45 days or less left on that you go back to the immigration office and apply for a yearly extension of stay based on being over 50 (retirement). Again by meeting the financial requirements it costs 1900baht. They'll ink that into your passport the day you apply.

Afrer you get the year extension IF you want to get a re-entry permit you can get a single for 1000baht or a multiple for 3800 baht.

So the hard costs at the immigration office going from a tourist visa to a yearly extension of stay with a multiple re-entry permit would be 2000+1900+3800 or 7700 baht.

You certainly don't need an agency to "push paper" for you at the immigration office

Yes, you need the non imm visa in order to apply for a yearly extention of stay based on being over 50

If you have minimum 15 days of stay left and meet the requirements you can visit with all the copies Immigration Office yourself and ask them to convert your reason of stay. They can give you a 90 Day Non Immigrant O visa, costs 2000 Thb and take about 15 days. You come back, get the visa stamped in passport and max 45 days before the permitted to stay date you can apply again for 1 year Extension of Stay based on Retirement.