What are the best visa options for a 5-month stay in Thailand for retirees without high bank requirements?

I had a non O last year single entry I done a trip to had lek and got a 30 day extention, and could have stayed another month at Thai immigration in leam knop

Hi guys.

re Non O for example from London:

A friend said once you are here in Thailand you can then extend your stay yearly on a retirement basis. Is this do-able? Or the only options are as what Tod and Robert said.

My OH is British and only stays in Thailand 6 months a year max. Getting married after many yrs together but unsure if marriage visa is really better as it seems to be a lot of work eg finding witnesses etc.

What is the difference between non O and non O-A then?

Thanks very much in advance.

I hope you don't mind Reto Frei if I join in and ask some questions as my boyfriend is poss going to need non O in the future, too, not to avoid insurance as already has an adequate policy at a reasonable price. Thank you for your post and best of luck.

Well ...if you don't want to follow the thai law...just get a 6 month multiple tourist visa in Switzerland.....that's better then for you , but yes you have to leave for a trip ...but it's easier....or you can show founds in your home courtly then your consulate their will give you a NON O....not answer for Retired ....

It seems like you can get the Non-O single entry 90 day visa without all that much fuss from the thai consulate in Geneva.

As Robert suggested, get that, come here get 90 days, when that's up, bounce out/in to get a 30 day visa exempt entry and extend that by 30 more days at the immigration office . That gets you 5 months OR after the 90 day Non-O is over go to a nearby consulate and get a single entry tourist visa. That gets you 60 days and then you can extend for 30 more as well.

What SETV

You could consider the METV if you only need 5 months. This gets you 60 days on entry which you can extend to 90. Then you can just do one land border run (Kanchanaburi is nearest from Bangkok) for a further 60 days. That's 5 months, and if you needed a few more days you could extend that.

There are issues with people using METVs to stay long term but (1) they involve people border bouncing to come back in at airports, there are no reported issues at land borders. While (2) most indications are that six months in the past year is the trigger point for Bangkok airports to get difficult. So if you are not planning to go over that while a land run would be better to be safe you could likely bounce at an airport either.

Five months a METV should be fine and cover you for the full stay without issues.

To get the METV you need to show money in your home bank. No insurance requirement.

Staying 5 months a year using Tourist Visa and Visa Exempt Entry is at the moment not the best way to go. For 5 months is is now the Single Entry Non Immigrant O visa based on being over 50 years of age as the 1 year multiple entry is not available in your home country and followed by a visit to a Thai Consulate for a Single Entry Tourist Visa or a border run for 30 days and Extension of Stay on this for another 30 days

After the non O apply for a SETV (two month tourist visa) at a local consulate