Thailand retirement visa extension: the 2026 requirements, documents and fee under Order No. 12/2568

A Thailand retirement visa extension is a one-year permission to stay, granted by the Immigration Bureau to a foreigner aged 50 or over who entered on a non-immigrant visa and meets one of three financial tests: 65,000 baht monthly income, an 800,000-baht deposit in a Thai bank, or a combination of the two reaching 800,000 baht. The criteria now come from Immigration Bureau Order No. 12/2568 of 23 January 2025 (คำสั่งสำนักงานตรวจคนเข้าเมือง ที่ 12/2568), which replaced the 2023 order most guides still quote. This page sets out the requirements clause by clause, the documents and fee, what happens while your application is pending, and the tax point that visa agents rarely mention: where the 800,000 baht comes from can decide whether you pay Thai income tax on it.

What is the legal basis for a retirement extension?

Section 35 of the Immigration Act B.E. 2522 (1979) lets the Immigration Bureau extend a temporary stay for not more than one year at a time. Immigration Bureau Order No. 12/2568 sets the criteria, and clause 2.22 of its annex covers retirement, "กรณีใช้ชีวิตในบั้นปลาย".

The Immigration Act B.E. 2522 (พระราชบัญญัติคนเข้าเมือง พ.ศ. 2522) allows a foreigner who has entered temporarily to be permitted to stay on, and provides that where the foreigner needs to stay beyond the permitted period the Director-General may allow it "ครั้งละไม่เกินหนึ่งปี" (not more than one year at a time).¹ The Council of State has described this power as discretionary: in its opinion of March 2012 on a request from the Royal Thai Police it said that section 35 gives immigration officers discretion to allow or refuse a stay, but that the discretion must take account of other provisions of the Act, such as sections 12 and 54.²

The criteria for using that discretion are set by order. Immigration Bureau Order No. 12/2568, "การอนุญาตให้คนต่างด้าวอยู่ในราชอาณาจักรเป็นการชั่วคราว" (permission for foreigners to stay temporarily), dated 23 January 2025, repealed Immigration Bureau Order No. 242/2566 of 27 September 2023 and provides that a temporary stay for a necessary reason is granted for not more than one year at a time under section 35 of the Act, according to the criteria and documents in its annex.³ Retirement is clause 2.22 of that annex. Older guides that cite Royal Thai Police Order No. 327/2557 describe the same tests but not the current instrument.

What are the financial requirements in 2026?

You must be at least 50 and hold a non-immigrant visa, and meet one of three tests: income of at least 65,000 baht a month; a deposit of at least 800,000 baht in a Thai bank held 2 months before applying and 3 months after approval, then not below 400,000 baht; or annual income plus deposit totalling at least 800,000 baht.

Clause 2.22 lists the criteria in numbered points. The applicant must (1) hold a temporary (non-immigrant) visa and (2) be "อายุตั้งแต่ ๕๐ ปีบริบูรณ์ขึ้นไป" (fifty full years of age or more), and must meet one of the following:³

Three details catch applicants out. First, the two-month seasoning rule in routes (4) and (5) is written into the order for every application, not only the first. Second, the deposit must sit in a commercial bank located in Thailand or a specialised financial institution established by its own law, such as the Government Savings Bank; a foreign account does not count, however large. Third, the income route needs evidence that a Thai officer can accept, which in practice means official pension or income statements, and offices may ask for more under the order's catch-all document clause.

How does the combined income-and-deposit route work?

Route (5) adds your income for the year to your Thai bank deposit; the total must reach 800,000 baht by the day you apply. The deposit must be held for 2 months before and 3 months after approval, and after that you must keep at least half of the deposit you relied on.

Suppose your foreign pension is 40,000 baht a month, or 480,000 baht a year. You need a Thai deposit of at least 320,000 baht to reach 800,000 baht. That 320,000 baht must be in the account two months before you file and stay there for three months after approval. After that the order lets you withdraw, but "ต้องมีเงินคงเหลือในบัญชีไม่น้อยกว่ากึ่งหนึ่งของจำนวนเงินฝาก" (the balance must be not less than half of the deposit), so here 160,000 baht. The 400,000-baht floor of route (4) does not apply to route (5), a point many published checklists get wrong.³

Do you need health insurance for a retirement extension?

Only if your extension is based on an O-A visa. Criterion (6) of clause 2.22 applies "เฉพาะ" (only) to holders of a non-immigrant O-A visa, who need cover of at least USD 100,000 or 3,000,000 baht for the whole stay. An extension based on a Non-O visa has no insurance condition in the order.

For O-A holders the order requires health insurance, or a foreign state welfare scheme, covering medical treatment, with cover of not less than USD 100,000 or 3,000,000 baht for the whole period of stay; its wording still mentions COVID-19 cover. Thai policies must be bought through the industry's long-stay portal (longstay.tgia.org), and foreign policies or state schemes must be certified by the relevant embassy or by a notarised signature from the applicant's foreign ministry. An O-A holder refused cover may instead keep 3,000,000 baht on deposit in a Thai bank for at least 2 months before applying, or a mix of deposit and other insurance totalling 3,000,000 baht, and that money cannot double as the 800,000-baht retirement deposit. O-A extensions run for the period of the insurance policy, up to one year.³ Our guide to O-A health insurance requirements covers the policy wording in detail.

What documents and fee do you need?

File form TM.7 with a copy of your passport, evidence of income such as a pension, interest or dividends and/or a Thai bank's deposit certificate with a copy of the bank book, and, for O-A holders, insurance evidence. The government fee is 1,900 baht.

1. Application form TM.7 (the order's "แบบคำขอ").
2. Copy of your passport, including the visa and the current permission-to-stay stamp.
3. Evidence of income, "เช่น เงินบำนาญ หรือการได้รับดอกเบี้ย หรือเงินปันผล" (such as a pension, interest or dividends), for routes (3) and (5).
4. A deposit certificate from the Thai bank and a copy of the bank book, for routes (4) and (5).
5. Insurance evidence, for O-A holders only.
6. Any other document the Immigration Bureau's monitoring committee specifies. Local offices may rely on this clause to ask for extra items such as photographs or a residence notification receipt.

The fee for an extension of stay is 1,900 baht.⁴ If you plan to travel during the year, a re-entry permit keeps the extension alive when you leave Thailand: 1,000 baht for a single entry or 3,800 baht for multiple entries. Without one, the extension ends when you depart.

What happens after you file?

While the application is considered, the officer stamps your passport "under consideration" and you may stay for up to 30 days in total from the end of your current permission. If the application is refused, you are told to leave Thailand within 7 days.

Clause 3 of Order No. 12/2568 lets the officer stamp the passport so that the applicant may stay to await the result, several times if needed, but not more than 30 days in total counted from the end of the existing permission. Clause 4 provides that where the applicant does not meet the criteria, the officer notifies the refusal and the applicant must leave within 7 days.³ Once approved, you remain subject to the 90-day address report under section 37(5) of the Immigration Act on form TM.47.⁵ Our page on 90-day reporting and re-entry permits explains the routine.

A small group keeps older, lower thresholds. Criterion (7) provides that a foreigner who entered Thailand before 21 October 1998 and has stayed for retirement continuously since then needs a deposit kept for the past 3 months of not less than 200,000 baht a year, or income of not less than 20,000 baht a month.

Can the 800,000 baht deposit create a Thai tax bill?

It can. If the money you transfer to meet the deposit test is foreign income earned from 2024 onward in a year you were resident in Thailand, Revenue Department Order Por. 161/2566 taxes it when it is brought in. Savings, capital and income earned before 2024 can be used without that tax.

Section 41 paragraph 2 of the Revenue Code taxes a Thai resident, meaning a person present 180 days or more in a tax year, on foreign-source income when it is brought into Thailand, and Order Por. 161/2566 applies this to income brought in from 1 January 2024 in whichever year it arrives.⁶ The immigration test and the tax test look at the same transfer for different reasons. The Immigration Bureau asks only whether 800,000 baht is in the account; the Revenue Department asks what the money was. Funding the deposit from pre-2024 savings, the sale proceeds of an asset, or income from a year in which you were not resident keeps the transfer outside the rule. Funding it from your 2025 pension does not. The scenarios in remit now or wait and our remittance tax guide show how to plan the order of transfers. Retirees who must bring in a large income every year should compare the LTR Wealthy Pensioner visa, whose holders are exempt from that tax under Royal Decree No. 743.

Supreme Court case law (คำพิพากษาศาลฎีกา) and official opinions

We found no Thai Supreme Court or Supreme Administrative Court decision on refusing a retirement extension when we checked on 5 October 2026. The closest authority is a Council of State opinion of 2012 confirming that section 35 is a discretionary power, and on the tax side Supreme Court Judgment No. 6054/2549 fixes the source of income.

The Council of State (คณะกรรมการกฤษฎีกา) is the government's legal adviser, not a court, but its opinions guide the agencies that ask for them. In opinion No. 251/2555, on whether a foreigner whose permission had been revoked under section 36 could later be granted a stay under section 35, it said: "มาตรา ๓๕ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติคนเข้าเมือง พ.ศ. ๒๕๒๒ เป็นบทบัญญัติที่ให้อำนาจแก่พนักงานเจ้าหน้าที่ตรวจคนเข้าเมืองในการใช้ดุลพินิจพิจารณาอนุญาตหรือไม่อนุญาต" (section 35 gives immigration officers a discretion to allow or refuse), adding that the discretion must take into account other provisions such as sections 12 and 54.² Two practical points follow. Meeting the financial test does not create a right to the extension, so a clean immigration history matters; and grounds of exclusion under section 12 can be weighed even at the extension stage.

On the tax side of the deposit, the leading authority is Supreme Court Judgment No. 6054/2549 (คำพิพากษาศาลฎีกาที่ 6054/2549). An employee of a company registered in Thailand had been sent to work on a project in the Philippines, and the Court held that his wages were "เงินได้เนื่องจากกิจการของนายจ้างในประเทศไทย จึงต้องเสียภาษีเงินได้บุคคลธรรมดาให้แก่ประเทศไทย" (income on account of the employer's business in Thailand, and therefore subject to Thai personal income tax).¹¹ Source is fixed by the connection with a business or employer, not by where the money sits. A pension from a Thai employer is Thai-source income whichever account it is paid into, so the remittance planning described above applies only to genuinely foreign-source money.

Comparative law (กฎหมายเปรียบเทียบ): how other retirement visas test money

Thailand renews its retirement permission every year against a fixed baht test. Malaysia and the Philippines instead take a larger deposit once and give a long-term status in return, which costs more at the start but removes the annual review.

• Malaysia. The revised Malaysia My Second Home programme (terms as of 22 July 2024) requires a fixed deposit of USD 150,000 for the Silver tier, USD 500,000 for Gold and USD 1 million for Platinum, with passes of 5, 15 and 20 years, a minimum stay of 90 days a year and part of the deposit releasable for housing, education or medical costs.⁷
• Philippines. The Special Resident Retiree's Visa, run by the Philippine Retirement Authority under Executive Order No. 1037 of 1985, is an indefinite residence status secured by a US dollar deposit that is smaller for applicants with a pension; the Authority revised the amounts in 2025.⁸

The Thai model is cheap to enter and expensive to keep: the deposit is modest by regional standards, but the retiree carries a yearly compliance cost and the risk that a missed seasoning window ends the stay. The LTR visa is Thailand's answer for retirees who would rather pay once.

Law and economics (นิติเศรษฐศาสตร์) of the annual means test

An 800,000-baht deposit or 65,000-baht income test is a screening device: it sorts retirees who can support themselves from those who might become a burden, using evidence that is costly to fake. Renewing it every year repeats the screen, at a cost borne mostly by the retiree.

Spence showed that a costly signal can separate applicants whose quality cannot be observed directly, and Rothschild and Stiglitz showed how the party with less information can design conditions so that applicants sort themselves.⁹ A deposit locked for five months around each application is such a condition: it is cheap for a retiree with real savings and expensive for one without. The seasoning periods also stop the same money being borrowed for a day to pass the test.

Migration research shows the human side of that design. Gustafson describes retirees who live transnational lives between two countries, and Botterill's study of British retirees in Thailand finds privilege alongside precarity, with visa and money uncertainty as recurring worries.¹⁰ An annual test that can fail on a timing technicality adds to that precarity, which is why planning the deposit calendar, and choosing between the Non-O extension and the LTR, is part of retirement planning rather than paperwork.

Common questions

These answers rest on Immigration Bureau Order No. 12/2568, the Immigration Act B.E. 2522, Royal Thai Government service pages and Revenue Department Order Por. 161/2566, read on 5 October 2026. Offices may ask for additional documents, and the answers describe the general rules, not any individual case.

What are the requirements for a Thailand retirement visa extension in 2026?

You must be 50 or over, hold a non-immigrant visa, and meet one financial test: 65,000 baht monthly income, or 800,000 baht in a Thai bank held 2 months before applying and 3 months after approval, or income and deposit together of at least 800,000 baht. O-A holders also need health insurance. The criteria are in Immigration Bureau Order No. 12/2568.

How much is the retirement extension fee?

The government fee for an extension of stay is 1,900 baht, paid when you file form TM.7. A re-entry permit, if you travel, costs 1,000 baht for a single entry or 3,800 baht for multiple entries.

How long must the 800,000 baht stay in the bank?

At least 2 months before you apply and 3 months after approval. After that you may withdraw, but the balance must not fall below 400,000 baht. Under the combined income-and-deposit route you must instead keep at least half of the deposit you relied on.

Do I need health insurance to extend a Non-O retirement visa?

No insurance condition applies to an extension based on a Non-O visa under Order No. 12/2568. Criterion (6) applies only to O-A visa holders, who need cover of at least USD 100,000 or 3,000,000 baht for the whole stay.

Can I stay in Thailand while my extension is being considered?

Yes. The officer may stamp your passport so you can stay to await the result, for up to 30 days in total from the end of your current permission. If the application is refused, you must leave Thailand within 7 days.