Originally Posted by Chris351

Right mate, so we'll be seeing you on Walking Street then ?

Originally Posted by Farang9

If the immigration officer told you that you can get a resident visa after 3 years, he was quoting the law as written. However, you will find that it does not work like that in practice. 20 years ago that was the situation, but now resident visas are extremely restricted, and, according to Phuket Immigration, are NEVER given to retirement visa holders, only to businessmen who have at least $1,000,000 to invest in Thai industry. The immigration officer told me to keep the (non-refundable) application fee which would be lost.
If you have to leave Thailand at any time, remember to get a re-entry permit before you go. When you come back, the 90 days starts to count from the date of re-entry. If you forget to get the re-entry permit, you will have enormous hassle trying to re-start your retirement visa.

Originally Posted by bakedbean

I seem to recall reading on thaivisa that Permanent Residence status is very difficult to obtain and virtually impossible from a Retirement Visa. Very small quotas and you need to speak very good Thai. That's what I read anyway. If anyone knows otherwise, please squeak up, as I may be out of touch on the subject.

Originally Posted by mrfaroukh

Yes you are almost right, one should know how to speak Thai, but I am not sure if you have to speak very well, or just be able to communicate in Thai. On this site http://www.thaivisa.com/300.0.html it is given some rules and regulations but it is from 2003. It is not mentioned that those on retirement visa can or can not apply for residet permit. It is also mentioned that every natiionalit only 100 of them can get the resident permit every year. I will try to find out more about this from Thai Government site and let you know.

Originally Posted by Farang9

The Thai government site will tell you the rules as written - which is that anyone with 3 years continuous annual visa can apply for resident status on payment of a fee (IIRC 7,500 baht, non-returnable). What it will not tell you is how the rules are interpreted.