painai2

Are you sure they understood what you wanted? There should never be any requirement for a police check/medical for a single entry non immigrant O visa. The were giving you the requirements for an O-A one year entry visa for retirement. What you wanted was a visa to check out the "possibility" of retirement.

If unable to convince them try another Consulate; go with the O-A type; or obtain a tourist visa and change for 2,000 baht here in Thailand at Immigration prior to extending for retirement. You can also obtain in Penang but that is likely to cost more than the 2,000 baht conversion.

Thanks! I didn't know you could change the tourist visa for 2,000 baht in Thailand prior to extending for retirement. I'll go with that. I had told the girl at the Houston Thai Consulate that I shouldn't need the police check/medical for the single entry non immigrant O visa to check out retirement, even pointing out what was stated on the form and stating what I had learned from ThaiVisa forum. Her answer--a lot of misinformation on the internet.

I want to add that the visa in Houston requires criminal record, doctor's statement and proof of income and age for the nonimmigrant visa. I had thought entering with a 90 day visa, you only had to put reason retirement and show the other requirements when applying for the one year retirement visa once in Thailand.

Today, I went to the consulate in Houston to request the non-immigrant visa. Even though it states on the form as one of the purposes of the visa: " Settlement After Retirement", the clerk said she would not give me the 90 visa unless I showed proof of employment, education or medical treatment. I am retired over 50 and have a pension of more than 65000 baht a month. I had planned to enter with the 90 non immigrant O-A visa and then ask for the one year retirement visa after I enter the Kingdom. Would it be better to go somewhere else, such as Penang or Hanoi to get the nonimmigrant visa? Thanks.

I took the "JFK" express in May BKK-JFK.  Fantastic, liked it because getting to JFK in 17 hours instead of the long layover through Tokyo on Northwest was a breeze. Am returning in September and will be using it again.

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What airline is that?

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Sorry, Thai Airways has the nonstop BKK-JFK.

I took the "JFK" express in May BKK-JFK. Fantastic, liked it because getting to JFK in 17 hours instead of the long layover through Tokyo on Northwest was a breeze. Am returning in September and will be using it again.