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Thai 10 Year O-X Retirement Visas

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Retirement Visas yet again and we are discussing a category we don’t discuss very often. I made another video specifically on this at the time the legislation that enabled these types of travel documents was promulgated. 

This specific type of Visa is an O-X Retirement Visa. That is different from an O-A Retirement Visa.  An O-X Retirement Visa provides 10 years lawful status in order to remain in Thailand. 

I got some information specifically on this from the Royal Thai Consulate website for Vancouver, that is the thaiconsulatevancouver.ca. The title of this page is: Non-immigrant Visa Retirement O-X 10 Years.  Quoting directly, "Purpose of visit:  this type of visa may be issued to applicants age 50 years and over who wish to stay in Thailand for a period of not exceeding 10 years without the intention of working. The holder of this type of visa is allowed to stay in Thailand for 5 years each time, total 10 years, employment of any kind is strictly prohibited." Quoting further:  "Eligibility: applicants must be aged 50 years and over on the day of submitting application. Applicants must be Nationals and passport holders of eligible countries namely: Japan, Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Applicants must apply for a Visa at the Royal Thai Embassy, Royal Thai Consulate-general in the country of their nationality or where they have a permanent residence. Applicants must have a bank deposit of no less than 3 million Baht in Thailand or a bank deposit of no less than 1.8 million Baht and an annual income of no less than 1.2 million Baht. Such an amount must be maintained in a bank deposit in full for at least one year and keep it no less than 1.5 million Baht thereafter. Applicants must have a Thai health insurance for the duration of stay with coverage for outpatient treatment of no less than 40,000 Baht and inpatient treatment of no less than 400,000 baht. That is the Retirement Visa insurance that we have talked about quite frequently on this channel; so this even applies to O-X Visas. Applicants must not be prohibited from entering the Kingdom as provided by the Immigration Act of 1979. Applicants must have no criminal record in Thailand and the country of the applicant’s nationality and residence. Applicants must not have prohibited diseases: leprosy, tuberculosis, drug addiction, elephantitis, third phase of syphilis as indicated in Mistrial Regulations."  Quoting further: Validity of Visa: Non-immigrant Visa category O-X Long Stay is with multiple entries with validity of Visa 5 Years from date of issue, extendable for another 5 years at the Immigration Bureau.

So it is kind of a different structure when it comes to the Visa itself. The initial visa is issued for 5 years and it is extendable by another 5 years. It does require a rather substantial bank balance, no less than 3 million. No less than 1.8 million annual income etc. So as noted, it is a different kind of Retirement Visa category. It is really tailored to a different type of retiree. That being stated, it does provide a substantial amount of benefit with respect to being able to retire in Thailand unimpeded 5 years. Unlike the Elite Card, the money is kept in a bank account. It is not paid in to join the program to get an Elite card so it is qualitatively different from the Thailand Elite program in that the money only needs to be deposited, it does not need to be paid into the system or paid into the program in the case of Elite, in order to get Visa benefits arising from status. 

So the thing to take away from this video is the 10-year retirement O-X Visa it provides substantial benefits but it also has pretty high thresholds for those wishing to retire with that type of Visa in the Kingdom of Thailand.