Red Phoenix

I only see one aggressive monkey on the first picture...

Two questions for clarification of what you wrote: #1 - Did you have a Re-Entry Permit when you last entered Thailand? Without such re-entry permit the Visa you had is being voided, and you then receive a Visa Exempt 45-day permit to stay. #2 - Is your Passport validity shorter than the Permit to stay that the Non Imm O-A Visa entry would provide you? That might explain the 26 October permit you received, instead of a 13 December one.

Hi Mike, sorry my bad. You are correct that when using https://onwardticket.com/ you can buy the onward-flight reservation booking in advance and have it scheduled to be delivered immediately or on the day of your choice. And that reservation will only be cancelled 2 or 3 days before that onward-flight 'departure' date. I seem to recall that there are some onward-flight service companies that cancel it automatically 2 or 3 days after they sent the reservation to you, and in that case you should of course order it close to your departure date.

Those that plan to stay longer term - like the Russians you mention - will still apply for the extensions but only do it 15 days later, so Immigration is not loosing 3 million THB, they will only get it 15 days later. And for those that do not intend to stay longer than 30 days, it doesn't matter. So imo the premisse to up the 30-day to 45-days in order to entice Tourists to plan for a longer stay than 30 days in Thailand, was indeed correct. Thai Immigration could do a database query to see how many tourists did return to their destination in the period of 30 to 45 days after their Visa Exempt entry. The number of days from those that did stay longer than 30 days, would be a fair indicator whether the scheme was succesful. I know that it was a temporary measure, but they might consider prolonging it when that indicator showed a considerable number of 'extra days' spent in Thailand

WHY should the Visa waiver entry scheme be abolished??? Five years ago, before I migrated to Thailand, I always did 'short-cut' my holidays to the Land of Smiles to 30 days (because as a genuine Tourist I was not aware of the extension option). If the 45-days Visa Exempt option would have been available, I would have used the full 35 days of my 5-weeks holidays. In Europe 5 or 6 weeks holidays are not uncommon and being able to spend the full period in Thailand without any Immigration hassle would indeed result in some tourists staying longer (which was the intent of the 45-days instead of 30-days Visa Exempt entry)

It will also depend in which province you plan to reside. The requirements for the 65.000 THB income method vary depending on where you apply, and some provincial Imm Offices require that the +65K is wired monthly by your pension provider. Also when applying using that method you would need to show a history of 12 months of payments on your Thai personal bank-account, so that would probably rule out the income option as you do not have a Thai bank-account yet. An option could be that you apply for the 1-year Non Imm O Visa at the Thai Embassy/Consulate in your home-country. In that case you need to be +50 years of age when you apply and have to show +800K on a bank-account (not necessarily Thai) and a source of monthly income. So you could then start with the +65K monthly income transfers once you are in Thailand and opened a bank-account here. You would probably also have to apply for a 30-day extension on your entry 1-year Permit to stay, to ensure that you will get at least 12 monthly transfers by the time your 1-year Permit to stay will expire. All in all, the simplest least hassle option is to enter Thailand Visa Exempt and then make use of a 'fixer' Visa agent to help you secure the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement followed by the 1-year extension. The going price for such 15 month 'peace of mind' package is approx 40.000 THB, as the Visa agent will need a large chunk of that money to circumvent the financial requirements by bribing the Imm Officer to overlook that you do not meet the requirements.

Tourists are generally not aware of the 30-day extension option, and when they plan their holiday in Thailand the information they get access to only mentions 2 options: entering Visa Exempt (with a 30-day or 45-day Permit to stay provided on arrival) or applying for a 60-day Tourist Visa at the Thai Embassy/Consulate of their home-country. So the 30-day Visa Exempt option is indeed a (small) money maker for the Thai Embassies/Consulates or the Imm Offices. But it might make some tourists opt for a max 30 day holiday even if they had the intention to stay longer, so the Thai tourist industry would be better off when tourists did stay longer and not opt to short-cut their stay to max 30 days.

When you plan to stay longer in Thailand than the 45 or 30 day Permit to stay you would receive on entry, as you plan to do, be aware that at your departure airport in order to let you board the airline will want to see that you have an 'onward' flight out of the country on a date PRIOR to the Permit to stay you will receive from Thai border immigration will expire. So if your return flight is past the Permit to stay expiry date (like in your case), you would also need to have a 'burner' ticket from Thailand to an international destination. You can buy on-line such a fully legit flight-reservation for approx 10-15 US $. This needs to be done on the day of your departure flight or previous day, as the companies providing that service automatically cancel your reservation 48 or 72 hours after you paid for it by credit-card. Since you would be in Thailand already by that time, there's no problem with that and even if your Airline or Thai border immigration would check the validity of that 'onward flight' they would find it on the airline's booking system so no problem and fully legit. Also as mentioned before by other posters, when you plan to stay longer than the 30 or 45 day Permit to stay you would receive on entry by Thai border-immigration, you can visit ANY Immigration Office to buy a 30-day extension (1.900,- THB). Immigration will most probably require that you show a TM-30 slip of the place where you are staying. So simply ask one at the Hotel where you are staying before heading to Immigration (you don't need to do it close to Permit validity expiry, as the 30 days extension is ADDED to that expiry date). Note that if you are staying with friends you might thus have to find a cheap Hotel that can provide you with that TM-30 slip (you don't even have to sleep there, so they might be willing to give it to you for a huge discounted room-price fee).

There is actually no reason for the OP to apply at the Thai Embassy in PnomPenh for a Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement. But since he already started the process he could as well follow it through. But it is no problem at all if the OP gets turned down (or decides not to continue with his application anymore in PnomPenh). The process to follow then is that OP simply has to re-enter Thailand Visa Exempt which will provide him with a 45-day Permit to stay stamped in his passport by Thai border Immigration. And then he would have to apply at the Imm Office of the province where he plans to reside, when he still has at least 15 days left on that Permit to stay (some Imm Offices require 21 or 23 days). OP wrote 'I have well over 800K in Bangkok Bank for over a year'. Normally when applying for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa at his provincial Imm Office, the applicant has to provide evidence that +800K are on a Thai bank-account at moment of application, AND that these funds originated from abroad. However, in this case, with the funds already seasoned for more than 1 year that proof of foreign origin should be waved by the Imm Officer handling his application.

You are correct: It's indeed also an option when his 1-year extension is due, to apply for a different reason than marriage (if his wife is not willing to accompagny him), and apply for reason of retirement using the income-method. In that case he does need to provide evidence that he received monthly income over the past 12 months, that meets the requirements. As the requirements for such application based on monthly income, slightly differ from province to province, it would be recommended that you get hold of the requirements for such switch of extension from marriage to retirement at your provincial Imm Office, to check whether he would actually be eligible for such application.

You can spare yourself the effort to go to Immigration to check this. It is indeed correct that the spouse needs to be present when applying for a 1-year extension of your Non Imm O Visa for reason of Marriage. But even if Immigration would allow it, he would not be able to switch to a Retirement extension, because in such case he would have to show that he not only meets the 2 month 400K 'seasoning' requirement for the Marriage extension, but ALSO the 12 month required Funds for the Retirement extension (i.e. 800K/400K over the last 12 months). A 'fixer' Agent might help him out on that one. And alternatively also a border-run and returning VisaExempt would allow him to start with a fresh slate, and apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement subsequently followed by the 1-year extension application. But of course that would mean that he would be able to provide evidence of 800K on his personal Thai bank-account (with foreign origins proven, i.e. being transfered from abroad). Bottom line: When you are skint, there is only one option and that is engaging a fixer Agent.

If he gets or fears death-threats from his wife (e.g. so that she can get hold of his possessions) then of course he should move asap to another part of the country, as staying in the region where he now lives would then be dangerous. If that is the case he could - as I mentioned in an earlier response - then apply for a Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement and do that in another province after having done a border-run. So there is no need for an illegal entry into Thailand, with all the associated consequences.

Re address, it's correct that the landlord of the place he will be renting has to report that a foreigner is staying there. But that does not mean that your friend must do a 'change of address' at Immigration. He can always say that this is his studio, and that his official address for Immigration purposes is still with his wife, so no need to change that.

Hi Owl, sorry but you really have to be at your wit's end with all other options exhausted, to consider doing that. Having illegally entered Thailand, you would have to be constantly on the look-out as your passport would not have any permit to stay. So when you are involved in an accident or the Police asks to see your passport, it would be Game Over. And there would not even be an option to legalize your situation as you won't be able to leave Thailand without border Immigration stamping you out (and they will immediately see your status).

There will be no problems for your friend staying in Thailand on his current Non Imm O extension for reason of marriage. The issue is that he will not be able to renew that extension himself, when his wife is not willing to help him with that application. But there is of course the option that he engages a Visa Agent to do the Marriage extension application for him. The fee for that service will be higher when he does not have the required 400K seasoned on his personal Thai bank-account for at least two months prior to the date of application. If he is over 50 years of age, there is also the alternative to do a border-run when his current permission to stay is due to expire. And then return Visa exempt (can be done same day) which will provide him with a 30-day Permit to stay. If by that time he has the +800K on his personal bank-account, he could then apply for a 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement, and at the end of those 90-days then apply for the 1-year extension for reason of retirement. If he does not have the required funds, he could in that case also make use of a 'fixer' Visa Agent, to get him the 'retirement' Visa and subsequent extension.

Did sent you a PM

Of course you can stop using an Agent. I never used an Agent. Neither for my initial 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement application, nor for the yearly extensions of that Visa. It goes without saying that in such case you need to fully meet the Immigration requirements for these applications. Note, that when you made use of an Agent that by-passed the financial requirements (evidence of +800K/+400K on your Thai bank-account in the past 12 months), that you would need to meet those requirements before being able to do your next extension yourself. Alternatively, you would have to make a border-run to 'kill' your current Permission to Stay, then return Visa Exempt, and apply 'with a clean sheet' for a new 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement subsequently - 3 months later - followed by your 1-year extension.

The Mea Culpa should come from you, as dr Jack was fully correct. To clear up any misunderstandings: When applying for the 1-year extension of your Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement you need to show TWO PIECES of evidence that you met the financial requirements: # That you have a personal Thai bank-account on which you keep the required funds - that's the Bank Statement issued by your thai Bank that shows that you are the owner of a Thai Bank-account and the balance on the day that Statement was issued. So you need to do a transaction on the day of application such that the Balance reflects your current status on date of application. # That you maintained the required funds for the 12 months preceding your application (the first 3 months keeping +800K, the next 7 months you are allowed to lower that amount as long as it does not slip below +400K, and then again +800K for the last two months preceding your application). To provide evidence of that some Immigration Offices simply want to see your Bank Pass-book (updated on the day of application) so that they can check that you met the requirement over the past 12 months. But many Immigration Offices want on top of the Pass-book that you also provide a Bank-transaction Statement issued by your Bank, which shows all the transactions that were made on your Bank-account in the past 12 months. The transaction made on the day of application might not be on that Bank-transaction Statement when you kept the funds on a Fixed Deposit Account and got hold of it on day of application, but document #1 your Bank-Statement will provide the Balance on day of application

And the obvious question whether the train driver was mandated to take the jabs in order to keep his job was not addressed. But the fact that he needed CPR is already an indication...

He used incorrect terminology, but everybody understands that he is referring to a Visa Exempt entry which will provide you with a 45-day Permit to stay stamped in your passport by Thai Immigration on entry. Note that it is not decided yet by Thai Immigration, whether such Visa Exempt 45-day Permit to stay on entry will be prolonged after 31 March. If not it will be back to the previous 30-day Permit to stay on entry.

To illustrate the 'unpleasantness' which they might be facing. > If Immigration is very lenient - the minimum would be that they will have to leave Thailand asap (Immigration would in that case probably provide them with a 7-day permit to enable them to organize themselves and leave). That is because their invalid Permit to stay makes it impossible for them to apply for a new Visa or extension (as they cannot meet the requirements for such new application), hence they have to leave Thailand in order to start from scratch again. In that case a border-run would provide them with a Visa Exempt entry, and that VE Permit to stay would then allow them to apply again for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa, but this time it has of course to be fully legit (with required funds in bank). The above would be the very minimum, but it is well possible that they would on top also have to pay a hefty fine for over-stay < all the time that they stayed in Thailand on that non-valid Visa/extension >. And if Immigration really wants to set an 'example' deportation and a ban to enter Thailand for x years could be their fate.

Chiang Mai Nakhon Ratchasima Khon Kaen Sakhon Nakorn Chaiyaphum Kalasin Phrae Yasothon and Roi-Et.

You probably meant PRIOR to the 45 days. The onward ticket to a destination outside Thailand should be on a date PRIOR to the expiry date of the 45-day Permit to stay stamped in your passport by Thai border-immigration on entry. An on-line onward-ticket only costs approx 12-15 US $, and is delivered instantly to your e-mail box after your credit-card payment. It is a fully legit means of meeting the requirement as it is an ACTUAL reservation, but the companies providing that service automatically cancel the reservation 48 or 72 hours after purchase. That's no issue because by that time you are already in Thailand, when you buy the onward-ticket the day before your Thailand bound flight departs.

Does that Agent provide an extension gotten at Pattaya Immigration, or does he get your extension in an up-country Imm Office where he has connections (e.g. one of the 9 ones that are currently under scrutiny)?

It is correct that Thai Immigration has condoned the practice to continue for decades. But that doesn't make it legal. And occasionally a precedent has to be set to show-case that they are not allowing corruption. Those cases are often triggered as a result of internal Immigration strife/jealousy, or when some Officers become too greedy, or are not providing the 'fair share' of their shenanigans to higher-ups. But the point is of course that applicants that got an 'invalid' Permit to stay, because the Agent they used bribed an Imm Officer to overlook that the requirements for providing the Permit were not met, can - and have been in the past - become collateral damage in such an internal Immigration clean-up exercise.