@Donald *********

There is nothing to prove. You got the same reply from the visa advice experts of this group. You are free to believe the rubbish you find in the internet, I couldn't care less

@Donald *********

this is wrong info. This is not official. Somebody not official pulled this out of his nose

@Donald *********

Donald, if your THAI wife passes away, your stay permit will stay valid until the original expiry date. . . . ONLY if you divorce, the stay permit expires at the very moment when the court order becomes valid

Allow me to show you that everything you posted is rubbish

“You may have read my previous post about entry into Thailand. So now had time to process and visit immigration. Next move.

The IO at the airport said get a wife visa which I believe is an O visa. This is problematic as I will not have 800,000 in for two months, more like two weeks.”

*** The “wife visa” only requires 400,000 THB

The 400,000 THB need to have been sitting in your Thai bank account for a minimum of 2 months

“The IO at my local office confirmed this but mentioned 400,000 but think this is an O-A visa which I do not want”

*** the O/A visa is the LONGSTAY visa and can only be applied for in your passport country, and it requires 800,000 THB in your bank account

“Now the METV. This would be perfect and I can meet all the requirements. I guess I would need to leave Thailand to apply. But would having a Thai wife prevent this?”

*** having a Thai wife is ABSOLUTLY irrelevant when you apply for a METV is the country of your passport

“Basically an METV would allow me to leave and renter Thailand to give me 150 days I need”

*** an METV gets you stamped in for 60 days. Which can be extended for 30 more days for 1900 Baht

“To apply for an METV, if required to leave Thailand, would Vietnam be OK.”

*** No, you cannot apply for the METV in Vietnam. You would need to fly back to your passport country

“Finally thoughts on visiting a visa agent. Would it help.”

*** an agent might help, however at high costs since your case is absolutely wired and complicated

You previously violated a few entry requirements, so don’t expect any leniency.

Usually, everyone on your local Immigration is very helpful, if you are not confrontational, if you keep your calm, don’t start to argue and speak politely

“Thanks in advance”

You don’t need to thank me, my advice is for free for everybody

@Paul ******

I know of several cases similar to what you described. Because the moment your partner passes away, you are violating the requirements of your stay permit

@Paul ******

this is THE big problem with trailing spouse visas. And there is the deposit in the account of the deceased partner. . . I have my own visa advice group and when this topic emerges, I usually WARN about this exact situation

The very first thing you need to do is find out if the embassy or consulate you'll be using allows applications for a "trailing spouse" visa based on you having a retirement or longstay visa.

Many Thai embassies have discontinued issuing this visa.

If they do allow it then you would apply for a non-O or non-OA retirement visa, depending on where you want to show your proof of funds. You would also apply for your wife's non-O trailing spouse visa right after you got issued your O or O/A visa

If they do not allow it, then you're not going to be retiring in Thailand until your wife turns 50 as well.

This is because your wife will have to qualify for a visa on her own and she won't be able to qualify for retirement visa until she's 50.

She could stay in Thailand on another visa type, like a Non-Imm-ED studying Thai language or on a DTV, until she hits the age when she can get her own “retirement visa”.

You cannot get a trailing spouse visa inside Thailand, and no other embassy in SE Asia offers this any longer.

@Farang ********

not a single sentence of what you listed is true . . you need to do more research, and find the correct wording, is what Brandon recommended

there is nothing such as a "visa extension". Technically not possible. Immigration will only "extend" your STAY PERMIT. However if you already had an extension (on WHICH stay permit was this?) you can get a 1-year Extension of The Stay Permit if you fulfill the requirements

@Donald *********

a 30 days extension on WHAT extension which you say you already have? What are you talking about.