@Oriano *****

The UK Government will not supply a letter confirming pension arrangements so unfortunately this lady has to have money in a Thai bank or posdibly prove regular payments but i think she needs a history of 1 years payments.

That sounds about right but come on a tourist visa, set up your bank, transfer in the funds let them mature and then change your tourist visa to a Retirement visa.

@Oleg **********

i hear you now although ive never had a problem with cotrect papers

Not true, if you have International driving permit with motorcycle stamp you should be okay

First requirement is Thai Passport

In Chiang Mai you get a statement in the morning for 5.3 along with an Annual statement which may be dated 7 days prior as long as the morning statement confirms the other statement. The Bkk bank (in Chiang Mai anyway) nerds 7 days notice for a statement longer than 6 months so i nookef the statement andbwhen I picked it up on the mirning i went to immigration adked for a 6 month statement dated that day.

Songkran starts on 13th this year so I'd get onto it straight away. You normally need a resident certificate and im not sure how long that takes in HuaHin

@Brandon ***********

And you are a penis.....this is from the Thai Embassy website. I've used METVs and unlike you I know how they work

@Kool ******

We are all talking about the 6 month METV. (Which is a Visa by the way). Yes, you only get stamped in for 60 days at a time and can extend it by 30 days at immigration within Thailand. It is not valid for 6 months from the date it is issued it is valid for 6 months from the date it was first used. Why would they have 2 dates on it .....!!

@Steve ******

I think the terminology is confusing people. When the Visa is issued you have to use it withing a certain period which will be stamped on the Visa ( in the diagram Brandon provided this is section 4). You can start to use the visa at any point from when you recieved it to the use by date. The first day you actually use ot is when the duration starts so for a 6 month visa if you get it issued on Jan 1st and use it to enter Thailand on Jan 2nd it lasts 6 months from Jan 2nd. If you get it issued on Jan 1st but dont use it until Feb 1st it will last 6 months from Feb 1st and not 6 months from Jan 1st.