@Bradford *****

well I missed this intermittent information because I only referred to his original post

your income doesn't cut any ice in the first year of a "retirement extension". You need a minimum of 800,000 THB in your Thai bank account. It's up to you if you are willing to pay agents who use an illegal route to get you a one-year stay permit without funds. Feel warned!

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

same with me, I got 800,000+ in my SCB account since 17 years (when I turned 50) and been doing yearly extensions for the usual 1900 THB. I don't care when people try to tell me that paying agents is cheaper than the loss of interest for 24,000 USD in a fixed term account back home. I like my sound sleep knowing I am doing everything by the book

@Stephen ********

it makes sense. Arrive on a 90-days Non-Imm-O visa, you get stamped in for a 90-days stay permit. Get the bank account opened. Then actually you can holiday outside of Thailand. You can theoretically buy a single re-entry permit for 1000 THB for the intial 90-days stay permit as this would keep these 90 days alive, yet it would only make sense if your plans include more days in Thailand until this 90 days stay permit expires. If you like to stay longer, then just exit Thailand, do your holidays abroad and re-enter Thailand visa exempt, which would get you a 60-days stay permit. For this visa-exempt entry I would make sure I got the three famous proofs at hand in case I get questioned at the entry point (onward travel, cash 20,000 THB and proof of acomodation)

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

It's 800k in your account 4 months prior to the day you apply for the 1 year extension to obtain the bank letter which confirms that the 800k have been sitting in the account for 2 months 😉

it is doubtful that this will stop agents to front money for retirement visa applications for people who don't have own funds. They just don't use the Bangkok Bank any more. Other banks, at least for now, don't follow these absurd rules

Don’t make the process any more complicated as it already is

Once you have entered Thailand and move into an acommodation, you need to get registered by the TM30 Immigration system within 24 hours of your arrival in this accommodation

No Immigration office inside Thailand is going to do any service for you if you haven’t been properly registered to where you stay

If you enter on a 90-days Non-Imm-O visa and wish to open a Thai bank account, you need to be aware:

*** you need a certificate of residency from Immigration that explicitly states you need it for opening a bank account

*** you need a Thai mobile phone number

***you need to show that you entered Thailand on a Non-Imm visa type

Many bank clerks ask for much more. If bank clerks have no idea how to open bank accounts for foreigners, they will pull out of their noses a multitude of invented reasons

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

as far as I understand this, it can be the same bank account with the equivalent of 500,000 THB on it, which the original DTV applicant used for his visa application. So actually not any account in the children's names

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

a copy of a bank statement over three months confirming a deposit of a minimum of 500,000 THB for EACH child. However, the account can be in the parent name, i.e. in the main DTV holder name . . . this one is the requirement in Malaysia