TigerandDog

I did do my research and was was by the Thai Consulate that O was no longer available. So please cease with your useless uneducated replies.

WRONG. The Thai Embassy web site in my home country makes no mention of O as being an option or how to obtain one. The ONLY retirement visa on offer was an O-A. As for discrimination, why do those on an O not need the mandatory health insurance or a police check from their home country. That's where the discrimination lies. otherwise both are identical. So not a poor visa choice as O-A was the ONLY choice available to me in my home country for retirement purposes, and even then I would have still chosen O-A as I had health insurance anyway and just swapped it over when it became mandatory here for O-A. Most of teh other long term visas require health insurance, so please explain why O holders should receive preferential treatment.

actually I was forced to get an O-A. When I moved here O was not available in my home country, nor was there any mention of it as an alternative on the Thai Embassy web site in my home country. Perhaps if you read everything I've posted on this topic you might actually give an answer that makes sense. You have yet to explain why those on a Non O should get preferential treatment over those on an O-A, viz no mandatory health insurance for O and mandatory health insurance for O-A. and no police checks for an O as against police check in home country before O-A will be issued, and you still sound like, and please note I said sound like, someone who takes shortcuts because you can't/don't meet the requirements.

not true. Those of us on O-A must also have either the 800k in the bank or the 65k per month. The O visa actually discriminates against those on O-A and should be abolished going forward.

that reply makes you sound like one of those farangs that takes shortcuts and can't meet ALL the requirements to be here long term. Also why should those on O, whether it be marriage or retirement, receive preferential treatment to those on O-A. The health insurance should be mandatory for ALL long term visas, and agents should be declared illegal.

gotta start somewhere.

it has nothing to do with cancelled. Existing O's continue or are converted to O-A automatically by Immigration. All future new retirement or marriage visa applications should be O-A only.

I think you'll find that the O is more open to abuse than the O-A. Come in on a VOA or Tourist visa, extend, then convert to O. No police checks from home country or Thailand involved. That's one huge loophole in the system that allows the crims from different countries to come here and then stay long term. O-A only would shut that loophole immediately.

where did I say anything about visas being cancelled. Going forward all marriage & retirement visas should be Non O-A only. At least that way a police check must be done in the home country before the visa can be issued. I certainly get the impression from many in this forum, that those that complain the most about visa & extension requirements are the ones that mostly use agents to circumvent those requirements because they don't meet them. Yes there are some that use agents who actually meet the requirements, but they are basically too lazy to do it themselves. As for me I'm on an O-A and do not use an agent.

get rid of the Non-O completely, and if the reason for being here long term is either retirement or marriage make them O-A ONLY. That way a police check must be done in home country when applying.

or you just deposit the refund cheque into your own bank account, which is what I've been doing for the past 9 years. Just make sure that your name on the cheque matches exactly the name on your bank account.

the downside to British democracy, is that the equivalent of the senate, viz the House of Lords, is NOT subject to re-election every 4 years BUT it is a lifetime occupancy, formerly by birthright but now by appointment. How is that democratic? Perhaps that's where Thailand got the idea of appointing it's senators.

Unfortunately you will find that the downside of the pink ID card is that on the back of the card, written in Thai, it states that it CANNOT be used as ID for travel outside the province of issue, and I have experienced that at the airport when flying domestically. That same restriction also technically applies to a driver's license if the pink ID card # is used on the license instead of your passport # and that has been confirmed by the Province's main DLT Office. Now that doesn't mean it will be strictly enforced, but like most things Thai, if asked by police outside the province of issue to show your license, depending on the officer's shall we say mood, you could find yourself being fined for not having a correct license, AND it could also mean that your driver's license may not be accepted as ID when outside the province of issue.

yes my health insurance is with one of the approved Thai Health Insurance companies. However, your understanding about external insurance companies is not entirely correct. Immigration will accept those companies BUT only if at renewal of extension time you provide a certificate from that insurance company signed by company directors. That is what the external insurers will not do. They cannot enter details into the Thai database as they do not have access to it.

another

I just renewed my 5 year license earlier this month and encountered the same witch that always goes out of her way to find an excuse to make it difficult for farangs to renew their license. So in anticipation of this I emailed the main DLTY in my Province to ascertain exactly what documents were accepted as proof of address, and requested the reply to be in both english & Thai. Accepted documents were either a CoR from Immigration OR yellow tabian baan & pink ID card. Anyway, the witch refused to accept the yellow book and said needed a CoR from Immigration. Showed her the email and made her read the reply in Thai. She wasn't happy about that, so then she wanted proof that the yellow book was actually me and that I had to go to the District Office to obtain that. Stood my ground again and said look at the photo on my passport, my driver's license and pink ID card and then look at my face, that should be more than enough proof that the yellow book was mine, especially as the ID # in the yellow book and pink ID card were the same. More grunts and growls to my wife in Thai. Then she tried to say because my license had my passport # on it and the ID card had a different # she couldn't renew my license. I again referred her to the email and said the ID card was for proof of address only. More grunts and grisels to my wife. She then wrote a note on the copies and handed me over to another staff member. That member then tried to tell me that I could not have my passport # on my license and that it had to be the ID card number which meant that, according to her I could not drive outside the province. Stood my ground again and asked to speak with a senior manager that spoke english. Was taken downstairs to the manager's office, who in usual Thai manner did not speak to me at all but only to my wife. She also insisted that I needed a CoR. I then pulled the ace I was keeping ready and advised the manager, through my wife, that this particular employee, who was also in the manager's office, had a long history of going out of her way to make it difficult for farangs to renew their licenses, and that a friend of mine had encountered this exact same scenario when he came in to renew his license, and that he used exactly the same paperwork to renew his license at the Province DLT. His wife had submitted a written complaint at the provincial DLT and our district DLT received a phone call and was directed to ensure the staff were trained properly as to the procedure. All the time this was happening the witch was sitting there and her face was getting redder out of anger for being challenged. Anyway the manager telephoned the Province DLT and was directed by them to ensure that going forward the employees were retrained and that my license was to be renewed as I had ALL the correct paperwork and that the pink ID card was for proof of address only and my passport # was to be on my license. Went back upstairs to do the testing, but the witch was really p'd off now and had another staff member make a series of phone calls in the hope of being able to refuse to renew the license, despite already being directed to do so. Anyway when all that failed, she threw the paperwork down in a huff, and called the girl over that did the testing. The girl that did the testing actually apologised and said that she had been trained by the witch but now she knows the correct procedure. License renewed and got 6 years as it was 2 days after the expiry date. So sometimes it pays to stand up for yourself, even if it is a p i t a.

I arrived in 2014 on O-A Retirement visa. Chiang Mai have required me to have the health insurance since it's inception.

why are the wheels on your car feeling sleepy (tires)? Perhaps you meant to use CORRECT english and not the corrupted american version of english and your car needs new TYRES.

back in the 60's before electric typewriters, I trained as a court reporter. My speed back then was 120wpm after typos were taken into account. Nowadays I'm just using 2 fingers on each hand slowly and I make more typos now than I did back then.

check your TM30 in your passport. What address is on that? If it's your OLD address then that will be the main reason for the IO response and you will need to get a new TM30 submitted.

I haven't seen any mention in the OP of a TM28 or TM30 being submitted for the rental property in Korat advising a change of address to Korat Immigration. It is my understanding that if a change of address has not been notified to the Immigration Office that covers the new address that the extension must be done in the Province where the last officially notified address (TM30) is on record. Perhaps that is why you are having difficulty getting your extension.

and that's exactly why americans have corrupted the english language and calendar. They take short cuts with the language by spelling everything phonetically, and your wheel of fortune explanation is a joke. In the PROPER english language the DATE is ALWAYS first followed by the month and then the year. Here's where's there's a huge problem, those of us that live in the real english speaking world don't read 9/11 as Sept 11th but as 9th November, and that's the MAJORITY of the english speaking world.

where on earth were you playing, or more to the point how many times per month. I only play once per month, but that includes green fee (Thai rates when on my own or lower when with a group), caddy, cart & caddy tip, petrol & 2 nights accommodation and meals etc. Average cost 2500-3000 baht per month, and that's on the top courses in Chiang Mai. The one thing I've noticed in CM & Lamphun foreigners pay the same as Thais if they can show they are long term residents, viz showing pink ID card or Thai driver's license. I've never seen this anywhere else that I've played golf in Thailand, mainly BKK, Pattaya & Phuket. The only downside for me, and the ONLY reason I play once per month is the nearest course is 150kms from where I live, some months I have to drive round 200kms each way to play.

AND cashier rather than chashier

That is the the stupid american date format, viz 7/18/23. The real western world uses 18/07/23 (18 July 2023). The american date format is so stuffed up every month until the 13th of each month, viz is 7/1/23 the 1st of July OR 7th January. Only americans would know it was supposed to be July 1st. The yanks have not only corrupted the english language but the calendar as well.