Hi everyone, my wife (44 years old) and I (51 years old), both New Zealand citizens / residents are planning to retire to Thailand in a couple of months and wanting to sanity check our approach with this group given my wife is under 50.

Firstly I'll apply for the Non-O Retirement from New Zealand so that I can easily open a bank account in Thailand upon arrival, deposit the THB 800k, and then apply for the 1 year extension.

As for my wife, the two options based on advice from visa agencies and forums appear to be as follows:

Option 1. Travel to Thailand visa exempt, apply for ED granted for a stay of 90 days, extend once for a further 3 months, then apply to change to a Non-O dependent (on my Non-O Retirement).

The issue we're finding with the ED is that schools seem to be catering only for DTV now and not supporting ED. I expect we'd also not be able to leave the country and travel until the conversion to Non-O dependent is complete and immigration appear to be taking a dim view of people on ED visas travelling when they should be studying. But the ED duration is intended for only 6 months so that's not really an issue.

Option 2. Apply for the DTV from New Zealand based on Thai soft power activities. The 5 year duration of the visa will be sufficient to cover the period until my wife is 50 at which point she can apply for the non-O Retirement.

The concern with the DTV is the soft power category seems to have a lot of problems with immigration based on the forum posts, particularly when reentering the country. This creates the risk she will be denied entry.

Greatly appreciate your expert opinion as to the best approach given the current lay of the land in Thailand right now. Thanks!

Hello everyone,

Planning to extend Non-Immigrant O retirement visa (which expires on 10 September) in Bangkok for an additional 12 months.

Hoping to questions:

1. If I apply for the extension 30 days before the expiry date, will the 12-month extension be added from the original expiry date (10 September), or from the date I submit the application?

2. What happens to my current multi re-entry permit during this process?

3. I am planning to travel outside of Thailand and depart before 10 September. If I return before or after the current multi-entry visa expiry date, how will that affect the process and the re-entry permit?

Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated. I've been reading and getting more confused. Thank you!

Hello, my Name is Dieter and I‘m from Austria. I intend to work in Thailand for my Italian company as freelancer with a DTV visa, long term. My First question is: can I open a bank account in the future? And what requirements do I need to meet? Second: can I make a change-of-visa to a Non-Immigrant Type O visa some day?Especially since a bank account seems to be a requirement for the Type O visa.

Any insights or experiences?

I have a TR multi entry visa that is good through July 2025 (Given by U.S. embassy as a consolation prize instead of the DTV I paid for).

Is this a firm expiration date, or does it renew for six months each time I enter Thailand? I have read that some other types of visa can work this way. Thanks

Flying out of the country and returning on the same day for 6 months extension, is it possible? Or is it risky to do?

Would staying 1 night and flying back the next day be safer? Anyone with experience that flew back same day did you have any troubles? Thank you

Hi all, I am currently on a Non-B visa (for the past two years) but recently got married to a Thai male and am planning to change over to Non-O marriage visa, we plan to leave the country and apply outside, but we aren’t sure where we want to go. Due to having to go out we decided to make it into a trip and want to go to Japan. Has anyone applied for a Non-O in Japan or outside the country and what was required?

I have a list of requirements but it can be different depending on the country your apply in and we’ve read and been advised so many different ways and options that it’s a bit confusing now.

Any advice or clarification would be wonderful!

Thank you!

Hello !

Can I ask you the experts a question about the financial statement for a Non-OX immigration visa that my wife and I are applying?

When I called the Thai immigration office, we were told that as long as I have 3 miillion THB in my bank account, my wife as my dependent does not need to have another 3 million THB in her bank account.

Now for the application, I have my financial statement ready, but does she also need to submit another copy of the same financial statement?

Anyone else come across the issue of having to report into the Immigration dept every 90 days still? I'd had assumed that this requirement wasn't needed as we have a visa for 180 days and if we need to extend to 360 max, we have to see the immigration to renew anyhow. And if youre renting a condo, TM30 form is needed.

Anyone else found the same?

Thanks - Tony

Is there an age limit for applying for Muay Thai visa? Apparently there is an age limit limit for the Thai language so figured I would ask about this as well as the cooking visa. Thanks for any “concrete” information you may have.

Can I change from marriage visa to DTV? Does it need to be cancelled first in Thailand and only then I can go to some other country to apply for DTV?