I am planning to apply for a 'Retirement Visa'.
One of the financial requirement is that I have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank for some time. Yet, I understand from others that it is not a straightforward matter to open one if you do not have a 'Retirement Visa'.
Also, there are other reqirements:
1. Health certificate: I do not have a communicable disease, but neither am I fit for the olympics.
2. No criminal record in the country of residence: I do not have one; but my local Police Dept in the U.S. can only ceritfy that I do not have a record with them.
Can anyone here help clarify these, please.

Ray,

Go to the Visa section in the Forum. It has many inputs about Visas

Hi Ray,
you do not need to have 800,000B in a Thai bank, as long as you prove you have a income of 65,000B a month if not married to a Thai. you can get this from your Embassy. I believe the dotors note is not required now but this had to come from a Thai dotor 400B for writing a note. The form from your police in the country you reside will be enough, There is no trouble opening a Thai bank account, I openned two, one in me and my GF name and one in my name only, belt and braces outlook, i only had a O visa.
You must be in possion of a O visa and have lived in Thailand for 60 days before you can apply. I would not get all the doc's until you have been here nearly 60days as the nice imm. officer might say they are out of date.
As air says there is a lot of imfor. in the visa section, spend some time reading it.
Cheers Doug.

Ray, my suggestion is that you apply the multi entry Non Immigrant "O" visa rather than the Non Immigrant "O-A" (retirement visa). The Non Immigrant "O" does not require a medical certificate or a criminal background report.

Upon arrival in Thailand, open your bank account (no problem with a Non Immigrant "O" visa) and deposit your 800,000 THB. After about 75 days, go to Immigration and apply for your one year retirement extension.

Ray I strongly suggest you look at the Visa section, or even better, have a look at ThaiVisa dot com, as some of the replies above contain incorrect, albeit well meaning, advice.

I would also consider the non O-A rather than the non-O. Whilst a bit harder to get, it certainly has some advantages.

Good luck.

Ray:

I obtained my AO Visa in June of this year from the Thai Consulate in Los Angeles. It was quite easy - submitted all the paperwork on a Wendsday, application was approved that day, and picked up my passport with visa the following day.

First step is to go to the Thai Consulate website and read the requirements for applying. The next step is to follow the requirements exactly and as best you can.

You may elect to submit a current US bank statement. If so you will have to submit a letter of account verification from the bank. My bank does not provide notarized documents. I took the bank documents to a Notary and had them notarized with me attesting that they were true and accurate copies.

Your letter from your local police department needs to be notarized. I had my original notarized but not the two required copies of the letter. The Thai Consulate needed all three Police letters to be notarized. I went across the street and had the notarized document copied.

Good Luck

Hi Ray ,its Dick in the u.k,i am just a bit further along the same process as u.I enlisted Siam Legal in Bangkok to assist me.They sent me the required forms,i completed the said forms and sent them,along with my passport to the Thai consulate,which here in the uk,is in Hull.I sent them on a Monday,and received passport back on the Thursday,visa stamped inside.
Like you i looked at all the advise and was totaly confused,it seems to me that there are no hard and fast rules.
Its correct you deposit 800.000bht,if you do this ,no need to show monthly income.
No criminal or medical record is required.
This visa gives 90 days,just before the end of the 90 days you then apply to extend it.
It may well be that its like this if you do it through a firm like Siam Legal,as i dare say they do it on a regular basis,and i suspect they have contacts they use at the Thai embassy in bangkok..
When i arrive in Bangkok on the 02/10/08,Siam Legal will assist me opening a bank account,it cost for their service,but then its worth it.
good luck,see u in Udon.

When i arrive in Bangkok on the 02/10/08,Siam Legal will assist me opening a bank account,it cost for their service,but then its worth it.

Richard, Don't waste money paying someone to help you open a bank account, it's a doddle, i've done it on six occations now. The staff at the banks in Udon are used to opening accounts for farangs, and will help you fill in the forms if you want ..... and they won't charge you a penny.

Any reason you used the Thai Consulate in Hull, rather than the embassy in London?, has the embassy closed or moved in the last few years?

The Consulate in Hull is by far the best operation out of the 2 statto.

stattointhailand wrote:When i arrive in Bangkok on the 02/10/08,Siam Legal will assist me opening a bank account,it cost for their service,but then its worth it.

Richard, Don't waste money paying someone to help you open a bank account, it's a doddle, i've done it on six occations now. The staff at the banks in Udon are used to opening accounts for farangs, and will help you fill in the forms if you want ..... and they won't charge you a penny.

Any reason you used the Thai Consulate in Hull, rather than the embassy in London?, has the embassy closed or moved in the last few years?

I think all the visa applications go to HULL,I downloaded some forms from the Thai embassy webb site,and they all have the Hull address on them

Thanks guys.
I did not scroll down far enough to find the visa section in this forum. Anyway, now I have gone over that and also the Thai gov. websites. The one for the Consulate in New York was the most useful for me. Downloaded the Visa Application, Personal Data, largely the same info as in the Visa Application, and the Medical, very clear in its certification.
There is no template for the Criminal; I guess I will take whatever my local PD will provide. Interestingly, they will have no record of my murder conviction in the next county (only joking). Perhaps, only the FBI could have cleared me of any convictions in the whole country.
The need to show the required amount in a Thai bank and the inablity to open an account on my 30-day entry permit remain a chicken and egg puzzle. Perhaps the statement of my acccount in the Bank of America would do it, but then again if they are following the chaos in that sector, they would not take it seriously.
I look at all these positively, just heightening the anticipation.

It sounds like you are taking a more difficult route than I did!

I simply went to the Thai Consulate,got a 60 day tourist visa(allows one to open an account in Thailand)!

Close to the end of my visa,I went to the ''Visa change'' dept'of Immigration in BK and applied for a retirement visa!

They extend your present visa while the retirement one is being approved!

I had wired money into my account already,got a med cert(any street clinic gives them for 30-100 baht,no exam,just say healthy and give your passport to them for the details on the cert),no police report needed!

That is all there was to it!

You can make a deposit and setup direct deposit to Bangkok Bank in NY,if you want!Some people here have done it in a way that saves them money on later transfers!

I have not had good experiences with Bangkok Bank in Thailand and prefer Kasikorn,so don't take it as a rec for BB

Ray if you get an O-A visa you can keep your money in your US account for nearly 2 years - no need to transfer to LOS.

If you are on an O visa, the consistent advice on this and other forums re opening a bank account is "if at first you don't succeed, try and try again" ie if the 1st bank says no, go next door to the next bank, and then to the next (even if it is a different branch of a previously tried bank) and so on. You will be successful eventually.

People seem to be most successful at Kasinkorn Bank.

I agree. If you get the non-immigrant O-A visa in your home country then there is no need to transfer large amounts for two years plus you will be getting the equivalent of a two year visa. Requires you to leave/re-enter Thailand near the end of your first year here to get an extra one year stamp.

Proof of funds. I got a letter from local manager of my bank in the states and sent it along with a copy of my monthly statement to the Thai embassy.

Medical certificate. I went through the Washington DC Thai Embassy and was told that it had to be notarized.

Personal Data form. Washington Embassy said it was no longer required.

[quote="bamakmak"]Ray, my suggestion is that you apply the multi entry Non Immigrant "O" visa rather than the Non Immigrant "O-A" (retirement visa). The Non Immigrant "O" does not require a medical certificate or a criminal background report.

Upon arrival in Thailand, open your bank account (no problem with a Non Immigrant "O" visa) and deposit your 800,000 THB. After about 75 days, go to Immigration and apply for your one year retirement extension.[/quote]


IMHO this is misleading information as I believe the 800,000 Baht has to be in the Thai bank account 90 days prior to applying for a extension or retirement visa.

If I am wrong I apologise.

John