@David *********

yes and no. I find a hard time spending $2,000 USD a month in Thailand so I just left the money accumulate

It was easy to deposit the 800,000b in a Thai bank which eliminated The need to buy private medical insurance which gets canceled the moment you start using it, what a waste of money! Once the money is deposited in the bank then you can start adding $65,000 baht or about $2,000 USD a month into the same account. When you've put in 12 deposits, in the second year you can qualify for the income method. Overall much cheaper!

when was the last time you bought lunch for a $1.50 at a restaurant?

You do realize the intention is for you to participate in the economy. that means spending thousands of dollars. if it's your intention to spend nothing and say that you are constantly taking cooking classes, good luck! you'll just fly into the country one time and they'll go show us all your cooking classes and you'll say I am not taking any and then they'll say go back to your country! NOW, sounds like fun ☺️

get on Google maps, search for Visa agents, call them all until you find somebody that says they can open you an account. Good luck!

@Johnny ********

Good stay where you are!

@Nick ***********

Wrong! I use Wise and BB every month for my 65k. Just did a transfer from US a week ago

I just did it in September. Sounds like you want to avoid unproductive use of the money when that is the whole purpose of this system is showing the Thai government you have enough resources to not miss 800k baht for a year. There are rules that allow you to pull the money out for a few months and then put it back, of course if you are one day off they will cancel your retirement visa. The choice is yours. Call a bunch of highly rated visa agents in the city you will be returning to to for 90 day stay and annual renewals and see who has the connections to get the bank account open. I did the rest of the paperwork myself. Good luck!

I completed the paperwork for the long term visa in a couple weeks and now have a long term visa that does not require health insurance. The choice is yours 😊

@Stuart **********

I disagree, I opened a bank account with an agent. Some agents can open bank accounts with a residency certificate and a tourist visa. Others cannot. Get on google maps, search for visa agents until you find one who says they can open an account now and get the price