rogerluli

IMHO, I would stay away from the Chicago Consulate (as well as the LA Consulate) because they are the only two on the US that require notarization of the O-A (long stay) required paperwork (medical and police report)

Do it via mail through the Embassy in Washington, where no notary is required. If you provide them with the correct number of copies (follow their web site requirements) they can do it with a two day turn around, just use Express Mail from the USPS

Isn't the notarization quite simple though. They are not, as I understand it, asking for your doctor and police department to actually sign the documents. It is the petitioner who takes the documents and has them notarized with their own signature. Done for free at my bank.

Thanks for straightening me out...

I'm confused...I thought with a 1 year non-imm O visa there were no border runs required...

It costs $82 to add pages to a US passport but it does not cost any extra to get a 52 page passport rather than the standard 28 page one...

One expects that even paying duty on a load of normal used household goods, like clothing, books, furnishings and kitchen/dining stuff, would not be very expensive...

It depends on what you call expensive. I had 3 boxes 24"x24" shipped via UPS and the Thai officer claimed I intended to sell the contents and I needed to pay a tax as if I had just bought all the goods. They were just common household items. Nothing was new. The wife tried to explain I was moving here but the officer would have nothing to do with it. She wanted 10K baht but after I said you can keep the boxes for that much money she came down to 5K.

Personally, I thought that was ridiculous.

You probably would have done better following Mario's advice and used a shipping agent rather than free lancing...It's certainly what we'll do if we decide to ship...

One expects that even paying duty on a load of normal used household goods, like clothing, books, furnishings and kitchen/dining stuff, would not be very expensive...

Thanks very much...Somewhere along the line that seems to have been changed but it's perfectly clear now...

It seems easier in many ways to acquire the O visa for retirement purposes...But it also seems that only with an O-A visa are you allowed to ship your household belongings to Thailand...

Nonresidents: Nonresidents may import the used/secondhand household effects acquired abroad tax and duty free if such household effects accompanied them in the change of residence and they are qualified under the requirements listed below:

2. Nonresidents resuming residents in Thailand must be granted a non-immigrant quota as shown in a passport or a Nonresident Identification Card; or
3. Note : Nonresidents entering into the Kingdom with a non-immigrant visa "code O" who wish to retire in Thailand or accompany spouses of Thai residents are not qualified for (1)

http://www2.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/HouseholdEffects/HouseholdEffects.jsp?menuNme=HouseHold

Is it correct that with the O visa you are not allowed the duty-free shipping option? Only with the O-A?

I know previously I have seen that the retirement visa includes a provision for importing normal household goods within 6 months of receiving your visa. But now I can find nothing that states that. It seems bizarre that they would issue retirement visas and then actually bar one from importing any household goods, duty-free or not.