Thread: Hi from Ireland

Hi to all. I'm Irish and married to a Thai lady. I'd been to Thailand about five or six times (Pattaya mostly) before I met my wife in Ireland.

Plan A is to retire to Thailand in about six or seven years time. I'm in my late fifties now. Just on that point, anyone know how what kind of residency I could apply for when the time comes?

Looking forward to talking to you guys in the future. I have no doubt your advice will be invalueable.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

You will enjoy the craic here

Originally Posted by nigelandjan

Hi mate and welcome ,, I'm no expert on the subject but I would imagine a retirement visa then an annual renewal in Thaialnd is your way to go ,, not sure about all the guts of it , but ( at the moment ) I think you will need to show 800000 baht minimum in your Thai bank account for a period of 3 months before and up to your annual renewal .


Hope that helps a bit ,, I'm in a similar position as yourself , although will be packing up to go in about 2 years time ,cheers

i'm no expert either but wouldn't a marriage visa be more appropriate if you are marrying a thai national. think it's only 400k need to prove then?

Top o' the mornin to ya Palabra.

Welcome to the Buffalo Board...

The 2 standard options are a retirement visa or a marriage visa.
This is the same non o visa that you extend yearly on the basis of one or the other condition, marriage or retirement. Both extensions require that you submit a 90 day report as to your whereabouts and you effectivly reapply each year.
A retirement extension requires that you have 800,000 baht in the bank or income of 60,000 baht a month (I think)
A marriage extension requires only half this amount in the bank or a lower monthly income (400k or 40k). If you use the money in the bank route it must be shown to be at or above the minimum amount for 3 months prior to the extension.
The marriage is therefore cheaper, but the paperwork for extensions is a little more complex and annoying. The other major difference is that if you have a marriage visa you can also get a work permit..
To get the non 0 visa you can apply at your local embassy showing all the required proof including a police check, or you can come on a tourist visa and have it changed in country to a non 0 visa. no police check required. You can also apply at one of the embassies in the various surrounding countries.
The rules and requirements for getting a non o visa differ at each embassy slightly.Some are easier, some harder. It can be annoying, just be patient.

You can get a work permit on a marriage visa Nec ? presumably the same rules apply to that with regard to only being able to do specialist type work they cannot find a Thai to do ?

Originally Posted by nigelandjan

You can get a work permit on a marriage visa Nec ? presumably the same rules apply to that with regard to only being able to do specialist type work they cannot find a Thai to do ?

All the same rules as per Non-B visas.

It's probably more to the point that if you are on retirement you specifically cannot get a work permit.

a lot can happen in 7 years pal.
laws changes every 5 mins.
check back in 6 years an 11 months to get a clearer picture.

Thanks for all the info guys,

Looks like we'll just be finished with all the bureauocratic crap associated with getting Irish citizenship and passports for my wife and her daughters, when we will have to start over again with all my stuff.

Is it possible that Thai bureaucracy will be worse than Irish bureaucracy?

I think I'd like to work out there. I run a pub/restaurant here and I'd like to maybe do something similar in a tourist area there.

My wife is a lovely woman and I'm mad about her, but the thought of spending all my waking hours listening to her rabbiting on in Thai to her friends and family would drive me insane.

Good post.

Originally Posted by Palabra

Hi to all. I'm Irish and married to a Thai lady. I'd been to Thailand about five or six times (Pattaya mostly) before I met my wife in Ireland.

Plan A is to retire to Thailand in about six or seven years time. I'm in my late fifties now. Just on that point, anyone know how what kind of residency I could apply for when the time comes?

Looking forward to talking to you guys in the future. I have no doubt your advice will be invalueable.

Non Immigrant O visa i think, sure there are loads of posts about that.

Originally Posted by Palabra

I think I'd like to work out there. I run a pub/restaurant here and I'd like to maybe do something similar in a tourist area there.

My wife is a lovely woman and I'm mad about her, but the thought of spending all my waking hours listening to her rabbiting on in Thai to her friends and family would drive me insane

Probs best not to retire out to Thailand then??? Its gonna happen.

See loads of storys about running pubs / restaurants / guest houses / hotels, all sound a nightmare. Infact one just yesterday in the members area about someone looking to buy a GH.

Good luck in whatever you do and welcome aboard!

Originally Posted by Palabra

Looks like we'll just be finished with all the bureauocratic crap associated with getting Irish citizenship and passports for my wife and her daughters, when we will have to start over again with all my stuff.

Exactly what i did. Got the wife and kids sorted then off to Laos!