Get a visa then you can get a post paid (monthly) E-Sim from any of the carriers…you can also get the prepaid tag Thai app that will allow you to do the QR payment until you get a Thai bank acct…almost everywhere takes QR scanning for payment from street food vendors to Macro
If you don’t have the minimum for the retirement visa and you use an agent which will give an eye popping rate to season the money in the bank acct…what are you going to do in year 2 when they will want to see that bank acct again…you will be in perpetual debt living a skint life in a ฿3k a month apartment with only a fan
eventually you will lose capacity to earn money or help for yourself…this doesn’t just mean old age it could be an accident as well…so why not look for a safety net for the future…
yes it can be anywhere…but as a caveat if they have already filled out all the paperwork with Vientiane Laos then that’s where you need to go to get it…make sure you go to E-Visa website and follow the instructions
Yes you will have to depart Thailand to get your visa…as with all countries you can’t get a visa inside the country because it must be given to you via an embassy/consulate