skatewash

But your money in that account lives in Canada ????

Yes. Possibly you may be able to avoid start-from-scratch. You can renew your extension as early as one month before your permission to stay expires. At some immigration offices you can renew your extension as early as 45 days before your permission to stay expires. If possible to do this you could avoid the extra trips to immigration to apply for your in-country Non-O, and a return trip when it's finally approved, not to mention the extra cost of 2,000 baht.

The current inflation rate in Canada is 6.9%.

The best time to apply for extension is after your 800k baht has been in the Thai bank for at least two months. It is always better in this situation to apply as soon as possible. All immigration offices allow you to apply 30 days before your permission to stay expires, some allow as early as 45 days (e.g., Phuket). You lose nothing by applying as early as possible and you gain maneuvering room to correct any unforeseen problems that may emerge. Earlier is always better.

This might be helpful. When dealing with immigration always use the passport for the country you are in. When dealing with check-in always use the passport you used when booking the ticket. (If asked, show the other passport to show you have a right to enter the destination country as a citizen.)

For purposes of needing a Thai driving license the important date is 90 days. After being in Thailand for 90 days you can no longer legally drive on a foreign driver's license and an International Driver's Permit.

I have not driven it in the last few days. I have not heard of any update in the news since about 5 days ago. The situation at that time was that it was EITHER open only to motorcycle traffic both ways OR open to motorcycle traffic both ways and car travel only from Patong to Kathu direction. We have had periods of rain since then. I suspect (but do not know) that the situation is unchanged. Personally, on a motorcycle I would be comfortable driving it in its current state. In a car I would not be. Up to you. The coast road from Kamala into Patong and the road from Karon into Patong are both open, but with heavier than normal traffic.

Thanks for clarifying that this was for a Non-O visa for purpose of retirement. I don't have personal experience with obtaining a Non-O visa at the Phuket Immigration Office. (In my case I had the underlying reason for my extension of stay based on a Non-ED visa changed from education to retirement, so have never applied for a Non-O visa from a visa-exempt entry). Here's how I have understood the process of getting a Non-O visa for purpose of retirement to work at the Phuket Immigration office: You apply for the Non-O for retirement along with the required documentation. You receive an under consideration stamp in your passport. You also receive a report back date. Your passport is returned to you along with a receipt for payment of the fee for the Non-O. At this point by accepting your application Phuket has basically blessed your non-O but that blessing must be confirmed by a higher level office. This final approval takes on the order of one month. You return on your report back date, they stamp your Non-O visa into your passport (having received final approval from a higher level office than Phuket), and you get your new permission to stay stamped into your passport. As a complication to this process, sometimes you will report back to Phuket Immigration on your report back date, but will be told that Phuket has not yet received final approval from above. You are given another report back date, either a new one stamped in your passport, or verbally. Usually something like come back in one week or we will call you when its ready. You go home with your passport and wait for your new report back date or to receive a call telling you it's ready. (I have never heard of a Non-O visa application being accepted at Phuket Immigration and not being finally approved, that is blessed locally, but rejected at the higher level.) So, the deviation between what you experienced and my understanding of the process is that they retained your passport from the date of your first report back date to your new report back date. That seems weird to me. It also seems that if that happened regularly someone would have mentioned it before. I'm puzzled as to why they did that in this case. If it's now normal procedure it's news to me. I've never known your passport to actually be sent to the higher level. It was enough that copies of your passport pages were sent to the higher level, not the actual book itself. Of course, it could be that it's done this way all the time as I've not personally experienced this particular process. In the meantime I think having paper copies (or electronic copies) of the relevant pages in your passport would serve as sufficient documentation until you do get your passport back. Except for travel. I know people have been able to use their Thai driver's license for domestic travel, possibly the Pink ID card would also work. Would be very interested if anyone else has had a similar experience applying for a non-O for purpose of retirement at Phuket Immigration. If so, my future advice might change to encourage people to get their non-O visas outside rather than inside of Thailand.

Non-O visa for reason of marriage to a Thai, or for reason of retirement?

If you are really arriving visa-exempt rather than VOA you would go to the regular queue. This advice could be confirmed depending on which country's passport you are traveling on. The reason VOA folks have a separate queue is because they need to purchase their visas on arrival. Visa-exempt entry is free for those who qualify and so can be done in the regular queue.

This is the important consideration, that it match the existing data. That it be consistent. To aid in this consistency it can be good to approach the address in a minimalist manner rather than attempting to answer what may not be mandatory fields. Always use the drop down menus if available. Only answer the mandatory fields. If building name/owner name is not a mandatory field I would not enter data in that field. Personally I would put the OP's address as 5. The less data you provide the less has to match.

When someone is doing the retirement extension with 800k baht in a bank, they are not being asked about their income. The purpose of the 12-month statement is to demonstrate that the applicant has complied with the minimum balance requirements in place since the last extension: 800k baht 2 months before current application 800k baht 3 months after receiving last extension 400k baht all other times of the year This should not be confused with someone using the monthly deposit method (because their embassy or consulate doesn't grant income letters), in which case they must show a 12 month bank statement that shows a minimum of 65k baht deposited into the account each and every month.

Typically yes, they can. However, in some small branches you request it one day and pick it up at the branch the next morning at open of business. Unlike Bangkok Bank Krungsri Bank has the customer data for a full 12 months in the local branch (not just the headquarters) but sometimes there may not be someone there authorized to sign/stamp the statement, so it may take an overnight.

There are reports that health insurance is not actually required for obtaining a Non-O from an embassy/consulate despite the fact that the website might say it is and the e-visa application asks for it. Reports from people applying from the UK indicate that one can upload a paper with N/A written on it when asked to show health insurance on the e-visa site.

At one point some Thai embassies/consulates were requiring non-O visa applicants to show health insurance coverage to get the non-O visa. There have been reports in this thread that that is no longer the case. If that's true, then there's less reason to recommend against the non-O visa obtained outside Thailand.

Yes, individual experiences at Immigration offices in different provinces differ. In Phuket it takes me less than an hour (usually) to get my retirement extension, then return the next day at 1 PM to pickup my approved extension stamped in the passport (along with a new 90-Day Report receipt/next appointment slip that they always staple into the passport). I visit Phuket Immigration on average 2 times a year. Once to submit my application for a retirement extension, and the next day to pick up my extension and get a re-entry permit. The long-term extensions for retirement and marriage are done in a separate room, and they are efficient if your paperwork is in order (which mine is after doing 8 retirement extensions). I can imagine not wanting to do that as I get older and for that reason it's good that agents exist. There's also a difference in price for people who merely want an agent to do the work for them, as contrasted with having the agent circumvent the rules to get them an extension. It depends on your location. In some locations, for instance, in Phuket, if you want an extension without providing financials it is not unusual for the agent to send your passport to a different province than Phuket to get your visa and extension stamp. This can be a long process. It's up to the person involved as to what they are more comfortable with as long as they knowledgeable about what's going on. It does bother me when people state that there's never any problem with using an agent as I've had personal experience of watching a friend wait for his extension of stay for over 100 days, during which he technically went on overstay, and he was forced to remain in Phuket until he did get his passport back as one can't travel without a passport. He was informed by his agent that he would receive his passport back in two weeks multiple times. Didn't happen. He finally (after waiting for over 100 days) did receive his passport back and when he did it contained a non-O visa and a retirement extension and also a covid extension to cover the time from when his initial permission to stay expired to when his non-O visa was approved. So that does happen. In Phuket literally more than 100 people have had problems with two agent companies leading them to need to leave the country: https://www.thephuketnews.com/expats-caught-up-in-phuket-visa-scams-face-being-forced-to-leave-the-country-84812.php Giving your passport to an agent is a leap of faith. It may be necessary in your situation, but it's hardly a risk-free proposition and not something do be done without a lot of thought about the downsides.

The dates for Songkran are always April 13-15. Typically, in Phuket April 13 is the day of water throwing, not so much on 14-15. The water throwing goes on longer in some other places (Pattaya, for instance). Covid has put a damper on the water throwing for the last few years. If I remember correctly, water throwing was officially discouraged for Songkran 2022. Things might be different in 2023.

You can view transactions online in SCB's banking app. You can also produce statements using the banking app.

I believe that over 100 days waiting for an agent to return a passport is approximately 14 weeks. *inflammatory remark edited out* I leave it to you to read the articles for yourself: https://www.thephuketnews.com/expats-caught-up-in-phuket-visa-scams-face-being-forced-to-leave-the-country-84812.php https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-immigration-responds-over-visa-extension-scam-84728.php

Well, now you have. ???? My friend had this experience in early 2022. I saw him for lunch every week. Every week he told me the passport hadn't been returned yet. This was in Phuket. Agent he used was "highly recommended" by people he had talked to (other than me). I don't use an agent. I don't give my passport to anyone except when applying for my retirement extension at Phuket Immigration in which case I leave it overnight, it gets signed the next morning, and is available for me to pick up at 1 PM the next day. I understand why someone would use an agent if there were no other way they could get the extension, as a last resort. I don't understand people who use agents as a first resort. As the article indicates it can turn into a nightmare for many people. I don't have to make every mistake myself, I'm capable of learning from the mistakes of others.

It's a regular savings account (EZ Savings), so there is no term. The rate can be changed at any time it's not a fixed deposit account. However, it has been at that rate for 2 years, I think. In theory you could register your Thai tax id with the account and avoid automatic 15% tax withholding on interest earned but I've not been successful doing that. They say they have to do the withholding, which I believe is not true, but not worth pursuing in my opinion. Others have been successful in getting the automatic withholding waived. One other thing is that the account comes without a passbook so if you use for retirement extension you should check with your immigration office to see if they will accept only a bank statement in lieu of seeing your passbook.

I friend of mine used an agent in Phuket because he'd heard it was the "smart" thing to do. He didn't get his passport back for over 100 days, during which time he went on overstay. Turns out his passport was sent to some immigration office in isaan and there was a problem with the "friendly" immigration agents in that office as they had been transferred to another office. It took some time for "friendly" immigration officers to get back into business at that immigration office. If you are using an agent to circumvent immigration rules it's you who should be worried. I get my retirement extension from immigration myself for which I pay 1,900 baht. A related story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/expats-caught-up-in-phuket-visa-scams-face-being-forced-to-leave-the-country-84812.php

Yes, there's the mandatory insurance requirement that satisfies Thai Immigration which I would avoid, and then there's the health, accident, and perhaps travel insurance that you may want to satisfy your own requirements. Insurance is not a bad idea. Jumping through unnecessary mandatory insurance hoops imposed by Thai immigration in a one size fits all basis is a bad idea. Just my opinion, of course.

No it's a general health insurance requirement, specific covid coverage is not required. But as others have pointed out getting either the 45-day exempt entry or 60-day tourist visa is much easier to get. Neither require any insurance requirement at all. Each can be extended for 30 days with a pro-forma application at your local immigration office (cost 1,900 baht). Or you can do a trip to neighboring country by air and come back in on a visa-exempt for another 45 days. I honestly wouldn't mess with the Non-O because of the insurance, but to each his own.

Yes, two separate issues: A visa allows you to enter Thailand during the visa's period of validity. Outside of that period of validity (i.e., when it expires) it can no longer give you entry to Thailand. When you are granted entry to Thailand you are given a permission to stay that depends on the particular visa you used. A tourist visa gives you a permission to stay of 60 days. Once you are in Thailand what matters is your permission to stay (your visa may expire but it does not affect your permission to stay as long as you are inside Thailand). Before you enter Thailand using a visa what matters is whether your visa is in its period of validity. If still valid it allows you to enter Thailand, if it expired it does not. The expiration of a visa means that you may no longer use that visa to gain entry to Thailand. However, if you are already inside Thailand when your visa expires that's perfectly fine because it is your permission to stay in Thailand (not your visa) that governs how long you can stay in Thailand.