What steps should I take to secure a retirement visa for Thailand when I don't have specific travel plans?

Why don't you just apply for a non-immigrant OA retirement visa in the US?

You can't apply for the non-immigrant O retirement visa in the US though, just the OA.

You need hotel details and flight etc we did ours and extended whilst there depends on country but uk get 30 days on entry then go and extend at immigration for another 30 days

Go in person to a Royal Thai Embassy then you will be in direct contact with an immigration official.

Your choice so you can get a 60 day tourist when you get to Thailand, you then have 30 days to make a change for retirement or ED visa or other.

You just arrive on a 30 - by day 10 go to immigration

Then straight up apply for a retirement visa 

Don’t use an agent - absolute 100% scam

If you use an agent, you’re stuck with them for life

$3000 AUD for a couple

Absolute scam 😒😒😒😒 warning

There are two types of retirement visas, one you get in Thailand and one you get outside of Thailand. They have different requirements so you want to be careful about that.

You can use a bus ticket for "onward travel", it doesn't have to be flight. Last time I priced bus tickets for this purpose, Hat Yai (Thailand) to Penang (Malaysia) $12.00. I usually buy tickets to depart 58 days after I arrive, I think it looks better on the visa application.

You do not need accommodation for 90 days, you need to show some accommodation for a few days. It's perfectly reasonable that you do not have the whole 90 days planned out.

Hence, figure out the date you want to come, buy a bus ticket to depart 58 days later. Find a spot in Bangkok you want to stay for a few days, make your reservation (Air BNB will work but hotel may be better as AirBnB are always legal, that is a different conversation). Apply for your visa!

Don't stress to much. If you plan to retire here you will be here for awhile it's not really a big deal if you have to do a border run or something to get your visa situation worked-out to your satisfaction.

If you rent an AirBnB you will likely need to do your own TM30 within a day or two of arriving. If you go with a hotel you will shouldn't need to worry about it. Smaller mon/pop hotels may/not do it for you.

You will need to have a current TM30 on file whenever you go to immigration for visa affairs, so when you looking at condo you should ask potential landlords if they will do the TM30 (you can do it yourself but you will need some paperwork from them, they may not want to provide the paperwork because it will show income they don't want the government to know about). Many condos will do the TM30 also but you will need to check.

I just did the same thing..it wasn’t difficult but was a pain in the ass. I couldn’t prove that I would be staying in the hotel for 60 days, so I had to make a reservation to stay in an Airbnb after the hotel stay. That’s another story. My application was rejected until I sent that and my round trip flight in and out. After that I received the e-Visa approval.

You are going about it the right way imo.. get the 60-day visa before you come.. as mentioned elsewhere you have the option to extend it by 30-days in-country.. which will give you plenty of time to apply for the 'retirement' visa in person.. your intended hotel should be good enough to satisfy the address question.. though you didn't mention whether they require evidence of a booking.. if they do then use an app like Hotels.com to book a room and select a hotel that offers payment on arrival along with free cancellation.. usually this means 'free' if cancelled before a specific future date.. so it should cost you nothing to produce evidence of accommodation.. and there are websites you can use to buy a 'temporary' booking on a flight for a nominal fee (eg. $10-$20) which is then automatically cancelled.. but you will again be able to evidence a flight since you'll have a booking confirmation.. but in tandem these 2 approaches should get you through the hurdles you've been facing.. and having gone through the process of obtaining and extending a long term visa in Thailand myself.. I'd advise you to avoid using an agent and to do it yourself.. they are an unnecessary expense imo.. if you meet the criteria you won't have any (insurmountable) problems getting your retirement visa.. you also need to be aware that using an agent could lock you in to using them repeatedly.. ie. for every future annual extension.. since you will be blind to any corners they may have cut to accelerate the process.. and this could cause you problems if trying to switch to handling the next renewal in person.. agents are generally used by people who do not fully meet the criteria for the visa they want.. said people needing someone with a 'friend' in an official capacity who can smooth the process by overlooking any deficiency.. many agents have such officials on their payroll to short-cut the process for their clients.. and if you are in this category you can argue that agents are good value.. that is provided you have the financial resource to pay them year on year to handle the renewals.. or perhaps someone has limitless resource and despite ticking every box (legitimately) they are simply too busy (or lazy) to apply themself to the task.. of course there are situations where agents may represent the best solution.. eg. such as getting marriage certificates translated and validated.. but the fees attached to these services are fairly modest by comparison.. but you need to understand the risk versus the reward of engaging them for any given task.. and you should do some research before making a decision to use one.. i wish you the best in resolving your dilemma my friend.

Sorry forgot (visa agent) will do it all for you no stress for reasonable fee. Book accomadation for month once you have visa you can find condo etc.

When your ready just book a flight and when you arrive they will do it all for you will cost a bit but they open bank account and do all paper work just sit back relax takes about 3 to 4 weeks they cover all your expenses etc. All they need is your passport.

Buy fully refundable flight tickets and make refundable hotel bookings. Failing that do as they ask 100's of thousands of people do.

Many ways. You can get 60 day tourist visa from Thai Embassy or Consulate in U.S.

After arriving, you can get an additional 30 days at Thai immigration for 1900 baht. Gives you plenty of time to work out the details.

I have been here for many years , just switched country passports so had to fly out and back in 1 day, then started process again with non-o. Biggest obstacle can be getting Thai bank account. I am on U S. Passport now and will go to one year extension of stay for purpose of retirement end of April. There is no such thing as a retirement visa. Have more info. If you like, connect with me on messenger

An obvious complication by this bureaucratic process is that visa applications often require return tickets and lodging reservations with dates shown, and that means committing at purchase time and usually paying change fees if dictated based on ultimate visa details.

On the 60 day visa application just put your fly in date and make up a flight number 59 days after arrival.

For an address just put a hotel name in Bangkok

They don’t check flight numbers or hotels

Or arrive visa exempt and apply for retirement straight away

You can book a hotel on a site that has free cancelations. I would get retirement o visa while in Thailand...unless depositing 800k in the bank is a problem. A non oa while in the US requires too much.

What I did is come here on a tourist visa and paid so good visa services to hand all of the details. I a week or so I expect to have my retirement visa with multiple entries. I had her do drivers license and and bank account. It was very simple and easy.

Just get the Non Imm O visa in the US. Job done!

Why don't you apply for the right visa in your home country? Why even bother with a tourist visa at first? I see people talk about that so often now but I still do not see where this comes from.

I'm completely with you on the requirement of flight bookings. If you explain that to a monkey he would even ask you back what these guys have been smoking. They should of course not have required inbound flight tickets, for any visa. But it appears they do :/ . I recommend using a workaround: refundable flights, refund after use, then book your final one once approved. If not approved, you don't rebook.

When dealing with Thai immigration, there will be many things ‘they want’. You just have to do it, as stupid as it sometimes seems (wait till doctor sign off part).

It sounds like you’re applying for the non-OA. Mine came through a month after I was in Thailand, 2 months after insurance started. I literally had to reapply and pay again because my name on the application was different than my passport (which they did NOT ask as it appears on your passport).

So, basically do what they ask (book a flight / room you can get a refund) or as already said, come to Thailand, exempt stamp, apply for 90 day non-O and then renew that for one year. Many more in process details but that’s basically the ‘retirement visa’ basics.

Why are you doing that? You’ll have a nightmarish experience trying to open a bank account or need to hire an agent. You’re in the States already. Get your visa before you return and save yourself headaches.

When I came last year there was a special 45 day entry visa. I applied for my retirement visa once I had a place to live. I used an agent to open a bank account and get my retirement visa. Only took a few days.

If you have a good idea where you will live then you should have no problem with 30 day entry visa to get retirement visa. The agent can extend the 30 days if needed while getting the retirement visa

Just apply for a Non-O and extend for a year in Thailand

I was told to apply online 1 months prior to my departure date to Thailand. If denied, you just go on your US passport fort for 30 days. Can apply there for 30 days extension.

Why don't you just apply for the retirement visa before you go to Thailand and remove one step of the process for yourself?

Regardless you will need to book a flight so why are you waiting? Book your travel and apply for the visa. Unless you have an international warrant, you're not going to be denied.