Every British retiree in Thailand is on one of four routes. They share an age test, 50 or over, and almost nothing else. One costs £60 and needs no insurance. One costs £150 and locks you into a 3,000,000 baht policy for life. One wants 3,000,000 baht in a fixed deposit. One wants USD 80,000 a year and gives you ten years for it. Pick by your money, not by what an agent can sell.
Quick answer: most British retirees should take the Non-Immigrant O (90 days, £60 in London) and extend it in Thailand every year for 1,900 THB on the 800,000 THB or 65,000 THB a month test, because the insurance rule does not apply to it. Take the O-A only if you want a year of multiple entries before you have a Thai bank account and are happy to carry 3,000,000 THB of health cover permanently. The O-X is for people with 3,000,000 THB to lock away for five years. The LTR Wealthy Pensioner is for passive income of USD 80,000 a year and buys ten years, annual reporting and no re-entry permits. The money mechanics of all four are on the retirement visa guide; this page is the route comparison.
The four routes side by side
| Non-O + extension | O-A | O-X | LTR Wealthy Pensioner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 50+ | 50+ | 50+ | 50+ |
| Issued by | Embassy e-visa (or in-country conversion) | Embassy e-visa only | Embassy e-visa only | BOI endorsement, then embassy or Bangkok one-stop |
| Length | 90 days, then 1 year at a time | 1 year, multiple entry, then extensions | 5 years (two grants) | 5 years + 5 years |
| Money test | 800,000 THB in a Thai bank, or 65,000 THB a month, or a combination totalling 800,000 a year | 800,000 THB or 65,000 THB a month at application (London: £18,000 or £1,500 a month over the last 3 months) | 1,800,000 THB deposit + 1,200,000 THB a year income, or 3,000,000 THB deposit, held a year in a Thai bank | USD 80,000 a year passive income, or USD 40,000 + USD 250,000 invested in Thailand |
| Health insurance | Not required | Required: 3,000,000 THB or USD 100,000, for every stay and extension | Required: 40,000 THB outpatient / 400,000 THB inpatient | USD 50,000 cover, or a USD 100,000 deposit held 12 months, or Thai social security |
| UK fee | £60 (London table, 2022) | £150 (2022) | £300 (2022) | 50,000 THB in Thailand; £1,500 via London (2022) |
| Thai fees | 1,900 THB a year extension; 2,000 THB if converting in-country | 1,900 THB a year extension | none yearly | none yearly |
| Reporting | 90-day report | 90-day report | 90-day report | Once a year |
| Leaving and returning | Re-entry permit, 1,000 THB single / 3,800 THB multiple | Multiple entry in year one, then re-entry permits | Multiple entry | Re-entry exempt |
| Extra documents | Bank statements; TM.30 proof | Medical certificate, ACRO police certificate, insurance certificate | Medical, police, insurance | Income and insurance evidence to BOI |
The 2022 fee figures come from the London embassy's published table, which says fees change without notice, and applications are now online only through the Thai e-visa system. Check the fee on the day.
Route one: Non-Immigrant O, then extend every year
The London embassy issues a 90-day single-entry Non-O to a pensioner aged 50 or over on the same money evidence as the O-A: a UK bank statement showing 65,000 THB (£1,500) a month of income over the last three months, or an 800,000 THB (£18,000) balance. Fee £60. No insurance, no medical, no police certificate. You arrive, open a Thai bank account, and before the 90 days end you apply at Immigration for a one-year extension of stay.
The extension is where the money test bites, and it is the Immigration Bureau's test, not the embassy's. One of three:
- Deposit: 800,000 THB in a Thai commercial bank, held at least two months before filing, kept at least three months after approval, and never below 400,000 THB for the rest of the year.
- Income: evidence of not less than 65,000 THB a month. Since the British Embassy stopped issuing income letters on 1 January 2019, the evidence in practice is a year of transfers into your Thai account showing the money arriving, plus the pension paperwork behind it.
- Combination: annual income plus deposit totalling 800,000 THB on the filing date, with the deposit kept under the same before-and-after rules.
Extension fee: 1,900 THB. Documents: form TM.7, passport, bank evidence or income evidence, and proof of your address through the TM.30 residence notification. Then a 90-day report, and a re-entry permit before any trip abroad or the extension dies at the border.
Who should avoid it: anyone who cannot get the 800,000 THB into a Thai bank two months before the first extension, which means arriving with time and the account-opening paperwork ready; and anyone who will be in and out of Thailand constantly in year one and does not want to buy a multiple re-entry permit.
Route two: O-A, the one with the insurance rule
The O-A is a one-year multiple-entry visa issued by the embassy before you travel, so you can come and go for a year without a Thai bank account or a re-entry permit. Fee £150 in London. Same money test as the Non-O at application. What it adds is the paperwork: a medical certificate from a UK, Irish or Thai doctor within three months, an ACRO police certificate within six months, proof of UK residence, and, the expensive part, health insurance of at least 3,000,000 THB or USD 100,000 covering the whole stay, with a Foreign Insurance Certificate stamped by the insurer if the policy is not Thai.
That insurance rule is in force now, not a proposal, and it follows the visa. The Immigration Bureau's extension criteria apply the insurance requirement to O-A holders only: every annual extension of an O-A needs the policy renewed at 3,000,000 THB. A 65-year-old can buy that cover. A 78-year-old with a claims history may be refused, at which point the official fallback is a 3,000,000 THB deposit, or deposit plus cover totalling that figure, with proof of the refusal.
Who should avoid it: anyone over about 70, anyone with a pre-existing condition that makes 3,000,000 THB of cover expensive or unobtainable, and anyone who is going to settle in one place and could simply take the Non-O. The year of multiple entries is the only thing the O-A buys that the Non-O does not, and a 3,800 THB multiple re-entry permit buys it more cheaply.
Route three: O-X, five years for three million baht
The O-X gives nationals of 14 countries, the UK among them, a five-year stay in two grants. The price is capital: 3,000,000 THB on fixed deposit in a Thai bank, or 1,800,000 THB on deposit plus 1,200,000 THB a year of income, held for at least a year. Insurance is required at 40,000 THB outpatient and 400,000 THB inpatient, lower than the O-A's. Fee £300 in London.
At 45 baht to the pound, 3,000,000 THB is about £66,700 locked in a Thai fixed deposit. The arithmetic only works if that money would otherwise sit in cash anyway. Who should avoid it: anyone whose £66,700 is better invested, and anyone who would rather renew for 1,900 THB a year than tie up capital for five.
Route four: LTR Wealthy Pensioner, ten years and an annual report
The Long-Term Resident visa is run by the Board of Investment, not Immigration. For retirees aged 50 or over the test is passive income of USD 80,000 a year at application (pension, rental, dividends, interest and realised gains count; salary does not), or USD 40,000 a year plus a USD 250,000 investment already held in Thai government bonds, Thai companies or Thai property. Health cover is USD 50,000 of insurance, or a USD 100,000 bank deposit held for 12 months, or Thai social security. All conditions must be maintained throughout.
What you get: a five-year grant renewable for five more, a once-a-year report instead of the 90-day report, exemption from re-entry permits, airport fast track, and up to four dependants. Fee 50,000 THB if issued in Thailand (about £1,110); the London fee table shows £1,500. Process: apply online to the BOI, endorsement within 20 working days, then visa issuance within 60 days of the endorsement letter. The January 2025 changes relaxed other LTR categories; the pensioner criteria did not change.
One correction to the sales pitch: the 17 per cent personal income tax rate is for Highly-Skilled Professionals only. Pensioners do not get it. The BOI lists a tax exemption for overseas income as a general LTR privilege, under a 2022 royal decree; how far it reaches for pensioners, and the notification it requires, is a question for a Thai tax adviser, not a brochure.
Who should avoid it: anyone below USD 80,000 a year of passive income who would need to buy USD 250,000 of Thai assets to qualify, and anyone for whom a 90-day report and a 1,000 THB re-entry permit are not a real burden. For a retiree on £24,500 a year the LTR is out of reach; for one on £65,000 of pension income it is the cleanest route in Thailand.
The sequence most British retirees actually use
- In the UK: apply for the Non-O on the e-visa site no more than 90 days before travel, with three months of statements showing £1,500 a month or an £18,000 balance. Allow six to eight weeks.
- Before flying: submit the Thailand Digital Arrival Card within three days of arrival; it has been compulsory since 1 May 2025 and is free.
- Week one: open the Thai bank account. The bank account guide covers which branches say yes.
- Week two: send the 800,000 THB, or start the monthly income transfers. The transfer route decides the rate you get; see UK pension transfers to Thailand.
- Day 60 or so: with two months of seasoning done, file the TM.7 extension and 1,900 THB, more than 15 days before the 90 days end.
- Every 90 days: report your address, 15 days before to 7 days after the due date; 2,000 THB fine if late.
- Before any trip: re-entry permit, 1,000 THB single or 3,800 THB multiple.
Do not plan to arrive visa-free and convert in the country. Since 15 September 2026 British passports get 30 days visa-free, twice a year, for tourism; the in-country conversion to a Non-O has to be filed more than 15 days before the stay ends and whether offices still accept it from an exemption stamp is not something to bet a move on. Get the visa in London.
What the money test means in pounds
The baht figures are fixed. The pound figures move every day, which is why the embassy's "£1,500 a month" is a guide, not the rule. At 45 baht to the pound, 65,000 THB is about £1,445 and 800,000 THB about £17,780. At 42 the same tests are £1,550 and £19,050. Use the 65,000 THB to GBP and 800,000 THB to GBP converters, then add a margin for the bad year. The £1,500 a month page shows how thin the income route's margin can get.
Common questions
What is the difference between the Non-O and O-A retirement visas?
The Non-O is 90 days, £60 and no insurance, extended yearly in Thailand on the 800,000 THB or 65,000 THB a month test. The O-A is one year multiple entry, £150, with compulsory 3,000,000 THB health insurance, a medical certificate and a police certificate, and the insurance rule applies to every extension.
Which Thailand retirement visa is best for a British retiree?
For most, the Non-O plus extension. The O-A for a year of free movement first. The O-X for those with 3,000,000 THB to lock up. The LTR for USD 80,000 a year of passive income.
How long does the 800,000 baht have to be in the bank?
Two months before filing, three months after approval, then never below 400,000 THB.
Does the LTR visa give pensioners a 17 per cent tax rate?
No. That rate is for the Highly-Skilled Professional category only.
This is editorial information, not immigration, tax or insurance advice. Visa rules, fees and office practice change; the official pages cited below are the source, and an immigration lawyer or the embassy is the place to confirm your own case.
