To all the helpful people, thank you ... but to those who offered unsolicited advice about my personality, I don't care what you think of me, it's neither my concern nor my business nor would I care if it were ... whatever stick you have inserted up your clackers, it's your problem not mine

@Lloyd ********

it wasn't vague it was specific, I only asked if people could recommend an agent, there's nothing vague about that

@Nongnuch *******

No negative attitude, that is projection on your part

@THAI *****************************

ok I have some things to do but I'll email you later ... can't say I'll go for it because it really depends on how much you charge for it & what risks involved, as I'm not a particularly trusting person when it comes to allowing others to handle my passport

@John ******

no they say it has to be 15 days before current expires, which ran out last week, so not enough time left

... and to Kool Breeze whom I blocked, do not comment on my attitude, I didn't ask for your opinion on something about which you know nothing ... if someone makes ASSUMPTIONS which are neither helpful nor correct, it is THEY who have the attitude problem, NOT ME FOR RESPONDING TO IT ... and to say differently is to demonstrate hypocrisy, because I'll bet $50 right now that if someone does that to you, you don't like it either ... so please, keep your judgements to yourself, I do not ever intend to live by the advice of random people regarding how I should respond to someone offering useless advice which is based on nothing but assumptions/judgements, and just wastes my time ... I do not care if you think that means I have an attitude problem, to be frank, this is the polite version, and if you cannot handle this, you're very fragile indeed and really shouldn't interact with people like me, you're not cut out for it

@John ******

I got a reply from one friend that said I can get a bank account either by already being on a different visa (which doesn't help), OR IF I own property in Thailand ... so maybe I have to convert savings back to cash and buy an apartment (the only thing I can actually buy I think), and then use this to get a bank account so that I can then apply for a retirement visa ... because I couldn't yet find anyone to hire me to teach English & get a working visa, I couldn't find a course starting soon enough to learn thai language to get a student visa, I can't be on a retirement visa without already having a bank account, so maybe buying an apartment is the only option ..?

@Nongnuch *******

see my reply to

@John ******

below

@Henrik ****

see my reply to

@John ******

below, this is exactly what I thought and what I tried to do, but it's just so damn time consuming to travel across town, have to get up at the crack of dawn to get there before it opens or face 10 hours queuing, and then explain everything only to be faced by more paperwork, and when you finally get it all done, it doesn't work anyway because they give the wrong advice ... nothing that happened makes any sense to me

@John ******

I asked them HOW do I apply for a bank account in order to get a retirement visa (since the requirement is to have money in a Thai bank account) if the bank won't let me open an account ... the guy at the government complex spoke good English and understood me perfectly (which I checked to be sure), and he said I had to register my residence to get a letter of permission to take to the bank, so I did all that, they finally sent me the letter, which didn't mention anything about permission to open a bank account, and the bank still wouldn't let me, so how do I open an account to switch to a retirement visa ... it doesn't make any sense at all ... SURELY they should have considered the possibility someone would arrive on a tourist visa or a visa free tourism stamp and subsequently decide they'd like to stay, but for some bizarre reason they excluded this category from being allowed to open an account, so it seems there's no way possible to switch from it to a retirement visa ... I'm just gobsmacked not only by being given false information by the government department itself, but also by the absurdity of the policy given that they seem to WANT foreigners to retire here and bring money with them