How can I apply for a Retirement visa in Thailand when I'm unable to provide proof of income from the Australian Embassy?

Ive heard of people doing this and it was legit

I paid an agent in Chiang Mai over 43,000 baht while in the USA for a 90 day non 0 retirement visa and then moved to CM within the first month and they helped with opening a bank account with Kasikorn bank. Before the 90 days was up I got the 12 month extension all with the help of the agency. FYI..... by the time my 2nd extension was due I was able to do it myself.

Agent

You can open a bank account on a Non O Visa, after you get the visa fly in get yourself a phone, go to immigration get your resident certificate go to the bank, preferably Not Bangkok Bank , Kasikorn bank is one of the easiest to open a account, deposit your 800,00 before your first month here, 60 Days later go to immigration and get your retirement extension

Just fuck thialand

Non o from your country then come over walk into a bank and the rest is fairly simple

Watch this video. You can go to a nearby country also and have a holiday while you apply for the non o 90 day visa. Using funds in an Australian bank.

is there any way to get away from the back door visa once you have started. elite visa or some other way to do it????

If you intend to spend more than 6 months in the country then don’t forget then you’ll be liable for tax on any money you bring in so you’ll need to not only bring in your 800k but also enough to cover the tax on it.

They also sometimes want a letter from your pension provider

Why would you give 60,000 to an agent when you can do it yourself unless you have tons of money..you come in to the country either with an exemption or tourist visa or if you find it easy a non-o visa purchased from your local Thai embassy.Then after you register at your hotel ask for copy of TM 30 foreigner registration form.go buy sim card for your phone,and register your passport to it.Then go to your nearest immigration office and tell them you want to convert to non- o visa which is I think valid for 90days I think (might be 60)and ask them for handout to see what documents this specific office requires for the 1 year extension (they are not all the same)Then ask for a certificate of residence to allow you to open bank account.Pay the immigration 2000 baht and that's you sorted for 90 days then you have to go again to immigration with your documents pay another 1900 baht and that's you sorted and saved yourself baht..buy me a beer if you like

What catch-22? Get the 90 day Non-O visa based on being 50+ yo before you travel to Thailand. Show you have the equivalent of 800k Baht in your home bank or any bank. No catch-22 here since you already have the money in your home or any bank. After you arrive, get an apartment lease, have the landlord file a TM30 report with immigration, and get a locally registered phone number. With the lease and TM30, get a residency certificate at immigration, then with all the above docs, you can open a bank account, with the green, purple, or yellow banks. This may take several tries, like rolling dice. Folks here advise against the blue bank. Do a wire transfer from abroad and deposit a minimum of 800k Baht which must be in the new account for 2 months *before* you can apply for a 12 month extension of stay. Apply within the last 30 days before your permission to stay expires. Every other IO has slightly different rules, based on the roll of the dice, so visit and ask questions at the IO before hand. Still no catch-22. We all do it without agents. After a while, you may even sign up as a volunteer assistant at the IO. They all speak English, even French, German, Chinese, etc. No work permit required. No joke.

I've had 3 friends who have done that no problem at all recently.

Everyone makes money , all stamps are legit and done completely at head office of Immigration in BKK.

That's simply the easiest to get around all this unnessacary BS going on in this country these days.

Please dont write in and say its illegal because its not.

Its all about the money.

Mike a friend we know said the requirements for a retirement pension has strict potable requirements now.

Only reason I mention it is because it may impact but again it may not.

John Stanners answer is correct however I will add, the funds are meant to be yours. Currently the agents get around this regulation and drop the money for like 5 minutes. Exactly how, well people have their opinions. You are however intentionally circumventing the immigration rules, you are breaking the law . Before all the know it all's chime in I am well aware compliance is non existent and thousands get away with using an agent to provide the funds. That does not make it legal and to me breaking the law & falsifying any part of your visa application is not a good start to your new life in Thailand.

You need a 'long term visa' to open a bank account and a O-visa is a long term visa that you get before coming to Thailand. You need to have 800,000 Baht in a Thai bank account for 2 months before you can apply for an extension of stay (it covers 12 months). There is no catch 22, all you have to do is come to Thailand on a O-visa then go to your local Immigration office with proof of where you are living (rental agreement etc) and get a 'residentcy certificate' then take that with your passport and some banks need extra documents like the rental agreement, it varies between banks & branches, and that allows you to open a bank account. I don't recommend Bangkok Bank as there's be a lot of reports of problems with them but Kasikorn appear to be good. Once you have your bank account you can transfer the 800,000 Baht then after 2 month and before your 90 day O-visa expires you can apply for the extension of stay. If you want to change to the 60,000 Baht a month route then you need to transfer that every month for the 12 months and then for the next extension you can use that but if one payment gets missed or delayed then you wil probably have to revert to the 800,000 Baht in the bank but remember that you must never drop below 800,000 in the bank for the 3 months after the extension is granted and then it can drop to 400,000 but must go back to 800,000 Baht 2 months (some offices say 3 months) before the next application.

Agents doing this is very common in Thailand.

You get the non O while in Australia, using 800,000 equivalent in an Australian bank.

Then go to Thailand, open account, deposit 800,000 and apply for one year extension.

No catch 22.

You can't go from visa exempt to 12 month retirement extension. You go to a 90 day non-o, fund your account for 2 months and then get the 12 month extension. The visa and extension are 1900 and 1900 each. The rest of the 60k you pay is tea money and profit.

My mate is doing exactly that this month only his is 10 K more. All in one day same as .

Hey mike

@Mike *********

im retired too. Apply in Oz with funds then fly here get a bank account and apply for the retirement extension. After 12-months and your new extension is required go on the ฿65,000 per month method

John Stanners answer is spot on. Apply for and get your 90 day non o in Aus, open your account when you arrive. If first bank says no go to the next, eventually you will find one that says yes. Once your money has sat in the account for the required time get your bank letter, statement since opening, lease and go to immigration (depending on the branch of immigration you use - check their specific requirements- take all your documents, two passport photos and 1900 baht to extend your stay for a year.

Stay away from an agent opening your bank account via back channels and doing your visa if you want to cleanly change later to doing your own visa based on monthly deposits. As others have said, it’s easy to enter on a 90 day Non-O visa issued in Australia. When you arrive you open a bank account immediately and transfer the required 800,000 baht into it. The money needs to be in the account 2 full months before you can do the 1 year extension.

Also, if you plan on converting to the monthly transfer method you need to start that right a way so you can show the monthly transfers for a full year when you do your extension for the second year. Note that you need to fully meet the 800,000 banked method requirements AND the monthly deposits for that full year if you want to convert methods. Miss one month of transfers even by a day and you won’t qualify. It’s often easier to just do the banked 800,000 if you can afford it.

The trick is to apply for the 90 day Non-O visa before you come to Thailand which you can do showing income or savings in your home bank. When you get to Thailand you can then open a bank account and fund it with a minimum of 800k baht for two months before you apply for 12 month extension of stay. You have no option but the 800k method for the 1st year as your embassy stopped providing income certificates. For 2nd and subsequent extensions you can use monthly income by showing you have made 12 months worth of 65k baht transfers every month from overseas immediately prior to applying

You should have arrived in Thailand with your Non-O now, because you don't have a Thai bank account, you can either leave to get your Non-O from a neighbouring country or pay an agent which may mean you're stuck with the agent for years to come.