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As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the notion of retirement in Thailand under the age of 50 years old. I recently got a comment on our channel, I am going to go ahead and quote it directly. Here is the quote: "One other question I had was everything seems to be centered around a retiree being over 50 years old. What is the best possible recommendation that you have for the younger man/woman who is looking to retire prior to being 50 years old in Thailand besides the overpriced Elite Visa or 10 million Baht condos? Are monthly Visa extensions and border hopping the only method to retire in Thailand?"

A couple of things. Let's be clear. First of all "border hopping, or border runs." As of March 2020, that is effectively a no-go. Now in theory, you could do it. You would have to leave Thailand presumably by flight as it is my understanding the land borders are still all closed. You would have to leave by plane, you would have to undertake whatever quarantine measures are in the receiving country and then get on another plane, come back to Thailand and basically be re-admitted and then have to undertake whatever quarantine procedures were in place upon that readmission. I mean you could be looking at spending as much as four or five weeks just sitting around in a quarantine in order to do a so-called "border run". So for now, border hopping is not a method of retiring in Thailand. Nor was it really ever in the sense that retirees if they are under 50, first of all Thailand doesn't consider they are retirees; that is why they can't get into the retirement category. One could debate whether or not that is a correct distinction but okay it is what it is.

The monthly extensions, well I don't know what this person is thinking about with respect to monthly extensions but yeah there are monthly extensions on for example a standard Tourist Visa, or if one comes in on a Special Tourist Visa which may be an option for those who are looking to stay long term, the Special Tourist Visa but again as we have discussed on this channel, they have a hard out; they end in nine months. You can't convert them, you can't really change them. They are a 9-month Visa exclusively. The Special Tourist Visa is what it is; you can use it for 9 months. That might be a way of staying a prolonged period of time in a given year here in Thailand. Again, as this person says, the "Overpriced Elite Visa", well as far as pricing goes on that you can get into that with the Thailand Privilege Company, the people that run the Elite Visa. I know many don't feel that is really a problem price wise. I have a number of clients who opted not to go down that road because price was a concern, so I think reasonable people disagree on that. 10 million Baht condos, yeah it is possible to get a long-term Visa in a 10 million condo presently, although it is fact dependent and I would urge people to consult with a legal professional that deals with the Immigration system before purchasing a condo because there can be implications or unforeseen problems if you don't know how to do it right. 

Long story short yeah, there isn't really a retirement option in Thailand strictly speaking in a Visa sense under the Retiree category for those under 50. 50 is the cutoff date for that. There is the Elite Visa, if it is not right for you okay. Also 10 million condos, if you don't feel like you know getting into a real estate transaction to fulfill Immigration requirements that is understandable but I don't know really what to say other than to say there may be other options. If you are looking to start a small business during your retirement in Thailand, perhaps that might be a way to go. You can you can use that business to act as a sponsor for a Business Visa and a Work Permit. 

Long story short, those who are under 50 are going to have a hard time just getting a "Retirement Visa" in Thailand because being 50 years of age is one of the main criteria for being able to get a Retirement Visa for the Kingdom of Thailand.