Retirment extension NEW RULES

[Lost in LOS]

So, I go immigration with the same paperwork i have done for the last 15 times.  I was a bit worried because everyone in front of me was arguing with the guy and had to go get more paperwork.  I thought I am prepared and it will go right though.  I had the 800K in the bank for 3 months, actually for years.  So i get the papers from the bank for 3 months, safe than sorry and he looks though all the paperwork.  he said what about last year? I don't understand.  You need to prove you had at least 400K in the bank since June last year.  Great. So i ask anything else?  no just get that So I go home and pull out my old bankbook and copy the pages and he looks though everything and says okay. I think great all done.  Then he said where is your insurance policy.  What? I don't understand, I didn't need one for 15 years.  You need now with inpatient and outpatient on it.  I have a policy with inpatient only and he said it wont work. Now I have to get a new policy from insurance with both in and out patient. Immigration wants 40K for outpatient and 400K for inpatient.  I have to cancel my existing policy and change the dates to match my visa or the visa length will be shortened.  I am sure glad I always go a month early because I do not trust them.  I have read everywhere, maybe i missed it but have not seen this stated anywhere, even on their immigration site.  I always hear they dont want us here and never really believed it, but with this I am thinking they all might be right.   Just an update so you know what you will face.  good luck

[ubonjoe]

Apparently you used a Non-OA visa to get the entry you have been extending for one year for a long time. If not then the immigration officer is wrong.

[dick turpin]

Its been clearly stated since March last year that you need to provide proof of 800k in your account

for three months after your last extension, 400k for the next seven months, then 800k for the two

months before your next extension  

Edited June 9, 2020 by dick turpin

[OJAS]

The seasoning requirements for those using the bank balance method for proving finances for retirement extensions have changed since your previous application this time last year. Your bank account is now under the Immigration spotlight year round (and not just to the tune of 800k minimum for 3 months prior to an application). The current minimum requirements are 800k for 2 months prior to + 3 months following an application, reducing to 400k for the remaining 7 months.

 

EDIT: I see that @dick turpin has beaten me to it!

 

Edited June 9, 2020 by OJAS

[dick turpin]

3 minutes ago, OJAS said:

The seasoning requirements for those using the bank balance method for proving finances for retirement extensions have also changed since your previous application this time last year. Your bank account is now under the Immigration spotlight year round (and not just to the tune of 800k minimum for 3 months prior to an application). The current minimum requirements are 800k for 2 months prior to + 3 months following an application, reducing to 400k for the remaining 7 months.

 

EDIT: I see that @dick turpin has beaten me to it!

 

You've got to get up pretty early in the morning.....

[sanuk711]

2 minutes ago, dick turpin said:

You've got to get up pretty early in the morning.....

Is 2.50 PM what you class as Early in the morning.....................????

[Martyp]

Well . . . congratulations for going a month early. I do the same to give myself time to fix any problems occur. As others have mentioned, all these new requirements have been in place for a year but it would hard to know if you aren't following visa advice social media sites.

 

If you are over 70 years old then good luck with the insurance requirement. You may want to consider a backup plan to switch to a non-O visa. There is plenty of information on that on other discussion thread on TVF.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Martyp

[GroveHillWanderer]

What about the health insurance requirement? I thought there had been multiple reports recently that you only needed it if your original O-A visa was issued after the 2019 announcement? This sounds like it's needed no matter how long ago your original O-A visa was.

Edited June 9, 2020 by GroveHillWanderer

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

Which immigration district? 

[Pilotman]

Use an agent, problem solved. After a long time arguing against using them, I'm a convert to agents now and converts are always the most fanatical.  I will always use an agent in future.   It's a no brainer nowadays. 

Edited June 9, 2020 by Pilotman

[Lost in LOS]

17 minutes ago, dick turpin said:

You've got to get up pretty early in the morning.....

thanks, I never knew got my first visa in hawaii and they said OA or I could not get a one way ticket.   Never was a problem before.  I am already in the middle now with my OA so i will just get it done dont want any problems.  Is it a problem to go to O next year, what do i need to do?  this was in jomtien.

 

Edited June 9, 2020 by Lost in LOS

[DrJack54]

18 minutes ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

I thought there had been multiple reports recently that you only needed it if your original O-A visa was issued after the 2019 announcement?

Insurance required for all extensions to  non O-A regardless of when the O-A was issued

Edited June 9, 2020 by DrJack54

[poohy]

Use an Agent it will save all these pesky little problems!

[EricTh]

47 minutes ago, OJAS said:

The seasoning requirements for those using the bank balance method for proving finances for retirement extensions have changed since your previous application this time last year. Your bank account is now under the Immigration spotlight year round (and not just to the tune of 800k minimum for 3 months prior to an application). The current minimum requirements are 800k for 2 months prior to + 3 months following an application, reducing to 400k for the remaining 7 months.

 

EDIT: I see that @dick turpin has beaten me to it!

 

 

Although that is the official new requirement of 3 months after but OP didn't say anything about 800K last year but only 400K last year.

 

Edited June 9, 2020 by EricTh

[rumak]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Apparently you used a Non-OA visa to get the entry you have been extending for one year for a long time. If not then the immigration officer is wrong.

I have a non immig O ......... for many years.   Just keep 800k in a fixed acct and get a bank letter each year ( 100 baht at bkk bank).   Make a copy of book and update on date i am going to immig.

 

This year took me 30 minutes to complete my retirement extension.   Stamped and out the door.

No mention of insurance !   No problems.     I always worry,  but so far so good.

 

sorry,  i will not reveal my immig office.............. but even when i was in CM  i never had a problem,

though they are sometimes not in the best of moods.

[RichCor]

31 minutes ago, Lost in LOS said:

Is it a problem to go to O next year, what do i need to do?  this was in jomtien.

ThaiVisa member @Peter Denis can send you a script to switching over. Though the process normally involves exiting Thailand and re-entering on a different Visa class (which isn't possible/pratical at the moment), he'd be one person to check with about alternative solutions when they make themselves available.

[Digitalbanana]

1 hour ago, Lost in LOS said:

with the same paperwork i have done for the last 15 times.

When I did mine last I was given a sheet of information about the revised banks requirements for the next renewal so no surprises for next visit.

[EricTh]

10 minutes ago, rumak said:

I have a non immig O ......... for many years.   Just keep 800k in a fixed acct and get a bank letter each year ( 100 baht at bkk bank).   Make a copy of book and update on date i am going to immig.

 

 

Yours is a non-O but OP is having a non-OA which is a different visa that need health insurance.

[Keyser Soze666]

42 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

Use an agent, problem solved. After a long time arguing against using them, I'm a convert to agents now and converts are always the most fanatical.  I will always use an agent in future.   It's a no brainer nowadays. 

Yep, hard to disagree with that.

[J Town]

10 minutes ago, rumak said:

I have a non immig O ......... for many years.   Just keep 800k in a fixed acct and get a bank letter each year ( 100 baht at bkk bank).   Make a copy of book and update on date i am going to immig.

 

This year took me 30 minutes to complete my retirement extension.   Stamped and out the door.

No mention of insurance !   No problems.     I always worry,  but so far so good.

Ditto. I just renewed mine last week at Jomtien. NO queue, less than five minutes as the lady looked through my paperwork. Did my 90 day while I was there, same thing - no queue, less than a minute for that process. One thing I did find amusing: the picture I used for the extension was OBVIOUSLY not a recent photo since the barber shops have been OOC and my hair was unkempt to be kind.  She DID take a photo of me on her phone right before I left. Picked up my passport the next day, all good.

[scubascuba3]

Title is a bit misleading, not really NEW RULES but more like OLD RULES

[J Town]

1 minute ago, scubascuba3 said:

Title is a bit misleading, not really NEW RULES but more like OLD RULES

Perhaps new to OP?

[Vigilante]

So we need insurance now for ret. extension?

[scubascuba3]

6 minutes ago, J Town said:

Perhaps new to OP?

Yes seems so but i clicked on it thinking it was NEW RULES to everyone

[Peter Denis]

45 minutes ago, Lost in LOS said:

thanks, I never knew got my first visa in hawaii and they said OA or I could not get a one way ticket.   Never was a problem before.  I am already in the middle now with my OA so i will just get it done dont want any problems.  Is it a problem to go to O next year, what do i need to do?  this was in jomtien.

Since October 2019 a thai IO-approved health-insurance policy issued by one of the TGIA associated insurers is mandatory when applying for the 1-year extension based on your original Non Imm O-A Visa for reason of retirement.

You applied one month before the permission to stay based on that Non Imm O-A Visa expires.

So you still have plenty of time to subscribe to one of those thai IO-approved health-insurance policies.  Since the majority of those policies are basically worthless, I would recommend subscribing to the dead cheapest one, which is the LMG Insurance Plan 1 (with 200K deductible) that sells at an annual premium of 6.000 THB to 11.400 THB in the age bracket of 51 to 75 years).

An additional advantage is that that policy does not require an (expensive) medical.  You just need to fill in the comprehensive application form to subscribe to the policy and you will get the Health-Insurance Certificate that IO requires a couple of days later in your mail.  Obviously you should refrain from ticking any serious pre-existing conditions on the application questionnaire, as that might lead to LMG rejecting your application.  Since you only subscribe to the policy as an 'entry ticket' to meet the IO health-insurance requirement for your O-A retirement extension application, and probably will not make any claims under that policy, doing so should not be considered as fraud.

>> I also PM-ed you a comprehensive guideline document addressing all details/options on how to convert to a 90-day Non Imm O retirement Visa and subsequent 1-year extension.  The requirements/conditions when applying for such a Non Imm O retirement extension are exactly the same as for your present Non Imm O-A retirement-extension, but with the one difference that the Non Imm O does NOT require any mandatory health-insurance.

However, a conversion to a Non Imm O Visa requires a border-run (in order to 'kill' the present permission to stay of your Non Imm O-A Visa), which is not possible at the moment.

Therefore your best option would most probably be to bite the 'insurance bullet' and subscribe to that cheap thai IO-approved LMG Insurance policy, and then re-apply at your current IO for the 1-year extension based on your original Non Imm O-A Visa for reason of retirement.

Success!

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, Lost in LOS said:

I always hear they dont want us here and never really believed it, but with this I am thinking they all might be right. 

The proof is always in the pudding, me personally am exiting come the end of the year, that should be enough time to arrange everything I need.

 

Funny thing is I was sitting out the front one morning and asked the wife, what are the benefits for us staying here Vs the benefits of returning back overseas, and we were surprised that the benefits were more so back home and the cost of living here was the same as living back home, so it's so long for us, guess that will please immigration, less paperwork for them to shuffle in the future.

[4MyEgo]

56 minutes ago, poohy said:

Use an Agent it will save all these pesky little problems!

It appears that is the whole point, agents slip them a few notes and Bob's your uncle, I have always given them nothing and am richer for it, the wife a little flustered doing the paper shuffle, but hey, I am the walking ATM right ????

 

[mistral53]

21 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

The proof is always in the pudding, me personally am exiting come the end of the year, that should be enough time to arrange everything I need.

 

Funny thing is I was sitting out the front one morning and asked the wife, what are the benefits for us staying here Vs the benefits of returning back overseas, and we were surprised that the benefits were more so back home and the cost of living here was the same as living back home, so it's so long for us, guess that will please immigration, less paperwork for them to shuffle in the future.

Can you tell me where 'back home' is so I can follow in your wake....... where I come from, the cost of living is a few times higher than here.

[Peter Denis]

1 hour ago, RichCor said:

ThaiVisa member @Peter Denis can send you a script to switching over. Though the process normally involves exiting Thailand and re-entering on a different Visa class (which isn't possible/pratical at the moment), he'd be one person to check with about alternative solutions when they make themselves available.

Thanks.
See my post #25 in response to the issues the OP is facing.

[david555]

2 hours ago, Lost in LOS said:

thanks, I never knew got my first visa in hawaii and they said OA or I could not get a one way ticket.   Never was a problem before.  I am already in the middle now with my OA so i will just get it done dont want any problems.  Is it a problem to go to O next year, what do i need to do?  this was in jomtien.

 

When I ( and other ones..) went to do ret ext in jomtien they gave us a paper to come back at a given date few 3 months later , to come and prove we still have 400 K baht on bank , (some claim they never got such paper ..? ) 

To be complete safe I got another 3 months status bank letter  from Kasikorn bank on that control date , and to be more  safe I made copy of that bank letter before I delivered it to the I.O. who put it in file (just in case they would ask prove when doing my new ret.ext . )

 

It is advisable to anticipate on possible " lost filing documents .." by I.O's ????, and as to be complete safe I don't touch the 800K at all , only when definitive leaving I shall take it in 2 steps ALL out as I stop that moment my ret. ext . as planned .????

 

BTW  you let me shock by your title line ???? , as I have to go in August for my new ret. ext. (o Type ) ,"  new " is indeed a old rule forO-A 's  ,not for simple "O" ones ????

Edited June 9, 2020 by david555