@Malcolm ****

for retirement extension you need to wait until at least 3 months after your extension, because the requirement during those 3 months is that your account remains at 800,000.

Then after that point, when the requirement is just that you must have 400,000 in your account, you can transfer 400,000 to your new account. Give it a few days to settle, and then transfer the other 400,000 into it. This is so you can show you had at least 400,000 fully settled into an account at all times.

Next year for your extension you will need to get the statements and bank letters for BOTH accounts. But after that you can just do everything with the new account in following years.

Obtaining a tourist visa is really an irrelevant question.

Immigration is cracking down on people staying long-term in Thailand without long-term visas. A tourist entry (visa exempt, tourist visa) are not long-term entries, so you cannot stay in Thailand long-term. Calendar year has nothing to do with it. Many people are getting questioned and warned for simply coming in for 60 days, getting the 30 day extension, and then leaving and returning. There's almost no chance you would be able to do this 4 times consecutively.

The general rule that many immigration officers seem to use to start causing problems is 90 days within the last 180 days, and 6 of the last 12 months.

No. Plays no part at all.

The only possible benefit is that some banks make it easier to get a bank account if you can show you own property, and a bank account is potentially a requirement for a retirement visa/extension. But it's far from necessary in order to get the bank account.

@Craig *******

I've never seen a lease required for a simple tm47

Who owns the property is not relevant to your 90-day report. You file with whatever is required by your immigration office. Likely a TM30, application form, passport, etc. Unless you've already filed one before and then you can do it online.

The requirement for an extension based on retirement (not a renewal) is that the account must remain at 800,000 for 3 months after your extension. It must NEVER drop below 400,000. So after 3 months you can touch 400,000 of that money. It must be back at 800,000 for a full 2 months before you apply next year.

@Paul ********

each time you do a report, go back in and search for it and save the pdf. They're only available for 7 days. Just upload them to Google drive or something so you always have it available.

If for some reason you forget, just file a new one. TM30s are filed constantly. If you go stay at a hotel somewhere they file a new one for you and then you file a new one when you get back home. Just say you went on a weekend trip and filed a new one when you returned.

You need to wait until at least 3 months after your extension, because the requirement during those 3 months is that your account remains at 800,000.

Then after that point, when the requirement is just that you must have 400,000 in your account, you can transfer 400,000 to your new account. Give it a few days to settle, and then transfer the other 400,000 into it. This is so you can show you had at least 400,000 fully settled into an account at all times.

Next year for your extension you will need to get the statements and bank letters for BOTH accounts. But after that you can just do everything with the new account in following years.

Every embassy has different processing times. I believe right now Hanoi is around a week and is where many people are going.

If you are both going to qualify on your own, then you would only have to wait once. But if you plan on having one person qualify and then the other get a dependent visa based on the first one, you will have to wait twice. That's because a requirement for the dependent visa is uploading the already issued visa of the primary person.

Most immigration offices will let you cancel your extensions 1-2 weeks before the date on the letter.