I will give you a quick update on the mandatory health insurance for a non-immigration O-A visa, also known as the retirement visa. As well as the 800k baht in the Thai bank account. And talk about the different types of retirement visa.
Many people call it retirement visa, myself included, but there are different retirement visas that I know of. In this article, I’ll tell you the most common retirement visas people use to retire in Thailand, or when you are over 50 years old. I’ll also cover some of the recent changes and requirements.
One type of retirement visa requires you to have money in a Thai bank, and health insurance is optional.
The second type of retirement visa doesn’t require money in a Thai bank.
Then, the third type of retirement visa can last up to 10 years. I’ll go over each one of these retirement visas in this article and hopefully clear up some confusion.
Because it is a bit confusing as most people, including myself, call them retirement visa, and group all of them into one. But there are at least three types of a retirement visa, and each one is a little different from the other. If you are new to this Thai visa stuff, or you are confused, don’t be, make sure you read the entire article to have a better understanding. I’ll explain all of this in the article, as well as how each of these visas looks like.
With that said, this is accurate from the time of this writing. But things might change in the future. Get the most up to date information with you Thai embassy or Thai consulate if you’re in Thailand call up your immigration office and ask them. DO not rely on unofficial website articles.
Types of retirement visa for Thailand
1. Non-Immigration OA Visa (I’m going to call this OA Visa)
- Must be over 50 years old
- Obtain outside of Thailand, normally in your home country or neighbouring country around Thailand at the Thai Embassy or Consulate
- Can stay up to almost 2 Years
- Require money in your bank account in your home country that is equivalent to 800,000 baht or 65,000 baht coming in each month or combination of both which add up to 800,000 baht in one year.
Those are the most important things you need to know about the non-immigration O-A visa. There are a couple of other things you might need to do to get this visa, but I’ll talk about that later.
2. Extension of Stay (Also known as O Visa base on retirement)
Number two, the second type of retirement visa.
- The Extension of Say is not a non-immigration OA visa, and I don’t think it is a retirement visa, but people confuse this Extension of stay with non-immigration OA visa
- You get the Extension of stay when you have entered Thailand with a valid non-immigration OA visa or other type visas
- Once you enter Thailand with a valid visa and wish to stay longer, you may apply for the Extension of stay
- The Extension of stay allow you to stay for up to 2 years, and you keep renewing or reapply after it expires
- The renewing process is much easier, as long as you have all the requirements, the 800k baht in your Thai bank account and not in your home country
If you have 800k baht in a Thai bank account, you need the money to be deposited for 60 days before you can apply for the extension of stay or renewing your extension of stay.
Once you obtain your extension of stay, you will need that money in the account for another 3 months before you can withdraw and you cannot withdraw under 400k baht. 400k baht most remain in the account at all time.
This money belongs to you, and you can do anything you want. It doesn’t belong to the Thai government or the Thai immigration
Most common types of “retirement visa”
Above are the two most common types of “retirement visa.”
So if you are not sure what visa you have, you can open your passport. Non-immigrating OA visa looks like a giant sticker that takes over an entire page of your passport, and then you have the Extension of stay which is a smaller stamp.
So in theory, if you do not want to transfer money in a Thai bank account. You can go back to your home country every year or two to get a non-immigration O-A visa. Maybe you need to stay in your home country at least 3 or 4 months each year, and you will have to go back anyway. Then the non-immigration O-A visa might be best for you.
On the other hand, perhaps you don’t want to go back every year, then you may apply for Extension of Stay, but you will need money in a Thai bank account and having health insurance is optional.
3. Non-Immigration O-X Visa (I’m going to call this OX Visa)
The last type of retirement visa that I know of is the non-immigration O-X visa. But the first two retirement visa with the O-A visa and Extension of stay will be what most people use to retire in Thailand if you are over 50 years old and have all other requirements.
Now, the OX visa allows you to stay up to 10 years, and you only need to extend it in the fifth year. The financial requirement will be higher than the OA visa and the Extension of stay. Also, this OX visa is relatively new, and it is available only for the past few years.
OX visa is available for 14 nationalities: Australia; Canada; Denmark; Germany; Finland; France; Italy; Japan; Netherlands; Norway; Sweden; Switzerland; United Kingdom, and the United States.
That might change now later, everything in this article might change by the time you read this. So make sure you double-check everything with your Thai embassy or Thai General Consulate or Immigration office for the most up to date information.
I won’t get into much details about the OX visa because I don’t think too many people will have that kind of money to obtain one. But you can see the requirements here.
Don’t’ forget to download my free ebook about living in Thailand; check out my links below. There is also a link where you can cheaply transfer your money into Thailand.
