Renewing an OA retirement visa

[offset]

If an OA retirement visa finishes before the amnesty finishes what is the procedure to extend it I know it will need insurance but it is not possible to leave Thailand and return

[ubonjoe]

You can apply for a one year extension of stay based upon retirement to extend your entry from a OA visa.

As you said you will need insurance from one of the companies shown here. https://longstay.tgia.org/home/companiesoa

You need to have 800k baht in a Thai bank in your name only for 2 months on the day you apply or proof of 65k baht income or a combination of the 2 totaling 800k baht,

[offset]

48 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You can apply for a one year extension of stay based upon retirement to extend your entry from a OA visa.

As you said you will need insurance from one of the companies shown here. https://longstay.tgia.org/home/companiesoa

You need to have 800k baht in a Thai bank in your name only for 2 months on the day you apply or proof of 65k baht income or a combination of the 2 totaling 800k baht,

What if you not have 800000 in the bank but can show foreign income for 10 months of over 76000 baht 

[gazza4]

55 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You can apply for a one year extension of stay based upon retirement to extend your entry from a OA visa.

As you said you will need insurance from one of the companies shown here. https://longstay.tgia.org/home/companiesoa

You need to have 800k baht in a Thai bank in your name only for 2 months on the day you apply or proof of 65k baht income or a combination of the 2 totaling 800k baht,

I have just renewed my retirement O-A visa at Lampang IO without drama. Also no mention of insurance from the officer. One query from me, Ubonjoe, did you mean to say "proof of 65k baht income "?

[ubonjoe]

37 minutes ago, offset said:

What if you not have 800000 in the bank but can show foreign income for 10 months of over 76000 baht 

You should be able to apply for the extension with 2 or 3 months of transfers equal to or greater than 65k baht into a Thai bank.

But it depends upon the office where you apply. Some may want 12 months of transfers due you having a one year entry from a OA visa. They may consider it equal to having an extension and the 2 or 3 months is for the first extension application only.

[ubonjoe]

35 minutes ago, gazza4 said:

I have just renewed my retirement O-A visa at Lampang IO without drama. Also no mention of insurance from the officer. One query from me, Ubonjoe, did you mean to say "proof of 65k baht income "?

That is one office out of many. 

It is now 65k baht. Fixed the typo.

[offset]

47 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You should be able to apply for the extension with 2 or 3 months of transfers equal to or greater than 65k baht into a Thai bank.

But it depends upon the office where you apply. Some may want 12 months of transfers due you having a one year entry from a OA visa. They may consider it equal to having an extension and the 2 or 3 months is for the first extension application only.

Is the combination method available for getting an extension on an OA visa law, or is it down to the office you apply to, if law it would only need 150000 Baht plus the 10x 65000 baht monthly transfers to make the 800000 baht requirement

[ubonjoe]

15 minutes ago, offset said:

Is the combination method available for getting an extension on an OA visa law, or is it down to the office you apply to, if law it would only need 150000 Baht plus the 10x 65000 baht monthly transfers to make the 800000 baht requirement

It is written in a immigration order. It has to be 12 months of transfers for the income part.

 

 

[Desmondo69]

Mines finished July 9th.submitted application for renewal on 3rd   new visa issued on 14th with no dramas, dated exactly a year from my expiration date, just gotta get paperwork in order and it's not difficult, no insurance required as its an extension of a visa granted prior to this requirement I done mine in koh samui and staff were very helpful, I'd advise get it done now because from 31st onwards I suspect they will be busy...... Very busy.. Good luck

[sometimewoodworker]

2 minutes ago, Desmondo69 said:

Mines finished July 9th.submitted application for renewal on 3rd   new visa issued on 14th with no dramas, dated exactly a year from my expiration date, just gotta get paperwork in order and it's not difficult, no insurance required as its an extension of a visa granted prior to this requirement I done mine in koh samui and staff were very helpful, I'd advise get it done now because from 31st onwards I suspect they will be busy...... Very busy.. Good luck

You did not get an extension of a visa.

You got an extension of a permission to stay.

 

If the permission to stay was from an OA visa and your extension was for retirement you should have been required to have insurance (if you are under 75, none of the insurance will start if you’re over 75) 

 

It is irrelevant when your original visa was issued. 
 

you were lucky.

[DrJack54]

22 minutes ago, Desmondo69 said:

no insurance required as its an extension of a visa granted prior to this requirement I

I think your original visa was a non O based on retirement and not a non O-A.

Where did you obtain your original visa? 

Or did you obtain new extension based on marriage.

Edited July 18, 2020 by DrJack54

[PhuketDok]

9 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

You did not get an extension of a visa.

You got an extension of a permission to stay.

 

If the permission to stay was from an OA visa and your extension was for retirement you should have been required to have insurance (if you are under 75, none of the insurance will start if you’re over 75) 

 

It is irrelevant when your original visa was issued. 
 

you were lucky.

It appears a few IO offices are not requiring insurance when applying for an Extension of Stay for NON IMM OA Visas dated prior to Oct. 31, 2000, e.g. Lampang, Kho Samui and Phuket. I hope this keeps spreading.

[DrJack54]

Just now, PhuketDok said:

It appears a few IO offices are not requiring insurance when applying for an Extension of Stay for NON IMM OA Visas dated prior to Oct. 31, 2000, e.g. Lampang, Kho Samui and Phuket. I hope this keeps spreading.

I'm knocked over. I believe that's the way it was intended in first place. No dog in this fight my original was non 0 re.

Great news if this is the case. 

This guy did heck a lot of work on insurance. Interested if he is aware of your accounts @Peter Denis

[mahjongguy]

What happened on Oct. 31, 2000 ?

[Peter Denis]

29 minutes ago, PhuketDok said:

It appears a few IO offices are not requiring insurance when applying for an Extension of Stay for NON IMM OA Visas dated prior to Oct. 31, 2000, e.g. Lampang, Kho Samui and Phuket. I hope this keeps spreading.

 

24 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

I'm knocked over. I believe that's the way it was intended in first place. No dog in this fight my original was non 0 re.

Great news if this is the case. 

...

It depends on your IO.

If it is Phuket or Phang Nga, it is useful to know that these IOs since a couple of months already do not enforce the thai IO-approved health-insurance requirement anymore.  Phuket IO officially announced that they will evaluate their non-enforcement practice in October, so when applying there before that date no need for Health-Insurance.

It is possible that they do this because of the present border-situation which prevents Non Imm O-A Visa holders to switch to a Non Imm O Visa, as that requires a border-run to kill the permission to stay based on the Non Imm O-A Visa (an advice often given by Phuket IO when O-A extension applicants did not meet the HI-requirement).

 

Also worth mentioning is a recent case of a Non Imm O-A retirement extension applicant in an Isaan IO.  As he was married to a thai national, he wanted to apply for the 1-year extension of stay of his Non Imm O-A Visa for reason of marriage (in which case no insurance is required).  However, when going there in order to enquire for the specific IO requirements for a marriage extension, they simply extended his 1-year retirement extension of stay without requiring the HI-policy.  It is possible they did this because they knew he was married to a thai national, and applying for the marriage extension means a whole lot of additional paperwork for the IO to process.  So they might have chosen the non-enforcement route to avoid the additional paperwork for them.  Or because like Phuket IO they knew that doing a border-run to avoid the health-insurance requirement is not possible at the moment.

 

>> CONCLUSION - It is recommended to enquire at your local IO how they would deal with the start-date of your health-insurance policy (differs per IO), and when doing so you would also know whether your IO enforces the HI-requirement during the amnesty. 

If YES, no problem > subscribe to the cheapest option.  That's the LMG Insurance Plan 1  with 200K deductible, for an annual premium of 6.000 to 11.400 THB in the age-bracket of 51 to 75 years, and without the need for an - expensive - medical to subscribe to that policy;

if NO, even better because then no need for any health-insurance (at least this year).

[Peter Denis]

3 minutes ago, mahjongguy said:

What happened on Oct. 31, 2000 ?

Poster mentioned incorrect date. 

Since end October 2019, applying for a Non Imm O-A Visa in your home-country or applying for a 1-year extension of stay based on an original Non Imm O-A Visa for reason of retirement, does require subscribing to a health-insurance policy that meets IO requirements (minimum coverage of 400K for in-patient and 40K for out-patient). 

It's a thai insurance lobby scam, as the thai IO-approved health-insurance policies are exorbitantly expensive for the almost worthless coverage they provide.  And more important: those that already have international (or thai) insurance often for a multitude of the required coverage, are excluded because Immigration ONLY accepts thai IO-approved policies issued by TGIA-associated insurers.

[Tchooptip]

6 hours ago, Desmondo69 said:

Mines finished July 9th.submitted application for renewal on 3rd   new visa issued on 14th with no dramas, dated exactly a year from my expiration date, just gotta get paperwork in order and it's not difficult, no insurance required as its an extension of a visa granted prior to this requirement I done mine in koh samui and staff were very helpful, I'd advise get it done now because from 31st onwards I suspect they will be busy...... Very busy.. Good luck

 

I will go next week for my yearly retirement extension in Samui,  they did not ask you for insurance? 

as its an extension of a visa granted prior to this requirement...I do not understand what you did mean by that ?

my visa is from July 2013 but I was sure I needed insurance so much so I did not even ask at the immigration!

I went July 8th so ten days ago for my 90 days appointment despite my extension being only for July 30th, the room was full and I waited 2 hours instead of 20/30 minutes most of the time, I will go monday morning to ask them about the insurance.

 

 

[Dogberry]

13 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

 

It depends on your IO.฿

If it is Phuket or Phang Nga, it is useful to know that these IOs since a couple of months already do not enforce the thai IO-approved health-insurance requirement anymore.  Phuket IO officially announced that they will evaluate their non-enforcement practice in October, so when applying there before that date no need for Health-Insurance.

It is possible that they do this because of the present border-situation which prevents Non Imm O-A Visa holders to switch to a Non Imm O Visa, as that requires a border-run to kill the permission to stay based on the Non Imm O-A Visa (an advice often given by Phuket IO when O-A extension applicants did not meet the HI-requirement).฿

 

Also worth mentioning is a recent case of a Non Imm O-A retirement extension applicant in an Isaan IO.  As he was married to a thai national, he wanted to apply for the 1-year extension of stay of his Non Imm O-A Visa for reason of marriage (in which case no insurance is required).  However, when going t฿here in order to enquire for the specific IO requirements for a marriage extension, they simply extended his 1-year retirement extension of stay without requiring the HI-policy.  It is possible they did this because they knew he was married to a thai national, and applying for the marriage extension means a whole lot of additional pa฿perwork for the IO to process.  So they might have chosen the non-enforcement route to avoid the additional paperwork for them.  Or because like Phuket IO they knew that doing a border-run to avoid the health-insurance requirement is not possible at the moment.

 

>> CONCLUSION - It is recommended to enquire at your local IO how they would deal with the start-date of your health-insurance policy (differs per IO), and when doing so you would also know whether your IO enforces the HI-requirement during the amnesty. 

If YES, no problem > subscribe to the cheapest option.  That's the LMG Insurance Plan 1  with 200K deductible, for an annual premium of 6.000 to 11.400 THB in the age-bracket of 51 to 75 years, and without the need for an - expensive - medical to subscribe to that policy;

if NO, even better because then no need for any health-insurance (at least this year).

Immigration (Lamphun) was flexible with me. Yes they required insurance which I provided (LMG), BUT my income docs were not up to spec. I do not have ฿800,000 on deposit, and for one month (per bank statement) I had ฿0 and another month ฿5000 income. But with no fanfare or anything the IO added up my bank statement (฿800,000+) and issued a new O-A.

Edited July 18, 2020 by Dogberry
fix