Whilst in Thailand for two months initially, i need to buy a SIM for opening a bank account. But also to speak with family back home.

The house we are renting doesnt have wifi and i dont want to install one for just two months.

What are the best data packages in Thailand for unlimited wifi so I can tether my iPad to my iPhone?

Hello, Sawadee Kap, I have a friend (french) who is retired in Thailand. He was abroad in France and had an accident which means he could not travel back before his "Visa O" expired. He is now back to Thailand and panicked that he has lost his status.

I am looking for any information that I could share with him. Thank you very much.

Yesterday I got my first 1 year extension at Saraburi Immigration on a Non-Immigrant O Visa based on being over 50 years old ("retirement") and that feels great!

In two earlier posts I mentioned that this office refused my income letter from Swedish Embassy on my first visit about 3 weeks ago, IO told me to open a bank account and start to transfer money from abroad into it.

So I did, transferred 65 000 baht in October and also a few days ago in November, had my updated pass book, a bank account statement and a certificate from my bank Kasikorn with me to present.

Now that income letter from Embassy became valid together with my bank documents, enough to grant my first 1 year extension.

About proof of transactions coming from abroad it was enough with that code (see photo) on my updated pass book, that means "international transaction" at least on a Kasikorn pass book.

Immigration Officer told me from next month to transfer around 67 000 baht, not 65 000, every month the coming year to reach up to the total sum of 800 000 baht.

The dates can be any as long as I transfer 67 000 baht every single calendar month to get my next 1 year extension using same method.

At the same visit I bought a single re-entry permit so I don't forget about it if I wait to buy it on the airport instead.

My costs was a little bit different than normal I believe, 2200 baht for my extension and 1100 baht for the re-entry permit, use to be 1900 both if I'm not wrong.

Sorry for a long one but I felt I wanted to share how everything about my extension ended because I posted about it before.

Obs, this was on Saraburi Immigration Office .

Hi. I'm retired this year and would like to stay in Thailand. I want to make a combination of 9 months Thailand and 3 months Belgium to see my kids. June, July and August I would be gone. I can prove I have 65.000 Baht every month but I not have the 800K to put in a bank. What kind of visum should I ask?

Thanks, Mario Belgium

Hi all. Sorry if this is a dumb question. Coming on a non-O early next year and will get retirement visa on 800k. I'm thinking of transferring to 65k per month in the second year. So I'm wondering if you can spend the 65k each month, as long as it's coming in regularly, or it has to stay in the bank in totality. Thanks

Couple of questions if I may. I'm in Thailand now,on visa exempt. I'm married to a Thai for 22 years, she has UK citizenship. We've lived in the UK holidaying in Thailand amongst other places never staying more than 3 weeks so visa never been an issue. Now I've retired we want to spend longer in Thailand, maybe buy a place, we're thinking halk/half, UK winters in Thailand. UK summers in UK. We're here now and intention is to stay here until May, spending a month 6 weeks in various places while we decide where to settle. So first question, can I get a non O while I'm here, seems tricky catch 22 as non 0 requires bank account, and to get bank account requires visa and which non O would be best, marriage or retirement, seems marriage as requires less financial commitments but I defer to your expert advice. I'm thinking forget the non O until we return UK next May and then get it in UK in readiness for returning to Thailand next November, but if can do it while here, we will for ease. Next question is border runs, since I'll need to to stay here until May and we planned to holiday in Viet Nam, Laos anyway. Could I do border runs after 60 days rather than extending 60 to 90 days, I realise that would be 2 border runs needed to reach May rather than one, but that doesn't bother us and saves us 1900 baht to spend on a trip if my thinking is correct? Also, I have a certificate of residency from Thailand immigration since were staying with my wife's family while we're here, if that helps with the first question. Thanks all.

RESOLVED: OK, I think it’s clear now, and I understand where I went wrong. The Non-O visa is available through the Thai eVisa website, but it’s not labeled as “Non-O”...it only shows up if you select the option to “stay in Thailand for no longer than 90 days” under “Retirement.” I had ruled that out because I want to stay longer, and I didn’t realize that you could apply for the correct 90-day non-O visa first, then extend it inside Thailand.

Since I didn’t see a way to apply for Non-O in advance and didn’t want to buy extra health insurance (I already have excellent coverage), I was planning to enter as a tourist and adjust status to non-O. Thanks to your guidance, I now see exactly how to apply for the Non-O in advance and skip that workaround.

Really appreciate everyone’s help. This was very useful! 🙏

ORIGINAL POST: Can someone help me resolve this catch‑22?

I’m a U.S. retiree with a pension and full health insurance. I plan to enter Thailand on a tourist visa (or visa‑exempt entry) and then convert to a Non‑Immigrant O retirement visa from inside Thailand. (EDITED: I'd enter as a tourist because I have excellent health insurance as a federal retiree, but I understand that the documentation is not sufficient to apply for an O visa online, whereas it's not a requirement to show my U.S. health insurance when converting in-country. If any U.S. federal retirees with FEHB coverage have managed to get around this problem, I'm all ears!)

I understand I’ll need 800,000 THB in a Thai bank account to convert to the O visa, but I also keep hearing that banks won’t open accounts for people on tourist visas. So how do you open a bank account before converting to an O visa...or, conversely, how can you convert to O before opening the bank account?

Would love to hear how others successfully handled this.

hi, when applying for spouse visa for dtv, does the money need to be int he name of the spouse or the name of the sponser ( current dtv visa holder?)

Hi everyone, has anyone applied for a DTV from California with a spouse and 2 children? I cannot find solid information regarding how much we need to have in our bank account for the 4 of us. My 2 kids are under 10 years old.

I see a few articles and blogs saying we need to show proof we have 500,000 THB for the primary applicant - but I also see some articles stating we will need to show proof that we have 2,000,000 THB for the 4 of us. Eek.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much!

How difficult is it to apply for Non-O visa while in Thailand. I gather you can only open bank account with this visa, in order to deposit 800000tbht for retirement visa?