Do you need both a Thai bank account with THB 800,000 and a monthly income of THB 65,000 for a Thai retirement visa?

@Greg **********

when applying for non o visa inside Thailand would you open your Thai bank account and then make the money transfer , and return to the bank a few days later for proof that funds came from outside of Thailand as it takes around 4 or 5 days to show on your Thai Bank account

@Paul ******

and yes, a SWIFT takes from 4 to 6 working days. A WISE transfer might take only seconds. ATTN: only three Thai banks allow a wISE transfer over 49.999.- THB in one swoop - - that's Bangkok Bank, SCB and Kasikorn. The WISE limit is 2 mill Baht on one transfer

@Greg **********

I think it is a ridiculous situation that I am not able to open Thai bank account when arriving on 60 day tourist visa

My plan is to rent a condo for a couple of months whilst my House is being built and open a Thai bank account using condo address for banking set-up - are you saying that I would be prevented from doing this ??

yer house is being built where?

@Greg **********

Hua Hin

@Paul ******

ya can pay for a house so an agent's full service is no problem for you. Just pay up for the start and enjoy the future

@Paul ******

just bite the apple and pay up 5000.- THB in order to be able to open the Bangkok Bank account

@Paul ******

you def can open a bank account on a tourist visa. Just see an agent in Pattaya.

@Paul ******

well . . it depends. Are you married to a Thai wife?

@Greg **********

no wife

well it doesn't matter. Get an agent open a Thai account ASAP after arriving in Thailand, transfer what you will need to apply for the inside Thailand initial 90-days Non-ImmO visa

@Greg **********

Ian McCabe if I arrive into Thailand With my 90 day visa obtained in the UK and I also have a condo rented for a couple of months can I then open a Thai bank account without engaging the services of an agent

@Paul ******

yes you def can. On a Non-O visa banks will allow you to open an account

@Paul ******

K

@Paul ******

exactly. The downside is, you can't open a bank account on a touristic entry, except when you use an agent. It will cost you around 5000.- THB for an agent in pattaya. It takes two days and you will be able to transfer money from abroad (except if you carried that much cash on you when flying in, which needs to be declared at the point of departure and the point of entry)

@Greg **********

Many Thanks, your about the only guy who knows what they are talking about ,there is so much confusing and conflicting info relating to visas in Thailand

@Paul ******

feel free to ask me always. Don't hesitate. I have dedicated my free time to the visa advice groups since 25 years, so i am always up to date with the latest

@Giuseppe *********

You are completey wrong and you are confusing three different situations . . . . . for the Non-O visa application outside of Thailand and also inside Thailand, the money just has to sit in the bank, there is no seasoning required. Only Jomtien Immigration requires a two-months seasoning for the application to the Non-O visa inside Thailand by the way of "change of visa type" . . . . . . and for the application to the "1-year Extension of Stay", the money must have seasoned for 2 months in a Thai bank account

This was the question, now if he meant something different, not to change visa type, i understood wrong. The rest has to ask immigration, on web could get wrong infornation.

@Giuseppe *********

I see you have no clue what the process to obtain a retirement visa is like. You better stop typing, before you hand out WRONG advice such as the one you wrote

@Greg **********

,all yoy wrote are illigal ways, i had the required money in bank always and brougth to immigration the statment. I didn't guve any worong information, as i said 3 months before... what is wrong in that? And i not understand why people having mo money kerping on find illegal way to go in and out. Let's stop now, tired of this.

@Giuseppe *********

for the extension, it is TWO MONTHS SEASONING, capisce? How many more people in this group will need to correct you?

@Greg **********

for extension

@Aake *********

yes, for the 1-year extension only. . . . . . However, there is no seasoning requirement for the 90-days visa! That was what our guy was wrong about. . . . . . . He wrote "But money have to stay in bank at least 3 months before you apply for visa". The "extension" is not a "visa". The "extension" is an "extended stay permit"

@Giuseppe *********

nothing illegal, I only posted that for the desparate there is the "agent route". Thousands of Farang retirees use this way. And EVERYTHING else I described is the FULLY LEGAL METHOD . . . . . . . Read again, but please use reading spectacles . . . . . We are talking about the most common and persisting misunderstandings regarding the rules that come with applying for the “retirement visa” and the subsequent “one-year extension of stay permit based on retirement”

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

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,

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

Or you 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 a Thai bank, or just anywhere in the World – as long as it is in your sole name

However, for the application inside Thailand, for the “1-year extension of stay permit” out of the 90-days Non-Imm-O retirement visa, if you are a citizen of a country, whose embassy in Thailand does not issue the “income affidavit any more

(these are the embassies of USA, UK and Australia)

you would need proof by 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

If your embassy still issues an affidavit of income, you can use this method for the financial proof, which needs a monthly income or pension of a minimum of 65.000.- THB

For British, 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 and use this deposit for the financial proof which is required for the application to the “one year extension of stay permit based on being over 50/retired”

The alternative would be, if you don’t have that kind of money or are not willing to deposit in a Thai Bank account is, paying an agent a hefty sum (mostly in the range of 30.000.- THB) to “arrange” the requirements (which means bribing an Immigration officer to look the other way)

The downside is, you will get stuck with the agent for a while. You will have to pay to get an agent to help with bank account.

Then you will need an agent to fix your 800k issue. You will be trapped in the agent’s hamster wheel.

To qualify you will need the 800k fronted by the agent the first year and simultaneously deposit 65k per month for 12 months without fail, to qualify the 2nd year for income method.

If you use an agent you will not qualify for the 2nd year as you did not have the money in the first year . . . . So will use an agent, again and again.

The only way to escape the agent’s wheel is:

As soon as you have accumulated the 12 consecutive months of 65.000.- THB transfers (and this will be some time during the second "agent-year") all you need to do is exit Thailand without a re-entry permit. This will kick the agent from the plate.

By this you will invalidate the current "1-year extended stay permit". And once you re-enter Thailand "visa-exempt", you will get stamped in for 60 days. You can then immediately apply for the "change of visa type" from the "exempt entry" to the "90-days Non-imm-O retirement visa" all by yourself, using the bank statement proof of income of 12 months transfers.

This application costs a 2000.- THB fee and you can theoretically do it all by yourself, or accept the help of an agent for the simplified legal service.

NOTE: It is income OR deposit. And 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 Immigration want the deposit part to exceed 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 Extension inside Thailand):

On the day of application to the 1-year extension, the 800.000.- THB need to have “seasoned” in your account for two months, and this has to be proven with the “bank letter of guarantee” (rab roong thanakan).

After been issued the “Extension”, 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 your 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 for it.

A re-entry permit will keep your stay permit alive in case you exit Thailand before the expiry of the 1-year stay permit.

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

ATTN:

There is another road to the “1-year ‘Extension of Stay based on retirement”

You can arrive visa-exempt or on a 60 days single-entry Tourist Visa, you will get stamped in for a 60 days stay permit.

You visit Immigration and show them a bankbook with proof you got 800.000.- THB in sitting in your bank account, and a proof that this money came from abroad.

This must have either been organized during a previous holiday, or a bank account needs to be opened ASAP, and the money transferred from your abroad account onto you Thai bank account ASAP

You apply for the “change of visa type” from the touristic entry to a “90-days Non-Imm-O retirement visa”

To be allowed to apply you need a minimum of 15 days left on your entry stamp. And you need to show a rental contract, at least on most Immigrations

They will issue the visa for 14 days “under consideration”

After this period, you pick up the 90-days Non-Imm-O visa stay permit stamp

From up to 30 days (in some places 45 days) before the 90-days stay permit expires, you can apply to the “1-year extension of stay based on retirement”

The financial requirements for this application are the same as explained above.

You can find the requirements when you google for “change of visa type immigration Thailand” and click on the number 9 in the list

Good Luck and a great time in Thailand

@Greg **********

Not correct. It has to be a thai bank. Otherwise it wouldn't even make sense.

They want you to have money inside Thailand and not outside

@Marc *******

you got your wires crossed

@Marc *******

YOU ARE WRONG ,. , , for the application of the Non-Imm-O visa outside of Thailand, the money can be on any account in the world. For the application to the extension, the money must be on a Thai account

@Greg **********

I thought you're talking about the extention. Not the 90 days visa

@Marc *******

Be AWARE. a visa is not the same as a stay permit +

@Greg **********

Yes that's why you first get the 90 day visa and later the 1 year extention. I am not talking about what you apply from outside Thailand. I thought so did you

@Marc *******

you probably misunderstood the whole thing. Go get you wires entangled

@Giuseppe *********

long ago is not now

@Brandon ***********

Sorry Brandon, you're wrong on this one. I've done it myself. You get the non-O from Section C at CW, and they liaise with Section J, and they accept the 12x65k. If you doubt me, talk to Tod Daniels . A buddy of mine did it first, Tod didn't believe him and actually went in to CW to confirm it. I've done it since. Trust me it can be done

@Graham *****

I've done it, after a buddy of mine did the same thing

@Andy ***********

Try it now

@Graham *****

Stupid response

@Andy ***********

TiT

@Graham *****

Yeah, and expats make some of the dumbest comments in Thailand. There's NOTHING in the Thai immigration website which states you must have 800k for a year. The 65k transfers replaced the embassy affidavits - if you've got 12 you're home. Problem is no-one actually pushes the question

@Andy ***********

Where did I say a year? It's about 5 months then 400k for the rest of the first year then if you have 12 consecutive months of 65k deposits you can transfer for the second extension

@Graham *****

I'm talking generally. If you have 12x65k international transfers you don't need the 800k lump sum in your bank account when you apply for the 90-day visa and the subsequent 12 month extension