A bank account is indeed required for a retirement visa but it doesn't have to be a Thai bank account for your initial 3 month Non O visa. Then on that 3 month Non O you can open a Thai bank account, Bangkok bank wouldn't open one for me on the 3 month visa but K Bank did.

@Roland *******

I'm not hating on the guy, you can actually continue reading through, if you care to, and see we have been having quite a pleasant conversation.The typo was probably an autocorrect as I've got it correct in my other messages in this conversation but thanks for pointing it out Roland, I'll try harder in the future.

@Josh ********

thanks! Sorry to hear about the loss of money. There is a lot of stories of people losing huge investing in this side of the world. It's why I've left the bulk of my money in the UK being looked after by a private finance company, its all pretty low risk so isn't making much but just topping up my retirement fund. Glad you found somewhere you feel settled, it's a priceless feeling.

The DTV is a tourist visa. You have to remain in the country you apply in until it's been granted. I applied for a tourist visa in the UK using flight details of a flight I wasn't booked on as I wanted the visa before I booked flights. My company then contacted me and asked me to fly to Libya for a few weeks, I agreed as long as they flew me straight to Thailand instead of the UK after I'd finished the job. While I was in Libya they asked for flight confirmations so thinking nothing was wrong I sent them my flight details from Tripoli to Bangkok. My visa was cancelled for leaving the country of application.

@Josh ********

it was a bit cheaper for me living in Sunderland but only by a few hundred a month. I'm settled now in Thailand with my girlfriend and son, love my life, wish I worked a bit closer to home but I'm fortunate enough that I get to spend 6 months of the year in Thailand without work.

@Josh ********

fair enough. I try to not spend too much time looking at the news at what's going on because I don't believe any of the news outlets on either side, they are worse than British tabloids.

@Josh ********

kind of confused as to why your in a group dedicated to visas in Thailand when you don't like Thailand. I mean if you're contributing and helping people good on you but I just can't understand why you would want to be in the group.

@Max ************

maybe they work and get paid in Thailand but still have bills to pay in the uk.

@Mabel ***************

my son is Thai/British but was born in Thailand, not sure if that made it easier. I have a Non O visa based around my son, you could apply for the same visa based around your marriage to a a Thai national. I'm not sure what the best would be for the kids though, to save on costs of visas and the hassle of completing them it may be worthwhile reaching out to the group owners to see if they can offer advice. It may end up being easier getting a Thai passport for the kids.

@Chris *****

might be worth a try one time