What is the best visa option for a 64-year-old expat who plans to stay in Thailand for no more than 3 months at a time?

If you stay 90 days, the Tourist Visa (60 days) is the easiest and cheapest way. You can extend the 60 days by 30 for 1'900 baht at immigration.

Only concern might be the airline carrier how want to see an exit ticket from Thailand not longer than 60 days after flying.

All you need is a tourist visa 60 days and extend by 30 at local immigration in Thailand. No need to do anything else since you never stay longer than 3 months

5 year DTV

"I usually just come into Thailand on a 60 day visa at the airport"

No you don'. That's not a visa

If you come often and stay a few months each time a Non--O retirement visa for 1st 90 days, file for 12 month extension of stay and purchase multiple reentry permit. Then you can come and go as you please and renew every year for as long as you want. Gives you yotal freedom to come and go as you want when you want.

Get a retirement visa.

So everyone seems to be recommending DTV or Retirement Visa they are certainly cheap options. You say you want simplicity so if you can afford it I'd go with an LTR visa. I dont have one so I am not 100% but I believe you apply once for 10 years, no 90 day reports to immigration just an annual report, you can get a work permit, you can come and go as you want and there are some other small benefits including tax benefits. The downside - they have some financial requirements and they are not cheap. If you have the money and can meet the requirements this is an good option if you want easy long term access.

Retirement visa

Chris Hayward You will 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 “retirement visa” will become invalid for further use.

Within this 90-days STAY PERMIT period, you have only two, maximum three weeks of time to arrange for the application to the “1-year Extension of Temporary Stay Permit Based on Retirement”.

Many people wrongly refer to the extension as a “retirement visa”, this is totally wrong. Actually, 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.

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

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 equivalent of 65,000 THB, by using your original pension statements 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 the account is in your sole name.

However, for the application inside Thailand for the “1-year extension of the 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 the USA, UK and Australia, Norway and Canada - AFAIK),

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, 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 in from abroad

If your embassy still issues a legalized affidavit of income, you can use this method for the financial proof, as long as you can show a monthly income or pension of a minimum of 65,000 THB.

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 – and they might also ask you for the source of the income.

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.

For the application to the “one year extension of stay permit based on being over 50/retired”, you can also use the DEPOSIT method. This means that you can show a minimum of 800,000 THB in your Thai bank account, and on the day when you apply, the funds must have been sitting in your account for a minimum of 2 months, and you got the “bank letter of guarantee” that confirms this.

NOTE: It is income method OR deposit method.

And there is a third method, called the “combination method”:

A combination, a 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).

What else do you need 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

*** the TM7 form you can fill out at the Immigration

*** Immigration will ask you to sing several “exclusion of responsibility” forms (STM)

*** 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

You should visit Immigration ASAP after you have entered and ask them for the handout list of requirements. This is important, because some Immigrations use their own approach to the official rules.

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. 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.

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.

Good Luck and a great time in Thailand

I know ever key board warrior will jump down my throat , but going to see a good agent for your first visa , will make life so much easier for you . As you see , everyone has a different answer .

Non o

Retirement Visa

This is the easiest type.

It depends. If you are over 50 and won't work from Thailand the Non-OA visa may suit but requires insurance, police check etc but it's a 12 month visa that allows you to come and go as you please.

If you will work remotely from Thailand then the DTV based on Workation is the only one that allows you to legally do so

What age are you?