What are the steps and considerations for obtaining a retirement visa (O Visa) in Thailand and bringing dependents?

Get the Non Imm O in Australia. Much easier.

How old is the child? Will they be attending school? It may well be that getting the child an ED visa and your wife a dependent visa is the easier route. Or perhaps she gets her own retirement visa if she is over 50?

You wrote:

"As a few years back, I recall we couldn't apply all at the same time, wife and child had to be outside of Thailand and once I got my Retirement visa (O-Visa) I then could do a dependance visa from my Visa. (still the same deal?)"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Only AFTER you have secured the "1-year Extension of Stay Permit based on retirement", you can think about getting a Non-Imm O dependent visa type for your wife and son, based on being the supporter and spouse.

ATTENTION:

You need to ask the Thai Embassy in Australia if they are willing to grand your kid and your wife a "dependent" or "trailing spouse" visa, with YOU on a Non-Imm-O visa and the EOS out of it.

BECAUSE some embassies require YOU to start with a 365-days Non-Imm-O/A visa (!!) instead with a 90-days Non-Imm-O visa, to enable your wife and your kid being able to get their own 90-days Non-Imm-O dependent visa and the subsequent 1-year extension based on your stay permit

You need to ask the Thai embassy on their up-to-date ruling

We are talking about the most common and persisting misunderstandings regarding the rules that come with applying for the “retirement visa” and the subsequent “one-year extension of stay permit based on retirement”

The best way is to show up in Thailand on a “90-days single entry Non-Imm-O Retirement/over 50 visa” as it will get you a 90-days stay permit upon entering Thailand.

Within this period you have plenty of time to arrange for the application to the “1-year extended stay permit based on retirement” (which people wrongly refer to as a “retirement visa”. Actually, this thing is not a visa. It is an extended stay permit)

In order to apply for the “90-days single entry Non-Imm-O retirement visa” through the online E-visa system at the Royal Thai Embassy of your home country, you can use the proof of income of a monthly minimum of 65,000 THB, by using your original pension or other income documentation.

Or you use a deposit of a minimum of 800,000 THB or the equivalent in your home country currency, or on your home bank account, or on a Thai bank, or just anywhere in the World – as long as it is in your sole name

However, for the application inside Thailand for the “1-year extension of stay permit” out of the 90-days Non-Imm-O retirement visa, if you are a citizen of a country, whose embassy in Thailand does not issue the “income affidavit any more

(which are the embassies of USA, UK and Australia)

you would need proof by a “12 months bank statement”, showing that for the past 12 months, you have been transferring from abroad to your Thai bank account a minimum of 65,000 THB, consecutively month for month

If your embassy still issues an affidavit of income, you can use this method for the financial proof, which needs a monthly income or pension of a minimum of 65,000 THB

For British, Australian and U.S. citizens, in the first year there is no other way around, than depositing a minimum of 800,000 THB in your Thai bank account and use this deposit for the financial proof which is required for the application to the “one year extension of stay permit based on being over 50/retired”

The alternative would be, if you don’t have that kind of money or are not willing to deposit 800,000 THB in your Thai Bank account, paying an agent a hefty sum (mostly in the range of 30-40,000 THB) to “arrange” the requirements

The downside is, you will get stuck with the agent for a while. You will need an agent to fix your 800k issue. You will be trapped in the agent’s hamster wheel.

To qualify you will need the 800k fronted by the agent the first year and simultaneously deposit 65k per month for 12 months without fail, to qualify the 2nd year for income method. Yet this is not enough to enable you to escape the hamster wheel.

If you use an agent you will not qualify for the 2nd year as you did not have the money in the first year . . . . So will need the agent bribe Immigration again and again.

NOTE: It is income method OR deposit method.

And there is a third method, called the “combination method”:

A combination mix of income and deposit.

Some immigrations don’t allow the combination method in the first year. And some Immigration want the deposit part to exceed 400,000 THB. The combination method means that the sum of the deposit AND the monthly income exceeds 800,000 THB in one year.

But let’s continue with the “normal method” (visa issued in your home country, followed by the application to the Extension inside Thailand):

On the day of application to the 1-year extension, the 800,000 THB must have “seasoned” in your account for two months, and this has to be proven with the “bank letter of guarantee” (rab roong thanakan).

Immigration will only service you if you are properly registered in your accommodation by the TM30.

Every landlord or hotel needs to register you within 24 hours of your arrival in the premises. While hotels do this automatically online, many landlords are not aware of this or haven’t registered their house or rooms in the system. It is your responsibility to ensure that you get properly TM30 registered.

After been issued the “1-year Extension of Stay”, the 800,000 THB need to remain in the account for 3 more months. After these 3 months, the deposit shall never go under 400,000 THB. And before your application for the next “1-year Extension of Stay”, a minimum of 800,000 THB must have seasoned in the account for two months, again

When you get issued the “1-year extension of stay”, you should always buy a re-entry permit for it.

A re-entry permit will keep your stay permit alive in case you exit Thailand before the expiry of the 1-year stay permit.

A single re-entry permit is 1000 THB on Immigration. A multi re-entry is 3800 THB. With a multi re-entry permit, you can exit and re-enter as many times as you wish during the whole 1-year stay permit period.

ATTENTION:

There is another road to the “1-year ‘Extension of Stay based on retirement”. It is called “change of visa type” and can be done on the Immigration in Thailand.

You can arrive visa-exempt or on a 60 days single-entry Tourist Visa, you will get stamped in for a 60 days stay permit.

On a tourist visa, it is very difficult to open a Thai bank account. You are advised to use an agent to help you with opening a bank account.

This must have been organized during a previous holiday, or you need to open a bank account ASAP, and the money must get transferred from your abroad account onto you Thai bank account ASAP

You visit Immigration and show them the bankbook with proof you got 800,000 THB in sitting in your bank account, and a proof that this money came from abroad.

You apply for the “change of visa type” from the touristic entry to a “90-days Non-Imm-O retirement visa”

To be allowed to apply for the “change”, you need a minimum of 15 days left on your entry stamp. And you need to show a rental contract, at least on most Immigrations

They will issue the visa for 14 days “under consideration”

After this period, you pick up the 90-days Non-Imm-O visa stay permit stamp

ATTENTION: if you plan to reside around Pattaya and use the Jomtien Immigration, you should be aware that they make up their own rule, which differs from the official police order.

Jomtien Immigration requires a 2-months seasoning for the application to the initial 90-days Non-Imm-O visa! That makes the application on the Jomtien Immigration a classic CATCH22 issue.

That's why it is always better to apply for the 9-days Non-O retirement visa in the e-visa online system in your home country before flying to Thailand. This visa also helps in opening a bank account.

From up to 30 days (in some places 45 days) before the 90-days stay permit expires, you can apply to the “1-year extension of stay based on retirement”

The financial requirements for this application are the same as explained above.

You can find the requirements when you google for “change of visa type immigration Thailand” and click on the number 9 in the list

Good Luck and a great time in Thailand