Getting a Thai Retirement Visa in Australia

[David Walden]

Red tape for visa applications from your home country...

I  have just received my retirement visa from the Thai Embassy in Australia...thank you, I do love Thailand and it's people I will be arriving soon. The cost of this visa this was quite OK .   This was Aus $... $275 application fee + passport photos.    2...$75 for a doctors certificate showing that I don't have leprosy, TB, elephantiasis, not hooked on drugs and finally I don't have syphilis.  I'm happy to say that I am free of all these afflictions (phewww!!).  especially the last one!!!   3...$55 for a statement from and signed  by West Australian State Police Commissioner (Highest ranking officer) that I have no outstanding criminal matters.  4...A separate form in addition to the applications form with information about my intended arrival in Thailand i.e. arrival date, hotel booking etc.   5...Copy of my information page of my Australian Passport.  6...My Australian passport.  7...A letter from my bank retirement fund that I have the required funds of Bt 800,000 available.  All OK.

 

All of the documents in this application which amount to 6 pages + passport need 2 copies and made into  3 lots of 6 pages and bound together.  Now this is where it all gets tricky.  It is required that all 3 the copies of all 6 pages are signed by a Justice of the Peace (JP), that is each page all 18 pages ...In Western Australia we have CD's Commissioner of Declarations and JP's..  CDs are voluntry citizens (teachers, police, doctors, politicians etc.etc.) of standing who sign mostly Statutory Declarations (Stat dec.) attesting that you are the person who signed a document(s) this is similar for JPs.   JPs are often involved in more complex legal matters, issuing warrants, affidavit and sometimes sit in judgment in a court if required it's a voluntary position ( no payment is made).  It is not the duty of a JP to vouch for any information contained in the documents.  A JP's duty is to say that he saw you sign the document. There is no fee for this service from a JP or CD. it is a voluntary position.  Advice from Western Australia State Atorney General (Top law officer) is not to engage JPs in frivolous matters when requesting witnessing of legal documents as they offer there services free of charge.  The Thai retirement visa application requires all documents including copies to be signed by a JP.  That is clearly frivolous.

 

It is not the duty in Australia of a JP to sign each page of 18 pages of any application for anything.  Some documents may 500 pages.  In my case as I new the JP personally he reluctantly signed all the documents.  He reminded me that his duty was only to witness that I am the person signing and that the information in the document I have shown him is true and that he saw you/me sign that declaration, you can go to jail if you make a false declaration (the information in the document the JP likely knows nothing about, not his job to know).   This would/could make my application for a Thai retirement visa 36 pages (18 pages of application and 18 pages of stat dec's) The JP reminded that my request was far above what his voluntary service is for.  He suggested that Thailand's request that he sign a document from West Australia highest ranking police officer and a medical certificate from a doctors that they were telling the truth was in his opinion an "abuse of request."  If requests like this were replicated in Australia or any western country where every page of a legal document had to be signed by a JP the legal system in those countries would simply collapse..

 

I am very happy to have received my visa and I thank the Thai people for having me perhaps for a long time.  (maybe not after reading this?)

 

Thailand needs to do something about the un-required red tape in visa applications, they are just  frivolous

 

 

 

 

 

[ezzra]

Or, you could have it done in CW with 1/10th of the above hassle..

thanks for sharing though....

[David Walden]

18 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Or, you could have it done in CW with 1/10th of the above hassle..

thanks for sharing though....

Thanks for the comment below especially from Groucho, he new what he was talking about?

[wgdanson]

I thought there was no such thing as a 'retirement visa'.

[wgdanson]

And as for your 'lack' of syphillis, that can easily be rectified once you get over here !!!

[David Walden]

39 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

I thought there was no such thing as a 'retirement visa'.

On the advice to applicants when applying for a RETIRED (O-A visa) for  on form "A" from the Royal Thai Embassy in Australia (Canberra).  To find out about what is required you look under the heading "Retirement Visa"  After you study it all up yes you realise you are applying for O-A visa.

This is just another example of frivolity.  I just love that word.  Oh! and you can only apply for a "Thai Retirement Visa" at a Royal Thai Embassy not a Consul.

[David Walden]

55 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

And as for your 'lack' of syphillis, that can easily be rectified once you get over here !!!

I've already been there 6 times and missed out "but here is hoping"

[ubonjoe]

5 minutes ago, David Walden said:

Oh! and you can only apply for a "Thai Retirement Visa" at a Royal Thai Embassy not a Consul.

You could of applied for the OA visa at the official Thai consulate in Sydney.

There is a difference between official consulates like Sydney and honorary Thai consulates such as those in Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne.

[giddyup]

You could have done it in Thailand for 1900 baht, no police check, no doctors check, just meet the financial requirements by having either 800,000 baht in the bank for 3 months or a acceptable pension/income. Piece of cake.

Edited September 13, 2017 by giddyup

[David Walden]

1 hour ago, wgdanson said:

I thought there was no such thing as a 'retirement visa'.

Each time I've gone to Thailand it's been on a Tourist visa for 2 or 3 months at a time.  Each time I have been offered the old Bt 30,000 to have problems disappear with retirement visa, but I decided to do it all honestly, and as you know honesty is the best policy in Thailand  (shit did I say that)

[Phuket Man]

Yep. And you could have done it honestly and legally in Thailand for 1,900 Baht.

[giddyup]

1 minute ago, David Walden said:

Each time I've gone to Thailand it's been on a Tourist visa for 2 or 3 months at a time.  Each time I have been offered the old Bt 30,000 to have problems disappear with retirement visa, but I decided to do it all honestly, and as you know honesty is the best policy in Thailand  (shit did I say that)

Why didn't you do it in Thailand at immigration for 1900 baht?

[giddyup]

1 hour ago, wgdanson said:

I thought there was no such thing as a 'retirement visa'.

There isn't. It's an OA visa I believe, for the purpose of retirement.

[David Walden]

6 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You could of applied for the OA visa at the official Thai consulate in Sydney.

There is a difference between official consulates like Sydney and honorary Thai consulates such as those in Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne.

The retirement visa are only issued from Canberra Thai Embassy not a Consul (0-A).  I'm a West Australian Country boy and the Perth Consul doesn't want to know about it and tells you to sent this type of application to the Thai Embassy in Canberra.

[David Walden]

9 minutes ago, giddyup said:

Why didn't you do it in Thailand at immigration for 1900 baht?

I don't want to or know how to put Bt 800,000 in a Thai bank account.  Just more stuffing around.  This way I just have to prove I have equal to Bt 800,000 in an Australian bank.

Edited September 13, 2017 by David Walden

[giddyup]

7 minutes ago, David Walden said:

The retirement visa are only issued from Canberra Thai Embassy not a Consul (0-A).  I'm a West Australian Country boy and the Perth Consul doesn't want to know about it and tells you to sent this type of application to the Thai Embassy in Canberra.

The question remains unanswered. Why didn't you apply at immigration in Thailand?

 

5 minutes ago, David Walden said:

I don't want to or know how to put Bt 800,000 in a Thai bank account.  Just more stuffing around.

You don't have to. A stat dec from the Aussie embassy stating that your earnings meet the requirements was all you needed. You are going to have to do that anyway when it's time to renew after one year. Seems like you spent a lot of money needlessly.

Edited September 13, 2017 by giddyup

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, David Walden said:

The retirement visa are only issued from Canberra Thai Embassy not a Consul (0-A).  I'm a West Australian Country boy and the Perth Consul doesn't want to know about it and tells you to sent this type of application to the Thai Embassy in Canberra.

Read my post again.

The consulate in Sydney is an official Thai consulate. The others are honorary consulates.

 

[giddyup]

6 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Read my post again.

The consulate in Sydney is an official Thai consulate. The others are honorary consulates.

 

How are you going to meet the financial requirements when it's time to renew the visa in one year? (sorry, responding to the OP).

Edited September 13, 2017 by giddyup

[David Walden]

2 minutes ago, giddyup said:

The question remains unanswered. Why didn't you apply at immigration in Thailand?

 

You don't have to. A stat dec from the Aussie embassy stating that your earnings meet the requirements. You are going to have to do that anyway when it's time to renew after one year. Seems like you spent a lot of money needlessly.

Yes I got one of those stat. decs. at the Australian Embassy in Bangkok. Spent half a day doing it and $75 Aus dollars.  I go to Thai Immigration to do the biz and they tell to put Bt 800,000 in a bank and come back in 2 months.  Complete wast of money and time .  The interesting part about going to the Aussie Embassy was the near end of life experience on a motorbike taxi.

[Mattd]

4 minutes ago, giddyup said:

How are you going to meet the financial requirements when it's time to renew the visa in one year?

Actually, if the OP plays his cards right and takes a trip out of Thailand just prior to the visa's use by date, then he will not have to renew anything for near on 2 years, by which time hopefully he will have everything needed in place to make an extension of stay, based on retirement, at immigration in Thailand and avoid a repeat of getting the O-A visa.

At some point during the tenure of the visa the OP needs to open a Thai bank account and transfer sufficient funds to it, or have sufficient monthly income and the income certificate from the Aussie Embassy in preparation for the extension.

[giddyup]

Just now, David Walden said:

Yes I got one of those stat. decs. at the Australian Embassy in Bangkok. Spent half a day doing it and $75 Aus dollars.  I go to Thai Immigration to do the biz and they tell to put Bt 800,000 in a bank and come back in 2 months.  Complete wast of money and time .  The interesting part about going to the Aussie Embassy was the near end of life experience on a motorbike taxi.

Well, you are the first I have ever heard that happening to. I have 3 friends who get a stat dec from the Aussie embassy every year and it's accepted without any problems at Pattaya immigration.

[giddyup]

1 minute ago, Mattd said:

Actually, if the OP plays his cards right and takes a trip out of Thailand just prior to the visa's use by date, then he will not have to renew anything for near on 2 years, by which time hopefully he will have everything needed in place to make an extension of stay, based on retirement, at immigration in Thailand and avoid a repeat of getting the O-A visa.

At some point during the tenure of the visa the OP needs to open a Thai bank account and transfer sufficient funds to it, or have sufficient monthly income and the income certificate from the Aussie Embassy in preparation for the extension.

Well, he said Thai immigration wouldn't accept the stat dec, and he's reluctant to put 800,000 baht in an account.

[David Walden]

11 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Read my post again.

The consulate in Sydney is an official Thai consulate. The others are honorary consulates.

 

If you sent your application to any Consul that's OK but they will just pass it onto Canberra Thai Embassy.  On the previous "A" application form instructions it said you can only apply through Canberra.  That is no longer on the form but on the web site instructions it says to send it to Canberra.  0-A or retirement visa are only issued through an Embassy.

[David Walden]

5 minutes ago, Mattd said:

Actually, if the OP plays his cards right and takes a trip out of Thailand just prior to the visa's use by date, then he will not have to renew anything for near on 2 years, by which time hopefully he will have everything needed in place to make an extension of stay, based on retirement, at immigration in Thailand and avoid a repeat of getting the O-A visa.

At some point during the tenure of the visa the OP needs to open a Thai bank account and transfer sufficient funds to it, or have sufficient monthly income and the income certificate from the Aussie Embassy in preparation for the extension.

I do qualify in all your references.  It is my intention that when living in Thailand to make  trips back to Perth West Aus often.  Usually cost about $300 Aus return if you avoid school holidays.  I plan to make sure after 12 months that I will be back in Aus and return just before all expires.  I believe as you suggest this should give me 2 years (about).  After that maybe start all over again.  It a good idea to study up bush lawyering of Thai Immigration requirements.  It sure could come in handy sometime.

[ubonjoe]

10 minutes ago, David Walden said:

If you sent your application to any Consul that's OK but they will just pass it onto Canberra Thai Embassy.  On the previous "A" application form instructions it said you can only apply through Canberra.  That is no longer on the form but on the web site instructions it says to send it to Canberra.  0-A or retirement visa are only issued through an Embassy.

The Sydney website is down for maintenance but I was able to download the OA visa application form from the page that comes up.

Why would they have this pakage of forms on their page if they could not issue the visa. https://thaiconsulatesydney.org/docs/forms/retirement-visa-application-o-a.pdf

[giddyup]

2 minutes ago, David Walden said:

I do qualify in all your references.  It is my intention that when living in Thailand to make  trips back to Perth West Aus often.  Usually cost about $300 Aus return if you avoid school holidays.  I plan to make sure after 12 months that I will be back in Aus and return just before all expires.  I believe as you suggest this should give me 2 years (about).  After that maybe start all over again.  It a good idea to study up bush lawyering of Thai Immigration requirements.  It sure could come in handy sometime.

Seems you are making something simple very complicated.

[David Walden]

18 minutes ago, giddyup said:

Well, you are the first I have ever heard that happening to. I have 3 friends who get a stat dec from the Aussie embassy every year and it's accepted without any problems at Pattaya immigration.

Well I'll tell you the story where I went wrong.  I declared I had an amount more then Bt800,000 in an Australian bank, I also declared I had and Aussie aged pension, $888.30  p/f + $1000. p/m other pension at the Aussie Embassy cost $75..  I also declared I had Aus $15000 in another bank in a Aussie bank.  All in excess of what was needed.  I thought the more you bragged about how much money you had the more notice they take of you.  but this was not to be so, all to complicated for them.  When I got back to Aus I spoke to a lady at The Thai Embassy in Canberra, we had a long very nice light hearted conversation, she was Thai and spoke perfect English.  She assured I had to send my application to Canberra Thai Embassy, how it got there doesn't matter that is where "Retirement Visa" are issued.  The lady told me if you have Bt 800,000 don't put anything more then that you have equal to Bt 800,000. in a Australian bank on your application .  Don't tell them anything else, if you start talking about Aussie pensions as well they will knock you back because in Thailand where the application goes they haven't got a clue about anything else but the Bt 800,000.  This time I just got a letter from my bank stating I had an amount in excess of the required amount...it worked.

[giddyup]

15 minutes ago, David Walden said:

Well I'll tell you the story where I went wrong.  I declared I had an amount more then Bt800,000 in an Australian bank, I also declared I had and Aussie aged pension, $888.30  p/f + $1000. p/m other pension at the Aussie Embassy cost $75..  I also declared I had Aus $15000 in another bank in a Aussie bank.  All in excess of what was needed.  I thought the more you bragged about how much money you had the more notice they take of you.  but this was not to be so, all to complicated for them.  When I got back to Aus I spoke to a lady at The Thai Embassy in Canberra, we had a long very nice light hearted conversation, she was Thai and spoke perfect English.  She assured I had to send my application to Canberra Thai Embassy, how it got there doesn't matter that is where "Retirement Visa" are issued.  The lady told me if you have Bt 800,000 don't put anything more then that you have equal to Bt 800,000. in a Australian bank on your application .  Don't tell them anything else, if you start talking about Aussie pensions as well they will knock you back because in Thailand where the application goes they haven't got a clue about anything else but the Bt 800,000.  This time I just got a letter from my bank stating I had an amount in excess of the required amount...it worked.

I'm not sure how the embassy would have known how much you had, the stat dec is issued purely on your say so. The embassy doesn't check your bank accounts etc, the stat dec is issued on the spot and Thai immigration accepts it at face value. It is supposed to be an honest account of your financial status, but it is never checked AFAIK.

Edited September 13, 2017 by giddyup

[ubonjoe]

17 minutes ago, David Walden said:

Well I'll tell you the story where I went wrong.  I declared I had an amount more then Bt800,000 in an Australian bank, I also declared I had and Aussie aged pension, $888.30  p/f + $1000. p/m other pension at the Aussie Embassy cost $75..  I also declared I had Aus $15000 in another bank in a Aussie bank.  All in excess of what was needed.

The stat declaration is only to prove income not money in the bank. You have to have an income of 65k baht permit month. At today's rates the total income of 1,888 AUD you showed is only 48,785.92 baht. That is why it was refused.

You could of used the combination method and would of only needed about 220k baht in the bank.

[Evilbaz]

40 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

The stat declaration is only to prove income not money in the bank. You have to have an income of 65k baht permit month. At today's rates the total income of 1,888 AUD you showed is only 48,785.92 baht. That is why it was refused.

You could of used the combination method and would of only needed about 220k baht in the bank.

At the risk of contradicting you Ubonjoe he stated $830 per fortnight (or should have as that's what he'll receive for OAP here) which is greater than 1660 per month plus $1000 per month from another pension.

I believe that exceeds 65000 Baht per month required.

OP - just state income on the Stat Dec - don't confuse the IOs.

Edited September 13, 2017 by Evilbaz