What visa options do veterans have for retiring in Thailand and how can they ensure a stress-free experience?

Mr Vee Melvin it's like Wikipedia don't believe or take it all too seriously. Look at the good advice and those that care and dismiss the rest good luck matey. 👍 An x veteran myself.

Ive heard Portugal is even cheaper to live than Thailand

If >50 years of age.. a "retirement" visa is easy to obtain.

- A visa "agent" is worth the expense to process the paperwork .. and set up a thai bank account without the 800,000 ..

-Like you I didnt want stress and a visa agent reduced the stress..

- Ditto on getting a driver's license ( 2.. since motorcycle is seperate)

FMP.. is the VA medical "system" while living/ traveling abroad.

- Recommend reading up on it.

-- There are several FBook groups dedicated to US military Veterans.

- "" groups dedicated for VA medical and Tricare

-' Those groups will provide more specific information .

You are a very cute and lovely veteran 😍

I have been here 10 years, I would absolutely do it again.

- People on FB can be jerks, myself included. It's up to you to ignore it.

- Visa process in Thailand has gotten a lot more easier in the past year or so. It's possible that you read older posts when the process was more of a pain (I have no idea what you've read, but it's possible).

- Absolutely, I recommend you come here and check-out the different places. My biggest issue is just bought a place and now I can't go live in different places. But I can still visit..

- I often sit on my back porch staring at the sunset over the Ocean and think to myself: "This is the best life". I hope you can too.

I have a buddy who is a vet. He has some medical conditions that complicate things but he still manages to spend half the year here. I think can spend more time here but prefers to be there. He is able to talk the VA to given him larger quantities of medications so that he doesn't have to refill. Additionally, he has a friend ship him stuff from his home.

This group is a pretty good group. When you're ready to make move I would encourage you to ask this group for advice about mistakes made (bank accounts, taxes, driver's license, etc etc).

I've been here 15 years and if I had it to do it over I'd go to Portugal or somewhere else in Europe.

Thailand is not for everybody. A lot of people that move here end up leaving.

Just don’t forget about your USA taxes as it gets really tricky depending on where you live

I absolutely agree with what you said. If you’ve read this forum in depth, there is some good info. NO, Thailand is not the legendary place where you can live like a king on $1000/ mo anymore. I find it just as expensive, if not more, than the US for a lot of things, at least in the larger cities like Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya and Chiang Mai unless you live in a hut and eat street food. There is plenty of good in Thailand, but over recent years, it kind of went the way of Las Vegas…used to be cheap and people would visit, then the more popular it got, the higher the prices trended up.

Even if you do everything by the book paperwork wise, you are still at the whim of the immigration office/ officer that they will be satisfied and approve it. Then when you get here, same with the banks, and now you’re at their mercy. Now where the big debate is, the $800k baht. You basically have 2 choices. By the book and you’re money sits idle in a low if not 0% account, or you can go through an agent like myself and 1000’s of others have (and this is where the stickers come out…). If you want more info and the name of a great agent, very knowledgeable, well known and reputable, you can message me on FB and I’ll send it to you, or you may be able to click on my name and see past posts I’ve done and recommended him. I’m just getting tired of the hall monitors with their irrelevant comments when I do.

And yes on visiting first, deciding on your preferred area and if it’s somewhere you want to be. I thought it would be for me, but the more research I do, and I am in Vietnam now as my Non O recently expired, the more I see advantages to splitting time between TL, Vietnam (I REALLY like it here and things actually ARE very reasonably priced), the Philippines, Malaysia, etc. Just something to ponder.

I’m also a Veteran, although not on your level if you qualify for VA benefits, so thank you for your service. It has to absolutely infuriate you to see what is happening to our once proud Country 🇺🇸and what it has descended to. I didn’t even realize there were VAs here, but that group that was recommended seems like a good place to start, however the medical care and facilities in Thailand are very impressive and extremely reasonable. There are a lot of things in Thailand that I say 🤦🏻‍♂️, why can’t it be like that in the US?? Sorry so long. Let me know if I can help with anything. Take care and enjoy your trip!

One thing you do have to remember is that in Thailand there is no one rule fits all. Example, the requirements for extensions are specific to each immigration office. So you can ask a question and get different answers which are all correct but specific to an individual office. The flippant remarks posted by some with nothing better to do aren't difficult to filter out.

For questions on dealing with the VA in Thailand, join this group. There are a FEW hospitals that will direct bill the VA...

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O-A visa good for one year. Easiest to obtain while in your home country, as the requirements are up to the immigration officer in Thailand, this the conflicting reports. Rent is cheaper, but space is smaller as well. Cost per square foot/meter is actually about the same. Food prices are reasonable if you like to eat out. Western food at the market will be expensive compared to home.

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