Mekong Bob Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Are expats with a Retirement Visa, or Marriage Visa, required to show proof of coverage when applying to extend/renew visa? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flexomike Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Only if you are on an OA visa or extension of stay based on retirement 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Denis Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Flexomike is correct. But why your question? There are several options to avoid the thai IO-approved health-insurance. E.g. when you are married to a thai national > then simply apply for the 1-year extension based on your O-A Visa for reason of marriage. Alternatively you can also exit the country and then apply for a Non Imm O - retirement Visa, the requirements/conditions for a 1-year extension of that O - retirement Visa is identical, except that it does not require you to meet the health-insurance requirement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonray Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 7 minutes ago, Peter Denis said: Alternatively you can also exit the country and then apply for a Non Imm O Not currently a realistic option if in country already with an expiring O-A and not married Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Denis Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 3 minutes ago, tonray said: Not currently a realistic option if in country already with an expiring O-A and not married You are correct. Currently the option to convert to a Non Imm O - retirement Visa is not possible, as that requires exiting the country (to 'kill' the permission to stay based on his original O-A Visa). When borders re-open again it will become possible again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FolkGuitar Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 For the past month, any foreigner entering the country is required to meet the Health Insurance requirement. I wonder if that will be extended after the borders open up again? Seems likely to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Bob Posted April 13, 2020 Author Share Posted April 13, 2020 except those foreigners entering as tourists, I suppose. Are there any recently arrived folks (non-tourists) who had to show proof of health insurance coverage. Your details, please! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhunBENQ Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 1 hour ago, FolkGuitar said: For the past month, any foreigner entering the country is required to meet the Health Insurance requirement. But unrelated/different insurance. Across-the-board 100'000 USD coverage for Covid treatment. And I bet very very few foreigners have entered on these conditions (health certificate plus insurance). Health insurance for all foreigners (tourists!) entering is discussed since ages, up and down. Still no action. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hml367 Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 13 minutes ago, Mekong Bob said: except those foreigners entering as tourists, I suppose. Are there any recently arrived folks (non-tourists) who had to show proof of health insurance coverage. Your details, please! The last news I read about this was "travelers" were required to have a health certificate issued within 72 hours of traveling and a health insurance policy for coronavirus of at least US $100,000. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaoleBoy Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Stupid question ... How do you tell if you have an O or an OA visa? It doesn't specify on the visa. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Denis Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 (edited) 4 minutes ago, HaoleBoy said: Stupid question ... How do you tell if you have an O or an OA visa? It doesn't specify on the visa. Look on the Visa sticker pasted in your passport. Other clues: - You can ONLY apply for a Non Imm O-A Visa in your home-country; - Entering Thailand on a Non Imm O-A Visa you are stamped in for the 1-year permission to stay you are entitled to. Edited April 13, 2020 by Peter Denis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaoleBoy Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 21 minutes ago, Peter Denis said: Look on the Visa sticker pasted in your passport. Other clues: - You can ONLY apply for a Non Imm O-A Visa in your home-country; - Entering Thailand on a Non Imm O-A Visa you are stamped in for the 1-year permission to stay you are entitled to. I don't have. I have a "extension of stay" Retirement stamp to Aug 2020. This is my first year retirement visa. My previous Retirement visa I had for 4 yrs was the same. I got my visa's here in Thailand not in my country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Denis Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 11 hours ago, HaoleBoy said: I don't have. I have a "extension of stay" Retirement stamp to Aug 2020. This is my first year retirement visa. My previous Retirement visa I had for 4 yrs was the same. I got my visa's here in Thailand not in my country. Since you can ONLY get a Non Imm O-A Visa in your home-country, and you state that you got the initial Visa in Thailand and then have been extending it for several years, the original Visa from which you started doing the extensions is definitely a Non Imm O Visa. Note that the requirements/conditions for extending a Non Imm O - retirement Visa or a Non Imm O-A Visa for reason of retirement, are IDENTICAL with the one exception that an extension based on an orginal Non Imm O-A Visa (even if that dates from years back) requires you to have a thai IO-approved health-insurance policy. Since those thai IO-approved policies are basically worthless, many retirees that previously extended based on their original O-A Visa for reason of retirement opted to start from scratch and apply for the Non Imm O - retirement Visa. You can apply for that Visa at a thai consulate in a neighboring country or in country at your local IO. But it does require that you have exited Thailand (this in order to kill the permission to stay based on the original O-A Visa). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMBob Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 12 hours ago, HaoleBoy said: I don't have. I have a "extension of stay" Retirement stamp to Aug 2020. This is my first year retirement visa. My previous Retirement visa I had for 4 yrs was the same. I got my visa's here in Thailand not in my country. Yes, you have your original Non-O either in your passport or referenced in transfer stamps in a new passport. If you still have the same passport you had when you first got your "visas" here in Thailand, then look at that stamp (would be a Non-O if you got it here in Thailand). If you have since gotten a new passport, then your stamps should have been (actually "must" have been since you've gotten new extensions) transferred to your new passport and those stamps will indicate the type and date of your original visa (on which all your extensions have been based). If it's a Non-O (versus Non-OA which you only could have obtained in your home country), then the health insurance requirement currently doesn't apply to you. Simple as that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnxnicho Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 14 hours ago, HaoleBoy said: Stupid question ... How do you tell if you have an O or an OA visa? It doesn't specify on the visa. Just check your passport, sure it will show your Non-Imm. stamp to apply for your extension !. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingdongrb Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 10 hours ago, CMBob said: Yes, you have your original Non-O either in your passport or referenced in transfer stamps in a new passport. If you still have the same passport you had when you first got your "visas" here in Thailand, then look at that stamp (would be a Non-O if you got it here in Thailand). If you have since gotten a new passport, then your stamps should have been (actually "must" have been since you've gotten new extensions) transferred to your new passport and those stamps will indicate the type and date of your original visa (on which all your extensions have been based). If it's a Non-O (versus Non-OA which you only could have obtained in your home country), then the health insurance requirement currently doesn't apply to you. Simple as that. Okay, what if my original visa was a Non-B as I obtained that when I first came here on business (obtained at the Thai Embassy in NYC). Then I changed it to married to a Thai and then recently (4 years ago) changed it to retirement? How does that work for me, do I need to show the proof of insurance? Looking in my passport all I see is the Non-B stamp. (and of course all my extension stamps for the past 10+ years but none of them identify the visa type other than saying 'Retirement'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheryl Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 6 minutes ago, dingdongrb said: Okay, what if my original visa was a Non-B as I obtained that when I first came here on business (obtained at the Thai Embassy in NYC). Then I changed it to married to a Thai and then recently (4 years ago) changed it to retirement? How does that work for me, do I need to show the proof of insurance? Looking in my passport all I see is the Non-B stamp. (and of course all my extension stamps for the past 10+ years but none of them identify the visa type other than saying 'Retirement'. You did not change your visa. You obtained an extension of stay and changed the reason for the extension. Your original visa is still B and you do not fall under the insurance requirement. Moved to the visa forum 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingdongrb Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 16 minutes ago, Sheryl said: You did not change your visa. You obtained an extension of stay and changed the reason for the extension. Your original visa is still B and you do not fall under the insurance requirement. Moved to the visa forum Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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