Retiring in Thailand: Visa, Money, Healthcare and Where to Live

Retirement routes start at age 50. The one-year extension asks for THB 800,000 in a Thai bank, or income of THB 65,000 a month, or income plus deposit totalling THB 800,000. The O-A adds health insurance of USD 100,000 or THB 3,000,000. The O-X asks for THB 3 million in a Thai bank.

By Vincent Nguyen and team

The retirement extension starts at age 50. You then pick one money test: THB 800,000 in a Thai bank, income of at least THB 65,000 a month, or income plus deposit totalling THB 800,000.

The routes below change that test or add to it. The table shows age, money, insurance and stay side by side. Under 50, see the DTV guide instead.

The retirement routes compared

Pick the route by what you hold.

• A Thai bank deposit of THB 800,000: the Non-O extension.
• A listed nationality with THB 3 million: the O-X.
• A pension of USD 80,000 a year: the LTR.
• A fee and no income test beyond it: Privilege.

For the full document lists, read the retirement visa comparison.

Non-O and the yearly extension

A Non-Immigrant O for retirement lets you stay 90 days on entry. Applicants must be at least 50. Inside Thailand, a one-year extension may be granted at the officer’s discretion if you meet the requirements.

The money tests

Pick one route.

• Income: evidence of at least THB 65,000 a month.
• Deposit: at least THB 800,000 in a Thai bank.
• Combined: income during the year plus a Thai bank deposit totalling at least THB 800,000 on the filing date.

The seasoning rule

The deposit must be in the account at least 2 months before filing and at least 3 months after permission is granted. Three months after permission you can withdraw, but at least THB 400,000 must remain.

The combined route has a different floor. After the 3 months, at least half of the deposit amount must remain.

Filing the extension

You file at the immigration office covering where you live. In Bangkok that is the Chaeng Watthana office. Permission is granted for no more than 1 year at a time.

Bring the TM.7 request form and a copy of your passport. For the deposit route add a bank certificate of deposit and a copy of the account. An extension of stay costs THB 1,900.

While an extension is pending you may stay, with appointment stamps, for no more than 30 days in total from the day permission ended. After a refusal you leave within 7 days of the day permission ended.

O-A, O-X, LTR and Privilege

O-A: embassy visa with insurance

The O-A is issued by an embassy and lets you stay for 1 year. The age is at least 50. Money is a bank statement of not less than THB 800,000, or a monthly pension income of 65,000 baht.

Insurance is coverage of not less than USD 100,000 or THB 3,000,000, including COVID-19, for the whole stay. Employment of any kind is strictly prohibited. An O-A holder notifies immigration of the stay every 90 days.

O-X: the 10-year route

The O-X lets you stay up to 10 years with multiple entries. That is 5 years from first entry, extendable for 5 more. Applicants must be at least 50.

• Nationality: Australia, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and the United Kingdom.
• Deposit: THB 3 million in a Thai bank, or THB 1.8 million plus income of THB 1.2 million a year.
• Within the following year, at least THB 1.5 million must be left in the account.
• Insurance: Thai health insurance with outpatient cover of at least THB 40,000 and inpatient cover of at least THB 400,000.

The stay permit may be revoked if the account holds less than THB 3 million at the end of the first year. It may also be revoked if it holds less than THB 1.5 million at the end of the second year, or if the money was spent outside Thailand.

O-X holders may work as volunteers on the Department of Employment list, buy a vehicle and buy a condominium under the Condominium Act. Employment of any kind is strictly prohibited.

LTR Wealthy Pensioner

The LTR visa has four categories, and Wealthy Pensioners are one of them. The tests below follow the announcement of 4 February 2025. You must be 50 or over and retired at the time of application. The visa is renewable: 5 years first, extendable by 5 more.

• Income: pensions or fixed personal income of at least USD 80,000 a year.
• Lower income: between USD 40,000 and 80,000 a year, plus at least USD 250,000 invested in Thailand in your own name.
• Insurance: health insurance of at least USD 50,000 with at least 10 months of cover left on the endorsement date.
• Instead of a policy: social security cover, or a deposit of at least USD 100,000 held 12 months.
• Fee: THB 50,000 for the 10-year multiple-entry visa when collected in Thailand.

Monthly withdrawals of principal that are not clearly from retirement accounts, private pensions or provident funds do not count as passive income. See the LTR visa guide.

Privilege membership

• Bronze: THB 650,000 for 5 years.
• Gold: THB 900,000 for 5 years.
• Platinum: THB 1,500,000 for 10 years.
• Diamond: THB 2,500,000 for 15 years.
• Reserve: THB 5,000,000 for 20 years, by invitation only.

A Special Entry (SE) green sticker allows 90 days per entry, and a Privilege Entry (PE) gold sticker allows 1 year per entry. Membership grants long-term visa status only, not the right to work, and gives no tax advantages. See the Privilege price guide.

If you are married to a Thai

The family extension has its own test. A foreign husband in a marriage between a man and a woman needs one of three things.

• Income of at least THB 40,000 a month.
• At least THB 400,000 in a Thai bank account for the past 2 months.
• Income plus deposit together of at least THB 400,000 to cover 1 year.

You must already hold a Non-Immigrant visa. See the marriage visa guide.

Your yearly checklist

Run these duties in order. Each one has its own page.

1. Extend your stay before permission ends. Permission is granted for no more than 1 year at a time.
2. Report your address every 90 days. A foreigner with a temporary stay permit who stays over 90 days must report residence to immigration. Report from 15 days before to 7 days after the due date.
3. If you are late, report in person. A late report is settled by a THB 2,000 fine. You can also file online at the Bureau’s TM.47 portal.
4. Leaving Thailand restarts the 90-day count: your next report is due 90 days after your last entry. The report is not a visa extension.
5. Buy a re-entry permit before every trip out. A single permit costs THB 1,000 and a multiple one costs THB 3,800. You apply in person at the immigration office.
6. Ask your landlord about the TM.30. The duty to notify falls on the owner or possessor of the residence within 24 hours of the foreigner taking up residence. The fine for failing is up to two thousand baht.
7. On the O-X, report in person every year for a check of your qualifications and documents.

Skipping the extension is a different problem from skipping the report. Overstaying is a separate offence: the fine is THB 500 per day, up to a maximum of THB 20,000. An LTR holder reports once a year instead of every 90 days and is exempt from re-entry permits.

For details, read the address report guide, the re-entry permit guide and the landlord notice guide.

Money: bank account, deposit and tax

Opening a Thai bank account

The deposit routes need a Thai bank account. Kasikornbank requires foreigners opening a savings account to hold a passport and a non-immigrant visa of any type. It does not open accounts for holders of tourist visas or other travel-type visas, including the Destination Thailand Visa.

Foreign customers on a tourist visa cannot open a Krungsri account. Bangkok Bank opens accounts at any of its branches in Thailand. You cannot open one from abroad; you must visit a branch in Thailand in person.

For the PromptPay payment system, you register by linking an existing bank account to your citizen ID or phone number. Read the bank account guide before you go.

Bringing money in

For foreign currency a resident customer receives from abroad, below USD 200,000 the customer states the purpose and the bank asks for no documents. At USD 200,000 or more the bank asks for documents showing the source. The send-money guide has the steps.

Tax residency and the remittance rule

A stay of 180 days or more in total in a tax year makes you a resident for that year. Someone in Thailand 179 days is not a resident for that year.

Two conditions make foreign income taxable. It must be earned from 1 January 2024, in a tax year in which you were in Thailand 180 days or more. You then bring it into Thailand in that or a later tax year. If you were in Thailand fewer than 180 days, foreign-source income of that year is not taxed even if brought in.

Bringing back the principal of a foreign deposit is not taxable; only the interest is taxed. Savings accumulated abroad in years when you were not a Thai resident can be brought in without tax. Bringing income in means any method: a bank transfer, an online transfer or carrying the money.

A Thai tax resident can credit tax paid abroad against Thai tax in the year the income is brought in, under the double tax agreement with that country. Thailand has double taxation agreements with 61 countries. Your residence status under a treaty can differ from your status under Thai domestic law.

LTR Wealthy Pensioners are exempt from Thai tax on foreign-source income of a previous tax year that they bring into Thailand. Read the tax residency guide for the worked examples.

Healthcare and insurance

Private hospitals in Thailand are of a high standard but can be expensive. Public hospitals and clinics do not always meet UK standards, particularly outside Bangkok. All hospitals require a guarantee of payment before treating patients.

Hospitals and billing

Bumrungrad has one pricing system: patients of all nationalities pay the same price. It requires a full deposit for all procedures including CT, MRI and PET scans. In Bangkok the Joint Commission International (JCI) directory lists these hospitals as accredited:

• Bumrungrad Hospital
• Bangkok Hospital Headquarters
• Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital
• Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital
• BNH Hospital

Many, not all, of the insurers Bumrungrad has contracts with allow direct billing; otherwise you pay first, usually with a deposit, and are reimbursed later. Contact your own insurer to learn whether direct billing is allowed and for which procedures. The majority of Samitivej’s international patients are eligible for pay and claim reimbursement. See Bangkok international hospitals and hospital costs.

Emergencies and the state scheme

Call 1669 for a medical emergency. A critical emergency patient can be treated at the nearest hospital without charge until out of danger and safe to move, for no more than 72 hours. Cover you already hold, such as car-accident victim protection or life insurance, must be used first.

The first qualification for the national health security right is Thai nationality. Plan to carry private insurance. The expat health insurance guide compares the O-A and O-X rules, and the emergency numbers guide has the rest.

Housing: buying and renting

Condo, land and long leases

Foreigners together may own no more than 49% of the total unit area of each condominium building. A foreigner permitted to reside in Thailand under the immigration law may hold a unit.

To pay, bring foreign currency into Thailand or withdraw from a baht account of a person resident abroad or from a foreign-currency deposit account. The evidence must be for an amount not less than the price of the unit. O-X holders may buy a condominium under the Condominium Act.

A foreigner may acquire land only under a treaty that gives the right to own immovable property. Thailand has made no treaty of that kind since the earlier ones ended.

The Land Office does not register a lease longer than 30 years. A lease of more than three years must be in writing and registered. See the condo quota guide.

Renting basics

A residential lease notice covers an operator who rents out three or more units. A short-term lease under it runs for no more than three years. It may not let the operator collect advance rent and deposit that together exceed three months of the monthly rent.

If you caused no damage, the operator must return the deposit within seven days after the lease ends and the operator has the unit back. If it deducts the cost of damage, it must return the rest within fourteen days.

Landlords of rented homes may charge water and electricity no more than the rate the state charges, and electricity must not exceed THB 4.88 per unit. A tenant who is overcharged can call the OCPB hotline 1166.

Where to live

Bangkok is covered on this site. Chiang Mai is covered at chiangmaijao.com (opens in a new tab) and Phuket at phuketanchor.com (opens in a new tab). The figures below carry a January 2026 data date.

The example month is lower-end one-bedroom rent plus everyday costs for one adult in each city. Read the city cost comparison, then the guides for Chiang Mai, Phuket, Pattaya and Hua Hin.

Bangkok neighbourhoods

One-bedroom rents start at the figures below. They are starting points, not averages.

The Bangkok immigration counter is in Building B, South Zone, of the Government Complex on Chaeng Wattana Road. Office hours are Monday to Friday, 08.30-12.00 and 13.00-16.30. Counters A and B take the TM.30 notification from a householder, owner or hotel manager, and the 90-day notification. Read where to live in Bangkok, the Bangkok guide and the living hub.

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Not confirmed: The exact insurance sum your embassy asks for on the O-A: older embassy pages still show a different split. Check the page of the post where you apply before you buy a policy.

General information checked against the sources listed above, not legal advice for your situation. Rules and office practice change; confirm with the immigration office or a licensed adviser before you act. See how guides are checked.

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