A coworker of mine is retiring in the new year. He is a friend of mine and my husbands and for the last few years has asked a lot of questions about retiring in Thailand. He has done a lot of other research and yesterday told my husband that for the retirement extension he must pass a police check here in the US. He says he read it on ThaiVisa.

 

My husband (who was a police officer) says he never had to provide this. Our friend was convicted of stealing his parents car when he was 19.

 

Is a police check required for retirement visa? Will something 40 years old keep him from getting one?

2 minutes ago, i Phad said:

Is a police check required for retirement visa? 

It is if you get your retirement VISA from your home country.

It isn't if you get your retirement extension in Thailand.

Edited August 3, 20205 yr by BritManToo

Post #2 is correct. The "retirement visa" you would obtain in USA is a non O-A (retirement). It previously was a good option. However now it requires useless health insurance. Your friend is best to enter Thailand on a tourist visa or visa exempt. He can then apply for non-o (retirement) visa. It's gives 90 day permission of stay and in last 45/30 days can obtain annual extension. The extension has financial requirements which you can look into. 

 

Whatever your friend is doing he should not lie.

Over 20 years ago I applied for a journalist visa in Thailand. I was qualified for it and I was asked for some documents from my home country. I supplied the documents and didn't think much about it.

And then I got a phone call from back home "what is this about?" The Thai embassy in my home country contacted the people who signed the documents to check if they are real.

That was over 20 years ago and I was very surprised that that happened. But all was real so I had no trouble.

What I learned from that is: Don't lie or don't give anybody not so perfect documents. They will possibly/likely find out and I am sure that will have bad consequences.

That's interesting, only need it if he applies here. Strange thinking.

 

I'll let him know to first go to Thailand, then get it.

 

Thanks!

If I remember correctly In England after a number of years any offence is discounted if it was not serious   It is worth checking if the same applies for you 

On 8/3/2020 at 7:35 PM, DrJack54 said:

Post #2 is correct. The "retirement visa" you would obtain in USA is a non O-A (retirement). It previously was a good option. However now it requires useless health insurance. Your friend is best to enter Thailand on a tourist visa or visa exempt. He can then apply for non-o (retirement) visa. It's gives 90 day permission of stay and in last 45/30 days can obtain annual extension. The extension has financial requirements which you can look into. 

 

As DrJack describes is a good way to do it.  I did the same thing September 2018. I entered on a tourist visa then applied for a non-o visa while in Thailand.  During the last 30 days I applied for an extension of stay based on retirement.  I received it without any problems.  All of the paperwork that I would have needed if I applied in the US was not needed.  As mentioned above, check the financial requirements.  Since I worked in Thailand before, I had a savings account with the required amount of money.

58 minutes ago, statman78 said:

As DrJack describes is a good way to do it.  I did the same thing September 2018. I entered on a tourist visa then applied for a non-o visa while in Thailand.  During the last 30 days I applied for an extension of stay based on retirement.  I received it without any problems.  All of the paperwork that I would have needed if I applied in the US was not needed.  As mentioned above, check the financial requirements.  Since I worked in Thailand before, I had a savings account with the required amount of money.

Yes it's a good option. Others reading this be aware that entering tourist visa or visa exempt you really need bank account available and also need to demonstrate funds came from overseas both for money in bank method and income method.

Previously the non O-A was excellent visa. 

Now rubbish for most folk.

On 8/3/2020 at 1:48 PM, i Phad said:

That's interesting, only need it if he applies here. Strange thinking.

 

I'll let him know to first go to Thailand, then get it.

 

Thanks!

No its not strange its just 2 different processes. If he applies in the US he will be applying for an OA visa that requires a police check and health insurance. The other way is If he goes to Thailand on a tourist visa, an O visa or gets a 30 day visa exempt entry he can convert this to an extension of stay based on retirement that is commonly known as a Retirement visa. He will have to have the relevant funds for both methods. There are extensive threads on TV detailing this.

have your friend petition the courts to have his record expunged. (DC embassy background checks are run through the FBI database) problem solved unless he's in a hurry to retire here in which case he doesn't stand a chance of even getting into the country atm. (unless he's coming in via freighter)

You guys seem to be overlooking the #1 country for preventing covid outbreaks does NOT want passenger flights from the country with the highest recorded covid cases in the world. especially after the mishap in June that reclosed most of Rayong. in today's environment, 1 person really CAN make a difference. 

Edited August 5, 20205 yr by mrwebb8825

On 8/3/2020 at 7:47 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

Over 20 years ago I applied for a journalist visa in Thailand.

Now I know why you are well written in you post. "Well written", is that good English? ????

47 minutes ago, AgMech Cowboy said:

Now I know why you are well written in you post. "Well written", is that good English? ????

I don't know. English is not my 1st language.

There are also journalists from all those other countries in this world.