My husband and I are planning to retire and move to Chiang Mai, arriving on Sept 1st. I know we need to apply for the Non-O Retirement Visa and that we should do the application in our home country (United States). My question is: how soon in advance of our planned arrival should we start the application process online with the Thai embassy? I understand we’ll have 90 days to complete the process once we apply and I know we’ll need to open a Thai Bank account and deposit 160,000 Baht once we get there. Any guidance on timing and order of operations would be helpful as I wasn’t entirely clear on this from my research. Thanks in advance for the advice!

Hey guys I’m looking for any advice for the non immigrant o marriage visa. For those who have done it themselves was it an easy process of should I use a visa agency? I’m currently just on the METV visa but I’m worried immigration will eventually reject my entry as I go to Thailand frequently to be with my wife as I work fifo in Western Australia. I already have the money in my bank account for the last 3 months ( in Australian bank account) and certificates. I should be ready to apply but just wanted to hear from those who have done it themselves what hurdles you had and any tips.

Cheers!

Non-O Immigrant Visa based on Retirement experience

Here's our experience with the whole NON-O IMMIGRANT VISA based on RETIREMENT, in case it might be useful info for anybody:

We're 2 middle-aged Aussies (50 & 55yrs old) who've applied for, and obtained, a Non-O Immigrant Visa based on Retirement from Australia. The application process online was simple through the Thai E-Visa official portal:

[members only] ...and we obtained our Visas a couple of months later.

We entered Thailand on the 18th of March and had a printout of our E-Visas to show passport control at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport - probably unnecessary, but we wanted to be 💯 sure they'd stamp our passports with the "90-Day Non-O E-Visa" stamp. They did! 👍

We planned only 9 days in Thailand this time round, as this was a stop-over on our way to Italy. So, to reiterate, we entered Thailand on the 18th of March and will be leaving on the 27th of March. Therefore we will need to get a Thai Re-Entry Permit before we leave Thailand on the 27th of March.

We will then return to Thailand in a couple of months, on the 22nd of May, and look to settle down somewhere between Bangkok and Hua Hin.

So for these 9 days in Bangkok we reserved a HOTEL. We will then be looking for a long-term rental when we return to Thailand at the end of May.

This made it very difficult for us to open a bank account!

Our plan was to open a bank account each during these first 9 days in Thailand, that way we could immediately deposit the required 800,000 THB needed for the 12-month extension to our initial 90-day Non-O Immigrant Visas. Our plan was to deposit the 800k THB now, that way they'd be sitting in our Thai bank accounts for 2 months by the time we returned to Thailand at the end of May!

However BE WARNED: it has been very, very difficult to open a Thai bank account without having at least a 30-day rental agreement to show. 😩 We've been to ALL the banks, and tried different branches of each: KBank, Krungsri, Krungthai, SCB, Bangkok Bank...

We had obtained a T30 Form from our Hotel showing our 9-day stay at the Hotel, but this wasn't sufficient to prove our residence status at the Banks. So we went to the Immigration Bureau to request for an official "Certificate of Residence".

Keep in mind the TIESC at the One Bangkok mall downtown does NOT provide Certificates of Residence to foreigners just holding a Non-O Immigrant Visa - they only provide it to business people with an actual work contract. So we had to go all the way to the Immigration Division 1 Bureau at Chaeng Watthana Rd, near Don Mueang Airport. All this for nothing, as they couldn't release a Certificate of Residence for a stay under 30 days at a Hotel! They explained the only way to get an official Certificate of Residence from the Immigration Bureau would be to show them a rental agreement of at least 30 days for a condo/apartment/villa, as well as all the additional documentation from the leaser/homeowner (their ID, Yellow Book and utility bills). So we couldn't get a Certificate of Residence, and the TM30 form for a short stay at a Hotel wouldn't do.

So please keep this in mind in case you're planning to open a Thai Bank Account on a Non-O Immigrant Visa based on Retirement: you will need to bring them a rental agreement of at least 30-days, as a TM30 form for a short stay at a Hotel won't be accepted.

Iv just come back to the uk late december and plan.on applying for a none 0 visa and going back to thailand and then apply for a none 0 retirement visa when i get there how soon can i return and will a short overstay last visit be allowed or will this stop my visa ?

If you already have a bank account with the funds in, and you get a Non O visa from back home, how long would it take to get a retirement visa when you arrive in Thailand

Hi I am coming to Thailand in may on a holiday visa and want to change it to an non o retirement visa, I have a bank account already in Thailand for about 2 years and also have the money in the account for the visa that's been in there for about 1 year so is it possible to change any advice would be very much appreciated

Hi guys,

Is it possible to get a retirement visa while currently in the country on a tourist visa, without having a Non-O or a Thai bank account? Is the only option in this case unfortunately to leave the country and apply for the Non-O abroad?

You may have read my previous post about entry into Thailand. So now had time to process and visit immigration.

Next move.

The IO at the airport said get a wife visa which I believe is an O visa. This is problematic as I will not have 800,000 in for two months, more like two weeks.

The IO at my local office confirmed this but mentioned 400,000 but think this is an O-A visa which I do not want.

Now the METV. This would be perfect and I can meet all the requirements. I guess I would need to leave Thailand to apply. But would having a Thai wife prevent this.?

Basically an METV would allow me to leave and renter Thailand to give me 150 days I need

To apply for an METV, if required to leave Thailand, would Vietnam be OK.

Finally thoughts on visiting a visa agent. Would it help.

Thanks in advance

Hi, I have two questions regarding non-o, based on marriage to a Thai citizen

1. Is it better to travel to Vientiane or Savannakhet (currently in Thailand). Any difference regarding waiting times etc?

2. Does the 400,000 Thai Baht (3month duration) have to be in a Thai bank account, or can it be in an overseas account?

Two quick questions,

Marriage certificate , is Australian acceptable ??

Income proof , is signed and stamped by bank statements acceptable