@John *********

No, you might be given a "pending" status first for 1 month, before being granted the remaining 11 months on the second visit.

Anonymous participant 786 At some point, that might happen. For the time being, all multiple entry visas continue to allow you to come and go and establish a quasi-residency in the country, but in the future, that could change and you might be advised to switch to another type of visa.

BrilliantMouse3131 Not sure what you're talking about. Exchange rates are fine. The only issue are all the fees charged both by the Thai ATM (250 Baht) plus whatever your bank charges (usually 3% + an approx. USD 5 foreign ATM withdrawal fee). This means you could easily be looking at USD20-30 for a typical withdrawal, just in fees. It is what it is.

Use a fee free credit card wherever credit cards are accepted for payment (95% of gas/petrol stations in Thailand accept cards), all chain restaurants, malls, supermarkets, convenience stores (for payments of 200 Baht and up), many chain coffee shops, hardware stores, department stores, all hotels of 3 or 4 star and higher standard, even the Bangkok MRT and BTS I believe, as well as most hospitals (including all private ones) and even most Bangkok tollways (the remaining ones will start accepting credit cards soon).

Basically, most merchants except for taxis, street vendors, hole in the wall restaurants, national parks, museums and other historical sites, local tour operators, local markets and plant nurseries will accept cards. For these aforementioned places, use cash.

@John *********

No, I don't think that's the correct way of looking at it. Besides, even with a retirement visa, you have to renew it every year and that usually involves going in to immigration twice, as first you get your conditional approval and then the final approval a couple of weeks later.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think the DTV is as good as it was initially made out to be. However, don't assume that a retirement visa guarantees your status in Thailand. Unless the government changes it's policy, being a retiree will never qualify you for PR, for citizenship, for land ownership or anything more than a DTV does, except for owning a bank account and getting a 5-year driver license extension (although for DTV holders, this is also possible depending on which office you use).

BrilliantMouse3131 I've not seen anything to that effect. Exchange rates are fine (except in Myanmar, but that's a junta policy).

The MAIN concern you have with using a foreign debit or credit card to withdraw cash from a Thai ATM are the fees charged by the ATM (now 250 Baht at most banks and soon, all of them will increase from the previous 220 to 250) plus the 3% foreign currency conversion fee your home bank will charge (depending on your bank, it could be as low as 1% or as high as 3.5%, but most are charging 3% these days) plus the foreign ATM withdrawal fee your home bank charges, which is usually somewhere around 5 USD / AUD / SGD / CHF / EUR / GBP.

Some banks might reimburse these costs, but not many and depends where you're from. I've seen debit cards that don't charge these fees, but then charge you like $10 per month as an account maintenance fee.

Anyway, that is your MAIN concern when it comes to using a foreign debit card in a Thai ATM. If you're paying for goods and services using your card, then it's not so bad. Quite a number of credit cards offer an international fee free option.

@Bill ********

Either one is fine for remote work in that sense. Neither are work authorized for Thailand. Remote work is permitted though.

@Pedro ******

Yes correct. Both are employment prohibited for Thailand but remote work is OK in either case.

@Richard *******

Online work is fine same as the conditions for a DTV. Absolutely no difference.

@Neil ****

Nonsense. You've just made that up. Both visas have a "employment prohibited" disclaimer. There's no difference between the two in that respect. A DTV is merely being promoted as being suitable for remote work, but a retirement visa will allow the same.

@My **********************************

Actualy it isn't.