@Sherry ******************

what kind of fresh market? Seafood, meats, vegetable? In Pattaya there is a 711 or tops every 500m so you want be far from one unless very unlucky

I am not retirement age just yet, but I did live at a bar in Pattaya for over a year and so talked to many expats and tourists about visas, my understanding is most would come to Thailand on the visa exempt entry and apply pretty quickly for the first 3 months part a non-O I believe and then inside that 3 months window they and there agent would get together all the paperwork for the retirement visa extension, so first one is 15 months and I understand in Pattaya costs from 28-35k depending what you may need help with, I understand from many UK expats that they apply from inside Thailand because if they apply from UK then they require medical insurance, but I would say if you have several months left on your marriage visa I would let that expire first or maybe you can use a couple of months of it to sort out your retirement extension and not need to 3 months part and save some cash...

As I was not so long ago denied entry and sent back to Vietnam on the basis that I did not have 10k baht in CASH on me, they didn't care what I had in any account they wanted to see Cash, so I would recommend that you have 10k in baht per person, but also the 10k advised was when you only got 30 days on arrival so they could try and say you need 20k per person if they wanted to be funny with you.

So Graham you are correct in that they won't issue a visa beyond passport expire, but it appears if you get lucky they may put the remaining time in your new passport, maybe there is a time limit on this or maybe it's because you wouldn't get to pay a reduced amount for a shorter visa so technically the are supposed to do this but just don't advertise it, I don't know the answer to that, but the possible chance/option is good to know about I'm sure

@Graham *****

ok so just an update from my friend on how it happend, "so how it happened for me was that the year before i was only allowed to to get a visa for 10 months. _But_ I brought my passport forward so had the visa still on my old passport. Presenting old and new together were sufficient for the remainder of the 90-day to be accepted."

Go back a couple of years and I was never asked but I always had a return booked, but recently when coming back from Vietnam I was stopped and asked and I have heard that they do ask more people now, so I would advise that you have something booked that would take you out of Thailand yes, maybe just a cheap local flight to Vietnam for £50

@Graham *****

a good friend has done this recently, he got a new retirement visa in Feb 2024, his passport was due to expire in October 2024, he got new passport from BKK and the immigration transferred the remaining months to new passport and he renewed as normal in Feb 2025, so maybe SOME visa can be transfed, or maybe they change the rules, I don't know I can only tell you what I know happened

A friend of mines passport ran out during his retirement visa and he had to go to immigration to get it transferred to his new passport, so maybe some visas can be transferred and some cannot, may be advisable to speak to a few agents to see what they say about it

From my own experience of traffic stops in Pattaya it is advisable to have a hard copy, because some officers need to move it around a bit to read it properly and also they sometimes wander off with it, but that being said if you plan to spend lots of time in Thailand I would advise get your Thai license, because for motorbike it's cheap and easy, on a tourist visa I did mine in March, total cost as I did myself was under 1k baht for just motorbike, car adds about 600 baht and I didn't end up needing to do the theory test, not sure why I didn't but not complaining, but if you want to go this option then first step is to go to the DLT and book an appointment, back in March they were booking for 3 weeks ahead so it maybe less now but still go do and they also give you a form with what you will need listed, I feel having a full Thai license would show officers that your not just a tourist so they may not try and ask for tea money as you probably understand the laws a bit,either way have a fun safe trip!