O-A based on retirement - extension request

[MarkT63]

Hi Guys

 

I can feel some old hands rolling their eyes at yet another visa question!!

 

Two questions please

 

I have an O-A based on retirement and need to request a 1 year extension before 6th December (so any time after about the 25th Oct I think)

I went to Immigration Office in Phuket Town to do my 90 day reporting so wanted to double check everything needed for the extension request.

In the office upstairs a Thai IO told me I had to leave the country to do a 1 year extension.

I questioned this (very politely of course) as I was pretty sure I did not need to leave the country.

A European "volunteer" came over and started telling me that the IO was correct, but he did give me the information leaflett (Retirement Extension from 01.03.2019)

Am I wrong or can I request my first extension from within Thailand?

 

Second question please, about the financial requirement.

 

As this is my first extension do I need to have had 400K in the bank for the last 12 months (from 6th December 2019)?

As I only arrived last year I did not open an account in my own name until 2nd January 2020 and there has been over 800K in the bank since then

(800K shifted to a savings account in March to ringfence it going forward)

Will this be an issue as the account from December 2019 was in joint names with my wife and the balance went below 400K in December?

 

Thanks for your help

 

Cheers

 

 

 

[ubonjoe]

What is expiring on December 6th. Is it your OA visa or the one year permit to stay you got when you last entered the country?

Immigration appears to be saying that you can leave re-enter the country for a new one year entry prior to December 6th if that is the day it expires.

if it is your permit to stay in the country the were wrong.

You will only need the 800k baht tobe in Thai bank for 2 months on the day your apply. The 400k baht rule is only after you are on a extension based upon upon retirement.

[MarkT63]

Hi ubonjoe

Thanks for the response

It is the permit to stay when I went to Malaysia for a weekend and came back on the 8th December 2019 - stamp authorised until 6th December 2020

Good news about the 800K - have been worrying about that one!!

 

Cheers

[Peter Denis]

Hi Mark,

1 - Of course you can apply at your local IO for the 1-year extension of stay based on your current Non Imm O-A Visa,  It can be done during the last month and until last day before your current permission to stay expires.

2 - When applying for reason of RETIREMENT you need to provide evidence that you had 800K on a personal thai bank-account (a joint one with your wife is not accepted) in the 2 months preceding the date of application.

When married to a Thai national you can apply for the 1-year extension of stay for reason of MARRIAGE, and in that case you need to provide evidence of 400K on your personal thai bank-account in the 2 months before the moment of application.

Note: When applying for reason of RETIREMENT you will also need to provide evidence of having subscribed to a thai IO-approved health-insurance policy.

 

[Max69xl]

7 minutes ago, MarkT63 said:

Hi ubonjoe

Thanks for the response

It is the permit to stay when I went to Malaysia for a weekend and came back on the 8th December 2019 - stamp authorised until 6th December 2020

Good news about the 800K - have been worrying about that one!!

 

Cheers

If you're married to a Thai, you should consider changing the reason for your extension to based on marriage. You won't need an expensive health insurance and only 400k in the bank 2 months prior to the application and during the under consideration period. 

[MarkT63]

Hi Peter / Max

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond - very much appreciated.

Wife is English - marriage certificate was notarised in the US about six years ago (complicated story!)

Have already arranged her passport on "follow me" basis

800K in my name only since January

Annual health insurance arranged via a Thai broker is with Pacific Cross (cost a fortune!!)

Tenancy contract runs to end June 2021

 

Looks like I am good to go and IO has just given me four sleepless nights for nothing!

 

Still love it here though!!

 

Really appreciated guys

 

Cheers

[Peter Denis]

Hi @MarkT63 > just PM-ed you some info of possible relevance.

>> To access your PM-messages just click the letter-icon next to your profile when logged-in to the Forum

[Tchooptip]

19 hours ago, MarkT63 said:

Hi Peter / Max

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond - very much appreciated.

Wife is English - marriage certificate was notarised in the US about six years ago (complicated story!)

Have already arranged her passport on "follow me" basis

800K in my name only since January

Annual health insurance arranged via a Thai broker is with Pacific Cross (cost a fortune!!)

Tenancy contract runs to end June 2021

 

Looks like I am good to go and IO has just given me four sleepless nights for nothing!

 

Still love it here though!!

 

Really appreciated guys

 

Cheers

"Annual health insurance arranged via a Thai broker is with Pacific Cross (cost a fortune!!)

Tenancy contract runs to end June 2021"

Could I ask you Sir what do you mean by a fortune, I am 75 and I paid ten thousand five hundred Bahts for this mandatory insurance! I guess it is not "a good insurance" for that price but it was mainly for the new rule and it was accepted by the immigration.

[Seeall]

21 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

Hi Mark,

1 - Of course you can apply at your local IO for the 1-year extension of stay based on your current Non Imm O-A Visa,  It can be done during the last month and until last day before your current permission to stay expires.

2 - When applying for reason of RETIREMENT you need to provide evidence that you had 800K on a personal thai bank-account (a joint one with your wife is not accepted) in the 2 months preceding the date of application.

When married to a Thai national you can apply for the 1-year extension of stay for reason of MARRIAGE, and in that case you need to provide evidence of 400K on your personal thai bank-account in the 2 months before the moment of application.

Note: When applying for reason of RETIREMENT you will also need to provide evidence of having subscribed to a thai IO-approved health-insurance policy.

 

Note: When applying for reason of RETIREMENT you will also need to provide evidence of having subscribed to a thai IO-approved health-insurance policy. FOR based on your current Non Imm O-A Visa

[MarkT63]

Hi Tchooptip

 

Thanks for your message

 

Am 57 and the premium was 69,000 baht.

I knew I was paying over the odds but had so much on moving to Thailand that it was just convenient going through the broker for the first year.

Will not make tthe same mistake on renewal!!

Cheers

[zaZa9]

On 10/14/2020 at 12:25 PM, Tchooptip said:

"Annual health insurance arranged via a Thai broker is with Pacific Cross (cost a fortune!!)

Tenancy contract runs to end June 2021"

Could I ask you Sir what do you mean by a fortune, I am 75 and I paid ten thousand five hundred Bahts for this mandatory insurance! I guess it is not "a good insurance" for that price but it was mainly for the new rule and it was accepted by the immigration.

May I ask what Company you went with , and what your Policy covers for 10,500 please ? Any exclusions, issues  etc ?

[Peter Denis]

45 minutes ago, zaZa9 said:

May I ask what Company you went with , and what your Policy covers for 10,500 please ? Any exclusions, issues  etc ?

He applied for the LMG Insurance Plan-1 policy (with 200K deductible), which is by far the cheapest Non Imm O-A compliant health-insurance policy that meets IO requirements.  And an additional benefit is that it does not require an (expensive) medical to subscribe to it.

>> I did PM you a Guideline document with tips & caveats on how to subscribe to that policy.

[Tchooptip]

4 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

He applied for the LMG Insurance Plan-1 policy (with 200K deductible), which is by far the cheapest Non Imm O-A compliant health-insurance policy that meets IO requirements.  And an additional benefit is that it does not require an (expensive) medical to subscribe to it.

>> I did PM you a Guideline document with tips & caveats on how to subscribe to that policy.

Absolutely my friend, thank you for answering for me, LOL, you are absolutely right and due to my age, 75 like I said, without your friendly and wise advices I don't know how I would have got out of this mess, because after 75 the first year insurance is a  problem! 

[kingofthemountain]

Doesn't Phuket the immigration office actually not requesting the

insurance for the OA in an experimental phase?

I remember a topic on this point on the forum

 

[Peter Denis]

3 minutes ago, kingofthemountain said:

Doesn't Phuket the immigration office actually not requesting the

insurance for the OA in an experimental phase?

I remember a topic on this point on the forum

That's correct.  And Phuket IO would evaluate that non-enforcement practice in October.

I contacted the Phuket Volunteers about it, but they responded that it is up to the Phuket Imm officer handling your application in function of your particular situation.

Would be interesting to hear from an O-A retirement extension applicant whether Phuket IO is still not enforcing it.

[zaZa9]

Im at Phuket.

Most  O-A Victims I know have gone over to Agents ( including me  at the start of this year )

It wasnt just about the  cost of extra Insurance ( a quote I had  for that was around 50k bt  per year btw  )  , it was also the lost interest on 800k bt  for 5 months , and 400k bt per year  for ever. 

Much more expensive than an agent fee.

And the possibility that doing it myself  as I had for 12 years previous  would still result  in  a 'problem' , of course.

Funny how agents can do dozens at a time and they dont have a single problem , isnt it ?

Edited October 15, 2020 by zaZa9

[Peter Denis]

9 hours ago, zaZa9 said:

Im at Phuket.

Most  O-A Victims I know have gone over to Agents ( including me  at the start of this year )

It wasnt just about the  cost of extra Insurance ( a quote I had  for that was around 50k bt  per year btw  )  , it was also the lost interest on 800k bt  for 5 months , and 400k bt per year  for ever. 

Much more expensive than an agent fee.

And the possibility that doing it myself  as I had for 12 years previous  would still result  in  a 'problem' , of course.

Funny how agents can do dozens at a time and they dont have a single problem , isnt it ?

Yes, if you are using the 800K funds-in-bank method even with the cheap LMG Insurance Plan-1 policy, engaging an Agent MIGHT be cheaper than having to park 800K on a low-interest bank-account and paying max 11.400 THB for the worthless insurance.

But if you are eligible for the Embassy income-letter or your pension is over 65K/monthly transferred to your Thai bank-account, then an Agent is surely more expensive than doing it the 'legit' way.

Note: I do not want to re-open the discussion about the risk of engaging an agent to 'fix' the financial requirements of your application, but you should be well aware that contrary to what some TVF-posters state, that doing so is not legit and is not completely risk-free.  And to make it perfectly clear, I am not against making use of a Fixer Agent as I have recommended some of them when an applicant was with his back against the wall because of impossible or last-minute changes to the requirements when applying for their extension.

 

[JimGant]

22 hours ago, zaZa9 said:

I am 75 and I paid ten thousand five hundred Bahts for this mandatory insurance! I guess it is not "a good insurance" for that price but it was mainly for the new rule and it was accepted by the immigration.

Yeah, I'm 75 and because of this forum and Peter Denis, I was made cognizant of LMG insurance, applicable to my age, for 11,400 bt (not 10,500?). Next year, the advertised minimum premium rate will be 16,900, assuming I made no claims the previous year (which I won't). Thus, I'm now getting into the "is an agent cheaper than insurance renewal" situation.

 

For Peter: Can agents handle the insurance requirement for OA visa extenders? I haven't seen anything plus or negative on this here on the forum -- maybe for sensitivity reasons. Anyway, your observation, by PM if more appropriate, would be appreciated. Thanx.

[Peter Denis]

23 minutes ago, JimGant said:

...

For Peter: Can agents handle the insurance requirement for OA visa extenders? I haven't seen anything plus or negative on this here on the forum -- maybe for sensitivity reasons. Anyway, your observation, by PM if more appropriate, would be appreciated. Thanx.

Yes I did came across 1 or 2 reports of Non Imm O-A retirement-extension holders that enquired or made use of a Fixer Agent to avoid the insurance-requirement.  I distinctly remember one post about this, where the Agent indicated that he could get rid of the requirement for 14.000 THB.  Knowing that when under 76 years of age the LMG Insurance Plan-1 insurance is available for an annual fee of 6.000 to 11.400 THB, that's the kind of offer you like to refuse...

[Olmate]

4 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Yes I did came across 1 or 2 reports of Non Imm O-A retirement-extension holders that enquired or made use of a Fixer Agent to avoid the insurance-requirement.  I distinctly remember one post about this, where the Agent indicated that he could get rid of the requirement for 14.000 THB.  Knowing that when under 76 years of age the LMG Insurance Plan-1 insurance is available for an annual fee of 6.000 to 11.400 THB, that's the kind of offer you like to refuse...

14000? 1600 bht on top ofnormal fee for agentextension of OA in Pattaya

[zaZa9]

On 10/16/2020 at 1:33 PM, JimGant said:

Yeah, I'm 75 and because of this forum and Peter Denis, I was made cognizant of LMG insurance, applicable to my age, for 11,400 bt (not 10,500?). Next year, the advertised minimum premium rate will be 16,900, assuming I made no claims the previous year (which I won't). Thus, I'm now getting into the "is an agent cheaper than insurance renewal" situation.

 

For Peter: Can agents handle the insurance requirement for OA visa extenders? I haven't seen anything plus or negative on this here on the forum -- maybe for sensitivity reasons. Anyway, your observation, by PM if more appropriate, would be appreciated. Thanx.

Yes  they can do anything , no 'special ' Insurance , no 800k , no 400k.

Ive been quoted from 18k to 30k from 2  Agents for the above  , one includes all 90 day reports as well  , the cheaper one needs a reminder and a 100 baht fee and will do the 90 days.

 

The openness with which these ladies operate indicate to me that they work with  approval.

An O-A recipient of an Agents services that I know , moved house , and when he deided to change address by  himself  ,  was detected in Phuket I O ,  and was told he wasnt 'wrong'   but his Extension paperwork was ,  and  was then  immediately  offered  help to 'fix ' the  Extension paperwork ...for 2k baht - which he obviously paid. 

All good now...

I appreciate Peters advice and have learnt a lot from him  , and agree everything has some risk , but I am personally convinced that they would prefer us all to use agents on  Extensions ...