@Linda *********

a visa does not guarantee you entry into a country. A visa just dictates how many days you'll receive if you're allowed to enter. Entry is at the discretion of the immigration officer, same as every country.

See if you qualify for the LTR visa based on "Wealthy Global Citizen"

Or get a DTV to bridge the gap until you reach 50.

If you entered on visa exempt and then got a new passport, you can still apply for an extension. They will check your old passport and want copies of your entry stamp from that passport, but the extension will go into your new passport.

Each bank branch sets their own requirements for opening a bank account. You would need to go to a bank branch and try to open an account to see what they require. Many will require a certificate of residence from immigration as your proof of address. If that's the case, then what the bank requires doesn't matter, it's what your immigration office will accept as proof of your address. Each immigration office sets their own requirements, so you would need to check with your immigration office to see what they require for a certificate of residence.

Wise should be fine to transfer the money, and make sure you choose the correct transfer option for living in Thailand long-term so they will attempt to make it look like an international transfer.

International is not a requirement for retirement extension, but it might be beneficial in the future regardless.

A tourist means if you are admitted to Thailand, you will receive a 60 day stamp based on your visa. There are recent reports of people being pulled out of line after entering on a METV and then leaving and returning and interrogated about why they are returning so soon as a tourist. Tourist entries (whether they are visas, or visa exempt) are not intended for long-term living in Thailand.

Wise does not do funds transfers out of Thailand.

First of all, you cannot apply for a visa from an embassy if you are in Thailand. You must physically be in the jurisdiction of that embassy in order to apply there. The visa application very specifically asks for your actual location and proof that you are there. So any application submitted would be fraudulent if you're not in the location.

Second, you said he has 1 year visa, but is he on an actual VISA or is he on an extension of stay? A visa cannot be cancelled, but an extension can be. For a retirement extension, there's nothing to cancel. You just leave Thailand without a re-entry permit and it will be invalid when you clear passport control.

Do you have an actual visa inside of your passport from the embassy, or do you have a pdf e-visa that you printed out from the e-visa system?

@Mark ******

it's immigrations job to enforce the rules and prevent abuse. What you're talking about has nothing to do with that.

And if you tried to write policy by what TAT posts you'd be building a sea of hotels one day because of the massive tourism and bulldozing them the next day because tourism is suffering so badly.

@Philip ********

that has nothing to do with leaving the country with an overstay