Josef... To get a letter of certification of your monthly income outside of Thailand - go to the Embassy of your Home Country in Bangkok and apply for what is often called an Embassy Letter, Affidavit of Income, Income Certification Letter, etc. Check their requirements for proof of Income for use in obtaining a Thailand Visa.

The Visa Application Forms are on line and I think they may be in the Files section of this Group - top of this page FILES

Go to a Lao phone shop that actually issues a Lao SIM (not to a shop that has to run down the street and get a SIM for you at double the price). An issuing shop will charge you the equivalent of 40 baht for a SIM with Internet access. However with heavy use it may only last 24 hours.

Josef, I have had two friends get the Non Immigrant O 90 day visa with intention of later converting it to a one year Extension of Stay - over age 50 / Retirement. These friends met the financial requirements of having at least 65,000 Baht Equivalent in monthly income by evidence of an Embassy Letter/Affidavit as proof of income. One was obtained in Vientiane and one in Penang - Neither one was asked to provide medical or police certification.

Josef... There are several to get to get an over age 50 'retirement' visa. One is to go to a Thai Embassy/Consulate in your Home Country. There apply for an O-A Long Stay Visa. The requirements are found on the website of the Thai Embassy in your home country.

Another way is to come to Thailand on a tourist visa. Go to a neighboring country such as Vientiane, Laos and get a Non Immigrant O Visa. Financial requirements are published on the Thai Embassy Website in Vientiane or Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. You can also get the O Visa at the main website Bangkok Immigration Office.

Then after getting the Non Immigrant O 90 day Visa you can have it Extended for One Year at a Thai Immigration office by Application and meeting the financial requirements.

There is more to all this but this is a start.

The Lao side of the Nong Khai border crossing is very confusing - Window 3, Window 4, Window 5... Minimal communication from the Lao Border Police, people outside offering all kinds of advice, queues end at Window 3, then entrance booths further along, with new queues that do not apply to aliens - domestic or cross-border workers only, go around the building - poorly marked routing to get a turnstile ticket, then ushered onto a bus with offers for direct taxis .... A bit of a blurr..

This is hardly unique to Thailand - but in these situations I get the strong feeling of make work for job retention

Wonder why they didn't ask the first time

My comment was just reflecting the many posts I have read about using traveler's checks... Mostly the consensus as I recall was TCs are a bit of a dinosaur but still in use. You can get 20K baht with a MasterCard / Visa debit card at an ATM if your issuing bank has that amount checked in your account. Some people if challenged at a Imm. Checkpoint just locate an ATM to get the 20K.

Use of Travelers Checks is way down as ATMs are everywhere. You can also get a cash advance on a Visa / MasterCard credit card inside a Thai Bank with ID-passport... If your Card is approved for cash advance by your issuing bank