@David ***

it means because you don't have a bank account with 800,000 in for the extensions each year you are unable to satisfy the visa requirements and have to use the agent again.

It's worse than that though, as it is illegal, so if the Immigration Officer is investigated, they will cancel ALL of the visa that were approved without the required conditions satisfied. You would then be forced to leave the country. I have seen several posts from people complaining this has happened to them over the past few years, so it does happen. My advice would be to use an agent to help open a bank account for you and then deposit your own 800,000 and do everything else yourself as it is easy. Good luck.

@Craig ********

you are very, welcome. Enjoy your retirement.

@Craig ********

apologies and wow that's expensive , I understand now.

I believe in most offices you can apply for the non O in Thailand without the 800,000 being in the account for 3 months. Mine was not required here in Hua Hin, but this is Thailand, so different offices have different rules. I would recommend you state which immigration office you intend to use to get a definitive answer from the group.

Good luck and enjoy.

Apply for the non O before you come to Thailand is the best way, then it's easier to open a bank account, you don't need a return flight and you have 3 months to apply for the extension.

@Jack ***************

in that situation I would have refused to sign it, but I suspect there are not many suitable properties to choose from around where you live, unlike the farang area I live in, so it's easy for me to say that. Having said that, I think no matter what the contract states, if it came to a dispute, the likely outcome would be that the farang would lose, so I should probably just 'wind my neck in' and accept tiT 🤣

The contract should offer protection for both parties. It is difficult to imagine that enough detail would be included in one or two pages, especially if it is in Thai and English. If someone offered me a very short contract I would be more concerned about getting my deposit back at the end than if a well worded contract was offered. My current contract was downloaded by the agent from the Internet and included several ridiculous clauses and omissions. I made her wait for about an hour while I went through it crossing out the things I would not agree to, improved the wording in some sections to be explicit and added in several clauses to protect me. I then talked through the changes with the agent and we initialled all of the changes before signing the contract. The agent could not complain, as I had asked several times to see the contract in advance.

It took me about 30 minutes to get the residence certificate at Sri Racha when I lived in Chonburi a few months ago.

@Bigd *********

it is illegal and if the immigration officer is caught (this does happen) all of the visas are cancelled and you will have wasted your money and be leaving Thailand.

@Chris ******

I can certainly recommend it Chris, I love it here in Thailand.

I was similar to you and decided i didn't want to live the rest of my life in England.

I now have a wonderful life here and feel lucky every single day to be here. Good luck I hope everything works out for you.

I retired to Thailand 2 years ago and have found it extremely easy to adjust. Naturally I miss family and friends, but can still video call with them.

How easy it is depends on you.

I came with 2 suitcases, money and sold/gave away everything else in the uk. Are you ready to do that?

Thailand culture, people, scenery are all lovely and it's much cheaper to live here than the UK.