jfchandler

Well, I suppose one of two things is possible...

Either they've changed the rules since the time of your encounters, or their web site requirements are out of date... Either or both is a reasonable likelihood...

I'll note, on the Thai Embassy web site, they still show Suan Plu as the BKK Immigration office... so they're a bit behind the times...

When I look at the Embassy web site re all the various visas....

The B business visa and the regular O visa -- "To stay with the family, perform duties for the state enterprise or social welfare organizations, to receive medical treatment, to be a sport coach as required by Thai Government, to be a contestant or witness for the judicial process" -- say nothing about needing police or medical certificates...

It's only in their sections on the O-A retirement visas where those two requirements show up...both on the L.A. Consulate web site and the Wash DC Embassy one.

Curiously, the Thai Embassy in Wash DC has the same language re the required medical and police certifs, but seems to require one less set of copies... again...for the O-A. And they also don't appear to have the same notarizing requirement as Los Angeles... Geez!!!

Required Documents:- (Required 3 sets: 1 original and 2 copies)

- Your actual Passport or Travel Document. (Passport or Travel Document must not expire within 6 months and contain at least ONE completely empty visa page).

- Visa application form completely filled out (download)

- Addition Application form (download)

- A medical certificate showing no prohibitive diseases as indicated in the Ministerial Regulation No.14 (B.E. 2535) certificate shall be valid for not more than three months (download)

- Three passport-size photographs (2"x2") (photocopy or photo taken from Photostat will not be accepted). Photographs must have a light color background with a full- face view of the person without wearing a hat or dark glasses. Photos must be taken within 6 months.

- A copy of bank statement or evidence of adequate finance showing a deposit of the amount equal to and not less than 800,000 Baht or an income certificate (an original copy) with a monthly income of not less than 65,000 Baht, or a deposit account plus a monthly income totaling not less than 800,000 Baht

- In the case of submitting a bank statement, a letter of guarantee from the bank (an original copy) is required

- A letter of verification stating that the applicant has no criminal record (verification shall be valid for not more than three months)

- In the case where the accompanying spouse is not eligible to apply for the Category 'O-A' (Long Stay) visa, he or she will be considered for temporary stay under Category 'O' visa. A marriage certificate must be provided as evidence

http://www.thaiembdc...on-Imglong.aspx

SR, here's the O-A visa requirements listed on the Los Angeles Consulate's web site:

Required documents (*** One original set and 3 sets of copies. Requested documentation 5–7 must be notarized.***)

1. Four visa application forms |Download|

2. Four passport-type photos (Passport-type photo, 2” x 2”, color, front-view, taken within 6 months, and write your name and last name on the back of each photo).

3. Four copies of the applicant's passport (the picture page) - include the actual passport when submitting the application. Passport must be valid for at least 18 more months.

4. Four copies of Personal Data Form. |Download|

*5. Four copies of:

- applicant's bank statement (U.S.) showing a balance in the amount of not less than 800,000 Baht (current Thai exchange rate is available from the Bank of Thailand web site)

- or an income certificate with a monthly salary of not less than 65,000 Baht

- or a combination of a deposit account plus a monthly income totaling not less than 800,000 Baht a year.

(When submitting the bank statement, a letter from the bank verifying the account and balance is to be presented)

*6. Four copies of police verification stating the applicant has no criminal record issued by the authority concerned of his/her nationality or residence. The verification must not be more than three months old.

*7. Four copies of the completed medical certificate form |Download| issued from the country where the application is submitted, showing no prohibitive diseases as indicated in the Ministerial Regulation No. 14 (B.E. 2535) with the name and address of the doctor. The certificate must be not be older than 3 months.

8. Effective Immediately - The visa fee for Non-Immigrant O-A Long-Stay (Retirement) visa is $175 - payable by cashiers check or money order only made payable to "Royal Thai Consulate General - Los Angeles"

If the applicant's spouse will be accompanying him or her, a copy of the applicant's valid marriage certificate must be presented as supporting documentation. If the applicant's spouse is not qualified for the retirement visa (e.g. not age 50+), the spouse will be considered for the Non-Immigrant Visa Type “O” or Temporary Residents.

http://www.thaiconsulatela.org/service_visa_detail.aspx?link_id=48

Lop.. if someone is currently living in the U.S. and is eligible for retirement here and wants to come here... how do you see the merits of:

a: starting with a tourist visa, which is easily obtained without all the O visa hoops in the U.S., and then doing the conversion to retirement extension once in Thailand

vs

b: starting with the O type retirement visa issued by a Thai Consulate in the U.S., jumping thru the hoops there, and then not having to do anything once here.

One main difference to me with the tourist visa approach is not having to hassle with the medical and police clearances in the U.S.

Another is that the retirement extension here, once issued, doesn't have 90 day border runs... Whereas the O visa based on retirement issued in the U.S. does, if I'm not mistaken.

But perhaps there are other considerations that balance or tip the scales.

JFC, that option has been around nearly as long as the option to convert from a Tourist visa. The form for doing so (TM87) is entitled "Application for Visa," while the form for converting from a Tourist visa (TM86) is "Application for Change of Visa." Both require the same information.

Just come into Thailand without a visa (visa-exempt 30-day entry) and do the whole process to retirement extension in one go a couple of days after you arrive There really is no need to waste any time visiting a Thai Embassy in the US and messing around to fulfil their requirements. The non-O will cost 2000 baht (approx US $67).

You would think so -- until that pesky airline asks you to show an exit ticket, since you don't have a visa. And, of course, since you plan to apply for an extension, exiting is not on your horizon.

This is an interesting discussion... When I think re the visa related advice offered over time by the veterans/experts here, my impression has been the conversion discussion has typically been recommended to go from a tourist visa to an extension... vs going from a visa exempt entry to an extension...

Is the potential airlines issue the reason for that... or something else driving that approach?

Lots of things may be possible to do... But the question is, under the circumstances, what's the best way to get to the end point.

I didn't consider that problem as I've never had a problem coming into Thailand without an exit ticket. I suppose you'd have to find a less pesky airline or worst case scenario by a cheap exit ticket to a neighboring country, or buy a refundable ticket to somewhere.

I've had it go both ways...on flights from the U.S. to Thailand...

Two trips back, on the return leg involving an L.A. to BKK flight, American Airlines got all fussy and said they couldn't find the Thailand visa in my passport... They didn't want to let me check-in without it... I had a retirement extension and re-entry permit.

I pointed those out to them, and they finally relented... But it struck me as being odd, because that check-in was for the RETURN trip back to Thailand... not the outbound one... And, I never needed or got to the point of talking to them about 30 day visa exempt entries....

Other times, other airlines have never asked or cared.

My opinion of THAI has nothing to do with their selection of magazine subscriptions (which I've never used or received) or anything else about their ROP program.

Rather, it has to do with their excessively inflated ticket prices, mediocre service and less than mediocre cabin amenities.In other words, speaking as someone who pays for his own international air travel, they provide NO value for my money.

Just come into Thailand without a visa (visa-exempt 30-day entry) and do the whole process to retirement extension in one go a couple of days after you arrive There really is no need to waste any time visiting a Thai Embassy in the US and messing around to fulfil their requirements. The non-O will cost 2000 baht (approx US $67).

Tropo, I was under the impression that, to obtain a retirement based extension of stay from Immigration in BKK, that the applicant needed to already have a Non-Immigrant or Tourist Visa in hand.... I didn't think a person could start from a visa exempt entry into Thailand and convert that into an extension in country, even if the person is eligible for the extension. Did something change about that somewhere along the way?

TO: jfchandler. Thanks for pointing out my misstep, but I am glad i did that, because of the Consulate being my "buffer zone" I am glad you pointed me

in the right direction. That is very doable. The problem (if it is one at all) is that under the program DOJ will go to the extent of denying my existence. Thankfully

AFAIK, no one has to confirm or deny your existence, as you put it..

If we're talking about applying for a retirement visa at a Thai consulate in the U.S., in terms of income, you just have to show documents that prove you have sufficient income... you don't need personal references.

However, one difference about retirement extensions of stay issued inside Thailand vs. retirement visas issued outside Thailand... At least the last time I checked, one of the differences about retirement visas issued in the U.S. is that the Thai consulates there typically have wanted the applicant to provide both a medical certificate and a police records clearance...meaning, showing that you're not some kind of convicted criminal who wouldn't fit well into polite Thai society. Dunno how that latter issue would fit with your situation.

If you do qualify for a retirement extension of stay, there is another way to go... And that is, starting in the U.S., apply for a regular tourist visa from the Thai consulate there, which doesn't require any particular income or police clearances. And then, once inside Thailand on the tourist visa, you can go to Immigration in Bangkok and have the tourist visa converted to a non immigrant visa and then to an extension of stay based on retirement (usually all in the same day, or sometimes, requiring a second visit) -- assuming you're 50 years or older and meet the income requirements. No police or medical checks required in the latter method.

.

"It's too bad there isn't some way to better correct or remove such blatantly erroneous posts as the OP in this thread"

Not only that! - It's getting worse -- the following was published a few days ago in what many believe to be Pattaya's ONLY credible newspaper.

http://pattaya-times...visa-extensions

.

Thanks SR... That looks to be pretty much a verbatim re-do of the original post here on TV...

That's the problem with bad information that's left "officially" un-corrected. It has a tendency to spread and get further repeated, just magnifying the original misinformation.

i asked same question a week ago,come to the conclusion it must be some sort of publicity stunt,to build up web traffic on tv.

And/or business for the consulting business involved.

Lucy, if you're applying for a retirement extension of stay based on monthly income, Thai Immigration typically won't ask to see your backup income documentation, though they can ask if they choose to.

What they will want to see for sure is a standard income letter you'd obtain for about $50 from the U.S. Consulate in BKK in which you swear under oath the correct amount of your total monthly income, whatever that figure is. And then that's the document you provide to Thai Immigration as part of your annual extension of stay application.

As long as the income is ongoing, recurring, it doesn't much matter what the source is, presuming of course that it's legal.

I guess I should add, since you seem to be a newcomer here...

The discussion in this thread is about retirement based extensions of stay, which are issued by Thai Immigration to people already residing inside Thailand.

If someone is residing outside Thailand, then they'd need to obtain a "O" visa based on retirement from a Thai Consulate, typically in their home country. The rules and requirements are somewhat similar, but the visa and extension of stay are two different and separate things.

In the case of the retirement visa, you'd be providing other kinds of income documentation to the Thai Consulate where you're applying, usually in the form of bank statements or pension letters and such.

In the case of retirement based extensions of stay that typically follow after an original visa, you'd be providing the U.S. consulate letter verifying your income to Thai Immigration once you're already staying in Thailand.

I went back and checked, and it turned out I had used Shipito to send a new, low-priced/special deal, standard-sized laptop (not netbook) last fall...via USPS Global Priority.

The total package weight came in at 9 lbs and 5 oz... The total Shipito charge was about $85, including about $71 for USPS Global Priority postage, Shipito's standard $8.50 processing fee, and then another $5-plus in misc charges they tack on. Then once in Thailand, Thai Post wanted another $18 for duty, amounting to about 6% of the purchase price/value, and I had to go to the regional post office to pay the duty and pick up my box. Thus the total shipping/handling/tax charge was a bit over $100 U.S.

In the end, I paid a total of about $380, or about 11,500 baht, for a new 15 inch display laptop with Win 7 64 bit pre-installed and all the other normal items. I probably could have come close to that here, though it might have been hard to do with a name brand, as was the model I shipped. But I felt like I got a good deal in any event.

I was a bit nervous about how the laptop would arrive, in terms of its condition. But it was packed for mailing to my U.S. address by the seller, and then just sent onward by Shipito...and the box arrived without any dents or dings... And the interior laptop box was well cushioned within the exterior shipping box.

It's too bad there isn't some way to better correct or remove such blatantly erroneous posts as the OP in this thread...

TV members and visitors are going to be reading the big headline and warning on the OP.... but then have to wade thru 30 plus long pages of misc posts to finally learn that, at least thus far based on multiple first-person reports by TV members who have sought extensions subsequent to the OP, none of its dire claims of changes that supposedly had already occurred have proven to be true.

And of course, no explanation or reconciling from the OP of how/why its claims are totally at odds with what TV members are experiencing first hand.

For example, if the source of the OP came back and posted here saying, "Well, that's what Immigration told us they were going to do, but now they've backed off or delayed implementing that..." Or... "Well, our source told us that's what was happening, but it doesn't appear to be the case...." Those kinds of things anyone can understand, as everyone's human and prone to errors.

But thus far, the silence is deafening.

Maybe not as many as Negreanu, but I've used Shipito for a lot of package deliveries here... They've never lost one of my packages, never had one unduly delayed, never had one damaged in transit... At least not yet.

The best deal they have going is their Shipito Airmail service, which you can use on packages with a maximum combined dimension of up to 35 inches total. The shipping prices for that, while not trackable, are dirt cheap, and not one of the Shipito Airmail packages I've ever sent, which are delivered by your regular Thai mailman to your door, have had ANY duty or tax imposed.

With larger packages, you have the choice of trackable shipping via USPS or FedEx. In my experience, I've always had no or lower duties on boxes sent via USPS Global Priority Mail, and my experience with Fed-Ex has been horrible in terms of CIF charges imposed. Others apparently have had a different experience with Fed-Ex, but I simply won't use them based on my past bad experience with them.

Pib, so as part of the 20 Mb plan, True provided you with a Cisco B/G band router?

They didn't even spring for an N?

On my recent trip abroad, I bought a pair of refurb Cisco E1000 N band wifi routers from CircuitCity.com for about $20 apiece.... one as a gift and one to take home as a backup to my Linksys 160N wifi router.

That way, I can run my N router in N-only mode for my N laptops, and run the backup router in mixed B/G mode that works fine with the B/G smartphones in the house.

I'm getting a bit confused now. The map I posted at page 3 shows 1 city named CHANG RAI, is that the one you meant and you just made a typo or the one you mentioned is another smaller one?

Ohh Boy.....

What I find interesting is this election bringing out people who haven't voted in years... seems the things at stake resonate with more than the usual activist voters.

Well, I'm not sure my wife's situation bears that out....

I know she has definite views not in sympathy with the Red movement, even though she is from Khon Kaen originally...

But this is the first national election, I think, since we've been together. So when I asked her about voting, I was surprised to learn she'd never ever voted before, and hadn't made any plans to vote in this election...

So I was pressing her that she ought to do something about it... But her response was to talk about being busy at work, and not really interested to pursue it...

There's an old saying that "People get the governments that they deserve." Unfortunately in Thailand, that seems exceptionally true.

Here's the applicable language from Sunbelt's post:

New applicants for work permits will now be required to provide proof of their Education Certificate (BA, BS, MA, MS, PhD) and a reference letter from the previous employer confirming employment.

That seems to be saying they'd want a reference letter from a person's prior employer when they apply for a new permit with a new employer. Don't know what that is supposed to mean about the person's current/intended employer.

That does seem a bit odd... A reference letter from the company involved in the current permit application makes sense. A reference letter from some past employer not part of the current application, at least to me, makes no sense.

It's the same kind of thing as the education certificate deal... presumably they mean, if the applicant has such a certificate or their job requires one. But the Sunbelt language hardly is clear on that point.

Based on 30+ pages of posts in the main TV thread on the subject, the reports of some changes to the retirement extensions process appear to be unfounded (translate that as "false"), at least based on various TV member reports from the past week or two since the original report surfaced.

The part about prior employer info also made me wonder...

If someone was applying for a NEW, first-time permit with some company, I can imagine the MoL asking for some reference from the prior employer.

But if someone is applying for a renewal with their current employer, it would seem kind of senseless to be asking for anything from the employer prior to the current one.

I'm guessing they mean a reference letter from the current employer in the case of renewals...

But maybe someone from Sunbelt will chime in to set everyone straight, as they're so good at doing...

I liked the part about requiring the new size of photo...

If true, definitely some bureaucrat with too much time on their hands...perhaps filling some kind of inactive post, as they say.

Thanks much for the additional voting advice re my wife...

I had no clue how the Thai version of absentee voting works here... not being an eligible voter myself!

But I will happily accept any election season bribes that are being offered on her behalf....

Thanks -- I'm in BKK, but I guess they wouldn't be much slower.

I was just concerned that it might be a multi-week job like obtaining the original Non-Imm 'O' in-country.

Bangkok provides immediately without wait and always has. Pattaya is the only office not doing immediately AFAIK.

Well, I wouldn't say exactly "without wait," since depending on what day/time you go and how busy they are/how far down you are in the queue, you may wait a while for them to call your number.

But once they start on your app., assuming everything is in order, you ought to be stamped and out the door within a half hour or so for extension renewals at Chaeng Wattana.

Yep, the second link above that I posted above has some elaboration of that re YouTube, in terms of any particular video reaching 1,000 or more daily views gets handled in a certain way, etc etc.