@Robert *********

So is it one OR the other, or is it both? (I had assumed it was both, though I could be wrong.) Similar question for the marriage visa, which has lower income and savings thresholds, and which (unlike the retirement visa) reportedly allows the visa holder to work as long as proper Work Permits are obtained (and though that is of course not sufficient reason to get married, I am still interested in gaining additional clarity ["for a friend," of course].

Yet another reason why I hate e-visa sites is having to deal with website design issues like this. Before e-visa, it was possible to talk things like this through in person with the immigration officers, but there is no "talking" to a website (!). All the more need for this forum! Thanks for being here, y'all!

Unless perhaps you are visiting Thailand for the very first time, your attempt to string two tourist visas in a row is increasingly likely to be challenged at the airport on the grounds that you are trying to "live" here instead of just "tour" here. Normal choices given: (1) switch to a longer term visa class or (2) place several months between your two "tourism" visits. I do not agree with that logic, but those are the choices many people are being given lately, even though Thailand's online information about this has never changed...

Yet another reason why I try to avoid third-party booking websites. In Thailand, I usually find I can get better arrangements by just calling the hotels (I realize it helps that I speak Thai, but often Thai friends may be willing to help you out with this). Not only do I often get better rates (I realize that the opposite is sometimes true in the USA these days), but I also do not run into the inflexible cancellation policies of the third-party sites, and in some cases (though not always) the hotels in Thailand do not even require a credit or debit card for the reservation, especially not the less expensive ones. Just a thought. I realize that my suggestion does not help with your immediate situation, but possibly for future arrangements?

@Edna ******

I agree that sounds better (Remitly's price). I will try to look up Remitly. Thanks for the tip!

@Dan *******

Yes, I agree. Charm can get you a *long* way in this country (and in a lot of other places as well!) Glad to hear you are enjoying life on Samui Island, where is not to far from where I am staying down here in "Nakhon Si Nowhere" province (hee, hee) -- 🙂

@Dan *******

Just in case you did not yet read my entire reply here, I gave you a better response at the end of it, I hope...

@Dan *******

That's cheap. Chase Bank in the USA charges me US$15 PLUS an exchange rate "gap" of at least 5-6 percent. That is why I now use Wise (TransferWise) to drain my Chase Bank account every time money arrives there, and, oh, yeah, you need a Thailand bank to be able to do that! (Duh, me!). So I suggest bringing Thai friends along when you go to open a Thai bank account, and simply see what you and friend can learn in the process. I hope this response helps you out a little better :-)

Everybody is telling you their favorite banks and nobody (at least in the earliest responses) is asking why you need a Thai bank in the first place. If it is just to get access to your overseas money, you can simply use your overseas ATM or Debit card at any Thailand ATM machine. If it is to establish Thailand bank funds to get a Marriage or Retirement visa (assuming a bank account is even necessary for that -- I still lack personal experience of both kinds of visas), then you can play "bank account roulette" like everyone is implying you do. I personally have had a Krung Thai savings account for years (was forced to open it when employed by a Thai government university starting 2013) and I have never had any problems transferring money to and from the USA. The only problem is that Wise will not accept international transfers that begin in Thai baht, but Western Union on-line *will* accept those transfers, so I suspect you can pick any Thai bank and get similar results (except that for some reason the lines at Bangkok Bank are *shorter* than the lines at Krung Thai despite BB normally having *fewer* tellers than KT in the same town, and *that* might tell you a thing or two.... Good luck.

@Alex Harms, it probably also helped that I had activated Suvarnabhumi's internet on my cell phone and so was able to call my first (Thai) host on the phone, and the immigration officer was willing to talk with him, and in the course of the conversation he decided to "guarantee" me (probably financially), despite knowing me mostly from our internet interactions. It is possible that that is what saved me, and if I am right about that, then I am *extremely* lucky to have been in Thailand these past three weeks :-) .