What are the criteria for obtaining a Retirement Visa in Thailand for Canadians?

The road to a successful retirement in Thailand.

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, you have maximum two weeks of time to arrange the opening of the bank account.

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

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

*** a Thai mobile SIM-card registered to your name and passport number

*** many banks ask for a second identity document alongside your passport – like your 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 EITHER use proof of income of equivalent to 65,000 THB, by showing 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 – 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 when you apply, the deposit must have seasoned in the account for a minimum of 2 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 it for the financial proof, as long as you can show a monthly income/pension 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, Australia, Norway, Denmark and Canada), 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 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, however you should know this option exists and many expats do it by this way.

While they will claim this method is “legal”, I would rather say that the traditional Thai way of making obstacles go away by paying “tea money” to government officials should be taken with a pinch of salt.

It is very difficult to escape the “hamster wheel” of an agent regarding future applications, 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. 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. 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.

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.

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, use the income affidavit 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.

Well, it depends on your passport country.

There are several roads leading to the 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa and to the subsequent “1-year Extension of Temporary Stay Permit based on retirement”, which is a long-term stay permit

MIND YOUR WORDING:

you do not apply for the “retirement visa” on Immigration after you have entered Thailand on the “90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa” you obtained through the E-Visa online system outside of Thailand.

When you enter Thailand on the 90-days “Non-Imm-O retirement visa”, you get stamped in for a 90-days stay permit. The visa itself will become invalid or “used”. It cannot get “extended”. This is technically just not possible. Don’t fall for the wrong wording used by Thai Immigration, for whom a visa and a stay permit erroneously are the same thing.

I am talking about the most common misunderstanding regarding the rules for applying for the “retirement visa” and the subsequent “one-year extension of stay permit based on retirement”. Misunderstandings happen because a “retirement visa” can mean seven (!) different visas and stay permits, but please let’s remain on topic. The most erroneous wording is from people who call the 1-year extended stay permit a “retirement visa” – a mistake that always makes me cringe.

*** The best way is to show up in Thailand on a “90-days single entry Non-Imm-O Retirement/over 50 visa”. It will get you stamped in for 90-days stay permit. Within this 90-days period, you have plenty of time to arrange for the application to the “1-year extended stay permit”.

The important fact is, that entering on this visa-type enables you to get a Thai bank account opened. If you enter on a tourist visa or visa-exempt, you cannot get a Thai bank account opened any more since February 2025. Only a handful of agents offer a service around the law, and it costs up from 60,000 Baht and I have already been quoted 90,000 Baht.

There is NO mandatory health insurance or a police record check or a medical checkup required for the Non-O visa-type. These are requirements only for the application to the 365-days Non-Imm-O/A Longstay Visa, which is a completely different visa-type.

You will need the Thai bank account in case you want to convert the 90-days stay permit into a “1-year extension of the stay permit”.

You can theoretically fly on a one-way ticket because this visa allows you to receive a long-term stay in Thailand. Some airlines might not accept this explanation and will ask you for an onward travel proof out of Thailand within these 90 days, that’s why you should communicate with them by email and see what they say.

In order to apply for the “90-days single entry Non-Imm-O retirement visa” through the online E-visa system at the Royal Thai Embassy of your home country or any other country, you can

EITHER

use proof of income of a monthly minimum of 65.000.- THB, by using your original pension or other income documentation,

OR

you can use a deposit of a minimum of 800,000 THB or the equivalent in your home country currency, or on your home bank account, or on your Thai bank account (if you got one), or just anywhere in the World – as long as it is in your sole name.

Most Thai embassies will require 3 months of account statements. You need to check the website of the embassy you will use for the exact info.

ATTENTION! . . .For the application inside Thailand to the “1-year extension of the stay permit based on retirement”, the financial proof will be slightly different. You cannot use any original income/pension documents from your home country.

If you are a citizen of a country whose embassy in Bangkok does not issue a certified “income affidavit” any more –

(which are the embassies of USA, Canada, UK, Norway and Australia)

you would need a “12 months bank statement” showing that for the past 12 months, you have been transferring from abroad to your Thai bank account a minimum of 65,000 THB, consecutively month for month, not missing a single month.

If your embassy still issues a certified affidavit of income, you can use it for the financial proof. You would need a monthly income or pension of a minimum of 65,000 THB.

For British, Canadian, Norwegian, Australian and U.S. citizens, in the first year there is no other way around than depositing a minimum of 800,000 THB in your Thai bank account - at least in the first year

The alternative would be, if you don’t have that kind of money or are not willing to deposit 24,000 Dollar in a Thai Bank account, is paying an agent to “arrange” the requirements to get around the law.

As soon as you have accumulated 12 consecutive months of 65,000 THB transfers, month for month, you can apply for the next 1-year extension of the stay permit, using the 12-months bank statement. After been issued the next extension, you can theoretically take your 800,000 THB out of your bank account.

There is a fee of 1900 THB for the application to a 1-year extension, and you can theoretically do it all by yourself. You are free to accept the help of an agent for the simplified legal service.

NOTE: It is income OR deposit.

There is a third method, called the “combination method”: A combination mix of income and deposit.

Some immigrations don’t allow the combination method in the first year.

And some Immigrations want the deposit part to exceed a minimum of 400,000 THB.

The combination method means that the sum of the deposit AND the monthly income exceeds 800,000 THB in one year.

But let’s continue with the “normal method” (visa issued in your home country, followed by the application to the 1-year extension inside Thailand):

On the day of application to the 1-year extension, the 800,000 THB must have “seasoned” in your account for two months, and this has to be confirmed with the “bank letter of guarantee” (in Thai: rab roong thanakan).

After been issued the “1-year Extension of the Stay Permit based on Retirement”, the 800K need to remain in the account for 3 more months. After these 3 months, the deposit shall never go under 400,000 THB. And before the 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.

On the day you get issued the “1-year extension of stay permit”, you should buy a re-entry permit.

A re-entry permit will keep your 1-year stay permit alive and valid in case you want to travel around and exit Thailand before the expiry of the extension.

A single re-entry permit is 1000 THB on Immigration. A multi re-entry is 3800 THB. On a multi re-entry permit stamped, you can exit and re-enter as many times as you wish during the whole 1-year stay permit period.

Again, watch your wording, because many people fail in doing so: the re-entry permit is not a “re-entry visa”. It is just a permit.

Good Luck and a great time in Thailand

The answer depends at what stage you are at. To apply for the initial 90 day Non-O visa in Canada you can show either 3 months of 65k baht per month income or a lump sum of 800k baht. Once you arrive in Thailand you need to open a bank account and deposit a minimum amount of 800k baht which must be seasoned for 2 months before you can apply for a 12 months extension of stay. For 2nd and subsequent extensions you can either continue with the 800k method or have transfered a minimum of 65k baht each month from overseas for a full 12 months immediately prior to applying for the extension.

Other retirement visas are available with different financial requirements so look at your local Thai embassy website for them but the Non-O route is by far the most popular

You're right, it can be confusing.

Whenever I am in à similar situation, I think of the Kiss principle (keep it simple s....)

First step, you get your non-O visa (90 days). This will get you time to open your bank account and transfer 800 000thb into it and let it season it for 2 months. Basically, you have 1 month to open it and transfer the money. If you have a problem finding à bank (it is counter intuitive, I know) that will let you open one, ask Immigration where to go to. They will even give you à letter that will help you out. It might cost you 200thb for coffee (don't ask for a receipt). With that letter, my bank account was open within 1 hour.

You let your money season 2 month before your yearly extension and I believe 1 month after, so basically 3 months. Afterwards, you can use up to 400 000thb of that 800 000thb. A piece of advise, open à second bank account to make sure you don't touch that 400 000thb afterwards.

IF you transfer 65 000bht EVERY MONTH, not 195 000thb every 3 monthsif not, you are 2 months shy of your 65 000bht monthly)from PENSION (with proof of where it came from), the following year, you can use it instead of 800 000thb (2 months before the renewal date). It cannot be done the first year because Canadian embassy no longer gives proof of income ( since april 25, 2025).

It's that simple

This is a multi level question.

As a Canadian you can start with a 90 day non-o using any qualifying method income or savings.

However the 1yr extension in country does not allow you to use any other method than 800k in a Thai bank to start with.

As a Canadian you cannot use income method at first, you would have to wait till the 2nd extension after maintaining the 800k AND transferring 65+ for the entire year.

Then you could apply for income method.

This is the way.

From Thai embassy website;