Get insurance now, extend OA Non-Imm in June?

[JTXR]

A question based on some posts in a previous thread about new insurance requirements:

 

Let's say I get a one-year health insurance policy now (let's say 30 March, and so ending in 30 March 2021).  When I extend my permission to stay based on original OA non-Imm visa, which expires 30 June, will TI then only extend my permission to stay until 30 March 2021, when the insurance policy ends, or will they extend for the full year to 30 June 2021?

[ubonjoe]

The extension will only be valid to the day your insurance ends or they might not even accept your application.

[Peter Denis]

The insurance companies that issue those basically worthless thai IO-approved health-insurance policies, are well aware, that the start date of the policy has to be aligned with your renewed permission to stay starting-date.

Even so, there have several reports of original OA Visa holders subscribing to such a thai IO-approved health-insurance policy, that encountered difficulties to get IO to accept the policy (either because the insurer forgot to register their policy in the IO Health-Insurance database, or an idiot immigration officer insisting that the policy starting HOUR should EXACTLY match the permission to stay start-date).

FYI > Since a couple of weeks now LMG insurance has - finally - launched an affordable thai IO-approved health-insurance policy.  The annual premium for the first year ranges from 6.000 THB to 11.700 THB depending on your age bracket (from 50 till 74).  Coverage-wise that policy is worthless, but it should just be regarded as a necessary paper ticket when wanting to extend your permission to stay based on your original OA-Visa for reason of retirement. 

[Martyp]

What immigration office are you using?

 

This November I will have to sync my policy with my extension dates. I plan to start talking to my insurance company about a plan to do this but I will not depend only on what they say. I will also go to CW and ask them what they require. I know that talking to an officer in L section isn't foolproof but I can only do what I can do. I will also have a plan B to switch to a non-O if there is an insurmountable problem. Hopefully border crossings will be easier by October-November. 

[Peter Denis]

13 minutes ago, Martyp said:

What immigration office are you using?

 

This November I will have to sync my policy with my extension dates. I plan to start talking to my insurance company about a plan to do this but I will not depend only on what they say. I will also go to CW and ask them what they require. I know that talking to an officer in L section isn't foolproof but I can only do what I can do. I will also have a plan B to switch to a non-O if there is an insurmountable problem. Hopefully border crossings will be easier by October-November. 

I presume that the insurance company you will be talking to in order to align the policy starting date with your new permission to stay starting date, has issued you a thai IO-approved policy (and uploaded that policy in the IO Health-Insurance database).  Because if that is not the case, your application will be refused by your IO.

[503726]

How can you tell whether an insurance policy has been registered with the IO Health Insurance database? Can we look at the database to see what companies are on the record, for instance?

 

I don't have insurance and need to extend my stay in 7 July. So I was thinking of buying it, I wonder whether they would set it up for effect from a date I could plan to make my visa application on like 1 July. 

[Peter Denis]

2 minutes ago, 503726 said:

How can you tell whether an insurance policy has been registered with the IO Health Insurance database? Can we look at the database to see what companies are on the record, for instance?

I don't have insurance and need to extend my stay in 7 July. So I was thinking of buying it, I wonder whether they would set it up for effect from a date I could plan to make my visa application on like 1 July. 

1 - You cannot access the IO Health-Insurance database yourself, so you have to trust the thai insurer from which you bought the thai IO-approved health-insurance policy that indeed they uploaded your policy on that database.  Reminding them that they should do this won't hurt, and might avoid an unpleasant surprise when filing your application.

2 - It is not your extension application date that will determine the start of your new permission to stay.  When you do not change Visa category or type, but simply apply for the extension of stay based on your original Visa, the renewed 1-year permission to stay will be added to your present permission to stay.  So, that should also be the start date of your health-insurance policy otherwise the new 1-year permission to stay and the 1-year health-insurance policy will not be aligned.

3 - Even though LMG Insurance now offers somewhat affordable thai IO-approved health-insurance policies, you should consider whether you want to subscribe to such a policy and each year pay a higher premium for that worthless policy just to satisfy the IO health-insurance requirement OR whether you want to convert to a Non Imm O - retirement Visa (which does not require the mandatory health-insurance requirement).

Note: In the present border-crossing difficulty climate due to the Corona Virus, it might be worthwhile to subscribe to the HI-policy in order not to have to exit/re-enter the country.  But possibly by July the situation might have cleared again, and in that case converting to a Non Imm O - retirement Visa is imo the better option.

[mahjongguy]

I don't see an answer to the OP's concern. Will LMG or PC or any of the rest issue a policy for anything other than precisely one year? Can I get a policy effective in July that expires 13 months later? If not, must a settle for a 10 or 11 month extension?

[Peter Denis]

43 minutes ago, mahjongguy said:

I don't see an answer to the OP's concern. Will LMG or PC or any of the rest issue a policy for anything other than precisely one year? Can I get a policy effective in July that expires 13 months later? If not, must a settle for a 10 or 11 month extension?

Two times NO and you will not get a 10/11 month extension but Io will refuse your extension without the 1-year aligned health-insurance policy.

[mahjongguy]

So in my case, with my extension due on Aug 18, the Insurance company will issue, sometime in July, a policy that runs from Aug 18 2020 to Aug 18 2021, and I can go to Immigration early August and renew my extension for that period?

[Peter Denis]

2 minutes ago, mahjongguy said:

So in my case, with my extension due on Aug 18, the Insurance company will issue, sometime in July, a policy that runs from Aug 18 2020 to Aug 18 2021, and I can go to Immigration early August and renew my extension for that period?

Yes, that should work.

But as you still have several months before your extension is due, there is no hurry for you.

You could also consider - once your extension is due - to switch to a Non Imm O - retirement Visa and subsequent extension which does NOT require the bogus thai IO-approved health-insurance policy.  Doing so requires you exiting/re-entering Thailand, but the conversion is a fairly simple process. 

I compiled a comprehensive Roadmap containing all details/options to convert from an extension based on an original Non Imm OA Visa for reason of retirement to a Non Imm O - retirement Visa and subsequent extension.  Feel free to PM me if you like to receive a copy.

[Martyp]

6 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

I presume that the insurance company you will be talking to in order to align the policy starting date with your new permission to stay starting date, has issued you a thai IO-approved policy (and uploaded that policy in the IO Health-Insurance database).  Because if that is not the case, your application will be refused by your IO.

Pacific Cross. I’ve got the certificate. They uploaded it though I haven’t asked an Immigration officer to check. This is my 2nd year with PC. My extension expires November 19th. My policy is January to January. My first policy was obtained before the requirement. I need to sync it to November for my first extension under the new rules.

[Martyp]

5 hours ago, mahjongguy said:

I don't see an answer to the OP's concern. Will LMG or PC or any of the rest issue a policy for anything other than precisely one year? Can I get a policy effective in July that expires 13 months later? If not, must a settle for a 10 or 11 month extension?

My PC agent has many times told me that he can sync my policy with my extension date. They will issue a new policy and apply the unused premium of your existing policy to apply to the new policy. That is what he told me. You really need to talk to an agent to see what exactly they can do for you.

[Paul3456]

My visa extension of stay renewal date is April 13.

 

I bought a health insurance policy from Pacific Cross. They made the policy effective April 13, 2020 to April 13, 2021.

 

Yesterday March 17 I went to immigration to do my extension. The extension was approved with no questions asked about the insurance dates.

 

I am in Hua Hin.

[OJAS]

5 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

you will not get a 10/11 month extension but Io will refuse your extension without the 1-year aligned health-insurance policy.

 

What is your basis for this particular assertion, please?

 

Police Order 548/2562 includes the following paragraph under the “Reason of necessity” column:-
 

 

Note the last 2 lines of the final sentence in particular, which state “.. for no more than 1 year”. Not wording along the lines of “.. for exactly 1 year, not a nanosecond more, not a nanosecond less”!

 

Accordingly, it would appear that it should, after all, be possible for @mahjongguy to settle for - and be granted - a 10/11 month extension in the circumstances which he has described.

 

@ubonjoe or @Maestro - what do you think?

 

 

 

 

[Peter Denis]

11 hours ago, OJAS said:

What is your basis for this particular assertion, please?

I agree that according to the PoliceOrder it should be possible.  But my assertion is based on a couple of reports of OA Visa holders that tried this and were told by their IO that their 1-year extension and 1-year health-insurance policy had to start on same day.

Possibly a rogue-IO interpretation... so OP better contact his local IO to find out their take on this.