Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are asking is there a physical presence requirement associated with Thai Retirement Visas. I thought of making this video after watching a recent video by my friend and colleague Mr. Andrew Esquire on his channel “goeastgentlemen”, where he is talking to folks that are back in the West, presumably younger guys it seems like who are back in the West and they are kind of reviewing their options and East could be in my opinion a really viable option for many folks in the West be it the United States, Western Europe wherever and I think it is something that maybe they don't look at quite as often as perhaps they otherwise should. Meanwhile though, he also discusses things in the context of older retirees which brought this video that I will go ahead and put it in the description below brought that my intention which is the MM2H program, Malaysia My Second Home which is something we have discussed a little bit on this channel kind of tangential to what we often discuss mostly with regard to Thai Immigration but we also discuss some things related to greater Southeast Asian Immigration systems if it kind of pops up on my radar, if it is pertinent to the association of Southeast Asian Nation countries, I may go ahead and do a video on it, it just kind of depends, we are kind of Thailand specific on this on this channel.

But the reason for this video is he made a video regarding Malaysia My Second Home Program and he brought up something that I wasn't even aware of which is the Malaysia My Second Home or MM2H program requires a 90-day physical presence in that jurisdiction every calendar year. I was not aware of that. I did not know that that was a requirement probably because I haven't been to Malaysia in probably a decade so it is not something that's really on my radar but then it got me thinking it is probably worth a video because people out there saying well what if I want to get a Retirement Visa, MM2H might be a good program for certain people but they may be comparing it to the Thai system, the Thai Retirement Visa System, the standard O or OA Retirement Visa or the Thailand Elite program for example and folks may be looking at that and sort of saying to themselves, 'well I mean is there a physical presence requirement like there is with MM2H?' Short answer to that question is no, there is not a 90-day requirement in Thailand. Now you could argue there is a physical presence requirement insofar as if you are maintaining your Retirement Visa status via extension then yeah, you are going to have to show up once a year to file for the extension and go ahead and see that extension issued. Now unlike Thai Business Visas where we often see a review period for as long as a month, sometimes even longer depending on circumstances, the Retirement Visa usually the review period doesn't last nearly that long oftentimes especially with renewals it can usually be done the same day again at the discretion of the given Immigration Officer.  But the thing to take away from this video is yeah the Retirement Visa can be a viable option but no, you are not going to be required to remain in Thailand a minimum of 90 days each calendar year.