Skipper asked:
Ok, this question is for those of you who have recently resided in the US, then went to live in Thailand with a Retirement Visa. Please don’t respond with “go to this web site” or “check out this blog site” etc. Been there- done that. The info at those sites is as clear as mud. I have even tried telephoning the Thai consulate in LA only to get into one recorded loop after another. I am frustrated. I want to avoid the expense of a visa service company.
Ok, this question is for those of you who have recently resided in the US, then went to live in Thailand with a Retirement Visa. Please don’t respond with “go to this web site” or “check out this blog site” etc. Been there- done that. The info at those sites is as clear as mud. I have even tried telephoning the Thai consulate in LA only to get into one recorded loop after another. I am frustrated. I want to avoid the expense of a visa service company.
I currently live in the US and want to get a Thai Retirement visa. The primary hang-up is with the bank statement. The requirement is that I would need to have money on deposit in a Thai passbook account. Since I can’t do that from here (open a bank account in Thailand), it seems that the only option open to me is to apply for a non-immigrant type “O” 90 day visa…and then, when I am in Thailand, apply for a Retirement visa while I’m there.
So, is this a viable strategy? Do you have a better suggestion? Please tell me how YOU did it.
Thanks in advance!
How to retire in Thailand
July 26th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
You do not need to have money in a Thai bank account to get a Retirement Visa. What you are asking about is for when you apply for an extension of your retirement visa after your first year. Then you need to show either 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account at least 3 months prior to your extension or a sworn statement from the US embassy here in Bangkok that you have income over 65,000 baht a month. The US embassy here does not want to see anything only you swearing the the information is true.
For the initial Retirement visa all I did was get a letter from my bank and a recent bank statement showing I had income over 800,000 baht and that my project pension was so much money.
I was also confused like you when I first started to prepare for the retirement visa. Good luck
July 28th, 2010 at 9:12 am
That is EXACTLY how you do it. Additionally, when you transfer money to your new account, made sure it is noted that this money is for property investment; and then proceed to get a TOR 3 (I think, that is the correct number, but the bank will know), so that if you take the money out of Thailand, there is proof that you brought it in for a purpose and did not make the money here.
Now, on a personal level, I think you are making a big mistake in not using a good lawyer to handle these affairs for you. They, of course, can be done; and you can figure out about checking in with immigration every 90 days; you might even figure out about a Thai driver’s license (although, I’m sure I could not have done that), and a good lawyer covers for you if you make mistakes, or have questions. But if you really need to risk doing it yourself, the 90 visa is the way to start.
I have lived here for 5 years, fulltime, on Retirement Visa.