@Pete ******

if you want to change to the Non-O visa, you first need to invalidate the existing Non-O/A visa before you can apply for another visa type. This is not easy because in the first year, you just cannot invalidate it by exiting Thailand, because the multi re-entry permit keeps it alive. This means you have to wait abroad until the visa validity has expired, before you apply for the Non-O and re-enter Thailand on it. You need to open a Thai bank acocunt while you are in Thailand on the Non-O/A because this becomes crucial on the next stay on a Non-O visa.

@Jim ********

First, let’s get savvy on all those wrong wordings:

*** when you enter on a single-entry 90 Days Non-Imm-O Visa, you will receive a 90-days stay permit.

The stamp in your passport says “admitted until” and a date in blue ink showing the expiry of this stay permit as being 90 days ahead of the day you enter.

The visa itself becomes invalid or “used”. Now you are in Thailand on a stay permit, not “on a visa”

*** for this 90-days stay permit you can buy a “re-entry permit”

A re-entry permit will allow you to exit and re-enter Thailand whilst keeping your 90 days stay permit alive.

ATTENTION: the re-entry permit only keeps your initial stay permit alive.

So, if you entered February 10th, you received an “admitted stay” until May 8th. The re-entry permit you buy for this stay permit expires on the same date – May 8th

***if you stay abroad after May 8th, you initial 90-days stay stay permit will expire, and you will need to restart from scratch

@Anna ********

I am so sorry to make you feel three years old

@Anna ********

agreed - the setback to 30 days once was talked about but went back into the drawers. I never praticipate in such distractions and speculations. However, I got my own visa advice group and I am keeping my readers informed. There are many reports about live-experiences of Immigration asking for the source of the money when you claim you are "retired", regardless if you do the financial proof by deposit or income affidavit or by a 12-months of transfers bank statement- - - - - right now, hundreds of Expats who do the proof by the 12-months transfer, are in DEEP TROUBLE since a WISE transfer is not coded as coming from abroad any more. Don't you read the daily news? I am reading two dozen of expat and visa-advice groups. I think of myself being superbly informed. Are you the typical "rose tinted glass wearer" ?

@Anna ********

what more do you need? Here comes the comment of somebody who has been following this thread. He is literally confirming what I said about the current changes. Immigration is starting to ask for the SOURCE of your income when you are on a Non-O visa and/or on the extension out of it. They seek to throw the book at you if you are not a "real" pensioner, probably with the aim to make you apply for the Non-Imm-O/A instead, which is not a "retirement" visa but a "Longstay" visa and aimed at those who are over 50 but not yet retired

@Roberto ********

the Immigration headquarter is trying hard to close all loopholes. I reckon they will never fully succeed, the tea money is way too deeply rooted in Thai culture. But these desparate moves make the process harder for those who are following the law, and that's a shame

@Dennis ********

Like I said! Thank you for confirming my comments!

@Anna ********

what is it you don't understand or fail to grasp? Actually this stuff already happened. I am not talking about the future. The future is already here

@Anna ********

you are wrong - because it is happening already! I side with Andreas 100%. I Austria and Germany it already introduced - you have to be a "real" pensioner for the Non-O visa. And in Thailand some Immigrations when you apply for the 1-year EOS based on retirement have started to ask for the source of the money, and have demanded that you need a Thai bank account even when you use the income affidavit method

@Ekkehard ******

it is in the stage of development, I know at least one guy over 50 whose application to the 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa was rejected by the Munich consulate because he wasn't a pensioner, yet