Is the DTV a better long-term visa option compared to the retirement visa in Thailand?

not good visa so many problems at airport

I have only had retirement visas issued from the Thai Embassy in Canberra and used the surrender value of my super fund to prove that I had the funds available. The nice lady at the Embassy said "This way makes it much easier for us, don't say any other money you may have, that will only confuse Thai Immigration in Bangkok, they go overnight to Immigration in Bangkok and come a few days later" It took less than a week to be received by mail in W.A. I also had to get the police report $70 stating no warrants were outstanding and a doctor's medical report to prove I did not have any social disease (Ha! Ha!), yes short arm parade all witnessed by a neighbour who is a J.P. (oops! not the short arm parade, most military men know about that), He said this was all B/S and also pay $300 to the Embassy. All presented 3 full copy sets of 30 pages altogether. Details are on the Thailand website. not really so hard if you know the ropes, and you still have the Bt800,000 to spend as you like. Also, the retirement visa is multi-entry. Before the 1st year expires you can do a border run before it expires and return and be granted a 12-month extension free of charge, it can be good for 2 years. All my other trips have been 90-day tourist visas obtained from the Thai Consul in Perth. That no longer exists.

I feel this Visa will be short lived. Thailand will hopefully be cautious on the numbers and quality of candidates they allow in. Or the very reason people want to live there will be in question. Just my opinion.

I'm retired at 53,so I can't show working online and no income ,only savings that I live on,so does that make DTV Vida impossible to get and retirement visa better option ?

For those that plan to work online and 50 plus then DTV is the better option, i think.

DTV is better than retirement visa, except for people who never travel abroad.

Depends entirely on your individual circumstances, age, financial situation, income from external sources outside Thailand (if any) so quite a range of things to consider.

I don't even think there is a decision to make ...

I was ready to go down the hassle of a retirement visa .. then the DTV came up and blew the rest out the water .. even some in the Elite visa group are not happy about how good the new DTV is.

You can bet Pattaya will have an added requirement of tea money.

Yes I did myself so easy to do

Who needs a bank account in Thailand. My account in Aus allows me to make 5 overseas withdrawals a month and the Thailand ATM fee is refunded to my account in Australia. I also receive 5.5% interest with some conditions which I always meet. The exchange rate is as good as you can get, and your money received is instant. Usually, Bt20,000 max at a time is very convenient. I have never had a bank a/c in Thailand in 15 years. My retirement visas were obtained from the Thai Embassy in Canberra where you have to prove you have equal to Bt800,000 in a bank, and the surrender value of your super is accepted as money in the bank in Aus. No conditions are placed once you get to Thailand. You can just leave it in your Australian bank Account and use it as required from ATMs. That is my experience 2 times in the past. I now just visit Thailand visa-free for 2 months, and a 30-day extension for Bt1900 from Immigration at Blupoint (no e) Shopping Centre Hua Hin.

No one can really answer this. The visa only started 3 months ago and Thai embassies have already started to tighten up the requirements a lot from when it was first released. No one, not even immigration, knows what will be required for the 6 month extension. They could require you to prove all over again the reason you got the visa in the first place, and at some point that could potentially also become a requirement to enter the country on the visa after the first time. No one really knows what the future holds because it's so new. So you can either roll the dice with the new visa and pay 10k baht for the chance along with constant border bounces, or go with the sure thing which is the retirement visa at 1900 baht per year (and no required border bounces either).

I thought the same. It's worth considering as an alternative option. The downside might be that it's more difficult to open bank accounts as it's considered a tourist visa.

Retirement visa renewal, don't have to leave the Country. May be a consideration for some,

seems like it could easily be terminated after 6 months

Million % retirement 20k a year DTV is 12k for 5 years only down fall visa run every 6 month or let's hope no issues to get extension at immergration this won't be clear untill December/January as the visa was live from July.

Excellent option for those under 50