Returning to Thailand

[jpsidski]

I am a U.S. citizen. I’ve been away from Thailand for a year, living in Vietnam. I am planning on returning to Thailand and retiring. I do not want to go back to the U.S. first to get a new visa. Is this a problem? Can I fly from Vietnam to Thailand, get a tourist visa on arrival, and begin the retirement process from within the country? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

[glegolo]

YES, you 100% can do that, just await the others (UbonJoe), to explain how to do it..

 

glegolo

[BritTim]

Briefly,

• Arrive in Thailand on a tourist visa (giving you more time) or visa exempt entry.
• Either
  • open a bank account (if you have not already done so) and trabsfer 800,000 baht into it from abroad; or
  • get an income declaration from the US Embassy declaring that you have an income of 65,000 baht a month or more.
• Apply for a "conversion" of your tourist entry into a non immigrant entry. Essentially, this is an application for a single entry Non Immigrant O visa that, unusually, you are allowed to apply for inside the country, and which is immediately used when it is issued. It must be applied for while you still have at least 15 days left on your tourist entry. When granted, the non immigrant entry gives you a 90-day stay from the date it is given.
• Towards the end of the 90-day entry, you apply for an extension of stay on the basis of retirement.

[ubonjoe]

You can do it with a 30 day visa exempt entry but getting single entry tourist visa would be best so you have more time to get it done.

You will first need to apply for a 90 day non immigrant visa (category O) entry. You will need at least 15 day remaining on your entry to apply.

General requirements for the visa application are here: https://www.immigration.go.th/content/service_80

Then during the last 30 days of the 90 day entry from the visa you will apply for a one year extension of stay based upon retirement. If using the money in  the bank option the 800k baht will need to be in the bank for 60 days on the date your apply.

 

 

[KiChakayan]

May I slightly extend the scope of this thread?

 

Let's imagine I fail to get my extension of stay, for whatever reason; (technicality, grumpy I.O, etc. I am 100% legit: wife two kids, finance). What would be the most convenient route to stay in or come back to Thailand without going back to Europe?

 

Right now I'd do as follows:

 

1) Leave within the 7 days,

2) Get a non O in Penang,

3) Come back and restart a new extension of stay cycle.

 

Are there more effective ways of doing it?

[BritTim]

20 minutes ago, KiChakayan said:

May I slightly extend the scope of this thread?

 

Let's imagine I fail to get my extension of stay, for whatever reason; (technicality, grumpy I.O, etc. I am 100% legit: wife two kids, finance). What would be the most convenient route to stay in or come back to Thailand without going back to Europe?

 

Right now I'd do as follows:

 

1) Leave within the 7 days,

2) Get a non O in Penang,

3) Come back and restart a new extension of stay cycle.

 

Are there more effective ways of doing it?

If denied an extension of stay on the basis of a Thai spouse, you would likely be aware of this before shelling out 1,900 baht for the denied extension and just seven days to leave. I am assuming that you are not leaving it until the last moment to apply for the extension.

 

If you do not mind border hops every 90 days, you could get a multiple entry Non O in Savannakhet or Ho Chi Minh City easily. That would free you from any need to ever have contact with your (hypothetically problematic) immigration office.

[ubonjoe]

20 minutes ago, KiChakayan said:

Right now I'd do as follows:

 

1) Leave within the 7 days,

2) Get a non O in Penang,

3) Come back and restart a new extension of stay cycle.

1. The 7 days would only be granted after you have applied, paid the 1900 baht and then your application was not approved during the under consideration period. If your application was not accepted you would have time to leave the country unless you did it on the last day and/or  you could get a 60 day extension to visit your wife unless you have already gotten one on your current entry.

2. Vientiane or Savannakhet would be the best choice for a single entry non-o visa. Same for multiple entry non-o at Savannakhet.

[KiChakayan]

3 minutes ago, BritTim said:

If denied an extension of stay on the basis of a Thai spouse, you would likely be aware of this before shelling out 1,900 baht for the denied extension and just seven days to leave. I am assuming that you are not leaving it until the last moment to apply for the extension.

Not sure I get you. If I was denied it would be, as I said, because of some unexpected technicality at the time of application. As far as I understand in such a situation you must leave within 7 days. And of course for someone who is 100% legit restart a new cycle of extensions of stay with a new non O. Not sure I am clear myself. By "unexpected technicality" I mean something like your bank screwing up your accounts, one of your documents deemed invalid in conjunction with uncooperative IO. I guess it could happen. I don't mean divorce or separation, which should be handled differently.

[Tanoshi]

16 minutes ago, KiChakayan said:

Not sure I get you. If I was denied it would be, as I said, because of some unexpected technicality at the time of application. As far as I understand in such a situation you must leave within 7 days. And of course for someone who is 100% legit restart a new cycle of extensions of stay with a new non O. Not sure I am clear myself. By "unexpected technicality" I mean something like your bank screwing up your accounts, one of your documents deemed invalid in conjunction with uncooperative IO. I guess it could happen. I don't mean divorce or separation, which should be handled differently.

What Tim is saying is an IO would first check your documentation before accepting the application and paying the fee.

Giving you time to go away, correct the discrepancies and return to submit again.

 

You can apply up to 30 days before your current permission to stay expires.

[KiChakayan]

29 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

2. Vientiane or Savannakhet would be the best choice for a single entry non-o visa. Same for multiple entry non-o at Savannakhet.

Would Penang be a problem? I am asking because I think Savannakhet implies an overland trip and Laos in general visa runner crowds.

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, KiChakayan said:

Would Penang be a problem? I am asking because I think Savannakhet implies an overland trip and Laos in general visa runner crowds.

Penang requires financial proof.

You can fly into Savannakhet from BKK or you can use a domestic fly/ride service to Mukdahan and cross over to Savannakhet.

Penang is a also visa run location from the southern part of the country. Savannakhet is not that busy and Vientiane is not busy on Tuesday or Wednesday since those are days the visa run are not there.

[BritTim]

25 minutes ago, KiChakayan said:

Would Penang be a problem? I am asking because I think Savannakhet implies an overland trip and Laos in general visa runner crowds.

If you want a quiet consulate that you can easily fly to, consider Ho Chi Minh City.

[JackThompson]

5 hours ago, jpsidski said:

I am a U.S. citizen. I’ve been away from Thailand for a year, living in Vietnam. I am planning on returning to Thailand and retiring.

Others are suggesting you do a "Conversion" to a Non-O, then get an extension of stay.  This could be OK, depending on what Immigration Office you must use for the conversion.  Some offices purposely make it as difficult as possible.  In Bangkok, and most other offices, it should not be a major headache, but...

 

It's always easier to enter Thailand with a Non-O Single-Entry Visa based on retirement, then go directly to an "Extension of Stay" without the "Conversion to a Non-Imm" step.

 

I would first check with a Thai Consulate in Vietnam to see if you can get a Single Entry Non-O based on retirement there.  You would need to show financial qualifications (800K in the bank and/or 65K/mo income) and perhaps other things. 

 

Savannakhet Laos has the best service for this, from reports I have read (no police-check or medical-certificate).   I'm not sure what HCMC or Hanoi require for this.  I read a couple reports here of people interested in doing it, but I don't find a recent report of someone actually trying it.

 

It would be best to come with at least a Tourist Visa from a consulate, to have time to deal with the "conversion" issues - so I would try to get a Non-O Visa from the consulate, then fall-back to the Tourist Visa if that fails.

[anon789561]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Penang requires financial proof.

You can fly into Savannakhet from BKK or you can use a domestic fly/ride service to Mukdahan and cross over to Savannakhet.

Penang is a also visa run location from the southern part of the country. Savannakhet is not that busy and Vientiane is not busy on Tuesday or Wednesday since those are days the visa run are not there.

i did savannaket earlier in the year and it was easy, however, had i known it could have been done in hcmc it would have definately been my  choice to do it for a number of reasons. savannaket is seriously sleepy. that bus over the border was verging on inhumane 555. hcmc can do and only stay one night as there are flights early enough in the morning to get to the consulate in good time. and hcmc is a great place to hang out in my opinion. if it wasn't for the wife i would have tried living there a long time ago : (

[buick]

earlier this year i converted a visa exempt entry into a non imm O at chaengwattana (CW) in bangkok.  i already had the 800,000thb in a thai bank so i didn't need to set up a bank account (which can take some time).   also, i already had an apartment rental so it was easy to get a copy of the rental agreement to prove i have an address within the CW jurisdiction/area.   i made two visits to CW, the first to apply (bringing all the required documents) and the second to obtain the non imm O stamp in passport (you have to wait about two weeks in btwn visits).  the 90 day stay from the non imm O starts from the day of the application, not the day that it is put in your passport.  the wait time at CW for each visit was not long at all.  the 'change visa' section doesn't have the crowds/volume of the extension desks. 

[KiChakayan]

2 hours ago, Happy enough said:

and hcmc is a great place to hang out in my opinion. if it wasn't for the wife i would have tried living there a long time ago : (

Love HCMC too. Worked there for UNHCR, back in 1989, and a few years ago outsourced there my last project before retiring. Took my Thai GF  (now my Wife) along and she loved it, especially the stay at the Majestic...

[MyFriend You]

All you need is a passport with validity more than six months, a ticket to Thailand and one for departure - departure ticket can be airlines, train, bus no more than 90 days after date of visa.  People I now are using the bus ticket as it is a cheap throwaway.  Once you are in Thailand, you can extends your Visa 90 days and more.

Very friendly office in Saigon, but are adamnant that you have a ticket out of Thailand, will even give you the name of the travel office down the street to get one, without an outbound ticket they will not issue a visa.