The Great Tortoise

What is the best streaming/TV service for watching tournaments such as the French Open, Wimbledon etc? A friend suggested "True Box" but I am interested if there are other options.

So "First Entry" (on the Thai govt website) actually means "Most Recent Entry" or "Latest Entry" or even "Last Entry" lol, not "First time you use this visa" then. Interesting use of words. Anyway, there have been some good tips here. I seem to have unwittingly riled some people up so I'll give this a rest and I'll report back as and when we get this bank account sorted out.

It seems that the plain meaning of the Thai government web site (5.1) is actually wrong then!

The problem is that reading forum posts and even articles like in the Thaiger, you get heaps of conflicting information, so we have been using the official Thai government site as the source of truth. (Echoes of Jacinda Ardern lol!) Stepping aside from the O vs OA debate for a moment, and focussing on the 1 year vs 2 years allowable with the OA -- The key line on the government website is this: But this contradicts just about everything else that I am reading. The Thai version of the government site says first entry too, so I am a bit pissed off if this is in fact incorrect.

I'm not trying to argue with you here. I'm trying to figure out what the correct information is in a field that seems to be rife with contradictions and conflicting information and opinions.

On the other hand, this site seems to confirm what you are saying: https://www.thethailandlife.com/o-a-visa-guide

I understand this difference. However, it does look like the period of stay dates from the date of first entry, so even if she were to go out and come back in again, her new entry stamp would still be dated to 12 months from her first entry, which was last week, according to 5.1. I don't read it as saying that she will get 12 months each time on each new entry.

That's not really a problem. We have included health insurance as part of the essential costs of living outside of the UK. Even in the UK, with how the NHS now, health insurance would be a good idea, but that is to go off topic. Even if it were not a requirement for permit extensions, we would be taking it out anyway.

Yes, that is her plan. She applied for a one-year OA retirement visa which allowed her to receive a stamp for 12 months on arrival. She wishes to continue to renew every year, just as I do as a person married to a Thai national. She doesn't need to renew until next May but she will need to deposit her 800,000 at least 60 days before she applies for the extension. I was excited by the suggestion that it could be used for 2 years without extension but that suggestion seems to be contradicted by this web page: https://www.mfa.go.th/en/page/non-immigrant-visa-o-a?menu=5e1ff71bc4281a00c812e8e2 5. Recommendations for foreigners with Non-Immigrant Visa “O-A” (Long Stay) while staying in the Kingdom 5.1 Upon arrival, holder of this type of visa will be permitted to stay in Thailand for 1 year from the date of first entry. (Emphasis mine.)

Thank you for this tip. It confirms the pattern that it is better to go to a place with a lot of foreigners. I am beginning to suspect that the bank staff in NST are aware that there are tighter rules for foreigners since 2023 but they see so few foreigners that they don't realise that some foreigners on e-visas do not have physical visa stickers.

This is a non-O A based on retirement. Of course yes, but "Marriage Visa" was the shorthand I used in the chat for my own situation, which is not really relevant to my mother's process. I am doing precisely what you described, of course.

Fantastic! I'll try them!

OH MY GOSH! I need to check this out! This is new information! THANK YOU! (And sorry for shouting!)

Nakhon Si Thammarat Immigration Office. They have been as helpful as they can be. I have been dealing with them for three years for my own extensions and they've always been super helpful to me.

We will try some branches over in Phuket and see if we have more success in an area with more foreigners. Thank you for the tip about Krungsri.

I am on a marriage visa. I have been renewing it without any problems for three years now. My mother is on a newly-minted e-Visa from the Thai Embassy in London.

My mother's entry stamp is for one year so she will need to extend next May. However, we want to get started on this process now rather than in a big rush later on. We tried my own branch first and you are quite right -- a Savings account should in theory be available for her given her documentation. However, the lack of a physical visa sticker was their reason for ไม่ได้. The lack of a printed visa sticker in her passport was cited at the other banks and branches we visited. This is in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Thank you for the recommendation. The pattern I am seeing is to approach a bank branch in an area frequented by foreigners.

Thank you.

This is an encouraging response! Do you mind if I ask which Krungsri branch you went to?

My mother has just moved to Thailand from the UK on an O-A Retirement visa, issued before she left, to live with us. In order to extend it she needs to open a bank account. Of course, there are the usual difficulties with this, but there is now a new one. The London Embassy no longer issues physical visas. They only issue E-visas, which you must apply for online. There is therefore no visa sticker in her passport, only an entry stamp with her visa type scrawled in biro by the officer. Of course, an entry stamp is relatively easy to fake, so the banks are not accepting her passport because there is no visa sticker. We have a print-out of her e-visa and a certificate of residence from the immigration office but without the physical visa sticker we are just getting ไม่ได้ at every branch we try. If we really can't open an account for her she will have to shell out for an Elite visa. Has anyone else had this problem?