What is the best visa option for a 75-year-old UK retiree married to a Thai citizen who wants to stay in Thailand for 6-7 months?

Jay Storey. There are a number of hurdles including the mandatory insurance for the first 90 days and for each subsequent extension, but the biggest complaint from people was the need to provide a confirmed and paid hotel accommodation receipt for the entire 90 days (or at least for the 75 days after quarantine). This kind of negates the flexibility of a tourist visa (many tourists like flexibility in where they're travelling, not having to state exactly where they will be every day, and to pay for it in advance). There is no scope to change it for another visa once in the country, and there is no possibility to go beyond the 270 days. Go to the embassy website and look at the conditions, perhaps this relaunched STV might have different conditions but I doubt it. The admins and mods in this group generally refer to it as "the worst visa ever" and between them they have a lot of knowledge of Thai visas

JF James. I'm a staunch supporter of the OA visa, which pre-covid was far and away the best visa for over 50's, and probably the best visa overall on value for money basis. I've had OA for years, but the STV comes with so many obstacles I wondered why people ever bothered with it. I only know how bad it is listening to those who have got it, and wish they'd gone for something different. There's a very small percentage of people who it could be advantageous to, but they certainly wouldn't be 50+ years of age.

JF James. Yes, you can get a non-O (50+) for 90 days, and can extend this another year at immigration, although that means transferring 800k baht into a Thai bank account. Or you can do the non-O (married to a Thai) which requires only 400k transferred.