Which is more beneficial for a retirement visa in Thailand, the O visa or the O-A visa?

O

can tou advise best insurance. 69 years old

O doesn't have the same insurance requirements

There are four types of “retirement” visas. A “retirement” visa basically means you can apply once you’re over 50 years old.

There’s the wealthy individual LTR option (I’ll cover those in another post) and skipping the OX as it’s very rare (but can be obtained). You have the Non OA visa or the Non O based on being over 50.

The OA requires no funds in Thailand but does require funds at home and health insurance at the time of applying for the visa and for entry into Thailand. It also requires a police background check. It’s a multiple entry visa valid for a year. On each and every entry you’re stamped in for a full year (providing you have insurance for that long). If you time things right you can eek out almost two years from that visa, providing you have the required insurance. Bounce out and in just before it expires and you get a second year - albeit the second year will need re-entry permits if you leave.

The Non O visa can be obtained abroad or in Thailand. Some embassies or consulates using the evisa system require insurance for the issuing of the visa, although none is required for entry, nor subsequent extensions off of it.

You get 90 days off that visa. To obtain the visa abroad you’ll need funds in a local bank. To obtain a year extension off of it you’ll need funds in a Thai bank account in your name only - or if your embassy issues an affidavit of income you can use that instead. UK, US or Australia embassies won’t issue those.

To obtain the visa in country you’ll need 800k transferred from abroad. You need 21 days left on a current stamp to apply (some offices allow 15).

To get a year extension off of a Non O using funds in a Thai bank there are two options. The first is 800k deposited for 2 months prior to application. That has to stay in for three months after and the balance may not go down below 400k for the remainder of the year. It would need to be back up to 800k prior to your next years application.

The second option is to have 12 x monthly international transfers of 65,000 baht or more in to your bank. Once in the bank you can spend the funds at will and there is no minimum balance required.

Some offices may allow a combination of the two methods, but you’d need to check with your office whether they will allow and under what conditions.

For many the OA is an ideal visa for not requiring funds in Thailand. For others the Non O is a better option for not requiring medical insurance - which can be difficult and expensive to obtain if you’re approaching or over 70.