11 hours ago, john terry1001 said:

Me, I think a bit differently. I have always been legal so my attitude is more 'why should I pay somebody 15k Baht to get a backhander extension that I already qualify for and would only cost me 1900 baht.............and, unlike the tea money version, is 100% legal. 

In this respect, we think alike.  I have "shopped around" for visa-agent deals over the years, but never done it.  But I could say "forget the agent," because I could get a Non-O-ME, instead.  If that goes away, I either have to pay them off, or leave my wife, or try to get her to move to Vietnam with me ... or something.

 

11 hours ago, john terry1001 said:

If you're application is legal and your documents are accurate and complete, personally, I don't think you'll have a problem at Jomtien. The problem occurs if your documents are questionable/incomplete.

Each legit-application I have attempted, all with every "published requirement" met, has been denied - including in Jomtien.  At that office, they added more and more "landlord docs" needed, with each attempt, the last time I tried there.  After they found out our Thai landlord didn't live in Thailand, they inisisted he must go to an amphur for a "newer" house book copy than the one we had - knowing that was impossible. 

 

I put that landlord and Juristic person through hell getting all those docs - for nothing.  They were going to visit the condo anyway, as is done for all non-agent applications.  If I owned my own condo, maybe I could have gotten the extension.

 

10 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

Imo it are those 'last minute' changes to the requirements, that often drives applicants to the tea money solution to get rid off the hassle. 

Yes.  That is exactly the point.

16 hours ago, john terry1001 said:

I made a point of going to Immigration about three days before I made my application to ask for a list of required documents and confirm there were no recent changes. They gave me a printout in Thai (my daughter and her university lecturer translated it and as she's studying/teaching Thai Law at Uni I knew the translation would be accurate).

As a timeline over an eight day period:

day one - made application at Si Racha (thirty days before my extension expired so I had thirty days to correct any anomalies/problems.

day two - after the initial rejection I phoned the 1178 hotline to clarify a few points.

day three - went to Jomtien Immigration.

day four - returned to Si Racha Immigration with a Thai friend as an added interpreter. 

 

I did my extension just after you, in February. I thought at first Si Racha were just trying to 'persuade' people to take out the easier retirement extension and add to their tea fund at the same time, but your 'nit picking' problems seem remarkably similar to mine and around the same time. This would have also been during the period when we came under the new income option changes for the first time. I wonder whether these problems we encountered could have been instructions by Chonburi Immigration (both offices) to ensure every 'i' was dotted and 't' crossed to prevent loopholes, bearing in mind a lot of people were also complicating things by trying to change to a marriage extension to get round the new medical insurance requirements that had been introduced. It certainly crossed my mind that these two issues could be the real cause of our problem.

 

I do agree that taking a Thai friend along is a good idea.I introduced mine as my interpreter to the IO at Si Racha.

 i have had a look at the new medical insurance and contacted one of the companies. i am 69 years old i have had lung cancer (had surgery) i have four crushed vertebra in my Back/neck i have various breaks/tears/dislocations mainly through sport, and a few other things that i would have to declare.

but they wanted 80k for the first year and 140k when i am 70 in less than a year, the previous conditions would make any insurance a complete waste of money as they would never be accepted and when i spoke to someone who had been in that business, the term burning money was used.        

2 minutes ago, zoza said:

 i have had a look at the new medical insurance and contacted one of the companies. i am 69 years old i have had lung cancer (had surgery) i have four crushed vertebra in my Back/neck i have various breaks/tears/dislocations mainly through sport, and a few other things that i would have to declare.

but they wanted 80k for the first year and 140k when i am 70 in less than a year, the previous conditions would make any insurance a complete waste of money as they would never be accepted and when i spoke to someone who had been in that business, the term burning money was used.        

Sorry to hear about your medical condition.

Do you need the insurance to meet the health-insurance requirement when applying for the extension of your Non Imm O-A Visa for reason of retirement?

If that's the case there are far cheaper options to avoid such thai IO-approved insurance policies.

Sounds cruel, but reading these posts its obvious some just dont have the money to be here.

5 hours ago, pineapple01 said:

Sounds cruel, but reading these posts its obvious some just dont have the money to be here.

When I read them, I see several members who met the published money-requirements, but were denied extensions - or had hell getting them.

Or, do you mean, they are "too cheap" to just pay off an agent to "buy" a grey-market extension, like the IOs prefer?

5 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

When I read them, I see several members who met the published money-requirements, but were denied extensions - or had hell getting them.

Or, do you mean, they are "too cheap" to just pay off an agent to "buy" a grey-market extension, like the IOs prefer?

Anyone underfunded, no one has a prob apart from those types.

On 5/27/2020 at 7:11 PM, statman78 said:

The past 2 years I did my retirement extension at Mae Sai without any issues.  Before I go my wife calls and confirms what I need since I use the income method and my embassy does not provide the letter.  I find that they are efficient and friendly.

Was going to say.i was there 3 days ago.They are always very polite with me.Mind you i was just doing  a 90 day report so i cant really comment on the extension thing.

What I really dislike about these places is how they have a screen with gaps in it, so that from far away you can't see in ,but from inside they can see out.

 

These are the supervisor hutches that they have behind the regular counter.

On 6/4/2020 at 6:13 PM, pineapple01 said:

Anyone underfunded, no one has a prob apart from those types.

I know from personal experience that is Not True.