What type of visa should I apply for to stay in my villa in Thailand as a retiree?

How did you buy a villa? Is one of you Thai?

This is just an account set up by interested parties like want to be licensed realtors. Reason is to make it sound like it’s ok to purchase property again. 🤣🤣🤣it’s not.

Wait…. You bought a villa without figuring that out first? 🤦‍♂️

Are you aware that a foreigner cannot buy a villa with the land. Make sure you get your own lawyer to look at all the paperwork.

There’s some really horrible people on here. Surely the whole point of a forum named Visa ADVICE means people want advice! Not a pile-on. The OP has asked for advice on which visa might suit them best in their situation, not a slating for not looking sooner 🙄

I take a lot of info from John stammers, very helpful and knowledgeable.

Non-O visa followed by annual extensions of stay is cheapest way to go and most flexible. Wondering how you bought a villa without being here and the fact that foreigners can not buy or own land. If you bought it through an agent and Thai nominee company you should know that's illegal unless strict rules are adhered to and the Thai government has recently started investigating and cracking down on those that are on the sketchy side.

Just come with a bucket of cash and the Thais will accommodate you.

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.

Good Luck and a great time in Thailand

i am shook

If you are ok with 800K+ in the bank, 2 months prior, 3 months after can then go down to 400K and 800K+ 2 months prior again reapply get a over 50s retirment extension applied from a Non O 90 day Evisa online from UK first, the apply for the extension inside Thailand at immigration and ask for a multi entry stamp, 1900 baht for the Visa 3800 for the multi entry stamp

Sorry. ... YOU BROUGHT A VILLA.

Best get a new lawyer to check that out pretty quickly

“bought a villa”. BS!

You have failed the first test!

You don’t have to put 0 in the bank! Get a support letter from your embassy. You only need bath a month

Ask for non O visa at immigration, they Will explain you

You bought a place but didn’t check the visa you can get

I guess Spain is losing the villa buyers to Thailand now.

So you have bought a house?? But no nothing about visas 🤔🤔 sounds like you no what your doing 😂😂😂

Investment visa if you bought a property greater than 3M baht. However, might be a late now if you bought it already. Didn’t you look at the options on how you were going to stay before you bought?

This is one way: Apply for a retirement visa from embassy in UK. It's done online. Enter on that. Open bank account. Deposit 800k tbt. When that's seasoned for 2 months apply for 12 month extension for 1900 tht. Plus re-entry permit. You need to be back within the years date to extend again.

I’m on a retirement visa since 2013. Easy and can come and go anytime with single or multiple entry visa

Is the villa already built?

Non Imm O visa/12 month extention of stay. No need to use an agent

Either LTR or Thailand Privilege visa if you have no problem with the high fee

Apply for the 90 day Non-O visa before you travel to Thailand. When you get to Thailand open a Thai bank account, deposit a minimum of 800k baht and once it's been in the account 2 months apply for a 12 month extension of stay. Pretty easy to do yourself. You'll also need a re-entry permit to keep your extension alive if you leave

Elite visa, come and go as you want