Most people who retire to Chiang Mai hold one year of permission to stay, not a multi-year visa. They renew it every year at the provincial immigration office. The renewal rules differ from those of the visa that brought them, and people who have read only the consulate’s page get caught out.
This guide covers the renewal. The visas you arrive on are in Thailand’s retirement visas compared.
The rules come from Royal Thai Police Order 548/2562, published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette. It amends Order 327/2557 and sets out clause 2.22, the case of a foreigner “living out their later years”. Office details and procedure come from the Immigration Bureau’s public handbook for that clause, dated 8 November 2019 and linked from Chiang Mai Immigration’s own site, and from Chiang Mai Immigration’s pages. All were read on 23 September 2026.
Where to apply
The handbook requires you to apply in person at the immigration checkpoint for the area where you live. For a Chiang Mai address that is Chiang Mai Immigration, 71 Moo 3, Airport Road, Suthep, Mueang Chiang Mai, open Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 16:30, except official holidays.
You cannot renew a Chiang Mai stay in Bangkok or Phuket. The office that holds your address holds your file.
Who qualifies
Clause 2.22 sets two conditions before any money is counted. You must already hold a Non-Immigrant visa, and you must be aged 50 or over. A tourist entry does not qualify, whatever is in the account.
Permission is granted for up to one year at a time. For O-A holders it is granted for the period of their health insurance policy, again for no more than a year.
The money and its timetable
The order gives three ways to show you can support yourself.
- Income of at least 65,000 baht a month, shown by evidence such as a pension, interest or dividends.
- At least 800,000 baht in a commercial bank located in Thailand. The money must be in the account no less than two months before you apply and stay there no less than three months after permission is granted. After those three months you may withdraw from it, but the balance must not fall below 400,000 baht.
- Annual income plus a Thai bank deposit totalling at least 800,000 baht on the day you apply. The deposit follows the same before-and-after rules as the second route.
Two points are easy to miss:
- The deposit must be in a bank in Thailand. A statement from your home bank, which may have satisfied a consulate when you applied for the visa, does not satisfy clause 2.22.
- The money has to be in place months before the appointment. If you are moving the balance from abroad, make the transfer land more than two months before you apply, and keep a record of where it came from, because Thailand’s tax on remitted foreign income turns on when it was earned.
If your pension is the route, the 65,000 baht is measured in baht and your pension probably is not. See the exchange rate inside the visa test.
O-A holders: a second insurance standard
If you arrived on an O-A, two insurance rules apply to you.
- Applying for the O-A at a consulate: health cover of THB 3,000,000 per policy year. A foreign insurer may provide it if it signs Thailand’s certificate.
- Extending that stay in Thailand under clause 2.22: Thai health insurance covering your whole stay, with at least 40,000 baht for outpatient treatment and 400,000 baht for inpatient treatment, bought online through longstay.tgia.org.
Use the one that matches the step you are taking. The Immigration Bureau’s handbook describes the Thai policy the same way and adds that the insurance evidence must be in the form approved by Thailand’s Office of Insurance Commission.
The order also keeps an older rule for people who entered Thailand before 21 October 1998 and have stayed for retirement continuously since, with much lower money thresholds. It applies to very few readers, and if it applies to you, you will already know.
What to bring and what it costs
The handbook lists:
- your passport, with a copy
- form TM.7, the application for extension of temporary stay, with a photograph attached
- the signed acknowledgement of penalties for overstaying
- evidence of income, or a deposit certificate from a commercial bank in Thailand with a copy of the bank book
- for O-A holders, the Thai health insurance evidence
The fee is 1,900 baht. The handbook gives the service time as 60 minutes, counted from the point an officer confirms every document is present. That covers processing, not the queue.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes the one-year extension as granted at the discretion of the immigration officer. Meeting the list gets you considered and does not guarantee approval.
The 90-day report
A year’s permission still comes with a 90-day report. The Immigration Bureau’s handbook sets the window: report up to 15 days before, or up to 7 days after, the date on your last receipt. If you miss it, you must report in person and pay a 2,000 baht fine.
You can report at the office on form TM.47, by registered post from 15 days before the due date, or online through the Immigration Bureau’s website. Someone else may report for you, except when the report is late. If you leave Thailand, the count restarts from your latest arrival. Chiang Mai Immigration publishes the TM.47 form for download on its own site.
This report is separate from the address report your landlord files, explained in our guide to Thailand’s TM30 notice.
Two other services at the same office
Chiang Mai Immigration promotes an e-Extension service, run through VFS, which it describes as valid for select visa categories. It does not say which, so check that retirement is covered before relying on it.
The office also handles holders of Thailand’s Long-Term Resident visa, whose 90-day report is replaced by a yearly one. If the annual renewal and the quarterly report are what you would rather avoid, the LTR is set against the region’s other retirement routes on our planning page.