Inbetween

Perhaps for visas you can go straight to the desk. I would just do it to see if it is correct.

Perhaps.

I'll let you know.

That's how it worked out. I grabbed a number to be on the safe side, but after I had been standing around for a couple of minutes near the cubicles, an older male officer saw my passport and receipt then took them away for about 15 minutes. He came back with my new O visa, so thanks once again to all who helped with information and advice, even if I didn't follow all of it.

Yes...you can get a lump sum payment. Then you can be under the program for up to six months free. Around the fifth month you should start paying into the system. The cost is 432 Baht per month and you can have the payment taken out of your bank account. The fee is 5-10 Baht each time the Thai SS makes a withdrawal from your account. The Thai SS is on the 2nd floor of the Talay Tong Tower building.http://www.talaythongtower.com/index.phpTalay Tong Tower Map.jpg

Thanks for your and other's help. I went to Thai SS office today and got my lump sum payment. It was well worth it -- 6 figures, as somebody in this thread predicted. Also confirmed that I am covered for the next 6 months free and given an application to complete and return to have the 432 baht taken out of my bank account each month starting the middle of the year to continue my coverage.

Checked with the girlfriend who says its a Ma kok nam.

In this area its fairly common( Prachinburi.) in English its a Ambarella or latin Spondias dulcis

I'm going with this one. Looked at some images and this is the most likely so far. I was thinking jujube at one point, but I'm pretty sure they're smaller.

Perhaps for visas you can go straight to the desk. I would just do it to see if it is correct.

Perhaps.

I'll let you know.

DEFINATELY NOT A PASSION FRUIT... I eat passion fruit daily. Eggplant no....

This morning as suggested i cut it open. I could not cut it with a steak knife i had to use a cleaver to slice it.

It s very HARD ( probably not ripe ) the inside is very grainy..

Thanks to all,,,

That helps! No, it doesn't look like passion fruit, If it was really hard to get through, it may be some type of eggplant. Did it come off a tree or a vine-like plant? I have heard that there are more than 50 types of eggplants here. It may be very hard because it's young not ready to eat yet, whatever it is.

They have a desk for those that have already applied for visas or extensions are waiting for approval. You go there and hand over your passport.

I would expect something like that, but I think the woman said to come directly to her cubicle on the 29th. Does that make sense?

Yes Mario, it was my initial application for a non-imm O visa, and I had heard about the 2-week waiting period. I got the 30-day extension then immediately applied for the O visa. I was asking mainly about the process of seeing the officer I dealt with directly on the 29th rather than some sort of general queue or desk like Ubonjoe mentioned above. Thanks again guys.

I thought passion fruit also. If the guy had cut one open for us, we could have confirmed that real fast. I can't imaging many other things could look like passion fruit inside.

Appreciate everyone's help and just wanted to update this thread.

I was given good advice about going to Lao for my O visa but didn't get a chance to do that. The 30-day stamp I got at the Bangkok airport was good until Jan 16, so I went to Jomtien immigration on the 14th to get a 30-day extension, but that same guy who always seems to be at he front desk and has been for many years, told me I could only get 7 days. When I asked him why he said it was because I didn't have a visa. I told him that I don't need a visa as I came in on an exemption stamp, but he wasn't interested in talking anymore and walked away. I know there's another post somewhere about charging more for a 30-day extension there.

So, on the 15th I went to Bangkok Division 1 at Chaeng Wattana building. It was fairly busy but surprisingly efficient. I had a my 30-day extension processed in a friendly and professional way for the legal price, and the same was true for my O visa application. I was told to come back on the 29th for my stamp. As for the money needed for a retirement extension, I had gone to the bank the day before to get my passbook updated and to get a letter, but the woman doing the O visa wanted the passbook updated the same day. She told me to go to the bank downstairs to update it then make a photocopy. I did that and came back to continue the process. I'm not sure, but I thought the woman said to see her directly on the 29th and not queue up. Does that seem right or did I misunderstand her?

Yes...you can get a lump sum payment. Then you can be under the program for up to six months free. Around the fifth month you should start paying into the system. The cost is 432 Baht per month and you can have the payment taken out of your bank account. The fee is 5-10 Baht each time the Thai SS makes a withdrawal from your account. The Thai SS is on the 2nd floor of the Talay Tong Tower building.http://www.talaythongtower.com/index.phpTalay Tong Tower Map.jpg

Thanks. That's great help.

I was paying into it for over 13 years and have reached the age to qualify for collecting a lump sum, so I guess I'll take a trip there soon. Do I need to take anything else beside my SS card and passport?

There is a form (yellow in color) that your prior employer has to fill out. The form is at the Thai SS public relations desk. She can also give you your lump sum figure from her computer terminal immediately. If you paid the max into the Thai SS for 13 years then you should get over 100K Baht which should be paid to you straight away. If you don't speak Thai well enough then bring a Thai with you. The monthly payment has varied over the years and the current rate is probably 460 baht. They will mail you a receipt every month for the prior month's payment showing all the details. Good luck!

Thanks for your reply.

Knowing about the yellow form I need is helpful. I'll contact the HR people at my old workplace and see if they have any there before going to the SS office.

With my knowledge and experience by some one who did recently, you can continue on and SS draws payment off your bank account every month which is 460 Baht currently. I think by now every body received a SS card for 2015 and you can keep this one when you need to go to hospital etc. (You can only do this, if you worked (paid SS) longer than 12 months and apply this within six months after you finish working.)

Old age lump sum is paid according to how many months you have worked and only paid once you reached to 55 years old.

Additionally, you can apply for unemployment benefit.

Thanks a lot for the info.

I've heard it's best to take someone who speaks Thai if one's Thai isn't very good. From your experience, is that true, or do they have some decent English speakers there?

Are you saying that a foreigner can apply for unemployment benefits?

Yes...you can get a lump sum payment. Then you can be under the program for up to six months free. Around the fifth month you should start paying into the system. The cost is 432 Baht per month and you can have the payment taken out of your bank account. The fee is 5-10 Baht each time the Thai SS makes a withdrawal from your account. The Thai SS is on the 2nd floor of the Talay Tong Tower building.http://www.talaythongtower.com/index.phpTalay Tong Tower Map.jpg

Thanks. That's great help.

I was paying into it for over 13 years and have reached the age to qualify for collecting a lump sum, so I guess I'll take a trip there soon. Do I need to take anything else beside my SS card and passport?

Not sure if you get a refund on thai social, but you can keep your medical if you have paid in for enough time. I kept mine and pay around 450/month. I don't live in Thailand at the moment, but who knows in the future.

I know people who have collected refunds but they don't live here anymore, and I don't have contact info for them.

I heard we can stay in the system. How do you pay? Is there an automatic payment system?

I understand that here in Thailand we can get a refund of some of the money we paid into the social security program over the years. I've heard that there's an office in the Laem Chabang area north of Pattaya. Can anybody give more information about getting there and what to do to get the money?

Also, can we continue to pay into the plan, and is it worth while? I don't think I ever used the services offered by the SS plan when I was working.

You only have tomorrow to do it. Immigration will be closed on the 31st and reopen on the 5th.

You could go to Jomtien and apply for a 30 day extension and get it done after the holidays.

I thought they would be open on Friday,Jan 2. thanks for letting me know.

So there's usually no problem extending a 30-day exemption stamp? That would be fine but paying another 1900 baht is getting a bit much. I've been used to paying 1900 once a year and getting that reimbursed. It's already been twice in a few weeks because of what I think was some bad info (not here) and some bad luck.

The 30-day option is really good to know about. I'm such newbie when it comes to this immigration stuff. I was spoiled during my long work term with it all being done for me, so I've learned nothing about the ins and outs of immigration. Thanks for everyone's help.

You will not need proof of residence to do the conversion to a non immigrant visa in Bangkok.

You will need it when you apply for the extension of stay at immigration in Jomtien. The best thing would be a rental agreement with copies of your landlords ID and house book attached.

Thanks. That's good news. I thought it said in another post that proof of residence was needed for this step of the process. I was going to go to Chaeng Wattana this morning but have been waiting for the condo office to open and get my letter from them, so I guess it's off real early tomorrow from the Pattaya area as I have only 2 business days left on my stamp before the 15-day period is gone. I suspect going the day before or the day after the long New Year's break is bad timing, but I don't see much choice.

If you only hold a 30 day visa exempt entry, you will have to convert at immirgaiton with at least 15 days remaining on your current permisison to stay! And come back after 15 days to get the actual conversion.

In addition, if you go for the option of showing money in the bank, you will need proof it came from abroad.

Thanks Mario. The money situation has been discussed in previous posts. The money has been accumulated over the years I've worked here with lots of documentation to show that. Ubonjoe felt that since the money's been in the bank for quite some time, I shouldn't have a problem.

What I really needed to know is what immigration will accept as proof of address in Thailand. As posted before, I was planning to take a copy of my car's blue book page showing name, address and passport number along with a letter from the condo management.

I just noticed that you replied saying some offices will want to a rental agreement and I remember signing some sort of lease or agreement years ago. I'll ask the condo management about it. I was hoping that somebody might be familiar with what they will accept at the Chaeng Wattana office in case the condo people can't give me a copy of an agreement. There was a management change a few years ago where I live and it may have been lost.

I'm back with a question about proof of address for O visa application. I was planning to take a copy of my car's blue book page showing name, address and passport number along with a letter from the condo management. Will this be enough or do I need something more official?

You mean a non-imm 'O' visa application to a Thai consulate? No proof of address whatsoever is required.

If you mean an extension of stay at immigration applied in Thailand, normally a receipt is enough and if you don't pay rent a short note from your host. Only some offices makes it difficult and require copy of ID and house book of the landlord.

I mean applying for a non-imm O inside the country at the new immigration office north of Bangkok. I was on a non-imm B extensions for many years, but now that's done and it's time to retire here by going through the process of getting an O visa then doing yearly retirement extensions. I'm on a 30-day exemption stamp right now.

I'm back with a question about proof of address for O visa application. I was planning to take a copy of my car's blue book page showing name, address and passport number along with a letter from the condo management. Will this be enough or do I need something more official?

If you are traveling from Pattaya I suggest you take the bus to Mo Chit from the bus station on north Pattaya road.

The 100 baht taxi fare from Mo Chit sounds about right.

Well that's got to be all the info I or anyone could possibly need.

I didn't know about the bus to Mo Chit from North Pattaya.

I'll resist asking which food kiosk to eat at or where the lavatories at located at Chaeng Wattana immigration building. 555

Chaeng Wattana immigration is the only office you can use. Map and other info: http://bangkok.immigration.go.th/en/location1.html

Thanks man! By now everything must be covered here for this topic.

Hopefully it can be helpful to other people.

We might as well be thorough.

From what I found, getting there seems best by taking the BTS to Mo Chit and a taxi from there or going on the MRT to Chatuchak Park and using a taxi or minivan service.

Does anybody have suggestions? What's the taxi fare from Mo Chit? The information I saw said there was a minivan service from Chatuchak Park for 25 baht. I think the same source said the 1/2 hour ride from Mo Chit was 100 baht, but sounds too cheap.

Chaeng Wattana immigration is the only office you can use. Map and other info: http://bangkok.immigration.go.th/en/location1.html

Thanks man! By now everything must be covered here for this topic.

Hopefully it can be helpful to other people.

I realized that I have one more question. Which immigration office(s) can we go to in Bangkok for an O visa?

Had a nearly identical problem with Vientiane Embassy in 2011. Not the nicest way to thank you for years of service to Thailand to then turn around and deny you a tourist visa and say as my officer did "You don't need to take a holiday in Thailand, you can do that in Vietnam or Laos." You might think that they might have been worried I'd abuse the tourist visa and try to work. I offered to show them a copy of my email confirming a job in Indonesia in two months time, "No need sir."

Mine isn't the same situation of going to an embassy and being denied a visa. Leaving the country actually got me what I needed, but I can see that the identical part of our situations you're talking about is being treated suspiciously and put through the hoops to stay here after working for several years. Isn't it logical that you've made contacts and acquired things that you want to continue to enjoy?

I've caused no trouble and actually tried to make a contribution to Thai society, but now my reward is to pay a lot of money and go through a lot of trouble to continue living here spending my money. When will logic appear in the immigration/visa process?

If you can show proof the funds were earned here that will be accepted. Also having them in the bank for a period of time will get around it also.

They want the transfer proof since there is no requirement for the money to be in the bank for any amount of time. That is meant to prevent somebody from just borrowing the money to apply for the visa.

So it's the idea of making sure the money wasn't "borrowed" like some of the shadier visa services offer? They must get around this some way, though. Maybe done by using overseas accounts.

My passbook for the account I'm going to use confirms the money has been there for well over a year. Originally a term deposit but just a standard savings account right now. I'll do a TD or something like that once the visa and extension are complete. This money was taken from the account at another bank where my pay was deposited. The passbooks show all these transactions.

You will just need one TM87 form with an attached photo. http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/download/pdf/tm87.pdf or http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/download/tm87.doc

You will need copies of your passport photo page, entry/permit to stay stamp and TM6 departure card.

You will need the bank letter confirming your balance and that the funds came from abroad and updated bank book copies.

You will not need proof of residence.

I just noticed this. The funds did not come from abroad because they were earned in Thailand over the years. If that doesn't qualify, I could bring in the funds from abroad but I seriously don't wan't to. I have most of my income tax records to show the money I have here was all legally earned.

If I have to bring in funds on top of what I've already got here, I'm really going to start thinking about how much more I want to go through to get an O visa. If it was summer at home, I'd just go there for a while and give the idea of continuing to live in Thailand a lot of serious thought.