I would say you are working on information that is about 8 years old and things have changed quite a bit in that time. Unless it's changed again here's what I know from doing my own retirement visa extension for the last 14 years with the last extension about 4 months ago. This is based on a single person, for the first application you need the 800,000 in the Thai bank for 2 months before applying. Your bank balance must not drop below the 800,000 for the 3 months after the extension is issued. You must maintain at least 400,000 at ALL times and it must be at least 800,000 for the 3 months prior to the next renewal. As far as gaining interest I did hear that you can not put it in a high interest account but I don't know for sure and mine is in a normal bank account. What the conditions are for a married couple I don't have a clue and would not like to give advice on something I don't know.

Gordon Gordon the post says 'demand' so that's what i commented on.

If you are talking about an O-visa retirement extension and unless it has changed, it was you had to have the 800,000 for 2 months before you first applied (all the following renewals it has to be in for 3 months before you renew. You have to keep the 800,000 for 3 months after that and then for the remaining 6 months it must not drop below 400,000 at any time. A lot of people, myself included, just put the 800,000 in a separate account and leave it there considering it an emergency fund,

The rules are that you have to have a return flight booked withing the terms of your visa or visa waver so you might not even be allowed to board the flight as the airline is responsible for bringing you back if you are denied entry. Also I see they they will DEMAND an extension, I can assure you that if they try to demand anything from Immigration then they are likely to be told no, extensions are issued at the discretion of the Immigration officer. Remember that if they do come then entry will be down to the officer at the border control and they can refuse entry for what ever reason they feel fit and making demands are likely to be treated badly. Visitors to Thailand and any other country in the world are guests of that country and should remember that, you have no right to demand anything from a country you are a guest of.

@Haagse ****

sometimes it's just one officer's interpretation of the rules, I had it before where they suddenly want more photos & multiple copies of document and when I've gone back and seen a different officer he just handed all the extras back and said I didn't need them

The number of photos sometimes varies dependant on the officer, the bank statement is normally 12 months for me but then I always apply at the same time (1 month before expiry of old extension), I live with my Thai wife so just get copies of her housebook & ID card plus I get here to sign a statement (in Thai) that we live together and she goes with me. I did get the extra forms to sign last time as well but as there were no documents needed I did it when I applied. All in it took me less that 10 minutes to do it and I keep all the forms pre-filled in on the computer so next year I just print them out, sign & date them and get the documents from the bank on my way to Immigration. I use Kasikorn and they can print the 12 month statement in the branch unlike Bangkok Bank that has to get it from head office if it's over 6 months (so I've heard). So what you describe sounds normal to me as it's what I've had to supply in both Pattaya & Khon Kaen with the slight differences due to housing documents.

As any extension will be down to the Thai Immigration office they are the only people who can answer so I would recommend that you go to an Immigration office and ask them and not bother getting advice online. I know I am giving advice online.

Andrew Evenden yes you can pay an agent if you want or you can save a lot of money by doing it yourself like I have for the past 14 years without any problems at all and normally only spending about 15 minutes in immigration.

as most people are saying. You get the O-visa (don't get the OA-visa as that requires medical insurance) in your home country and have to prove you have the money there, not in Thailand. The visa allows you to open a Thai bank account, you need a residency certificate from immigration for that. After depositing the money (800,000 Baht for retirement) and having it there for 2 months you can then apply for the retirement extension of stay that lasts for 1 year. You have to keep 800,000 in the bank for 3 months after the extension is issued and then it must not drop below 400,000 for the next 6 months and must go back up to 800,000 for the last 3 months before you renew the extension. I opened 2 accounts, one for the 'visa' money and the other for living expenses and I leave the 800,000 in the 'visa' account all the time, it's also my emergency fund and if I have to use it for medical expenses then I will deal with the problem when I need to renew my extension.

Graham Seal they may have slight variations but they are applying the same rules. I moved from Pattaya to Khon Kaen and still supply the same documents when I apply it's just that here they want 1 more form signed. If you have better advice then why not give it rather than complain about someone else trying to be helpful.