Thailand Retirement Visa

The Thailand Retirement Visa is available to all individuals over the age of 50. This Thai Retirement Visa is known as the A-O Visa and is valid for 1 year. The Thai retirement visa however can be extended within Thailand each year. There are however two methods to obtain the Thai retirement visa.

Most expatriates started in Thailand on a Non immigrant “O” Visa. The “O” visa which means “Other” is used not only for those wishing to retire but can be used for other purposes such as when you are married to a Thai national. The “O” visa is a 3 month visa however some Thai embassies outside of Thailand will issue a multiple entry “O” visa. This visa is divided into 4 ‘legs’. Each leg is valid for 3 months and you have to leave Thailand every 3 months to activate the next ‘leg’ on the Thai visa.

If you plan to retire in Thailand, you may use your Thai “O” Visa to apply for a one year extension inside of Thailand for the purposes of retirement. This visa would then be classed as a Thai “A-O” Visa or Thai retirement visa. The other option available to you is to apply to the Thai embassy for a Thai “A-O” visa. There are certain requirements which need to be met when doing this application.