O-A Visa Time Limit

[HerewardtheWake]

A multiple entry O-A visa grants 12 months from the date of grant. But is there a time limit on when that visa holder has to arrive in Thailand?

 

For example, the O-A is stamped on January 1 in the USA.  Can the visa holder wait until April or May before leaving for Thailand? I thought I saw 90-day limit for departure but can't recall where.

[BritTim]

A Non O-A visa allows you to enter Thailand until the expiry date of the visa. On entry, you will receive a one-year permission to stay. Taking the example of a visa issued on January 1, you could use the visa to enter Thailand at any time during the year.

[fishtank]

No time limit providing the Visa is still valid.

[Whale]

For O-A how does validity of insurance affect this though as the visa is clearly stamped with the insurance expiry date?????

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, Whale said:

For O-A how does validity of insurance affect this though as the visa is clearly stamped with the insurance expiry date?????

You will be stamped into the country to the day your insurance policy expires.

[Hmunker]

20 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You will be stamped into the country to the day your insurance policy expires.

What do you mean by that Joe.Do they look at insurance expiry date and put an exit stamp date to match insurance finishing?

[DrJack54]

Yes.

[ubonjoe]

3 minutes ago, Hmunker said:

Do they look at insurance expiry date and put an exit stamp date to match insurance finishing?

Yes

[jacko45k]

Isn't the insurance expiry date also written at the bottom of the O-A visa stamp by some Embassies/Consulates? This is to bring it to the attention of the immigration officer on arrival. 

[Peter Denis]

Yes, when entering Thailand on a Non Imm O-A Visa you will be stamped in by border-immigration with a permission to stay which will be CAPPED to whichever is shortest:

1 - The 12 months your valid Non Imm O-A Visa will provide you on entry;

2 - The Non Imm O-A compliant health-insurance expiry date note as written at the bottom of the Non Imm O-A Visa sticker in your passport < see screenshot below >;

3 - Currently also the expiry date of your 100.000 US $ covid-19 insurance policy will be taken into consideration to determine for which period you will be stamped in.

Note: If you are able to convince your regular insurer to fill in the Foreign Insurance Certificate with a 2-year policy validity date for the Non Imm O-A compliant insurance (see #2 and screenshot below), that will allow you to make full use of the almost two years the Non Imm O-A Visa can provide you, without the need to subscribe to a Thai Non Imm O-A compliant insurance  before doing a border-run at the end of the 1st year validity date of the Non Imm O-A Visa.  When re-entering you will then be stamped in again for 12 months or the expiry date of your Non Imm O-A compliant insurance (whichever is shortest). 

 

 

[Whale]

1 hour ago, Peter Denis said:

Yes, when entering Thailand on a Non Imm O-A Visa you will be stamped in by border-immigration with a permission to stay which will be CAPPED to whichever is shortest:

1 - The 12 months your valid Non Imm O-A Visa will provide you on entry;

2 - The Non Imm O-A compliant health-insurance expiry date note as written at the bottom of the Non Imm O-A Visa sticker in your passport < see screenshot below >;

3 - Currently also the expiry date of your 100.000 US $ covid-19 insurance policy will be taken into consideration to determine for which period you will be stamped in.

Note: If you are able to convince your regular insurer to fill in the Foreign Insurance Certificate with a 2-year policy validity date for the Non Imm O-A compliant insurance (see #2 and screenshot below), that will allow you to make full use of the almost two years the Non Imm O-A Visa can provide you, without the need to subscribe to a Thai Non Imm O-A compliant insurance  before doing a border-run at the end of the 1st year validity date of the Non Imm O-A Visa.  When re-entering you will then be stamped in again for 12 months or the expiry date of your Non Imm O-A compliant insurance (whichever is shortest). 

 

 

 

 

 

Peter,

 

so if I have a date on your O-A visa when the insurance runs out, say Nov 13, 2021, I would have two choices (????)  to stay a) get an additional year insurance and then apply for an extension of stay or b) get an additional year insurance and then return to home country to apply for a new O-A (with start date of insurance to correspond with my intended return date). ??????

 

 

 

Thanks as always. 

 

[ubonjoe]

26 minutes ago, Whale said:

so if I have a date on your O-A visa when the insurance runs out, say Nov 13, 2021, I would have two choices (????)  to stay a) get an additional year insurance and then apply for an extension of stay or b) get an additional year insurance and then return to home country to apply for a new O-A (with start date of insurance to correspond with my intended return date).

No need to apply for a new OA visa. You could show proof of your new insurance that is for one year when you enter the country and be stamped in for another year if you enter before your visa expires.

[Whale]

45 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

No need to apply for a new OA visa. You could show proof of your new insurance that is for one year when you enter the country and be stamped in for another year if you enter before your visa expires.

Thanks Joe!!!

[Peter Denis]

1 hour ago, Whale said:

...

so if I have a date on your O-A visa when the insurance runs out, say Nov 13, 2021, I would have two choices (????)  to stay a) get an additional year insurance and then apply for an extension of stay or b) get an additional year insurance and then return to home country to apply for a new O-A (with start date of insurance to correspond with my intended return date). ??????

Let's look at your options if the note with the insurance expiry date on your Non Imm O-A Visa sticker reads Nov 13, 2021,

> When you (re)enter Thailand in February 2021 you will be stamped in till Nov 13, 2021 (insurance expiry date) which is shorter than the 12 months a valid Non Imm O-A Visa entry would provide you.

> You would always need to (re)enter Thailand BEFORE your Visa validity expiry date AND your insurance  expiry date, this because you will be stamped in till whichever is shorter (the 12 months from the valid Visa or the insurance expiry date).

This implies that if you Visa validity expires on say Nov 16, 2021, you would need to renew and prolonge your insurance policy (till Nov 13, 2022) BEFORE doing a border-run.  When exiting and re-entering Thailand say on Nov 10 2021, you will then be stamped in again for 12 months till Nov 10, 2022.

= = =

At the end of the 2nd year (permission to stay till Nov 10, 2022 as in the example above) you could then apply in-country for a 1-year extension of stay based on that original Non Imm O-A Visa at your local IO.

Alternatively you could also just before the permission to stay expires, do a border-run and return Visa Exempt and then apply in-country for a 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement, subsequently followed by a 1-year extension of stay application of that Non Imm O Visa.  Doing so you would have effectively dumped the Non Imm O-A insurance requirement.

Finally, you could also just before your permission to stay expires, return to your home-country and apply for a NEW Non Imm O-A Visa.  If the timing for doing that is inconvenient you could prolonge your stay in Thailand with VisaExempt entries and extensions of those, till it would be convenient to go back to your home-country and apply there for a new Non Imm O-A Visa.