It depends on what you are renewing, if it's a retirement visa then check out the Pattaya expat club website for guides.

Jay Dollarhide Like I said, you can try. I'm no expert but live in Thailand and watch the expat news and I'm just reporting what I've seen. The use of a O-visa is 'restricted' to people intending to get a long term visa so that's almost certain to give you problems so you might be better on tourist visas. Really it appears to be how long you stay, if you get extension, how often you come and the time between visits. If you want to stay for the maximum on a single tourist visa plus extension and then leave & return a few days or weeks later then I'm sure you will have problems with that as well but if you were to come in on a tourist visa, not extend it and leave then repeat a couple of month later you probably won't have problems but then it's all down to the immigration officer at the desk when you arrive or in the immigration office of you try to get an extension.

You can try. I've know people do this, they would go back to UK every year (at Songkran) and get a new O-visa then return and do border runs every 3 months. It all worked until one trip they were told that they had abused the system and the O-visa was only intended for going to Thailand to set up a retirement or similar long term visa and they were refused. As this was about 15 years ago when things were much easier I think you will probably only get the visa once or twice before the refusal. The reason for the clampdown, not a rule/law change, is because Immigration are trying to stop people using the wrong visa for living in Thailand as the people who do this are generally working illegally or running scams etc and this is exactly the sort of thing that say they are stopping.

or how about direct to UK, I've done it dozens of times

Pardon me if this sounds stupid but he hasn't booked a flight to UK and although there is some disruption flights are still going to the UK so how is he impacted by the gulf problem. Immigration is helping people who's flights have been cancelled not people who haven't even bothered to book flights, I really don't think he will be offed an extension. I would also think that the British Embassy doesn't have to 'help' someone that hasn't even tried to return to UK.

If you have an international license (I think just a license from you own country is enough) then you shouldn't have to do the mandatory 2 day course (might have changed since i did it) but you will still have to do the practical tests, colour blind, reaction, peripheral vision & depth perception. If you don't have a license from your own country then be prepared for having to do the 2 day course.

From people that did it, also when I was living in Pattaya and had to go up country and didn't think I would make it back in time I went to Immigration and they were more than happy to do it for me but it turned out I had just 38 days remaining so I was within the normal window.

I agree with the previous comment, if he got a re-entry permit before leaving and he returns before his retirement visa (extension) expires then he can come back anytime, the 90 day reporting stops when you leave Thailand and a new 90 days starts when you return. If however he didn't get a re-entry permit or his retirement visa expires while he's outside of Thailand then he has to start from scratch.

If it was me I would go the the immigration office well in advance like now and ask them for advice. I know you are below the limit but they they used to take all Thai personal accounts together so if you have another account you are probably still OK. In addition, I'm on a retirement visa and I normally renew 1 month before and it's always dated from the expiry of the current stamp. I understand that if you renew a retirement within 40 days of the expiry date it's run from the expiry date, anything before that and it's run from the date of renewal, I don't know anything about a marriage visa though. If you go to immigration well in advance and present all the right documentation and they say it's OK then you might be able to renew it then and there, OK losing a month or so but you would leave with a new stamp. The only problem with this idea is that a marriage visa needs approval from higher up so might be OK at the local office but rejected anyway but again should give time to sort something out if you do it before the expiry date.

If you go the fixed amount in the bank route you will need to have the 800k in a thai bank for 2 months before the retirement visa but you can only open a bank account if you have a long term visa such as an O-visa or an OA-visa, there is also the monthly income route. The O-visa doesn't require the medical insurance that is needed for the OA-visa so that it the best one in my opinion. Most people come to Thailand on the O-visa and immediately open a bank account then transfer the funds and for the first application the money needs to be in the bank for 2 months and you have 3 months from arrival so you can apply before you have to extend or leave Thailand. Check the details on the Pattaya expat club website ( as they are normally very useful and tend to be up to date as things do change.