Report; Non Imm O-A Long Stay, Vancouver Canada consulate

[Samui Bodoh]

Hi All

 

Yes, this report is quite specific, but I am sure it'll assist someone and I owe the Forum and its members for teaching me about Thai visas, so...

 

Let me start by saying that the Vancouver consulate is wonderful! The same woman has been working there for 20 years or so and she checks all applications before taking any funds and she genuinely tries to be helpful in all regards. Further, she is a font of information regarding how to get everything and is just all around great. I would also have a good look at the website; they seem to keep it up to date and relevant.

 

There are essentially 4 things that you need for this, 

 

• 2 copies of the regular application form and 1 copy of the special O-A application form, notarized. If you have family or friends who are lawyers and can sign and stamp (!!!) for you, great. If not, notarization costs anywhere from 20 to 50 dollars a page.
• Bank letter. This is simply a letter from your bank or broker certifying that you have funds (just like the extension of stay) to cover yourself. It needs to be relatively recent, but not the same day like in-country. I got my stockbroker to do it; I set up a meeting with him and asked him to print out and sign a letter on his letterhead. My letter was something like "Mr X has XXXXXXX dollars on account with us as of DATE and has been a longstanding client of the firm." 
• Medical form. They are good about this, but they insist on using their own form available from the website. It is the same standard questions that we are all familiar with, but in its own format; download it from the website.
• Criminal background check. You can do this at any small police station if you are outside of the cities. I was in Vancouver and used a company called Commissionaires. The cost was 46 dollars and took 5 working days. Note: their website says 1-2 working days, but that is not true anymore. It is a Name/DOB certificate which is fine with the consulate.

 

That is pretty much it. After I had everything collected, I submitted it, the nice lady checked each and every page for me, and got my visa 4 working days later. And now I have 2 years of visa peace!

 

Finally, I am sure that there is someone who will post that I should have gotten an extension of stay based on retirement. I am fully aware of the process, requirements, pluses and minuses of both and while the extension of stay is great for many, the O-A Long Stay is ideal for me and some others. Please don't write to tell me I do not know what I am doing; I ran a very careful comparison and analysis on both before I decided on the O-A Long Stay.

 

Cheers all!

 

PS Feel free to send a PM if there are any questions about any of this.

[overherebc]

I fully agree the O-A is a better option than the retirement extension in country.

Your money stays where it is and you can do something with it rather than in bank in-country where the interest rate is about one point above 'thank you.'

 

[Kerryd]

My dad used that consulate when he applied for his Non-O back in 2008. The only difference was that he made the initial visit in person and then mailed his passport and all the other requested documents after he was back home in the interior. As a result, it took him a little longer to get his Visa. (It can take longer for a letter to go 300kms in Canada than for it to go overseas to somewhere like Afghanistan ! I know from experience !)

I recently visited the Vancouver Consul's webpage and was a bit shocked to see that it had changed to some 3rd party site that I think was in the business of providing visa advice or something. They used a Quebec address and telephone number as the contact information for the Consulate.

 

I thought something was screwy with that so I sent an email to the Embassy in Ottawa and a couple days later they responded and noted that they had fixed the web address so that the link went back to the proper Consulate page again.
http://www.thaiconsulatevancouver.ca/contact-us/

 

[cnx355]

I have a friends that used the Vancouver Consulate many  in the past and he told me the same and was very happy. Now he live permanently in Chiangmai, so unfortunately he has to use the local retirement extension and in Chiangmai it is not fun.

 

When I moved to Thailand to retire , I used the O-A visa and sure it was great.  You can go in and out without re-entry permit  and if you exit and come back during the last week your O-A is valid, you get each time a one years entry stamp.

So it is good for almost 2 years.

 

  ***Please note that during the second years you need a re-entry permit to travel out of the country ,as your O-A visa is expired but you last entry stamp is still good.

 

So I agree with you  that for some the O-A is excellent. Have a nice stay !

[Kerryd]

4 minutes ago, overherebc said:

I fully agree the O-A is a better option than the retirement extension in country.

Your money stays where it is and you can do something with it rather than in bank in-country where the interest rate is about one point above 'thank you.'

 

Lol - my Bank of Montreal and my Credit Union savings accounts pay even less interest and then charge me monthly fees for the privilege of letting them use my money !

Seriously, I have over $40,000 in one account and they give me something like 38 cents in interest every month and then charge me a $14.00 fee ! 
The interest I make on the same amount in a Thai bank isn't great but over the course of a year it's enough to pay my electricity bill for a month (usually). At least I don't end up losing money in the deal !
(My pension, credit card and ATM are linked to that account so it'll have to wait until my next trip to Canada for me to find a better, cheaper option and switch over. If one person I deal with would use bank transfers instead of cheques it would make things easier as well. Hopefully I can get that sorted in the next couple of months).

Remember - Canada's "Prime Lending Rate" is almost as low as it can possibly get. As a result, Canadian banks pay squat for interest on savings accounts. Even with the tiny increase in the Lending Rate recently announced by the Bank of Canada, interest rates on savings won't go up much at all. 
I just did a search and of all the "big banks" in Canada, Bank of Montreal has one of the highest "tiered" rates of the the big banks. 1.4% (per annum) on amounts up to $250,000 and 1.6% on amounts over that.
Some small "specialty" banks and credit unions offer slightly higher rates, but many come with a lot of conditions (and other fees) as well.

 

I'm getting 1.5% on my Bangkok Bank Fixed Term account.

Oh and the Bank of Montreal deal ? If your account balance doesn't increase by at least $200 per month, the interest rate drops to just 0.2% per annum (year).

1.4% per annum = about .1167% per month. (Would be OK if you were having your pension(s) going into that account I guess.)

But if you make regular trips back to Canada for whatever reasons, then maybe the Visa option would work better than doing Extensions in Thailand. Personally I can't see flying back to Canada every couple of years just to renew a Visa. Any tiny amount I'd make in having my money in a Canadian bank would be wiped out just by the cost of economy class flights.
 

 

[Laza 45]

54 minutes ago, overherebc said:

I fully agree the O-A is a better option than the retirement extension in country.

Your money stays where it is and you can do something with it rather than in bank in-country where the interest rate is about one point above 'thank you.'

 

Totally agree.. I've been using OA for quite a few years now  .. works well for 2 years.. only draw back is that you have to renew from your own country.. not a problem for myself as I return to Australia to visit my kids.. but could be inconvenient for some..

[overherebc]

27 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

Lol - my Bank of Montreal and my Credit Union savings accounts pay even less interest and then charge me monthly fees for the privilege of letting them use my money !

Seriously, I have over $40,000 in one account and they give me something like 38 cents in interest every month and then charge me a $14.00 fee ! 
The interest I make on the same amount in a Thai bank isn't great but over the course of a year it's enough to pay my electricity bill for a month (usually). At least I don't end up losing money in the deal !
(My pension, credit card and ATM are linked to that account so it'll have to wait until my next trip to Canada for me to find a better, cheaper option and switch over. If one person I deal with would use bank transfers instead of cheques it would make things easier as well. Hopefully I can get that sorted in the next couple of months).

Remember - Canada's "Prime Lending Rate" is almost as low as it can possibly get. As a result, Canadian banks pay squat for interest on savings accounts. Even with the tiny increase in the Lending Rate recently announced by the Bank of Canada, interest rates on savings won't go up much at all. 
I just did a search and of all the "big banks" in Canada, Bank of Montreal has one of the highest "tiered" rates of the the big banks. 1.4% (per annum) on amounts up to $250,000 and 1.6% on amounts over that.
Some small "specialty" banks and credit unions offer slightly higher rates, but many come with a lot of conditions (and other fees) as well.

 

I'm getting 1.5% on my Bangkok Bank Fixed Term account.

Oh and the Bank of Montreal deal ? If your account balance doesn't increase by at least $200 per month, the interest rate drops to just 0.2% per annum (year).

1.4% per annum = about .1167% per month. (Would be OK if you were having your pension(s) going into that account I guess.)

But if you make regular trips back to Canada for whatever reasons, then maybe the Visa option would work better than doing Extensions in Thailand. Personally I can't see flying back to Canada every couple of years just to renew a Visa. Any tiny amount I'd make in having my money in a Canadian bank would be wiped out just by the cost of economy class flights.
 

 

Who mentioned keeping it in a bank in Canada?

Edited July 25, 2018 by overherebc

[Andrew Dwyer]

Totally agree.. I've been using OA for quite a few years now  .. works well for 2 years.. only draw back is that you have to renew from your own country.. not a problem for myself as I return to Australia to visit my kids.. but could be inconvenient for some..

I have the O-A also and got almost 2 years ( 23 months actually) out of it.
But why renew it ??, surely the easiest option is to get an extension ??, okay then you do need to have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank for a couple of months ( if using this option) but surely if you have been here almost 2 years and looking at another 2 years ( O-A visa ) then an extension is easier ??

[Laza 45]

1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

I have the O-A also and got almost 2 years ( 23 months actually) out of it.
But why renew it ??, surely the easiest option is to get an extension ??, okay then you do need to have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank for a couple of months ( if using this option) but surely if you have been here almost 2 years and looking at another 2 years ( O-A visa ) then an extension is easier ??

True enough.. and I could possibly do it with much less than the 800,000K.. combination of pension (just falling short of the 65K a month requirement)..and cash deposit.. but I return to Australia regularly anyway so I just time it for one of my visits..  but.. in future as I get more decrepit extension will probably look more appealing..