Penang Retirement Non O.. Single Or Multiple..

[LivinLOS]

A buddy I know is here on a non O multi issued in his home country (UK).. He does 90 day visa runs and is 55 years old.

He is looking to not put 800k in the bank if he can help it.. He has to restructure some UK assets to do so and hes still not 100% sold on the stability factor.

His options are return to UK for a new 12 month multi entry non O, or head to Penang.. If he goes to Penang and asks for a new non O on the basis of being 55 but without a healthy Thai bank account what is the current situation ?? Will they only give a single entry or will they give him another 12 month multi entry ??

[Krub]

A buddy I know is here on a non O multi issued in his home country (UK).. He does 90 day visa runs and is 55 years old.

He is looking to not put 800k in the bank if he can help it.. He has to restructure some UK assets to do so and hes still not 100% sold on the stability factor.

His options are return to UK for a new 12 month multi entry non O, or head to Penang.. If he goes to Penang and asks for a new non O on the basis of being 55 but without a healthy Thai bank account what is the current situation ?? Will they only give a single entry or will they give him another 12 month multi entry ??

I don't know about Penang but Singapore is reported to give multi if he can show the 800k (it does not have to be in Thailand)

[LivinLOS]

I think his issue is he doesn't want to liquidate investments into cash.. He has income from some things back there..

Just for arguments sake (hes not here to ask him) if he doesn't have a large (well 800k) bank account.. Does that mean a single ???

He already has a flexible ticket home.. Its not the end of the world to reapply back there.. Just wasted money..

[wpcoe]

If he returns to UK he should check with the local Thai consulate what income/savings verification they need to issue an O-A visa. With an O-A, the income stays in the country where the O-A is issued, in this case in the UK. He would also need to produce a criminal record check and a medical check, but the payoff is a one-year visa, which with careful planning, can be used for two years. And, for that two years, the money can stay in the UK.

[LivinLOS]

Interesting.. I didnt know that you could work a 12 month and gain a 12 month extension based on UK based assets..

Although I dont know all his financial arrangments I get the impression he has assets (property / biz related) he doesnt want to liquidate that bring him income.. I dont know if he has money available in the UK to show.

For the sake of argument.. with no money shown.. Do local SE Asian consuls and embassy's usually issue multiple entrys or single entries when asked for a non O based on age ?? Surely you need the non O normally before changing to an O-A (not sure as not old enough for a geezer visa) ??

[lopburi3]

There is no such thing as "change to O-A". The O-A is a pre-approved visa/extension of stay issued by a Consulate in your home country to spend one year on entry.

Retirement extensions of stay from Immigration are extensions of non immigration O visas - they are not changes to make them O-A.

Do not believe any local Consulate would issue a multi entry non immigrant O without a strong reason. They may issue a single entry if over age 50 and believe you will use as the base for retirement extension of stay.

[COBBER]

When i was last in Penang at the end of January they were not issueing multiples of anything, so the best you will get there is a single entry Non-Imm.

There have been rumours that they are still issueing multi's at KL and Kota Boru.

Edited March 23, 2007 by COBBER

[LivinLOS]

There is no such thing as "change to O-A". The O-A is a pre-approved visa/extension of stay issued by a Consulate in your home country to spend one year on entry.

Retirement extensions of stay from Immigration are extensions of non immigration O visas - they are not changes to make them O-A.

Do not believe any local Consulate would issue a multi entry non immigrant O without a strong reason. They may issue a single entry if over age 50 and believe you will use as the base for retirement extension of stay.

OK but dont you arrive on an O, get a 90 day entry stamp on an O, and then show money in bank for three months etc.. At that point the Visa would change to an O-A and you would get a 12 month extension that you cannot work on wouldnt it ??

Hence my comment on 'changing' from an O which you can work on, to an O-A which you cannot based on retirement ?? Of does an O just get extended 12 months and remain an O even though your extending based on retirement ??

As I said not old enough for geezer visa's so that was my understanding..

[LivinLOS]

When i was last in Penang at the end of January they were not issueing multiples of anything, so the best you will get there is a single entry Non-Imm.

There have been rumours that they are still issueing multi's at KL and Kota Boru.

Thanks.. Thats my answer.. No at Penang and maybe at others..

His visa doesn't expire until midsummer so thats lifetimes away in visa months (like dog years ) so will have to check local consuls closer to the time and he may well have to return to UK..

[lopburi3]

There is no such thing as "change to O-A". The O-A is a pre-approved visa/extension of stay issued by a Consulate in your home country to spend one year on entry.

Retirement extensions of stay from Immigration are extensions of non immigration O visas - they are not changes to make them O-A.

Do not believe any local Consulate would issue a multi entry non immigrant O without a strong reason. They may issue a single entry if over age 50 and believe you will use as the base for retirement extension of stay.

OK but dont you arrive on an O, get a 90 day entry stamp on an O, and then show money in bank for three months etc.. At that point the Visa would change to an O-A and you would get a 12 month extension that you cannot work on wouldnt it ??

Hence my comment on 'changing' from an O which you can work on, to an O-A which you cannot based on retirement ?? Of does an O just get extended 12 months and remain an O even though your extending based on retirement ??

As I said not old enough for geezer visa's so that was my understanding..

The O visa stay is extended - it does not become an O-A.

[LivinLOS]

OK.. Strikes me as ass backward but hey.. Its immigration, I should have assumed that to be the case

[DD18]

There is no such thing as "change to O-A". The O-A is a pre-approved visa/extension of stay issued by a Consulate in your home country to spend one year on entry.

Retirement extensions of stay from Immigration are extensions of non immigration O visas - they are not changes to make them O-A.

Do not believe any local Consulate would issue a multi entry non immigrant O without a strong reason. They may issue a single entry if over age 50 and believe you will use as the base for retirement extension of stay.

Birmingham (UK) consulate will not issue O-A but will issue multi entry non immigrant O (in our case to 19 & 23 year old, (me under 50) and husband over 50.

[lopburi3]

There is no such thing as "change to O-A". The O-A is a pre-approved visa/extension of stay issued by a Consulate in your home country to spend one year on entry.

Retirement extensions of stay from Immigration are extensions of non immigration O visas - they are not changes to make them O-A.

Do not believe any local Consulate would issue a multi entry non immigrant O without a strong reason. They may issue a single entry if over age 50 and believe you will use as the base for retirement extension of stay.

Birmingham (UK) consulate will not issue O-A but will issue multi entry non immigrant O (in our case to 19 & 23 year old, (me under 50) and husband over 50.

Believe all O-A type visas must be approved at Embassy (or at least official Consulate) level. Originally they required approval in Bangkok but believe authority has been delegated now. UK website is not really clear on procedures in that country.

When I say "local" consulate in quoted portion I refer to those in the immediate area of Thailand as the question was about "local SE Asian consuls and embassy's"

[wpcoe]

Interesting.. I didnt know that you could work a 12 month and gain a 12 month extension based on UK based assets..

I was surprised, too. If you re-enter Thailand on the 364th (365th?) day of validity of the original O-A visa, you are stamped with a permission to stay for another 365 days. If you plan to leave Thailand during that period, though, you need to get re-entry permit(s) before you leave to keep the permission to stay alive. Else, when you re-enter the country past the 365th day of validity of the original O-A visa, you have no valid visa anymore.