How early can I renew my retirement visa in Thailand and what documents do I need?

Every immigration office does things their own way. You have to talk to your local imm office if you're unsure of something.

Now is the time to do your extension because the offices are very quiet (I was in and out in 45 minutes). And, nobody knows what will happen after the visa amnesty ends so... just do it so you don't regret it. I can see them saying you have to start all over again if you don't extend your current visa before expiration date.

James I agree totally with this advice. I took my Thai wife with me as she completes all of my paperwork. We sat down with the man at immigration in Soi 5 Pattaya in late May this year. Went through all of the requirements even though we had done the same extension at the same place one year ago.

2 things had changed. One was the insurance requirement as I have a Non Immigrant O-A visa originally issued in Australia.

The second change was that I now had to produce 12 months bank statements from my bank in addition to the standard bank letter. I also had to produce all bank books covering the same 12 months. My latest bank book had to be updated the day prior to coming in for the extension. The previous year I only needed 2 months bank statements to show the 800,000 baht had been there for the required time. Now they are also checking to see that you have maintained the minimum balance of 400,000 baht for the whole year.

On the day I did the extension it took all of 10 minutes and I picked up my passport the following day.

Time well spent.

i remember turning up one day everything fine and letter in

morning from

bank but he wanted something else went back next day with other document which was never required before and then he said letter too old

go get another one with today’s day pain in the arse

@John **********

Bank letter is usually same day as application or no more than 24hrs old. Apply within 30 days prior, some Imm offices allow 45 days prior.