How do I start the process for obtaining a retirement visa in Thailand?

No. 1 – Apply online for a Non-Immigrant O Visa.

No. 2 – When you arrive in Thailand with your Non-Immigrant O Visa, open a Thai bank account and deposit 800,000 baht.

No. 3 – After the 800,000 baht has been in the Thai bank account for the required period, apply at your local Thai Immigration Office for a retirement extension. Bring your TM30, passport photos, bank book/bank statement and bank certificate, along with the other documents required by your local Immigration Office. The application fee is 1,900 baht. Some offices may also ask for a Residence Certificate (TM.16) or additional documents.

Ask the ladies at the information desk at the Immigration Office for advice — they are very helpful.

No. 4 – Don’t have a Thai bank account or the 800,000 baht? Forget Nos. 2 and 3 above and go to an agency instead for assistance. Costs can be around 35,000 baht upwards for the first application, and 12,000 baht upwards for an annual renewal, depending on the agency and circumstances.

Google it ! Immigration thaïland....

I'd advise obtaining yhe Non O Visa, rather than the Non OA visa, as you do not have to have insurance, or Police clearance. Im told you can obtain the Non O in your own country, but many of us obtained it in Thailand. I came in on a 60 Tourist Visa which enabled me to complete the process. The sticking point could be opening a bank account though. It's still possible, but it appears to be getting more difficult. Check Google for all the required paperwork. It's time consuming and sometimes a little frustrating, but you can do it yourself for 1900 baht, rather than paying an agent 10 times that.it funny, but I came here nearly ten years ago, determined to remain single. I've now been married for 5 years and never regretted it! 😂 Good luck brother.

Plenty of money 💰😄

Look it up on Google, not fb

If you apply for a non O 90 day visa in Irland then come to Thailand an agent can sort a bank account out and a 12 month extension for 15,000-20,000 bht by an agent,if you dont get the non O before you arrive the non O and bank account will cost you 50,000-70,000 with an agent.

Suggest you to apply in Ireland thai embassy for retirement visa. Once you get it, you can go to Thailand and use that visa to apply for a banking account. After 15 months (3 months temp visa and 12 months one year visa);.. when is time to renewal, leave the country and go back without a re entry visa. Then start all over again to apply the retirement visa in Thailand. By doing so you can save the insurance money of which required to purchase for the visa that you got from Ireland

Just read the regulations that are published by the Thai Immigration Department.

You can do it yourself if you don’t want to use an agent. Best of luck🌟

Any comments mentioning potatoes will be removed

Use the E visa system on-line you have time ..get all paperwork together apply at thai embassy in your land for a 90 day visa cost about €50..go to Thailand open bank account..go to the Irish embassy get a affidavit cost about 1500 baht ..take the affidavit to local immergration office.. get your retirement visa ..cost about 1900 baht

You need to get one of these from the Thai Embassy in Dublin 😁😁😁

Google for real information. Easy.

Why the hate for asking a question into a “Thai visa” group?? Surely it’s just another vehicle to support people alongside Google/Claude etc… whilst giving individuals the chance to talk to people about real life experiences

If not appropriate fair enough I guess but then what’s the purpose of the group?

Apply,online

If you have an Irish passport and can prove your pension income is above the minimum requirement to the Irish embassy in Bangkok they will write you an embassy letter signed by the consulate in charge.,take this letter to immigration while on your 90 day o visa and fill in the appropriate paperwork for your 1 year extension based on retirement

In my case it was all done and passport stamped in 1 visit,no Thai bank account needed,no funds to season in a Thai bank,no back and fourth to the immigration office,the embassy letter is sacrosanct

Our lovely Irish embassies are one of a very few that do this,

Americans Australians most of Europe and definitely the UK will not sign a verified letter proving your income ,that’s when you have to put money then into a Thai bank and let it season for a certain amount of time to prove you have the minimum requirement, good luck, top of the day to you

Money is the key to everything in Thailand .

If you haven't been or can't figure it out don't come. It's too hard for you. FFS!!!;

First why Thailand second can you afford to retire there third take a holiday there and see if you like it's people and culture Thailand is not a cheap country like it used to be it is up and coming country whose citizens now travel abroad to countries maybe you cannot afford.

It is the 90 day non-O based on being over 50 that you need.

Google it FFS

How do you start the road to a successful retirement in Thailand?

You first need to decide which type of “retirement visa” suits your particular situation. There are at least 4 different visa-types all referred to as “retirement visas”, that are: Non-Imm-O, Non-Imm-OA, Non-Imm-OX and the LTR Wealthy Pensioner visa.

The LTR Visa unquestionably the best - if you can qualify for it- and the Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa is the most commonly used. My following advice is based on the Non-Imm-O Visa.

You need to apply for the 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa through the E-Visa online system of the Thai embassy in your home country, before you fly to Thailand.

After you entered Thailand, you need to get registered in your accommodation per TM30 within 24 hours of arrival in the premises. If you rent or live in a friend’s accommodation, the landlord or the friend has to register you.

Immigration will only service you if you are properly registered in your accommodation by the TM30.

You need this TM30 so you can ask Immigration for a “certificate of residence”, a document you need if you want to get a Thai bank account opened.

On arrival, you will get stamped in for an admitted stay of 90 days. The visa will become invalid for further use.

Within this 90-days STAY PERMIT period, you have only one, maximum two weeks of time to arrange for the application to the “1-year Extension of Temporary Stay Permit Based on Retirement”.

You will need to get a Thai bank account opened as soon as possible after you entered. On a Non-Imm-O visa class, it is possible to get a Thai bank account opened, if you fulfill the minimal requirements., which are:

*** the “certificate of residence” from Immigration (some banks accept a longterm rental contract)

*** a Thai mobile SIM-card registered in the phone-shop to your name and passport number

*** many banks ask for a secondary identity document alongside your passport – like your national driver’s license

In order to apply for the “90-days single entry Non-Imm-O retirement visa” through the online E-visa system of the Royal Thai Embassy of your home country, you can use proof of income of a monthly minimum of equivalent of 65,000 THB, by showing your original pension statements or other income documentation.

Or you show a deposit of a minimum of 800,000 THB equivalent in your home country currency, on your home bank account, or just on any bank anywhere in the World – as long as the account is in your sole name.

However, for the application inside Thailand for the “1-year extension of the stay-permit based being over 50/on retirement” out of the 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa, you

EITHER

show a minimum of 800,000 THB in Your Thai bank account, and on the day you apply, the deposit must have seasoned in the account for a minimum of two months, and you need the “bank letter of guarantee” (in Thai: rab roong thanakan”) that confirms it.

OR

If your embassy still issues a legalized affidavit of income, you can use this method for the financial proof, as long as you can show a monthly income or pension of a minimum of 65,000 THB.

If you are a citizen of a country whose embassy in Thailand does not issue the “income affidavit” anymore (which are the embassies of the USA, UK and Australia, Norway and Canada - AFAIK), you would need a proof by a “12 months bank statement”.

This statement must show that for the past 12 months, you have been transferring from abroad to your Thai bank account, month for month, not missing one single month, a minimum of 65,000 THB. The transfers must be coded in your bankbook as foreign transfers coming in from abroad.

For above mentioned 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.

***If you don’t have these funds, there still is the option to use an agent who fronts the deposit in your bank account and pays “tea money” to the Immigration to ignore that you have no own funds. I do not recommend it, however you should know it exists and many expats do it by this way.

It is very difficult, however, to escape the “hamster wheel” of an agent, because from the moment on he removes the 800,000 THB from your account, you are technically in an “overstay” because you are violating the terms of the upkeep of the deposit.

Some Immigration offices have started to require that even when you use your embassy’s income affidavit, you at least have a Thai bank account and SOME money gets transferred into it from abroad – and they might also ask you for the SOURCE of the income.

Many people wrongly refer to the 1-year extension as a “1-year retirement visa”, this is totally wrong. Actually, the one-year extension of the stay permit is not a visa, it is what the stamp in your passport says: an extended stay permit.

NOTE: It is income method OR deposit method.

And there is a third method, called the “combination method”:

A mix of income and deposit. Many Immigrations don’t allow the combination method in the first year. And some Immigrations want the deposit part to exceed 400,000 THB. The combination method means that the sum of the deposit AND the monthly income is exceeding 800,000 THB in one year. You would have to ask your Immigration if they allow it. A US citizen cannot ever use the combination method. I have NEVER heard of a US or UK citizen being allowed a combination of 12-months of transfers from abroad plus a deposit in a Thai bank account. People who are allowed to the combination, are using income affidavits from their embassies.

But let’s continue with the “normal method” (the Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa issued in your home country, followed by the application to the 1-year Extension of Stay inside Thailand):

What else do you need to show on Immigration?

*** Immigration might ask you to present your updated bankbook, and a receipt of a small sum withdrawal at an ATM of the same day.

*** a copy (and original) of your passport detail page signed in blue ink

*** a copy (and original) of the .pdf visa document signed in blue ink

*** a copy (and original) of the printed TDAC (if applicable) signed in blue ink

*** 1900 THB in cash application fee

*** the TM7 form you can fill out at the Immigration

*** Immigration will ask you to sign several “exclusion of responsibility” forms (STM2 and STM11)

*** some Immigrations have started to ask applicants for a rental contract (Hua Hin is known to ask)

*** some also ask for a screenshot or printout of your TM30 despite they can see a properly registered TM30 on their computer

*** some Immigrations ask you for a hand drawn map of the roads from your accommodation to the Immigration office.

You should visit your Immigration office ASAP after you have entered Thailand, and ask them for the handout list of requirements. This is important, because some Immigrations use their individual, own rules.

After been issued the “1-year Extension of Stay” the minimum 800,000 THB deposit needs to remain in the account for 3 more months. After these 3 months, the deposit shall never go under 400,000 THB. Before your annual 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

When you get issued the “1-year extension of stay”, you should always buy a re-entry permit for it while you are still in the Immigration office.

*** A re-entry permit will keep your 1-year 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 can exit and re-enter as many times as you wish during the whole 1-year stay permit period.

Good Luck and a great time in Thailand

Use an agent.It will save you many,many hours of hassles,stress and worry.Dont use a website,they are hopeless.I know from personal and many of my friend's own experiences.

Hi people I see a lot of people retired in Thailand..how do you get your pension..I'm in Australia..thankyou for any info..

But health insurance now ...don't wait

Look into thai embassy website

Apply

Be at least 50 years old and apply for it from the Thai embassy through the e-visa system.