ok brilliant.. I've been trying to get my head around this for a while now and I honestly felt like i was going around in circles and even ready to pay an agent (65k she wanted on Samui) or Thai elite visa to just get this down and out the way. I was given so much conflicting information it left me absolutely lost.
I am comfortable with the bank situation and will look at swift transfer as I was planning to do a wise transfer over (but I see what you mean as hard to transfer out of Thailand with wise )
I've never used swift but I will check it out.
I'll go to BBK bank and ask for the letters required and try to have all the documentation ready.
Once I have the 90 day initial O visa can I apply right away for the 1 year extension? Or do I have to wait?
Again thanks for the tax info ...I am under retirement age and have an accountant at home in the UK , so I'll make sure all is up to date and I have my tax letters to show I am paying my bills in the UK .. and see what else they might ask for.
I was thinking about the re-entry permit, I would have got this once I did the 1year extension to the 90 days O visa , this would then allow me to come and go when I needed to for the full term of my yearly retirement visa?
So get a 90 day O visa...then get it extended to a year O visa...
so if I get an O , I would then pay for a multiple re-entry permit (3800 Baht) that would last the same length of time as my O visa ...and I would need to look to get it stamped or revalidated every time before I left Thailand? So it remained valid upon my return ?
Sorry for all the questions , I am just trying to finally get this all clear in my head and I really appreciate the help.
thanks very much for this reply ..it helps make sense of some other scraps of info I've been given..
I am ok with leaving the money in the Thai account and making sure it's up to 800k 3 months before renewal. (And don't drop it below 400k I think this is correct)
With the O visa , is this still a multiple entry visa? As I still pop overseas for some work every month or two?
Finally, Would I just go to immigration on Samui if I wanted to apply for the O visa?