You are mixing two different things.

If you apply for a retirement visa and then extension of that, it is irrelevant whether you are married to a thai or not.

The money requirement is 800K banked in Thailand to get the extension. For the initial visa you will not be able to get that in Thailand unless you already hold a Thai bank account. For the initial 90 day visa you need to show 800k in the bank. Can be your bank in your home country if applying from the Thai embassy there before you travel. If you already have a thai bank account, you can transfer in the 800K once you are here, and then apply for the 90 day initial visa here.

If you are married to a Thai, another option is to get a non o based on marriage to a thai.

The money requirements for that is 400K.

Not many immigration offices in Thailand will sell you the initial 90 day non o for that, so you will probably have to get it from a Thai embassy in another country. Again easier to just apply for before you travel.

In any case, with the new situation where it is next to impossible to open a bank account in Thailand on a tourist visa/visa exempt, you are far better of getting the visa before you travel, regardless of which of the two types of non 0 you go for.

Unless you already have a Thai bank account in your name only.

@David ******

it's right there in the post.. (20 minutes ago).. Latest is latest..

@Nigel ******

you are correct sir. Only way to use 65K monthly income from the start is by using an income affidavit that is verified by your countries embassy in Thailand. If they don't do that, it's simply not possible. Have to start with the 800K and then switch later if needed, by maintaining the requirements for the 800K method throughout the year, while simultaneously transferring 65K in every month.

My father uses the affidavit every year. They usually dont care about bank letter or statements because of that, but they did ask once, to see that the money actually gets transferred in.

@Jack *******

just link your thai bank card with the wallet, and it tops up automatically when selected as payment method. It will deduct a minimum of 200 baht and put any remaining money in the wallet.

Looks like going forward, it's only possible to do so if you already have a Thai bank account. And let's be real for a minute. Would your home country allow tourists to open bank accounts? I guess not..

The idea was always that you get the visa before travelling. Agents made that go away. But agents have no say in international banking. It's getting taken out that you can do it like that. It was never intended that you could anyway.

Get the non o from the thai embassy in your country, before going, and you will have zero issues opening an account when getting here.

Arrive on a tourist visa, and it's no longer possible to open an account. As it should be..

@Ella ****

worst case, is that they will see it as overstay, since the time the extension expired without being properly cancelled. That can run up to a maximum of 20K baht.

You'd pay that, and everything would be fine.

That said, I have only ever heard about fines like that, coming from either a non ED extension or a non B extension.

Meaning it might be ok for a trailing spouse extension, with no fine.

There's no fine for just exiting and nullifying an extension from a non O (whether it's retirement, marriage, thai kids).

@Tony *****

100K? Where did you get that from? The visa itself costs around 10-15K baht.. One time payment. Not yearly.

It's correct. Got an email from my university a few days ago stating the same.

If you are from one of the following countries it is now a requirement to get a new one every 3 months:

Afghanistan

 Algeria

 Bangladesh

 Cameroon

 Central African Republic

 China

 Democratic Republic of the Congo

 Egypt

 Equatorial Guinea

 Ghana

 Guinea

 Iran

 Iraq

 Lebanon

 Liberia

 Libya

 Nepal

 Nigeria

 North Korea

 Pakistan

 Palestine

 Republic of Congo

 Sao Tome and Principe

 Sierra Leone

 Somalia

 South Africa

 Sri Lanka

 Sudan

 Syria

 Yemen

@Tod ********

Thai Airways asked me if I had done it, before boarding me from Copenhagen to Bangkok on 7th May. They didn't ask to see it. Just asked.

When arriving in Thailand, going through the Thai passport passport control (not using the foreign passport control because I was with my Thai family) they did want to see it on my phone.

I guess it may vary.

@John ********

if you are married to a Thai national, and can muster the 400K thai baht that is needed for yearly extensions, that's your safest bet. The visa is not connected to you studying in any way. Your stay is secured, as long as you keep 400K in the bank, at least for 2 months before applying for your visa. Each time...

For an ED visa, it varies. It can be from having to get a new extension every 90 days, to having a year at a time. Ranging from low level Thai language courses, to actual university courses (Bachelor or masters for example).

The latter will even give you up to a year of extension of stay after graduation. To give you time to look for a job.

You are allowed to study under any visa/extension of stay. You do not need an ED visa. So I can see how you might utilize a 5 year DTV for that purpose. But.. i do not think requirements for a soft power visa under the DTV scheme align with going to university. There is already a better visa for that (from their perspective). The ED visa. Though from your perspective it might be different. Just leave out uni from your DTV visa then. Find something else that covers such a visa.