skorts

You are very welcome. If you would like any feedback on my experience of getting my O-A Visa from the Thai Embassy in London please let me know.


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Just to be clear, our Australian marriage certificate in the U.K. was NOT an issue. The issue we had was when my wife, who was on a non-immigrant "O'" visa came to do her extension of stay, off the back of my "O-A" visa. Hua Hin Immigration would not accept this despite being the original and having the embossed stamp and bar code. They insisted we go to the Australian Embassy in a Bangkok, get it certified as a true copy, translated and stamped by the Thai Consulate. They ask to see these original documents each year when my wife applies for an Extension of Stay.

Appreciate the OP is looking to get individual "O-A" Visas for himself and his wife but something to be aware of for those going down the dependant route via the "O-A" visa.


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I had my Extension of Stay based on retirement transferred to my new (UK) passport in Hua Hin Immigration last November. Provided copies of my new passport ID page, original O-A Visa and Extension of Stays from my old passport and letter from the British Embassy in Bangkok (they emailed it and I added details, date etc. and printed it off). Took about 20 minutes and Immigration Officer charged me 500 baht, no receipt.

I obtained my new passport when I was in the UK. Only issue I had was when I entered Thailand on 1 November 2016 at Suvarnabhumi airport, where I presented my new and old passports and the Immigration Officer did not know what to do. They went off, spoke to another Immigration Officer, came back and stamped Permission to to Stay until 7 November 2016 and told me to go to my local Immigration Office. My latest Extension of Stay at that time provided

Permission to Stay until 19 December 2016 - I had a re-entry permit. 

Went to Hua Hin Immigration on 3 November 2016 and apart from being told the Immigration Officer at Suvarnabhumi airport had done things incorrectly my Extension of Stay was transferred to my new passport. I have subsequently got a new Extension of Stay with Permission to Stay until 19 December 2017. 

We LOVE Thai Expat TV. We are running 3BB 10 Mbps in Paknampran and 99% + of the time it is like watching TV in the UK. We also have 365SportTV and apart from not being able to watch the Manchester Derby as it failed (no idea why!) the service has been faultless. 

Apologies - 2 months for ceding of money for O-A application, 3 months for each subsequent annual extension.


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Flustered, my wife and I are UK citizens. At age 50, I obtained an O-A Visa from London and my wife an O Visa as my dependant which was extended at Hua Hin Immigration. We are both now on yearly extensions with the same permission to stay dates.

I used a UK bank account, and provided police and medical reports for my O-A. All documents were Notarised by a Public Notary. I went on my own to the Thai Embassy in London and returned the next day to pick up our passports and Visas. It was straightforward.

We went down this route as my wife was 48 so did not qualify for an O-A in her own right. Even if she was 50 we did not want to have to commit 800,000 for each of us for renewal of our annual extensions. It also meant we did not have to transfer the 800,000 baht for my first extension until 2 months before Extension was renewed (for ceding).

Where did you get married? Reason I ask is because we got married in Sydney, Australia. Despite us both being British Citizens and having the original Australian Marriage Certificate, in English, with the embossed stamp and bar code, Hua Hin Immigration would not accept this. They insisted we go to the Australian Embassy in Bangkok, get a certified copy, have it translated into Thai and then stamped by the Thai Consulate in Bangkok.

We did this, returned to Hua Hin Immigration and obtained our extensions. The Officer said we would not need to show these documents again as they had put a flag on their system. However, each year they still insist on seeing originals of our certified, translated and stamped marriage certificate.

That said, last November, we completed our two extensions in under 20 minutes.


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Thanks papa al. I will go the the local Transport Office and also check with them. Medical certificate not needed for 5 year driving license renewal but did need Proof of Residence Certificate from Immigration. I had to show my IDP for my temporary 1 year driving license but as you say hopefully not for my mock license.


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Hi, I have a 5 year Thai Car License. I hold a full UK Motorcycle license. I do not currently have an International Driving Permit (IDP). I would like to get a Thai Motorcycle License.

When I got my 1 year temporary Thai Driving License I just showed my IDP and did the colour blindness, depth perception and brake test. After a year I only had to do the colour blindness test to get my 5 year car license.

What is the easiest way/process for me get a Thai Motorcycle License? Does it make it any easier if I get an IDP?

Any help really appreciated.

Thanks sledpull and juehoe. Will head to San Paolo and register there first.


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Would be interested to know which hospital you would choose for medical treatment. We currently have medical insurance.

Have heard good and not so good things about both hospitals so would appreciate any feedback - good or bad.

Many thanks

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I was passing the Pranburi transport office today so thought I would pop in. I was advised that a new Driving License with my new passport number on it would be 255 THB. I asked if I needed to update my new license with my new passport number and was told I did not need to do this until my license expires. They went on to tell me that if the Police question it (how would they know I had a new passport from my driving license?) I just need to show them my old and new passport. As my current license has several years to run I will wait for it to expire. Thought you would all be interested to know what the transport office said.


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Thanks Roo860, Did you replace your License when you got your new passport or did you wait for your License to expire first? Just thinking I should not wait for several years to do this as my passport number on my License is now different to my actual passport number?


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Thanks ubonjoe and brewsterbudgen for confirming.


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I recently renewed my UK passport and have been to Immigration and had my visa, extension of stay, multiple re-entry permit etc transferred.

As my passport number is now different to the one shown on my 5 year Thai Driving License do I need to go to the Transport Office and get it updated?

My current License has several years before it expires.

Thanks for any advice.

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My wife's and my current extension of stays expire 19th December 2016. We have multiple re-entry permits. Last week we renewed our extensions at Hua Hin immigration (excellent service with both my and my wife's extensions completed within 20 mins! - I originally had an O-A visa and my wife an O visa as my dependant).

When can we obtain our re-entry permits to match our 19th December 2017 extension of stays and what impact does this have on our current multiple re-entry permits?

As it stands we understand that if we left Thailand and returned before 19th December 2016 our current multiple re-entry permits would cover us but if we returned after 19th December 2016 our extensions would be cancelled as we would not have a valid re-entry permit.

Can you have two re-entry permits with different end dates in your passport at the same time?

Logic says you can but not done this before so keen for any guidance.

Thanks in advance.

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I use a combination of Royal Mail re-direction and UK Postbox which provides Mail scanning, virtual mail forwarding and parcel forwarding services. Cost for the Royal Mail re-direction plus UK Post Box charges for up 35 items received and up to 35 items scanned per month is c£180 a year. Giving an address outside of Europe when signing up means you do not pay VAT on UK Post Box charges. For lighter users with up to 10 items of post per month there is a Pay-As-You Go option. 

Process is outlined below. Very easy to use and means post is available to view much quicker. 

Scan envelope and upload to secure server — you can then choose from the following:
Instruct UK Postbox to open mail and upload to secure server for you to view / action appropriately
Forward on the post to your current location
Scan and file the document securely until you require it
Scan and shred documents — at your instruction only

Appreciate our circumstances are different but thought I would share our experience of my wife getting her dependant extension in December 2015. We are both UK residents and got married in Sydney, Australia. 

Hua Hin immigration would not accept our original Australian marriage certificate even though it was in English and had an official stamp, bar code etc. 

We had had to follow the process as outlined above i.e.

1. Get our marriage certificate certified by the Australian Embassy - in and out in 20 mins. 
2. Marriage certificate and Embassy document translated to Thai.
3. The translated documents certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). 

There was was a translation service just down the road from the Australian Embassy in Bangkok. They also offered to take our documents to the MFA to be certified at a very reasonable price and we had them all back within 24 hours. 

My wife then sailed through the extension process at Hua Hin Immigration. 

I also got my multi-entry 'O-A' visa in London and had the same positive experience as Nomad56. Whilst I had to get a police certificate and medical certificate and have them notarised, as I was going down the savings route, I did not have to transfer 800,000 baht to Thailand. I just had to show the £UK equivalent in a UK bank account.

As ubonjoe says, you can get 2 years of total stay if you get a new one year entry just before it expires. In this way it means you do not need to transfer the 800,000 baht to Thailand until 3 months before your retirement extension/renewal date so the money is ceded in time for doing your extension.

Given the recent drop in the value of the £ from c52 baht to c45 baht, post Brexit, this would currently mean transferring an additional c£2,400 compared to 2 weeks ago, to meet the 800,000 baht requirement for obtaining the visa within Thailand.

Hopefully, by 2018, when you come to do your first retirement extension the £ will have recovered.

For now, purely from a financial perspective, obtaining an 'O-A' visa in the UK could be the way to go.

Thanks to you all for your feedback which is very helpful. As always, it is great to have such a good forum to be able to post questions and gain the experience and views of others. I really do appreciate it!

Hi

I entered Thailand on a Non-immigrant "O-A" visa. My current extension of stay (Stamped "Retirement") expires on 19th December 2016. I have a multiple re-entry permit.

My UK passport expires in June 2017 and I intend renewing it when I am back in the UK later this year before I head back to Thailand as it can be renewed up to 9 months early without losing any of the existing 10 year term.

I would appreciate any advice on what I need to do when I send my passport off for renewal in the UK. I understand that I may need a letter from the British Embassy asking the Thai Immigration Authorities to transfer my original visa and extension of stay stamps.

Is this correct or is the process different when renewing the passport in the UK? If so, do I ask the passport office to provide the letter for the Thai Immigration Authorities?

I have read threads on here about the process within Thailand which are very helpful but think the process might be different renewing a passport in in the UK?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks again Ubonjoe for your very helpful response. If I want to keep my current extension date the same as my wife's it seems I cannot go to Vietnam as immigration at the airport will move it on to April 2016.

We will both get re-entry permits before we leave for the UK and return in November. I will then renew my extension and then we will apply for my wife's extension. Hopefully she will be able to extend off her current extension and we will not need to leave the country to get her another non-migrant O. Here's hoping ...

I am starting to think that every time my wife wants to extend her permission to stay to match mine she will have to have a valid 'O' visa. I have checked the new regulations that Ubonjoe posted last September when they were introduced and this would seem to be the implication.

There seems to be no distinction between extending for the first time as a dependent or subsequent extensions. If you read the regulations literally it says a non-immigrant O visa is required and I wonder if this is how it is being interpreted by immigration.

The new dependent rules are still relatively new and it is unlikely many (if any) have been through the initial dependent extension and renewal of dependent extension process so it is very unclear how this is being applied or will work in practice.

I hope I am wrong but I suspect my wife may have to have a new non-immigrant O visa to be able to extend her current extension once I have completed my renewal process.

Sorry Mario - are you saying that if I get a re-entry permit before going to Vietnam and not use my multiple re-entry permit on my O-A I will only be granted permission to stay until 19th December 2015 (as per my current extension to stay)?

This would at least keep both of our permission to stay dates the same which makes life a lot easier.

Why would immigration not still give me another 12 months on re-entry to Thailand?

Once I have renewed my extension this would not be a problem in the future as I will only ever get 12 months regardless of how many times I leave Thailand during the year and my permission to stay date (and my wife's) will always remain the same date each year.

Thanks very much Ubonjoe and Mario for your prompt responses.

We plan to go to Vietnam early April and return a week later. We will then go to the UK late April and may not return to Thailand until November 2015.

I think the process we need to go through is as follows?

1. My wife gets a re-entry permit prior to going to Vietnam to keep her extension to 19th December 2015 valid. I do not need one as I have a multiple O-A (expiring September 15).

2.On return to Thailand from Vietnam I will be granted an extension of stay at the airport immigration until April 2016 and my wife's permission to stay will remain as 19th December 2015.

3. We then return to immigration and apply for an extension for my wife to equal my new extension of April 2016.

4.Before leaving for the UK we both apply for re-entry permits to keep our extension to April 2016 valid.

My main concern is if immigration will not extend my wife's current extension from December 2015 to April 2016. If not, it means we have to then obtain my wife visa to cover the period from December 15 to March 16 to take her up to the earliest renewal date of my extension. At that point we would also presumably need to go out of Thailand to get her another non-immigrant O visa that can be extended?

The steps outlined in 1 to 4 above make sense but based on the visit to immigration this morning I am concerned they will not extend my wife's visa from December 15 to April 16 which will cause lots of problems.

Ubonjoe

I could really do with you help again please.

I entered Thailand in December 2014 on a Non-immigrant O-A visa (expiry date 24th September 2015) obtained in the UK. My (UK) wife entered on a Non-immigrant O visa. Last week we went to Hua Hin immigration to extend my wife's visa as my dependant. My permission to stay is currently 19th December 2015.

Our original copy of our Australian marriage certificate was not accepted and we had to go to Bangkok to get the Australian Embassy to certify a true copy, get it translated to Thai (not sure this was required but we wanted to make sure we were covered) and have the copies certified by the Thai Consulate.

We returned to Hua Hin immigration this morning. All was in order and my wife was granted an extension of stay until 19th December 2015. Great news but now the confusion.

As my visa is an O-A, each time I leave Thailand, up to 24th September 2015 I am given a 12 month extension. We are planning to go to Vietnam next month but the immigration officer told me that doing so will invalidate my wife's extension as when I re-enter Thailand my wife's extension date of 19th December 2015 will no longer be valid as it will not match my date which will become April 2016. My wife would then have to get a Non-immigrant visa outside of Thailand and re-apply for an extension based on being my dependant (after 60 days again).

It seems the only way to keep my wife's extension valid is if we remain in Thailand or leave and return after 24th September (so my permission to stay is not extended) with both of us obtaining re-entry permits keeping our extension valid until 19th December 2015 when I can renew my extension followed by my wife as my dependant.

The immigration officer checked with several other immigration staff and confirmed this is how it works although I am still struggling to understand.

Any feedback greatly appreciated.

Thank you.