@Ian *******

99% of all professions are forbidden for a foreigner to work. And it wouldn't solve your problem immediately, because when using the 12-months 65.000 THB proof, the money must have come from abroad for 12 consecutive months. It cannot be earned inside Thailand

We are talking about the most common and persisting misunderstandings regarding the rules that come with applying for the “retirement visa” and the subsequent “one-year extension of stay permit based on retirement”

In order to apply for the “90-days Non-Imm-O retirement visa” through the online E-visa system at the Royal Thai Embassy of your home country,

You can use the proof of income of a monthly minimum of 65.000.- THB, by using your pension letters. Or you use a deposit of a minimum of 800.000.- THB or the equivalent in your home country, or on your bank account in your home country or anywhere in the World

However, for the application inside Thailand, for the “1-year extension of stay permit” out of the 90-days Non-Imm-O retirement visa, if you are a citizen of a country, whose embassy in Thailand does not issue the “income affidavit any more (these are the embassies of USA, UK and Australia)

you would need proof by a “12 months bank statement”, showing that for the past 12 months, you have been transferring from abroad to your Thai bank account a minimum of 65.000.- THB, consecutively month for month

If your embassy still issues an affidavit of income, you can use this method for the financial proof, which needs a monthly income or pension of a minimum of 65.000.- THB

For British, Australian and U.S. citizens, in the first year there is no other way around, than depositing a minimum of 800.000.- THB in your Thai bank account and use this deposit for the financial proof which is required for the application to the “one year extension of stay permit based on being over 50/retired”

The alternative would be, if you don’t have that kind of money or are not willing to deposit in a Thai Bank account is, paying an agent a hefty sum (mostly in the range of 30.000.- THB) to “arrange” the requirements (which means bribing an Immigration officer to look the other way)

The downside is, you will get stuck with the agent for a while. You will have to pay to get an agent to help with bank account.

Then you will need an agent to fix your 800k issue. You will be trapped on the agent wheel.

To qualify you will need the 800k by the agent the first year and simultaneously deposit 65k per month for 12 months without fail, to qualify the 2nd year for income method.

If you use an agent you will not qualify for the 2nd year as you did not have the money in the first year . . . . So will use an agent, again and again.

The only way to escpe the agent’s wheel is:

As soon as you have accumulated the 12 consecutive months of 65.000.- THB transfers (and this will be some time during the second "agent-year") all you need to do is exit Thailand without a re-entry permit. This will kick the agent from the plate.

By this you will invalidate the current "1-year extended stay permit". And once you re-enter Thailand "visa-exempt", you will get stamped in for 60 days. You can then immediately apply for the "change of visa type" from the "exempt entry" to the "90-days Non-imm-O retirement visa" all by yourself, using the bank statement proof of income of 12 months transfers.

This application costs a 2000.- THB fee and you can theoretically do it all by yourself, or accept the help of an agent for the simplified- legal! - service.

NOTE: it is income OR deposit. And there is a third method, called the “combination method”: a combination mix of income and deposit. Some immigrations don’t allow the combination method in the first year.

On the day of application, the 800.000.- THB need to have “seasoned” in your account for two months, and this has to be proven with the “bank letter of guarantee” (rab roong thanakan).

After been issued the “Extension”, the 800K need to remain in the account for 3 more months. After these 3 months, the deposit shall never go under 400.000.- THB. And two months before your application for the next “one-year Extension of Stay”, the minimum of 800.000.- THB have to sit in the account, again

When you get issued the “1-year extension of stay permit”, you should buy a re-entry permit. A re-entry permit will keep your stay permit alive if you exit Thailand before the expiry of the 1-year stay permit.

A single re-entry permit is 1000.- THB on Immigration. A multi re-entry is 3800.- THB, with this one you could exit and re-enter as many times as you wish during the stay permit period.

ATTN:

There is another road to the “1-year ‘Extension of Stay based on retirement”

You can arrive visa-exempt or on a 60 days single-entry Tourist Visa, you will get stamped in for 60 days.

You visit Immigration and show them a bankbook with proof you got 800.000.- THB in your bank account, and a proof that this money came from abroad.

You apply for the “change of visa type” from the touristic entry to a “90-days Non-Imm-O retirement visa”

To be allowed to apply you need a minimum of 15 days left on your stay permit stamp. And you need a rental contract.

They will issue the visa for 14 days “under consideration”

After this period, you pick up the 90-days Non-Imm-O visa stay permit stamp

From up to 30 days (in some places 45 days) before the 90-days stay permit expires, you can apply to the “1-year extension of stay based on retirement”

The requirements are the same as explained above. You can find them when you google for “change of visa type immigration Thailand” and click on number 9

Good Luck and a great time in Thailand

@Chris ******

you quoted correctly: he will be trapped in the agent's wheel unless at some point he invalidates his Extension of Stay by exiting Thailand without a re-entry permit. Only then he can start from scratch. And if he at this point has accumulated the 12 months transfers, he can do it all by himself

@Chris ******

yeah but if he used the agent, he never fulfilled the requirements of keeping the 800K for 3 months and rest of year never under 400K, thus invalidating his past extension. In this situation he will need the agent, again, who bribes Immigration to ignore that the guy theoretically was in a 9- month overstay (since he never had 800K 3 months after being issued the Extension)

@Chris ******

I guess you missed Ron Duke's comment. As soon as he has accumulated the 12 consecutive months of 65.000.- THB transfers (and this will be some time during the second "agent-year") all he needs to do is exit Thailand without a re-entry permit. This will kick the agent from the plate. By this he will invalidate the current "1-year extended stay permit". And once he re-enters Thailand "visa-exempt", he gets stamped in for 60 days. He can then immidiately apply for the "change of visa type" from the "exempt entry" to the "90-days Non-imm-O retirement visa" all by himself, using the bank statement proof of income of 12 months transfers. This application costs a 2000.- THB fee and he can theoretically do it by himself.

@Ian *******

yes, that's how it will work

@Stephen *******

you are WRONG, a 800.000.- THB deposit is needed for the application to the "1-year extension of stay based on retirement" because as a U.K. citizen, he cannot use the income method in the first year (that, or no money at all then an agent bribes Immigration, it starts at 30.000.- THB agent fee and he wil lbe stuck with the agent for minimum 2 years)

@Nimal ************

you got the wires crossed a bit! For the application to the 90-days Non-O visa in Sydney, you need a bank account with a minimum of 800.000.- THB or equivalent in AUD on it, the account can be in Australia! However for the application to the "1-year extension of stay", the 800.000.- THB need to be on a Thai bank account in your sole name

@James *********

well explained by Brandon. That's how you get stuck with an agent even in the second year. The "leave without a re-entry permit" method Ron Duke described only works at the end of the second year, only AFTER you have accumulated the 12 months consecutive bank transfers coming in from abroad.

@Zoe ******

I guess by this requirement, they want to exclude people who are already in some other place in the World and Thailand, to apply for a DTV on the London Embassy E-Visa site. This is their right