Thailand Retirement Visa O-A

No, the 'combination' method is only applicable for your O-A visa, which you get from the Thai embassy in your home country. When you go to immigration in Thailand for your yearly extension you will need to go with one or the other (there might be a very small chance you can get an exception, but I don't know how that would happen, but Thailand immigration is highly 'flexible', just usually not in favor of the people applying for the extension.)

800K is the easiest and least hassle, the 65K pretty month is okay but if you need up by even a day you could be looking at starting over from scratch, which would likely mean a tourist visa for a few months then possibly a trip back home to reapply.

Since countries (Canada, and some European countries) still provide 'income letters', which are the easiest ... Your local embassy/consulate just needs to see your income tax assessment from the current year and if it divides by 12 and comes to more than 65K baht they give you a letter and Thai immigration is a simple formality.

    Hi, I'm new to the forum so bear with me as this has most likely been asked many times
I’m looking at the requirements for this Visa and if I go ahead with my plans to retire at 55, I understand that 800k baht will need to stay in a Thai bank. Once I turn 60, I can activate a private pension that will give me a monthly pay out. If that amount is lower than 65k baht, let’s say 55k, I will need to keep the difference (10k * 12 = 120k baht) in the same bank account, but the rest of the money I can take out. I will need to renew this visa once per year and can continue to do this indefinitely. Please correct me if I’m misunderstanding this.

I’ve read that if the original application is done in a certain immigration office, the renewal must be done in the same one. Is this true? This would make it difficult to travel around and live in different parts of Thailand until I find the spot that I like and wish to stay longer.

Thanks, Jon
   

    -@JonSt

I saw that those with Non Imm O-A based visa have also to provide a yearly health insurance to start the Stay permit process, instead those that have just a Non Imm O, do not need to show that insurance.

I would not use the 65K declaration, cause this could be a way for Thai revenue office to ask for income tax payment in Thailand. Instead the 800K is not an income but a deposit in the Saving account.

When you apply for the one year stay permit they will ask you to state your address, if it is a hotel on a monthly base rent or a rented room they will ask to see a rental contract or hotel declaration, and stay permit extension must be done in the same Immigration office unless you go to a new Immigration office area and you announce that you will move there and you can then extend the Stay permit in that office. But if you just go to extend without having changed and anounced before the change then they will refuse to extend.

Must also bear in mind that such yearly stay permit includes also the duty to make the "90 days report"

Counting 90 days from first extension date or from re-entering stamp date on passport, the foreigner have to go not later than 1 week after the 90 days count to immigration to report and confirm that he is living at the same address given at beginning. So if there is a change of the address then must be comunicated within 24 hours and then use that address at the next 90 days report.

@Maxi Mari

All good info.

I have also found that the O visa is best because it does not require the health insurance component. Agree also with the bank balance idea over the declared pension income. Easier just to have one bank account for the visa and never touch it; and other accounts for daily/monthly business.

As for the regular or married visa, the married requires so much paperwork and running around that I ditched it several years ago and just do the 800,000 baht regular visa. In and out of Immigration in less than 30 minutes.

I also have a Yellow Book showing residency, which has helped with the elimination of lots of identification red tape and shows Thai authorities that you have established a "permanent" residence rather than renting here and there.

Thank you all for the information.

O Visa looks better, especially given all the negative feedback on the insurance companies in Thailand.

Regarding taxation on my pension, that won't be an issue as the taxes where my pension comes from are way higher than Thailand and there is a tax agreement between the countries.

I've also looked at the LTR option; Wealthy Pensioners:

"For retirees aged 50 years or older who have an annual pension or stable passive income. Personal income of at least USD 80,000 a year at the time of application."

80,000 per year before retirement is not an issue, but it does not say anything about how high the annual pension or stable passive income has to be. Does it have to be at least USD 80,000 also?

I have seen discussion that DTV can replace the O Visa for some cases though I feel unsure about that.

Google and have a look at the requirements and tell us what exactly you feel unsure about