If you are aged over 50 then you can apply for a 90 day Non-O visa in your home country. If your embassy won't provide an income certificate to you you can obtain a 12 month extension by putting a minimum of 800k baht in a Thai bank account.

@Margie **********

am I missing something? You specifically stated you were sent back to your original country but didn't go. Rather you stopped in Singapore

@Patrick ******

good luck with that. Visa exempt is for short term tourism. Its not designed for living in Thailand. Get an appropriate visa

You would be better just using cash. Take out the maximum each time from an ATM and the fees are not so much

@Haji ********

Bangkok Bank are quite clear on their website that it is down to individual branches

You apply within 3 months of your proposed date of travel. If you apply earlier they won't process it so make sure the date you supply fits. Once you have the visa you can anter as often or as little as you wish

@Nigel *******

you will struggle to open a bank account on a tourist visa or visa exempt entry these days. It's probably easier to leave to a nearby country and apply for the 90 day Non-O there using funds in your home country. Once you have it return to Thailand, go to immigration and get a residence certificate, get a mobile SIM registered against your passport and then visit a bank to open an account and deposit the funds required for the 12 month extension of stay

As the DTV is classed as a tourist visa you would normally only get a 2 year licence

You can convert the DTV to another visa type at your local immigration office as long as you fulfill all the criteria for the visa you want to convert to

@Kevin *******

there are no new rules