Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests we are discussing Visa options associated with retirement in Thailand. A lot going on here as we are seeing the Long-Term Residence Visa so-called, LTR Visa, it is not really a Residence Visa as we have discussed many times on this channel; it does not confer Lawful Permanent Residence, it is just basically a very long Non-Immigrant Visa, a sort of long Tourist Visa almost if you want to look at it like that. Retirees are out there and they are looking at their options and they are sort of trying to assess "should I look at the LTR Visa, should I look at an O-X, 10 year Retirement Visa” which kind of fell by the wayside. We don't see hardly any of those ever at all. Then you have got the O-A Retirement Visa which is the annual Retirement Visa issued from Thai Embassies and Consulates abroad. Then you have got what is called the Thai O Retirement Visa or sometimes just called the Thai O Extension based on retirement wherein somebody just maintains O Visa status as a retiree here in Thailand. What are the options?

Well those are basically the options. O Retirement Visa, O-A Retirement Visa, possibly the O-X although as a practical matter I don't think so, and then now we are seeing these LTR visas rolled out, some of them for so-called wealthy retirees and pensioners etc. So obviously a 10-year Visa is longer than a one-year Visa but there are pros and cons to all the categories. Long-term Residence Visa, the LTR Visa, does have an insurance requirement as does the O-A Retirement Visa to retire in Thailand and the O Retirement Extension especially does not have this requirement. So again depending on the category of Visa you are looking at, that is going to have different benefits and downsides compared to other categories. At the end of the day, O Retirement Visas for example I know are kind of in fashion at the moment but people forget they were a real problem when everything locked down. I saw them become a major issue when Thailand locked down back in the beginning of March 2020 because those folks couldn't get in and then there was the issue there for a while where the O-A was more prioritized. 

So long story short and the thing to take away from this video is there are a number retirement options. They are definitely, I think choosing an option is going to be based very much on the underlying circumstances in a given case. There really is no one size fits all category right now for retirees here in Thailand.