Hi all

My mom plans to travel from South Africa to Thailand soon. She wants to get a long stay retirement visa (O-A).

1. Does she have to get the visa in South Africa?

* The Thai embassy in SA requires a police clearance which takes weeks. We want to avoid this route if possible. They also need Covid specific insurance (normal for all I believe) and specific medial insurance (Outpatient ฿40,000 and inpatient ฿400,000).

2. If she gets it in SA, does the ฿800,000 need to be in her account for 3 months prior to submitting the application or does she just need proof of said finances?

3. Would it be possible for her to arrive on an exemption visa then get a retirement visa?

4. If so, how do we navigate the finances? She has the ฿800,000. Does it need to be in a Thai account? Not sure how the finances work?

Thanks for all the help! No amount of information is too much 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻