Maybe also worth adding, once staying in Thailand, it's possible to continue applying for successive annual extensions of stay (via new applications to Immigration by providing all the required documentation), OR, if a person is going to be traveling back to their home country, then switching back to a regular visa of some sort applied for separately through their local Thai Embassy or Consulate.

 

The advantage of extensions of stay is they can be done and continued entirely in Thailand via Thai Immigration, assuming the applicant meets all the requirements. But they're only valid for one year at a time. And any required bank deposits and monthly income transfers must be held by/deposited into a Thai bank.

 

The advantage of the O-A visa is, as explained above, it can be used to acquire up to two years worth of permitted stay per visa, by doing an exit and return just prior to the expiration of the one-year visa. Also, required financial resources can remain in the applicant's home country and don't have to be brought into Thailand. The downsides to the O-A are required travel back to your home country, and generally being required to obtain police and medical clearance documents, which tends to make the overall process more expensive than a regular extension of stay.

 

 

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 I'm not sure this language above is correct...

 

An extension of stay is something you can apply for from Thai Immigration AFTER you've already obtained and have been using some kind of visa, normally issued by a Thai embassy or consulate outside Thailand.

 

And, while you can go from an O-A visa to then an extension of stay based on retirement, you can also apply for an extension of stay based on retirement  coming off various other kinds of entries, including a regular O visa that can be obtained at consulates other than your home country, or a B business visa or maybe even others.  It's also possible to enter on a tourist visa, go to Immigration after having arrived, and have that converted by Immigration to an O visa and then to an extension of stay, all via Thai Immigration.

 

There often are lots of convoluted details to this stuff, that can tend to make blanket statements wrong or only partially correct to varying degrees.

 

Jack's version above is much more complete and accurate re #1... although he didn't get into so much of the details of the OTHER kinds of visas and entries besides O-As that can be used prior to ultimately applying for an extension of stay.

 

 

Yes, I was referring to the original visa as coming from a consulate/embassy. 

 

But your other info is relevant too, so I'll add it. 

I think with Jack's contribution being clearer than mine, and your ancillary statements I'm ready to roll the presses. 

Will add it all tomorrow and upload to this forum. 

Thanks Tall! 

 Final Edit done and now posting condensed forum notes (13 pages) and final Summary (2 pages) as PDF files for download and future reference.

 

Thanks to all the members who contributed their time and expertise.

Notes from TVF Forum on NON-O VISA Permit to Stay .pdf

Summary of Non O Visa and Permit to Stay (from TVF forum).pdf