farangkrab

Thought I would be getting a Wave but the Click 160 ABS looks to a better solution for me ATM.

I want the higher hp for 2 people but also need the more nimble feel (small gf) and open foot area for shopping etc. 

I love the latest Nmax overall but is a little big for the gf and not as practical.

Pull the trigger now?  Will Honda follow up with a Wave 160 soon you think na?

Anybody have experience using an “agent” to get motorbike / car drivers license. 1500 baht and 2500 baht respectivily. They say they take car of everything and don’t need to test etc. 
 

They say it’s 100% legit but price seems a little low, if you know what I mean na. 

Updates & Questions (of course)

The day of my OA Visa expiration I flew to KL for the weekend. I came back Visa Exempt with no issues. The IO didn’t question anything and just wanted to make sure I knew my entry was for 45 days only. 

Applied for a Non IMM O Visa. With the exception of a long wait it was pretty uneventful. The girl checking the docs before the IO did question my bank book. I’ve had the 800K sitting in a separate account for a couple years and as a result has no activity in the book. 

I tried to make a deposit the morning of my appointment to update the bank book but was told it wouldn’t update until the next day ???? I did have a letter certifying the balance and also a 6 month statement. Of course this should have sufficed but you never know. I’m going to start making some quarterly deposits in the account to at least show some dated activity in the book and statements. 

I went back a couple weeks later on the date given for the stamp. Other than a very apologetic girl explaining she stamped the visa upside down in my passport, everything was pretty smooth.

*** Non IM O Visa Extension (Retirement) Questions:

a) When do I apply for the 1 year extension? With less than 30 days remaining (of the 90) or before the 30 days? A little confused on the requirements.

b) Looking at the requirements (https://www.immigration.go.th/en/?p=14714), it seems I only need the application and bank docs.  I believe the application is TM.7?  #5 & #6 are not applicable.

Documents to be submitted

1. Application form
2. Copy of applicant’s passport
3. Evidence of income such as a retirement pension, interest or dividends and/or
4. Fund deposit certificate issued by a commercial bank located in Thailand and a copy of bank account

Thanks again for all the previous support.

Regarding the housing requirements For the Non-O Retirement, it’s asking for:

a) Copy of house registration.

b) Rental receipt past three months.

c) Rental Agreement between the Applicant and the Landlord.

d)Location map of the house.

a) Is the house registration the TM30?

d) Can I just print a Google map with a pin dropped on the condo?

On 12/28/2022 at 2:24 PM, Andrew Dwyer said:

If you return visa exempt you will receive 45 days, when you still have more than 15 days remaining visit immigration to apply for an O visa ( valid for 90 days).
You will need 800k in a Thai bank on the day you apply.

If successful you will be asked to return around 15 days later ( possibly even the last day of your visa exempt stay ) to receive your O visa stamp .

With around 30 days of your O visa remaining return to immigration to apply for an extension based on retirement (?), normal requirements will be requested similar to your OA extensions only no insurance necessary.

 

Immigration may possibly request a home visit when you apply for the O visa .

Where do I apply for the O visa once I have my 45 day visa exempt? I’m in Bangkok.  I’m headed to KL this weekend. 
 

I really do try to Google these things and searching this forum is a little overwhelming. ????. 
 

I didn’t see the option on Immigration page and not clear the role of all the offices. ????

https://www.immigration.go.th/en/

On 12/28/2022 at 10:22 AM, Salerno said:

6th is OK.

 

Come back on the 7th (although personally I'd probably head to KL or Singapore for the weekend).

 

Just enter visa exempt from wherever you decide to go. You'll have plenty of time to convert to Non-O and then permission to stay. Pre covid, some IOs at Swampy and DMK were proving to be a pain to some people with multiple entries, unlikely IMO to affect you. But if more risk averse, land crossings do seem to have less hassle - avoiding certain ones - minds just gone blank but mentioned on various threads on here.

What’s the best way handle the conversation with the IMO?  If asked, do I say I live here etc?  They certainly can see the history with my retirement extensions and also that I left on the last day and came back in a few days later. 

5 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Returned visa exempt (30 days ).

Applied for an O visa after a few days .

Applied for extension based on retirement.

 

Thanks for the details. What / where was the process to apply for the O Visa after I’m back in country? I’m living in Bangkok. 
 

Looks like after I have the extension, I have to wait until the last 30 days, not before (?) to apply for the retirement. 
 

Thanks for all the responses. I see now I didn’t use the correct terminology. ????

I’ve had a Non IMM OA retirement visa for a couple years now. All required funds sitting in bank still. 

I do have a reentry permit which expires on 06-JAN, the same expiration date as my OA extension.

Need a little more help on when to leave/return. Confused with the reentry queering things up. 
 

a) Do I need to leave on the 5th or is the 6th OK and no overstay? 
 

b) I assume I need to come back on the 7th?  Not sure about what the meaning on my reentry permit “Valid until 06-JAN” implies. 
 

c) Get a tourist visa in Penang and come back or do a run somewhere and get a 45 day in Thailand as mentioned above?  Still confused with the dates / timing of it all. 
 

Thanks for the support. My little brain doesn’t really grasp a this. ????

I posted this before but can’t find my posts ????. Sorry..

I was planning on staying out of the country and let my Non IMM OA retirement extension expire, then come in on Tourist and apply for a Non IMM O.  
 

Anyway. I am now coming back to Thailand tomorrow (12/28). My OA extension expires on 1/6. 
 

If I leave Thailand again on maybe 1/5 and come back in a couple days later is it going to cause any red flags at immigration?  I assume I can say I didn’t want to overstay. 
 

Will I be able to come in on a Tourist visa, even know I’ve had an OA for a couple years and have been living in Thailand? My intention is to apply for an O Visa as soon as I can. 

Is insurance required for Non Imm O retirement if you get it in Thailand?  One of the main reasons to change was to avoid having to pay insurance on my OA visa. I guess I’m wondering what the differences are now. Looking online has only confused me more. ????

Thanks (again)

I arrived and have been on a Non IM O-A for a couple years now.  I am wondering if it makes sense to change to "O" in Thailand.  

Is it possible to change to O from O-A in Thailand?

I am currently out of Thailand with a re-entry permit.  My visa (re-entry) expires 1-2 weeks after I am planning on returning to Thailand.  I could possibly stay out of the country longer and let the visa expire if I had to.  May not be ideal but possible.

Thank you all for the initial reply and comments on the responses. All very helpful. 

I got my Non IMM O-A in the States last year and will renew in Bangkok this year. 
 

At the time I liked the idea of not having to move some funds to another account to satisfy the income requirement. I read that the income letter for the renewal needs to be certified from the embassy and that the US embassy is no longer doing this. Is this the case?
 

I’m thinking at this point to just keep 800K in an account at my Thai bank. Easiest option?

18 hours ago, Gulfsailor said:

I just received my second jab on Samui...

What was the process like? Long queue?  I’m in Samui now. Is it only for foreigners working in tourism, as you mentioned?

2 minutes ago, lom said:

You can if you have been registered as staying here by your hotel/landlord.

Thanks. Im looking for a place to rent for a month now. Any idea if the reporting is done quickly or if I can just bring a copy of the contract?  Can I do this in Samui?

Looking to rent a villa or small house for 1 month. Was thinking in Chaweng but open to other areas since this place is basically shuttered.

Any good resources for finding a place?

I’m living in Bangkok and was going to do my 90 day this week. It’s the first time so need to do in person as I understand.

Decided to stay in Samui for a while. Can I do the 90 day reporting in Samui or Surat Thani?

Are there any restrictions or requirements for domestic flight travel from DMK to Chiang Mai, Phuket etc and back to DMK?

COE 

On 12/18/2020 at 1:31 PM, farangkrab said:

So I got my non-immigrant O-A visa.  It took 10 work days to get my passport with visa back.  The process for the DC website is to then upload a copy of the visa to the form already completed online, to apply for the COE.

 

Does any have experience on how long the COE approval takes after re-submitting?

My COE arrived today.  Took 3 working days  ????

My flight is in 3 weeks.  Now I just have to hope Thailand stays open and my flight doesn't cancel ????

16 hours ago, SEAsia Traveler said:

I thought the COE would be issued simultaneously with the new visa. So another step required to get the COE? I didn't know that. They have your flight arrival date already, right? TiT.

 

Did you receive any communication from DC between the time you mailed your passport and got it back?

I assumed the COE & visa would be issued the same time as well.  After the visa was issued I received an email that said I need to now apply for the COE.  They give you the same link you used to upload all the docs originally, including the flight details etc.  This time you select "have visa" and eventually upload a copy of it.  You do not have to re-enter any details as it's all still on the form you filled out originally.  In my case I had to change (and upload) the flight and ASQ, as my flight was cancelled from when I had originally submitted the docs for the visa. Good times..

The communication was great when I applied online at DC.  Unfortunately this was not the case when I sent in my passport and docs.  There was no communication that anything was received and the only communication was 10 working days later when they said the visa was issued.  Made me a little nervous...

So I got my non-immigrant O-A visa.  It took 10 work days to get my passport with visa back.  The process for the DC website is to then upload a copy of the visa to the form already completed online, to apply for the COE.

Does any have experience on how long the COE approval takes after re-submitting?

Decided to apply for my non-immigrant O-A visa here in the States.  The documents required is overwhelming but managed to get them together.  The primary motivation was to be able to keep the funds required in my brokerage account and not sit in a Thai bank.  Depending how things work out, I may apply for the O-X next year and move the funds anyway. ????

Applying for the visa online on the DC website proved challenging as both Safari and Chrome both kept crashing.  I ended up using Microsoft Edge (for Mac) and it went through without any issues.   After submitting the doc's, I received a response the following morning!  One doc was omitted and after uploading it, again got a response the following morning and asked to mail in my passport and documentation.  The processing time was impressive.

My question is after I send in my passport, how fast can I expect to receive it back?  I am going to be traveling and need an idea which location to have it sent.  If it's anything like the online processing, it could be quite fast.

xoxo

49 minutes ago, at15 said:

I booked my flight from USA to Bangkok on Delta Air website. The connection is in South Korea. Is this fine or are there only certain flights you can use when applying for tourist visa?

I just got off the phone with Korean Air, as I'm trying to sort a flight myself.  Their semi-commercial flights are once a week for Nov/Dec.  If you booked after that there's a chance the flight may get canceled/rescheduled depending on current climate.  They're hopeful to resume daily flights in Jan but its anyone guess.

I am going to book a flight with them mid Jan and hope for the best.  I don't remember the process of what you need to do to update the COE if you have a flight change.  Good times..

If I get the Non-Immigrant Visa Category “O-A” here in the US, will I be able to extend it yearly in BKK?  I'm about to submit the docs as soon as I confirm my flight and ASQ.

7 hours ago, Carmine6 said:

I did use the website link on the DC Embassy that has the pull down for the State at the t

» Online Application for Thailand Visa and Certificate of Entry (COE) (thaiembdc.org)

 

Helpful links.  Thanks.  When I got to the DC Embassy page for uploading docs it requested everything.  ASQ, flight ticket etc.  Since I don't know if my Non OA visa will be approved smoothly, I'm concerned about booking a flight ahead of time.  Many airlines have relaxed (or eliminated) change fees, so perhaps not an issue.

-Did you have your flight booked when applying?  

-What deposit did you make for your ASQ? Looks like there are options for ASQ's with minimal deposits.  Hopefully they allow date changes if necessary.

Any good sites for Semi Commercial flights other than this one? https://thaiest.com/blog/semi-commercial-flights-to-thailand-november-2020

2 hours ago, MAF666 said:

I took the Thai Embassy in Canberra online 12 month option for thb14400.

No questions re this policy, straight through...well it took 3.5 hours...

Do you have a link for the insurance you used?  I went to the Canberra site but didn't see it.  Thanks