Can I ask why you don't just do an annual extension inside Thailand? Going for a new visa every 90 days sounds like a headache.

@Zabel *****************

Work under the smart visa program doesn't require a work permit.

Make sure you actually have a non-O stamp in your passport. If you got the non-O outside of Thailand you should be fine. If you applied for the non-O inside of Thailand, though, you would not actually be on the non-O until you get your stamp a few weeks after all the paperwork is accepted. In that consideration period you don't actually have a visa, so if you leave your non-O application is forfeited.

@Michael ******

Best/easiest is subjective. You could go for a 6 day holiday in a nearby country if you don't want to make a long flight and get a 60 day tourist visa and then extend that for 30 days. If your March 1 flight isn't booked yet you could move it up 6 days instead of the full 6 day holiday. If you don't mind the long flight and want to go to the US then you could get a year long OA right now on that trip. If you don't mind the opportunity cost of having 800k in a thai bank earning only around 1.2% (fixed deposit) you could go to immigration and explain that you are moving the money over. I've seen some people given a discretionary extension that allows them to have the money "seasoned" but you shouldn't count on that. Worst case there, though, is a border run and a new retirement visa when you come back. You could also potentially just do a border run and get a 30 day exemption stamp and then extend that another 30 days. You could potentially do that twice but success is not guaranteed and that meams 2 border runs and 2 extensions. Up to you how easy any of that sounds.

You or the person who told you this might be confusing an extension of stay, which is a thing you get inside Thailand at an immigration office, with an OA visa, which is a thing you get in your home country from a Thai embassy. For the Thai embassies in the US at least, you can use your local US funds or a Thai account to get a new OA visa. You can not use a US account to extend your stay at a immigration office in Thailand.

@Larry *****

Why is that?

Stuart Cumming Thanks. It looks like that filename is dated as 2017. Perhaps things have changed? The websites for Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia all only list OA (for those country residents only) or O family. Phnom Penh is the only one I've seen so far that clearly lists the O based on retirement, but it has a 3 day processing.

@Stuart ********

The website for KL doesn't list the non-O based on retirement among the many visa requirement guides they provide (-Visa-Requirements-I.html). The Penang site redirects to the KL site for visas. I'm not sure what that means or if it confirms what I was told.

Weekends it is only for repeats. If it is your first TM30 they will tell you to come back Monday.

This makes me more confused. I've been filing tm30s myself, but am I also supposed to file a tm28 when I do this?