Visa status

I have. To my understanding there is such a visa and it was rolled out within the past six months. The back side of that is that it is far from cheap. Again as I understand, Thailand would like more up scaled people on visas. The price of the visa and the financial qualifications of the visa are higher. Some of the present day retirement visa holders can not qualify because of the minimum requirements. Instead misquoting numbers perhaps you should go to the Thai immigration web site to check on the specifics.

My personal opinion - if you are uncertain about your interests in Thailand then you should take small steps (and less expensive) before you make a five year commitment. Again this is my personal opinion, and I don't appreciate some of those hot shots out there who have to dish out their nay sayings.

Thanks Billy.,
I agree with you about misunderstanding others it can be very confusing. Thai immigration in korat are helpful and at the moment  I am trying to get my o visa but I thought maybe  new 5yrs visa would require less funds to gain  having to have  800000bht  in bank or 400000bht always available is  difficult  and  I get my uk government pension in 4 years but even that is not enough to meet the requirements at 300000bht a month. I have just built a new small house on our land so we don't owe anybody any money and can live a very good life on 300000bht a month even putting a little away for medical insurance. So in a nutshell I still need a visa to stay here but don't have the full funding, in saying that I know many people get visas in other ways so they can remain, I hope I can too.

Stuart

The road to a visa can be very complex. Have you ever thought of learning Thai or teaching English? Learning Thai might be a one or two venture. Again check with immigration on the specifics. Then there's teaching English. Instead of me saying something wrong I'll just let you check with immigration. I only mention this because of you're saying "other ways".