800.00 THB deposit for retirement Visa

[new here]

18 hours ago, JackThompson said:

No need to ship yourself across the planet to deliver paperwork for a single-entry Non-O based on retirement (fortunately).  Many get them in Savannakhet (Vientiane wants more paperwork than Savannakhet).

The problem might be, that they previously asked to see a Thai Bank book PLUS Income-Letter from your embassy - even if you were using the Bank-Money to meet the full financial requirements.

Thanks. I'm going to be in Thailand next year to do any prep work I need for this, but I'll be in Europe after that, so I might try to get my visa there. Hopefully the consulates there have slightly saner processes.

 

My understanding is that the requirements are 800K in the bank or monthly income, so it seems odd they're asking for both. I'm a self-funded retiree, so hopefully if I can show them plenty of savings, even in a non-Thai bank, that'll be enough.

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, new here said:

Thanks. I'm going to be in Thailand next year to do any prep work I need for this, but I'll be in Europe after that, so I might try to get my visa there. Hopefully the consulates there have slightly saner processes.

Savannakhet is actually pretty good for a Single-Entry Non-O (and Visas in general), relatively speaking.  Others with experience in specific Euro Thai embassies may have better info, though.

 

If in your passport-country, however, you could apply for a "Non-OA" visa, which provides a 1-year validity and 1-year permitted-stay stamp on each use - so you can get almost 2 years out of it by doing a border-bounce just before it's "enter/use before" date passes. 

 

Many do this every 2 years to avoid dealing with local immigration altogether.  By law, one should do 90-day reports at immigration - though this is not enforced currently at the points of entry/exit, so I would bet many do not.

 

1 hour ago, new here said:

My understanding is that the requirements are 800K in the bank or monthly income, so it seems odd they're asking for both. I'm a self-funded retiree, so hopefully if I can show them plenty of savings, even in a non-Thai bank, that'll be enough.

You are correct as to what is required on the financials - you don't have to show 65K income, if you have 800K in the bank or the other way around. 

 

If you have 800K in the bank, they are reported to accept an income-statement with "some income" as "proof of being retired" (can be far less than 65K/mo). 

If using the 65K/mo income-method, they want to see a bank-book also, to deter fraud (I think that was the term), but it just needs to have "some money" in it - not 800K.