6 hours ago, miketu said:

Is this correct???

For one thing that is not a official website note is a .com site not a .go.th site and there is this at the bottom of the page.

"This is NOT the official website of the Thai Embassy." It was set up by law firm and has a lot of incorrect misleading info.

The answer to you question is no it is not correct.

 

 

8 hours ago, miketu said:

I just read the following on the website www.thaiembassy.com (below) which says I can't get an extension of stay??

"2. Currently Holding Non-immigrant O-A Visa or O-A Visa Extension

·    If you already in Thailand and you are currently staying under a non-immigrant O-A visa or extension of stay, you only have one option. You have to cancel the visa or let it expire and leave Thailand to avoid overstay. "

 

https://www.thaiembassy.com/travel/health-insurance-thailand-new-requirement-for-retirees.php

 

Is this correct??? ????

Hi Mike,

 

Short response - NO, forget about it.

Long response - see below.

 

The quote you inserted is out-of-context and contains several errors.

 

1 - The article you are quoting is not from an official Immigration source but from a commercial website.  And the article is about the IO-approved HEALTH-INSURANCE in Thailand.  It is correct that when on a Non Imm O-A Visa and applying for the 1-year extension that such insurance is mandatory since 31 October when applying for the extension of reason of RETIREMENT.

 

2 - You cannot 'cancel' a Visa as the article states.  You can wait till it almost expires and then exit Thailand.  Also when the Visa validity already expired and you did not buy a re-entry permit, exiting Thailand will automatically 'kill' the permission to stay from that Non Imm O-A Visa.  On re-entering Visa Exempt you can then apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa which does not require that health-insurance.

The mentioning of 'overstay' in the quote is totally irrelevant in this context.

Obviously with borders closed that option is not available now, thus forcing many Non Imm O-A Visa holders that planned on doing the above, to subscribe to an IO-approved health-insurance policy.

 

3 - Contrary to what the article claims there is also another option > applying for the 1-year extension based on your original Non Imm O-A Visa for reason of MARRIAGE.  Also in that case the health-insurance requirement is not applicable.  But the requirements for such application are somewhat different than for an extension for reason of retirement.  Obviously you would have to prove that you are still married to your thai wife (which is a quite cumbersome process), but the bonus is that no insurance is required and the financials to be proven are way lower, than when applying for reason of retirement.

 

>> As mentioned in my response on the thread - when you apply for the 1-year extension of stay based on your Non Imm O-A Visa it is mandatory since 30 Oct 2019 that you have thai IO-approved health-insurance issued by a TGIA-associated insurer.

In the info re LMG Insurance I did PM you, I recommended to enquire at your local IO whether during the Amnesty they are enforcing that requirement.  Some IOs (like Phuket, Phang Nga and some others do not enforce it because of the Amnesty).  If your local IO also doesn't enforce it during the Amnesty, you could apply for your 1-year extension before 27 September (end of Amnesty) and thus escape the insurance-requirement.  As your permission to stay expires 5 October, you can apply from 6 September till 5 October for your 1-year extension of stay.

 

OP

Apologies for posting the link to the “ Thai Embassy Website “, my intention was to give you a general idea of the Mandatory Insurance requirements before Joe or Peter could come along with more reliable advice.

Sorry if this caused any confusion.

16 hours ago, miketu said:

I have GEHA U.S. federal health insurance and have contacted them for a policy statement to meet the Thai Outpatient 40K baht and Inpatient 400K baht requirement.  Would this suffice? 

A policy statement might not work. You need a signed (3 signatures) and stamped "Foreign Insurance Certificate". I have attached the form. 

overseas_insurance_certificate.pdf

4 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

A policy statement might not work. You need a signed (3 signatures) and stamped "Foreign Insurance Certificate". I have attached the form. 

Immigration will only accept insurance from a company on the the list for OA visas.

Only embassies and official consulates will accept that certificate.

Just this last Tuesday I renewed my Retirement Visa using the 65K baht per month option, I had the amounts from my Transferwise statements for each month for the past 15 months and I had the kind lady at my Bank draft a letter stating that every month these amounts were deposited for Immigration purposes. Simple letter, took her a few minutes to make up using the info I provided. Getting the 1 year extension was a breeze, and since there is amnesty until the Sept. 23, they even made my extension valid through Sept 23 2021. I showed no proof of insurance. No letter from the lazy folks at the US Consulate.

Edited August 15, 20205 yr by Megascott

1 hour ago, Megascott said:

Just this last Tuesday I renewed my Retirement Visa using the 65K baht per month option, I had the amounts from my Transferwise statements for each month for the past 15 months and I had the kind lady at my Bank draft a letter stating that every month these amounts were deposited for Immigration purposes. Simple letter, took her a few minutes to make up using the info I provided. Getting the 1 year extension was a breeze, and since there is amnesty until the Sept. 23, they even made my extension valid through Sept 23 2021. I showed no proof of insurance. No letter from the lazy folks at the US Consulate.

Hi Megascott,

Thanks for the report.

You wrote you applied for the 1-year extension of stay of your Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement on Tuesday 11 August, and that the IO provided you with a permission to stay till 23 September 2021.

Two questions:

1 - What was the expiry date of your permission to stay?

2 - At which IO did you apply?

On 8/14/2020 at 8:48 PM, Peter Denis said:

as that requires that you transferred +800K with foreign origins proven to your personal thai bank account

Not that this has any impact on the current discussion, but believe proof of foreign origin is when you apply for a conversion, not an extension.....

3 minutes ago, JimGant said:

Not that this has any impact on the current discussion, but believe proof of foreign origin is when you apply for a conversion, not an extension.....

HI Jim.

Yes, you are correct. Proof of the foreign origins of the 800K is ONLY required when applying in-country at your local IO for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement.

It is not required to provide proof of foreign origins of the 800K when applying for the 1-year extension of stay.

Note: When applying for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of marriage (or the 1-year extension for such reason) and using the 400K funds-in-bank method, no need to provide evidence of the foreign origins of those funds.