It's high season right now. Even the embassies that are normally very fast like London are experiencing delays.

Business account will not work. It must be a bank account in your name.

You don't need to show 500k for 3 months at most embassies. They want 3 months of bank statements, but only the most recent once must show 500k.

Shouldn't be an issue

This does not sound workable for you.

Tuition at international schools in Thailand are hundreds of thousands of baht per year, per child. Each one would require their own education visa, which means each one would have to attend school.

One child on an ED can allow one parent to qualify for a non-O based on foreign child attending school, and each parent would have to show 400k or 500k (I forget which one) in your Thai bank account in order to get your extensions.

Unless you have a few million baht laying around, which doesn't sound likely because you said you cannot qualify for DTV based on bank balances, I don't think you will qualify for ED either.

And retirement visa is not a good option if funds are limited either, as your mother will need to have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account, basically forever as long as she remains in Thailand.

There are more nuanced responses to many points of your post, but at a macro level, moving a family that large to Thailand will be prohibitively expensive.

@Nigel *************

just let them know your plans if it doesn't look like you'll get it immediately. They can be flexible, but only if you let them know right then.

It's not about nearest office, it's about the office that serves the province you live in. Most immigration offices would have no problem, but very few require a long term visa.

I do agree that the old wording was a little confusing, but this is honestly MORE confusing. They're great at this stuff...

@Ian *******************

The non-O visa has always stated for less than 90 days, because the visa gives you 90 days in Thailand. You can apply for an extension, but that has nothing to do with your visa application.

As long as you are currently on an extension based on retirement, there's no problem with applying for the next extension based on marriage instead. You just need to make sure that you meet the requirements for the new extension.

The people that have an issue are the ones that enter on or purchase a 90-day non-O visa based on retirement, and then decide they want to do the extension based on marriage instead (or vice-versa). They cannot do that because the first extension from a visa must be based on the same reason the visa was issued.

Normally, it will be issued the same day you apply for it.

Obviously every immigration office is different, so it's not a guarantee. You might get an under consideration if they want to do a home visit (rare for retirement but becoming more common).