What are the visa options for US citizens over 50 retiring in Thailand?

The best way is to show up in Thailand on a “90-days single entry Non-Imm-O Retirement/over 50 visa” as it will get you a 90-days stay permit upon entering Thailand.

Entering with this visa you can get a “certificate of residency” from Immigration and you can open a Thai bank account.

Within this period you have plenty of time to arrange for the application to the “1-year extended stay permit based on retirement” (which people wrongly refer to as a “retirement visa”. Actually, this thing is not a visa. It is an extended stay permit)

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, you can use the proof of income of a monthly minimum of 65,000 THB, by using your original pension or other income documentation.

Or you 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 a Thai bank, or just anywhere in the World – as long as it is in your sole name

However, for the application inside Thailand for the “1-year extension of stay permit” out of the 90-days Non-Imm-O retirement visa, if you are a citizen of a country, whose embassy in Thailand does not issue the “income affidavit any more

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

you would need proof by 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

If your embassy still issues an affidavit of income, you can use this method for the financial proof, which needs a monthly income or pension of a minimum of 65,000 THB

For British, 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 and use this deposit for the financial proof which is required for the application to the “one year extension of stay permit based on being over 50/retired”

The alternative would be, if you don’t have that kind of money or are not willing to deposit 800,000 THB in your Thai Bank account, paying an agent a hefty sum (mostly in the range of 30-40,000 THB) to “arrange” the requirements

The downside is, you will get stuck with the agent for a while. You will need an agent to fix your 800k issue. You will be trapped in the agent’s hamster wheel.

To qualify you will need the 800k fronted by the agent the first year and simultaneously deposit 65k per month for 12 months without fail, to qualify the 2nd year for income method. Yet this is not enough to enable you to escape the hamster wheel.

If you use an agent you will not qualify for the 2nd year as you did not have the money in the first year . . . . So will need the agent bribe Immigration again and again.

NOTE: It is income method OR deposit method.

And 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 Immigration want the deposit part to exceed 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 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 proven with the “bank letter of guarantee” (rab roong thanakan).

Immigration will only service you if you are properly registered in your accommodation by the TM30.

Every landlord or hotel needs to register you within 24 hours of your arrival in the premises. While hotels do this automatically online, many landlords are not aware of this or haven’t registered their house or rooms in the system. It is your responsibility to ensure that you get properly TM30 registered.

After been issued the “1-year Extension of Stay”, the 800,000 THB 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 your 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.

A re-entry permit will keep your 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.

ATTENTION:

There is another road to the “1-year ‘Extension of Stay based on retirement”. It is called “change of visa type” and can be done on the Immigration in Thailand.

You can arrive visa-exempt or on a 60 days single-entry Tourist Visa, you will get stamped in for a 60 days stay permit.

On a tourist visa, it is from very difficult up to impossible, to open a Thai bank account. You are advised to use an agent to help you with opening a bank account. Some agents will not offer this service

This must have been organized during a previous holiday, or you need to open a bank account ASAP, and the money must get transferred from your abroad account onto you Thai bank account ASAP

You visit Immigration and show them the bankbook with proof you got 800,000 THB in sitting in your bank account, and a proof that this money came from abroad.

You apply for the “change of visa type” from the touristic entry to a “90-days Non-Imm-O retirement visa”

To be allowed to apply for the “change”, you need a minimum of 15 days left on your entry stamp. And you need to show a rental contract, at least on most Immigrations

They will issue the visa for 14 days “under consideration”

After this period, you pick up the 90-days Non-Imm-O visa stay permit stamp

ATTENTION: if you plan to reside around Pattaya and use the Jomtien Immigration, you should be aware that they make up their own rule, which differs from the official police order.

Jomtien Immigration requires a 2-months (!!) seasoning for the application to the initial 90-days Non-Imm-O visa! That makes the application on the Jomtien Immigration a classic CATCH22 issue, which you better avoid

That's why it is always better to apply for the 90-days Non-O retirement visa in the e-visa online system in your home country before flying to Thailand. This visa also helps in opening a bank account in the first week after arrival, and then 60 days after your 800,000 THB deposit has been transferred into the account, the money will have seasoned for 2 months and you can directly apply for the 1-year Extension of Stay

From up to 30 days (in some places 45 days) before the 90-days stay permit expires, you can apply to the “1-year extension of stay based on retirement”

The financial requirements for this application are the same as explained above.

You can find the requirements when you google for “change of visa type immigration Thailand” and click on the number 9 in the list

Good Luck and a great time in Thailand

Good luck on getting a bank account in Thailand as a foreigner

Just do it in the USA. Don’t need Thai bank account. 65k monthly you can show from your USA bank.

As many said, you need to start with 800k. I would do that right from the embassy, because the money is in your US bank anyway.

Then after a year you sure can switch to monthly income.

Here’s my reasoning:

1. You must prove what comes into your Thai bank account from abroad.

2. Your wife has enough and you miss a little.

3. Let your wife send the missing from her US account to your Thai account, and you’re good !

Hint: keep US account (or a lot better: Wise account). You pay tax on money coming into Thailand, but if you pay with Wise credit card nobody sees that ;)

But very important!!!!

Make sure that you have enough USD income so that you can send the 2x65k each and every month even if the USD crashes. We’ve seen the GBP/THB being halved within 20 years.

That’s my reason to have 800k in a Thai bank. I have more than twice the needed income, but god forbid, we don’t know the future, and we (wife and me) can live here from 30k easily if need be, but my visa would be lost.

Where do you live in the US? Go to the website of this embassy/consulate and check the requirements for a Non O visa. As said you probably will be able to apply based on a combination of funds and income. Most embassies allow this.

As said you’ll need to bank the required 800K baht for your first year extension of stay. Regarding the combination method for the second year it’s a bit immigration dependent. Several immigrations allow it, but not all.

After your edit it's not much clearer. It sounds like you are currently still in the US which gives more options

1. One of you should be able to get a Non-OA visa which is only available in your home country, it requires insurance, medical & police check but doesn't require money in a Thai bank. The spouse should be able to get what's known as a trailing spouse visa (a Non-O dependant visa) so they basically just tag along for free. The Non-OA is a 12 month visa but you can get almost 2 years out of it by doing a border bounce just before it expires with a new 12 months insurance

2. You could both get Non-O visas based on being over 50 either before you travel or inside Thailand. You both need to show money in the bank (home bank if you apply at home or Thai bank if you apply in Thailand) equivalent to 800k baht. That visa would be good for 90 days but can be extended for 12 months inside Thailand by each showing 800k baht in a Thai bank 2 months before you apply for the extension, it has to remain in the account for 3 months after you get the extension and can't drop below 400k all year. During that first year you can each transfer 65k baht per month (which you can spend) for a full 12 months to use for your 2nd extension

@Brandon ***********

has given you the correct advice.

You may DM me if you like and I will walk you through possible options.

BUT you cannot use income, period.

You will need to use banked funds for whatever your initial visa will be.

However you can also see if the US embassy will still allow a non-o 90 day based on retirement AND a dependant 90 day non-o based on visiting non Thai family.

This way you would only need 800k total for 2 of you.

The US and CANADIAN embassies have allowed this, I don't know about 2025 however.

There are a few ways to do this.

It's difficult for an attorney to advise you any better than some people here can. The main reason is that each Immigration Office interprets the rules differently and determines the evidence needed to show you meet them. This is especially true of how the monthly income works. Some IOs will only accept an affidavit from your embassy, confirming your income and it's sources. If you're from the US or UK, for example, your embassy will not give you that. So, for your first extension of 12 months you have no option but to show 800k in a Thai bank account. An agent can help you with this. In subsequent years your local IO might accept bank statements showing 65k per month for 12 consecutive months. Some will say the 12 payments should never be less that 65k and never late. Some will even say each month must contain ONE single credit of 65k or more (not always easy if you have several income sources that arrive on different dates). To use the combined method, again you have to ask your local IO how they interpret the requirement and how you can show evidence for it.

Since you used a picture of a US passport I will assume you are an American citizen. The US Embassy does not offer income verification services anymore and the only way to legally apply for the Non-O inside Thailand is to deposit 800,000 baht into a Thai bank account.

Apply for the initial Non-O while still in the US can provide you the initial 90 visa. There is a current issue with Thai banks restricting any kind of tourist visa from opening accounts even with Visa Agents support.

There is a Non-OA visa that can be applied from the US and looks at your current money in your home bank accounts. Once you have arrived on the Non-OA you can open a bank account after your first 90 days because it requires a residency certificate and most immigration offices won’t provide this until after your first 90 day report. Maybe with the help of a visa agent you can get the certificate of residence prior to your 90 day report. Then you can deposit your 800,000 in a Thai bank account.

Since you said “us” are you both planning to use the Non immigrant visa or one with trailing spouse ? Just a word of caution as trailing spouse visas are not processed inside of Thailand. If you are both going for individual non immigrant visa then each person will need their own bank account and their own 800,000 baht deposit.

What is your passport nationality? If you come from the US, the UK, Australia and a few other countries then your options are restricted. You also say "us" so who does that include, and importantly where are you currently located?

Non O visas are issued for a reason. What is yours? This will determine the advice.

@UnionSpace *********

highly recommend

Retaired or spouse? We can handle if there's need for assets👌

You can probably apply for a 90 days Non O through the Thai embassy/consulate that serves you with a combination of income and funds in total equal to 800K baht in one year. But you’ll need 800K baht for the first year extension of stay in Thailand. For your second year extension of stay you can change to the income method by showing proof of twelve months consecutive transfers of min 65K baht a month. If you can’t meet the required monthly amount, several immigrations -but not all- accept the combination method if your monthly transfers and funds in total can meet the required 800K baht within a year.

Call thai embassy to check the requirements that's yet

You need 800,000 baht to deposit and leave in a Thai bank account

You don’t need an attorney, you need to research for yourself.