Thai Retirement Visa

Thai EmbassyIf you are over the age of 50 and looking at a Thai visa as you want to retire in Thailand then consider the requirements for the Thai retirement visa for Thailand – also known as the “OA” visa at the Thai embassy. You start by apply for this visa at the Thai embassy in your country. The visa is valid for 3 months once you enter Thailand. During this 3 months you need to extend the visa for 1 year.

thailand retirement

Retirement Visa for Thailand

Once you enter Thailand you now have 90 days or 3 months to extend your retirement visa for Thailand. Many people simple use an attorney to do this as once the visa is granted you have 6 months to bring in any of your personal items from overseas duty free into Thailand. You need to meet the following requirements for the visa:

  • – You must be over the age of 50 when you apply;
  • – You must not have a criminal record in your home country (DUI is another story);
  • – You must not have a transmittable disease (HIV/AIDS; final stage syphilis)

Now if you can fulfill the requirements as listed above then you now only need to meet the financial requirements for the retirement visa.

  • – You must have 800,000 THB in a Thai bank account; or
  • – You must have an income of 60,000 THB per month; or
  • – You have a combination of both deposit and income

The retirement visa has over the last 3 years seen a huge surge in Thailand as many Europeans have opted for a low cost country such as Thailand rather than Spain where most would retire. Thai immigration have note this increase and have made the process even smoother than what it had been before. See the Thai immigration website or call you local Thai embassy for more information. also note that once extended you need a re-entry permit for Thailand to leave and return to the country without invalidating your 1 year retirement visa.

Covid Update

If you are going to retire in Thailand with your retirement visa then you will now need to have Covid 19 insurance. From the Bangkok Post they have stated as follows:

Holders of O-A (retirement) visas will need Covid insurance of at least 3 million baht. Foreign nationals with the non-immigrant O-A visa, sometimes known as a retirement visa. They will in the future have to prove they have insurance coverage of at least US$100,000 (three million baht) against Covid-19. At present, holders of the non-immigrant O-A visa must be insured to the tune of just 40,000 baht. This  for out-patient treatment and 400,000 baht for in-patient treatment at a hospital. They are required to purchase Thai health insurance via a dedicated website which is problematic.

Future non-immigrant O-A visa applicants must produce proof they have taken out the far higher insurance against Covid-19 and if they are eligible for state-sponsored welfare or insurance, the same minimum coverage applies. Those seeking to renew their non-immigrant O-A visas are free to buy the insurance from abroad.

Note that this requirement does not apply to the Thai marriage visa at present.

 

 

Incoming search terms:

1 Comments

Comments are closed.