Couple of things on the retirement visa option.

1. The 800k thing is only an option, the other option is to show at least 65k baht being transferred into their Thai bank account each month (that is just over £1500 per month).

2. I think that they would both need to have their own visas (and so both need to satisfy the financial requirements) but I am not 100% sure and I would check that out further.

As others have said, the DTV route may work better. You could apply for DTV ‘Thai Soft Powers’ option, where you need to sign up for training in one if a number of types of Thai skills - Thai cooking is one that may suit here. There is an excellent DTV Group on Facebook where you can ask info from others who have gone through the process and can help you with advice on what paperwork each embassy requires and how long it takes etc.

The DTV visa is effectively a 5 year multi-entry tourist visa, so you cannot work in Thailand on it, and each stay in Thailand has to be a maximum of 180days (but as it is multi entry, you can leave Thailand and come back the next day (even the same day if you wish). It costs about 15k baht and for 5 years, that is very good value. Also, maybe key for you, I think the DTV visa does allow for dependents, so you should definitely check that out further.

You should read up on the requirements and compare that to the retirement visa option.

One final note on the retirement visa - many people by-pass the initial 800k deposit requirement by using an agent who can deal with that for you (the agent’s of course charge - the charge varies from agent to agent, but i think setting up a retirement visa is about 20k baht). After the initial visa then you need to think about whether to stay with the agent permanently (for a charge each year - again varies a lot but I think about 10k) or do your own 12 monthly extensions of stay (costing 1,900 baht each time, but you will need to fully comply with the financial requirements of 800k in bank or 65k transfer each month).

Hope that helps, but you really need to lay out your options against their circumstances and double check everything.

Very useful post - thank you

Anonymous participant you need to be clearer re drama. The post was about both 90d and TM30.

You are correct about going in and out of the country before getting to 90d. That avoids the 90d drama. But every time you go away and come back you have to do another TM30, which can be another drama as per the post. 😉

@John ******

appliedclate May but had to supply a missing doc which i did on Tues. it was moved to ‘Pending Approval’ the same day, but has not moved since.

My gf got hers there a couple of months ago. She had to wait for just over a week - sat in ‘pending approval’ for 2-3 days.

@Us ****

it applies to all foreigners.

@Nick ***********

your retirement visa qualifies as a long term visa. The other thing you should check is that the sim of the phone number you provided to them is held in your own name. Then you should be OK

@Steven ******

but that would only mean no longer offering new ones. They would not cancel existing ones.

Look at the Thai visa pages, decide which visa suits your circumstances best, go through the requirements and make sure you can provide what is required, and then apply.

@Kevin ******

that’s interesting, as it wasn’t on them a few months ago - at least not on the ones I saw, which had been issued in Phnom Penh and Vientiene.