What are the best visa options for living in Thailand before retirement at age 50?

Wait until you're 50. Easy as that 🤗

I came when I was 40. I have been here 9 years I will be eligible for the retirement visa in a few months (yippie).

Basically to stay in Thailand long term you will need to

- get rich

- get married

- get a job

- get a kid

- be a volunteer

They've recently expanded the 'get a job' category to include technical people. I almost fit into the SMART category except the company work for is not publicly traded and it's unlikely they'll provide all the paperwork the Thai government requires.

So far I have had a few marriage visas (same wife 1.5 years), volunteer visa (1 year), work visa (1 year), a few covid extensions. The rest of the time (5.5 years) has been tourist visas.

You can only do two land border bounces per calendar year, but you can do as many by air as you like.

An immigration officer once told me an ED visa looks suspicious for a person 40+.. I think its a culture thing.

If I were in your shoes I would look at spending my time in Indonesia (Bali) and my time in Thailand. I am fond of Bali, but you may like any other city.

@Andrew ******

Retired at 39? Possibly military retirement?

I have a great agent I used for my Elite Visa and can share their info if you're interested!

2 times per calender year for visa exempt (walk in) or (up to) 6 times for tourist visa. Its at the discretion of the I.O

I'm assuming you have a Thai GF? If not, why do you want to settle in one place? Thailand is decent but 5 months is enough for me. If I were in the same situation, I'd use Thailand as a base, but would spend as much time elsewhere as in Thailand.

If you don’t need income, Elite is going to be cheaper and a whole less stressful than starting a new business.

Do the elite. My girlfriend and I just got ours and it was super easy and took about a month and a half from start to finish. And they affix your visa at the airport upon arrival.

Do you qualify for the global wealthy citizen LTR visa? If you do, the LTR is one of the best visas available currently.

What's the longest you've spent in Thailand so far?

My advice is stick with tourist visas for a year to see if you're still enamored enough to want to stay and shell out $25k for the privilege.

900,000 isn’t bad for 5 years. But wouldn’t he have to tie up 800,000 baht for the retirement visa, as well. ?

buy a 5 year Elite for 900.000.- THB . . .then after spending 5 years inThailand, ask yourself if it's the place you want to live. If the answer is YES, spend another 900.000.- THB for another 5-year Elite. As soon as it expires, you are close to apply for the retirement Extension which will only cost you 1900.- THB every year

Seems like you know quite a lot yourself regarding visa and possibility for stay long time in Thailand. Thai privilege visa (Elite) is probably your best option because it’s not easy to fill up the 11 year gap until you can apply for a retirement visa with short stay visas.

The options you already know;

You can’t expect to go back to back on tourist visa for a longer period, but you can apply for a METV in the first place. This is a six months multiple entries tourist visa which gives you used the right way possibility for stay up to nine months in Thailand.

ED visa for studying is also an option for a period of time.

If you want to start a business and get a visa you’ll need to invest minimum 2 million baht and employ 4 thais.

As an alternative I think it could be more easy for you to spend some time in a surrounding country for a period of time. Cambodia is more liberal regarding longer stays for foreigners as I understand.