How can a married couple from the USA secure a retirement visa in Thailand on pension funds?

stop listening to friends and Facebook experts and go to the official Thai website, its that simple.

Read The Thai counselor / embassy website

Please check the Thai Embassy website for current and accurate information. This should be your first step.

As you can see, people seriously enjoy making their lives difficult. And expensive.

1- fly to Thailand and enter 30 days visa exempt which you can extend once for 1900 baht.

2. Message

@Thai *****************************

and they will sort it all out for you. No silliness involved

Everyone has different experiences and what works for one may not work for another. My husband and I arrived in Jan 2023 (I am originally from the US but hubby is Australian) - we deposited the 800K (each as I did not want a trailing visa) shortly after arriving to Thailand on a visa exempt entry (at the time that was 45 days, I believe this has changed now) we applied for a 30 day extension when it was time. We then applied for a non O retirement visa with help from a Thai friend and were approved (Hua Hin) for our 90 day retirement visa. When it was time to renew we had to return to Hua Hin (we moved to PKK shortly after getting out visas sorted) to do the year extension for 1900 each. Keep in mind that you need to keep your bank account funds for the 90 day / annual update and you need to show your statement from the bank showing the funds exist in your account.

Lots of people use agents to help make the process easier, but with research and following the regulations, it is fairly easy to do it yourself.

@Graham ******

the 90 day stamp gives you the time to get 0 in a thai bank account for two months. That is how it works in most places and certainly for me. In fact, my office insisted on 3 months prior to renewal.

I visited the Thai Embassy here in Saigon and get questions answered from as I say the horses mouth. Don't waste time on friends who aren't Thai Embassy officials they don't know.

If you don't want to bring money into Thailand then OA visa.

Otherwise 90 day Non-o and bring funds into country for the 1yr. extension .

Only my opinion. Since you are still in the US you can get a non-OA 1 year visa. Work with the embassy closest to you and file electronically.

The thing is people don’t like the insurance requirement but you can have the required amount in an American bank account. I think this is a benefit because though there is an insurance requirement, the money in my high yield bank account earns enough interest to pay for the insurance in 2 months, the remaining 10 months I’m making ~5% on the balance! A Thai bank account essentially pays NO interest at all (its pennies, useless).

This was my approach.

*advise

Before you can get a 12 months extension you need to get a 90 day Non-O visa either in Thailand or in your home country. Assuming you are a married couple I'd recommend getting it in your home country and at the same time your wife gets a Non-O dependant visa(she can not get this inside Thailand). You can both then extend once here for 12 months. Alternatively get a Non-OA visa before coming (can only get in your home country) but this comes with an annual insurance requirement. Again a Non-O dependant for your wife

Number 9 is for applying for the initial non-o retirement inside of thailand. They can also apply in the US before leaving although requirements are a little different I believe. They should be able to find all the information they need on the website of the consulate that services their area though.

Speak to the Thai embassy!

Look on Thai govt website, simple