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As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Retirement Visas and we are discussing banking in the context of Thai Retirement Visas. For those who are unaware, Banking and Bank Accounts are a major component associated with retirement in Thailand, most notably Retirement Visas. Why is this the case? Because on an ongoing basis, you are going to need to provide evidence that a Bank Account meets certain criteria with respect to the Immigration rules associated with either an O Retirement Visa or an O-A Retirement Visa. Now the criteria differ depending on circumstances but the standard Thai Retirement Visa, what you are looking at either O or O-A, to maintain status and extended status, so if you want to keep extending on a yearly basis, you are looking at having to either maintain 800,000 Baht in a Thai Bank Account or 65,000 Baht coming into a Thai Bank Account on a monthly basis which is reflective of one's pension. So again, these are the two financial requirements, a bank account is absolutely essential to this.

Now this brings up the question, what about the catch 22 at the beginning where I am trying to get a Thai Retirement Visa and I am just starting from scratch? What do I need to do to deal with that? Well it depends on the type of Visa you are dealing with; it depends on if you are applying from abroad or you are trying to convert into status which is not a foregone conclusion here in Thailand and by conversion, I mean change over from another type of Visa to a Retirement Visa here in Thailand, that can create a catch 22 because oftentimes banks will not open an account for somebody in Thailand for example on a Tourist Visa and that can create a problem, like a catch 22. You need to have the Bank Account in order to get the visa.

We have found solutions in virtually any case involving Banking and Thai Retirement Visas but the solutions are going to differ based on the underlying facts in the case. So again, if you are dealing with an O-A, you are applying abroad oftentimes at least for the first time you can go ahead and use Bank documentation in your home country but when you are here in Thailand and you are dealing with an extension, by and large, they are going to want to see Thai banking documentation that shows that the requisite financial requirements have been met.