I am an American with a Thai retirement visa living in Chiang Mai. My GF and I want to spend time both in China, Thailand as well as taking trips to other Asian countries, so she will need 2 to 3 Thai visas a year. Since she will not need to work, will getting a Thai visa for her in China be more difficult? How easy is it to get Thai visas in other Asian countries?

Thanks for any helpful advice.

I recently returned from Chiang Mai with my chinese girlfriend. She does not work but had no problem obtaining a 30 day visa. Simply apply via one of the travel agents in Kunming. Do not go directly to the Thai Consulate in town. They will not give you the time of day!
Now as to how easy it will be for her to renew her visa while in Thailand I can't help you. She may have to return to China every 30 days-not sure. You can ask the visa agent when she applies initially.
Good Luck!

Thanks for the info.

How much do the travel agents charge for this service, not including the visa fee when there is one?

Can you get 60, instead of 30 days? When she went down to the consulate last December, she got a 60 day visa. At that time, she did present an employment confirmation letter. She was able to get a 30 day extension in Thailand.

You shouldn't have to pay more than 80-100 kuai. As of two months ago there was no consulate fee. I don't know about 60 days. Ask the agent. They should know.
Please check with Yunnan International Travel Service.
Tel.#0871-8310423

You can also check this out www.evisaasia.com/[...] It has Visa information for US citizens

Requirements for Chinese citizens are stricter than for other foreigners when applying for a Thai visa in Kunming. Multiple renewals of tourist visas in neighboring countries has also come under the spotlight and you will see a notice to this effect at the Thai consulate in Kunming. Therefore, I would investigate another type of visa that your girlfriend may be eligible for, after a couple of tourist visa applications otherwise she may be refused. On the other hand, Thai officials are likely to note the amount of time she spent outside of Thailand, so if she spends say 3-4 months per year in Thailand, using either two back-to-back tourist visas or one tourist visa plus a 30 day extension, she should be OK.

Also agree with the other posters that if your girlfriend doesn't work, should try a travel agent and not the consulate. Does your girlfriend still have a job to go back to after returning to China or not? This will of course affect her visa application if she continually makes new applications for tourist visas.

Also, there seems to be a return air ticket requirement for Chinese citizens to be able to apply for a Thai tourist visa (actually, this requirement is in effect in general for every foreigner except for citizens of neighboring countries) however, I believe the Kunming consulate enforces this on Chinese citizens, but probably not other foreigners. Therefore, if your girlfriend was planning on travelling overland, she probably won't be issued with a tourist visa. The only way she could make an overland journey to Thailand and stay for 2 months would be to travel down to Vientiane, Laos first and pick up a Thai visa there (air ticket is unlikely to be required, particularly not for first-time or irregular applicants), but this is a lengthy and expensive detour..especially if she wants to visit you in Chiang Mai. Secondly, she would need to get a Lao visa in advance too as Chinese authorities won't let her apply for a Lao visa on arrival.