Hey, is the financial requirement for the retirement visa an income or a bank account? Are you able to qualify based on savings, and if so, does that ever cause trouble at the Immigration office? Can the savings be kept in a foreign bank, or do they have to be in Thailand?

Hi Nick

Best advise.....do a Google search, and or try Siam legal in BKK....and follow the prompts on Visas....good luck mate...cheers....harpo

Just applied for that Visa today.
Requirement No. 1. 400,000 in a THAI Bank Account for three months
OR
Requirement NO. 2. Pension of 40,000 Baht per Month, or yearly pension 400,000 or more
The 40,000 per Month can be a combination of your money and if your wife works her money together will be accepted.
There is heaps of paper work involved and various photos. If you go to Immigration they will give you a copy of what is required

Nick22 wrote:Hey, is the financial requirement for the retirement visa an income or a bank account? Are you able to qualify based on savings, and if so, does that ever cause trouble at the Immigration office? Can the savings be kept in a foreign bank, or do they have to be in Thailand?

Must be in Thailand, not a foreign account.

Income requirement for retirement: from the actual Immigration Police Order...



http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/do ... 551_en.pdf

Must be in a Thai bank account? Ok, so can us farang open a Thai bank account on a tourist visa then?

nel123 wrote:Must be in a Thai bank account? Ok, so can us farang open a Thai bank account on a tourist visa then?

Yes

So is it 400000 Baht for a marriage Visa?
Is it going up to 800000 baht ?

Hi Joe, could you tell me which banks are giving the tourist accounts please mate.

valiant wrote:So is it 400000 Baht for a marriage Visa?
Is it going up to 800000 baht ?

The income requirement based on marriage is: 40K monthly or 400K annual.

The income requirement based on retirement is 65k monthly or 800K annual.

Hi,
When I went to renew my Permission to Stay, in Nov., due to marriage, Undon Imm. said that the requirement for monies was going up to 800KB. Same as retirement. As I was getting a pension of over 800KB I opted for a P. to Stay due to retirement. A lot easier and a lot less hassle to get.
Of course the Imm. Officer could have been wrong. Any questions about Permission to Stay, it is best to go down to IMM. and ask what do they require, I have found them very helpful, Get the officer, who answered you, name and number, quote this if there is any trouble obtaining your P. to S...

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the information. Sorry to bother you for something that I could have looked up -- the truth is, I don't trust the what I read online and am more inclined to go with what people tell me works. In the past I lived with my wife and always had difficulties because we didn't have enough money, so I had to maintain various half-assed working visas with fly-by-night schools -- when we move back in a couple of years we'll be in good shape for qualifying for the marriage visa. Has anyone here encountered any obscure or bureaucratic difficulties in renewing that year after year? From looking at other posts it sounds like it is more of a pain in the neck than the retirement visa.

The extension due to marriage has a lower financial requirement than one due to retirement but just about everything else associated with it is more difficult.

Personally, I believe that it is due to the marriage extensions all being processed & granted centrally while the retirement extensions are granted locally, by the officer sat in front of you.

Many countries in The West have issues with foreigners being involved in fraudulent marriages just for the purpose of being able to stay in the country & I suspect that Thailand feel that they do as well.
It should also be remembered that the laws associated with the requirements of Permission to stay based on marriage are equally applied to ALL non-Thais. That will undoubtedly change after the 2015 ASEAN deal comes into force,but, for now, is true.
To some nearby countries Thailand is undoubtedly more economically inviting than their own country.

So those two facts, remote approval & the fear of fraudulent marriages, is almost certain to result in very strict paperwork requirements.

nel123 wrote:Hi Joe, could you tell me which banks are giving the tourist accounts please mate.

BKK Bank

Nick, whether you read it here or another place on-line, take any 'reported' or 'rumored' changes to the process with a grain of salt. When someone has to show 800k instead of 400k for a marriage visa, then it's believable. Until then, it's rumor.
What's important with immigration rules is what happens to a person who goes to immigration today. Beyond that, it's mostly conjecture and rumor without any basis.

If you are legally married, just go to Savannakhet Thai consulate across the bridge from Mukdahan, they are still doing one year multi entry non O for 5000 baht, no financials req'd. Got mine Christmas day, usual paperwork shown ie copies of your passport, marriage certificate, wife's house book and ID, yellow house book (not a requirement), kid's birth certificates etc. BUT, you must take along the ORIGINAL marriage certificate as well. Got there at 10.00am on the 24th, ticket no. 33, no other people there, in and out in 10 mins. Back at 14.00 the next day, 6 people in the queue, done in 5 mins. Vientianne are still doing single entry non O too.

Sadly, we're still a year away from actually moving. I'll just enjoy the delights of Alberta until then -- but that's good to know about the Savannakhet consulate. It would be great to try something other than that mess in Vientiane, just thinking about going there gives me hives.

And to the person who sent me a message, thank you for your info -- I don't have the privileges to respond, yet.

Bearing in Mind what has happened in the UK with Marriage visas, the rumours of 800,000 baht Marriage visa requirement may be more than just a rumour.... but it hasn't been applied yet. But if it is, without warning, there could be a lot of Thai wives who will find their husbands financially challenged. As for cracking down on bogus marriages, more a field day for all those ex-immigration officers flogging under the counter visas instead.

Nick22 wrote:Sadly, we're still a year away from actually moving. I'll just enjoy the delights of Alberta until then -- but that's good to know about the Savannakhet consulate. It would be great to try something other than that mess in Vientiane, just thinking about going there gives me hives.

"one year multi entry non O" requires leaving the country every 90 days. You can get one in Canada and probably your best bet as will give you a year (actually 15 months) to sort things out on the ground in Thailand.

And ignore the guys talking about retirement visas, B800k, blah blah blah. You wanted to know about marriage visa not retirement visa. I don't know why guys always chime in with off topic irrelevant information to confuse the issue for newbies. Lack of reading comprehension or just a need to chime in even if nothing relevant to add?

bn wrote: And ignore the guys talking about retirement visas, B800k, blah blah blah. You wanted to know about marriage visa not retirement visa. I don't know why guys always chime in with off topic irrelevant information to confuse the issue for newbies. Lack of reading comprehension or just a need to chime in even if nothing relevant to add?

I assume you are including yourself in the "Lack of reading comprehension" group.

This was the OP - just to refresh your memory:

Postby Nick22 » December 26, 2013, 1:42 pm
Hey, is the financial requirement for the retirement visa an income or a bank account? Are you able to qualify based on savings, and if so, does that ever cause trouble at the Immigration office? Can the savings be kept in a foreign bank, or do they have to be in Thailand?