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Thai Retirement Visas: Update on Embassy and Immigration Rules

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Retirement Visas.  

A recent comment on our channel on another video on Thai Retirement Visas, I will quote directly: "I was told very clearly by Thai Embassy in Vancouver, Canada that it was permitted to keep balance in an investment account in a Canadian Bank where the stocks are in the New York Stock Market, not just once but three times? I can show more than the 800,000 Baht balance." So yeah, different Embassies have different rules. We have made a number of videos on this channel, I have said that quite at length. Different Embassies and Consulates have a certain amount of latitude with respect to the local rules they can make regarding the evidence that they are going to take with respect to visas, but understand Thai Embassies and Consulates including the Thai Consulate in Vancouver, they are governed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here in Thailand not the Royal Thai Immigration Police which operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior. Two different things. Their rules differ. We have gone through this in other videos so what may work for getting an O-A Visa approved at for example the Thai Consulate in Vancouver may not work for example for extending one's Retirement Visa status here in Thailand. These things may vary a little bit. Also both Foreign Service Officers at Thai Embassies and Consulates outside of Thailand as well as Immigration Officers at the various Immigration offices within Thailand, have various discretion with respect to what they may deem as appropriate with respect to evidence associated with the application for a visa extension, or I should say an extension of status in Thailand or a new visa at a post of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

So again, things can vary rather substantially even within the same Visa category namely the Retirement Visa depending on who you are dealing with. What may work for Ministry of Foreign Affairs or more precisely what may work it even one Embassy may not necessarily work at every Embassy or Consulate. At the same time, none of that may necessarily be dispositive for purposes of dealing with the Thai Immigration Office here in Thailand. So again you have to bear in mind the fluidity of the overall situation when trying to understand how best to extend one's status or maintain one's status in retiree status in the Kingdom of Thailand.