Tourist visa to Non-Immigrant O (retirement) at Chiang Mai

[dexter62]

I just submitted my application to change a tourist visa to a Non-Immigrant O (retirement), which took almost 7 hours, end-to-end ???? It would've been a lot easier if I had known exactly what was required, but they're giving out photocopies listing the requirements, attached.

 

The problems started at Kasikorn Bank, in Thapae Road. You'd think they would've had a lot of foreigners asking for the necessary documents, but none of the people there seemed to know what was required. I had printed out the requirements from the Immigration website, in English and Thai, which helped a lot.

 

The transfer had arrived via another bank in Bangkok (not Kasikorn), and the funds had landed in my account as a domestic transfer. The customer service guy was insistent that he couldn't give me an international "credit advice", but I pushed to him call Bangkok, and he eventually found out how to do it. I think it was free, because I ended up only paying 100 THB for the letter of balance.

 

The list of requirements on the often-linked-to page is basically wrong, in that Chiang Mai Immigration have made their own set of requirements. They're giving out a sheet of paper with this week's requirements, as below:

 

 

You need to prepare TWO sets of documents (including 2 photos), and you MUST use a blue pen ????

 

The front desk staff told me I didn't need the pension letter, TM30, nor tabien bahn, only the rental contract, but after going back to my guest house to get the contract, when I returned, they told me I must have the TM30 and tabien bahn as well >:-/ and the girl who had misinformed me suddenly found something at the back of the office that needed her immediate attention ????

 

The IO at the front desk had said that I am a retiree and therefore need to show a rental contract. I tried to argue that I wasn't yet a retiree, only a tourist, and it would be impossible to get a contract on a tourist visa, but she didn't care.

 

The contract is going to be problematic for a lot of people, because the senior IO who actually processed my application said it needs to be for at least 3 months. I had to go back to my guest house yet again, to get the contract amended. Luckily, I've known the owner for years, so they were happy to do that.

 

I didn't provide a pension letter, but since I had about 2M THB in the account (including the 800K from overseas), and a long history of having about 1M in that account, I think they may have taken that in lieu.

 

The other important thing is that while the requirements on the Immigration website state quite definitively that all the bank documents need to be dated the same day as the application, the IO at the front desk told me that they could be up to a week old. I certainly wouldn't want to rely on that, but keep it in mind.

 

Don't bother signing the copies, they stamp each page and you have to sign inside the stamp.

 

Also, note that by 11am, they were full and no longer accepting applications, although the IO at the front desk took pity on me and quietly told me to come back in the afternoon and she would slip my application into the pile.

 

If you're in a hurry to go anywhere, don't. I was planning a quick trip overseas, but have to wait 23 days to get my new visa. There are a few holidays coming up, so I imagine they may have pushed the date back a bit.