Type O - X Visa (Long Stay - Five Years Each for Total of Ten Years)

[Neal Hyman]

I arrived end of August on a 90 day non-O

to be with my wife and family, especially 3 grandchildren. We stay mostly in Chonburi so the nearest IO is Sri Racha. No English spoken there as I began the extension (O-A) process. Snag: I only had a photocopy of my marriage certificate (US). It was good enough for Embassy in DC but not here. Given a 60 day extension. Yesterday, my wife had the pleasure of schlepping me to Bangkok and first to the US embassy to notarize a sworn affidavit that states that I am married to my wife and then to CW for translation and legalization of the document.

For me, O-X is not an option; too much $$$ to sit unusable in Bangkok Bank.

[George36]

One more question please.

 

My understanding is that you get Passport stamped for one year upon entry.  It is multi entry visa.  I may never be in Thailand for a full year.  Maximum would be nine months with three month in United States.

 

This trip, I plan to stay from mid-Jan until mid-Aug.  My wife will join me for last three months on Tourist Visa and then get an extension.

 

Under retirement, I need to extend yearly even if not in Thailand.  Under O - X, no need to extend.  
 

Hope this computes.  
 

Question:

 

If never in Thailand for a year, would I still need to visit Immigration yearly?  I suppose the year requirement could be based on date of issuance of visa and not entry stamp.

 

Thanks

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, Neal Hyman said:

I arrived end of August on a 90 day non-O

to be with my wife and family, especially 3 grandchildren. We stay mostly in Chonburi so the nearest IO is Sri Racha. No English spoken there as I began the extension (O-A) process. Snag: I only had a photocopy of my marriage certificate (US). It was good enough for Embassy in DC but not here. Given a 60 day extension. Yesterday, my wife had the pleasure of schlepping me to Bangkok and first to the US embassy to notarize a sworn affidavit that states that I am married to my wife and then to CW for translation and legalization of the document.

For me, O-X is not an option; too much $$$ to sit unusable in Bangkok Bank.

What yo uare doing has nothing to do with O-A.

 

You are doing an extension of stay on an O visa for reason of either marriage or retirement. 

 

O-A visas cannot be obtained in Thailand, only frpm an Embassy or consulate abroad. And are not as desirable as what you have: extension based on an O.

[howerde]

I have an O-X visa and have been told by immigration there is no need to report yearly with documents, only need to report when your passport expires or the initial 5 years is up, only need to do the 90 day report. ( i guess you need to keep your yearly health insurance  and bank statements)

[howerde]

15 hours ago, George36 said:

One more question please.

 

My understanding is that you get Passport stamped for one year upon entry.  It is multi entry visa.  I may never be in Thailand for a full year.  Maximum would be nine months with three month in United States.

 

This trip, I plan to stay from mid-Jan until mid-Aug.  My wife will join me for last three months on Tourist Visa and then get an extension.

 

Under retirement, I need to extend yearly even if not in Thailand.  Under O - X, no need to extend.  
 

Hope this computes.  
 

Question:

 

If never in Thailand for a year, would I still need to visit Immigration yearly?  I suppose the year requirement could be based on date of issuance of visa and not entry stamp.

 

Thanks

On a O-X you are stamped in for 5 years or til your passport expires, yes multi entry. no need to report to immigration yearly

[crowned]

6 minutes ago, howerde said:

On a O-X you are stamped in for 5 years or til your passport expires, yes multi entry. no need to report to immigration yearly

When I entered , BKK immigration only stamped me in for 1 year on O-X. This was later amended at my local IO. I think, again pointing to some confusion amongst Thai officialdom

[howerde]

5 minutes ago, crowned said:

When I entered , BKK immigration only stamped me in for 1 year on O-X. This was later amended at my local IO. I think, again pointing to some confusion amongst Thai officialdom

They told me i was the first O-X they had seen, there were 3 of them in  the booth

[Peter Denis]

4 hours ago, howerde said:

I have an O-X visa and have been told by immigration there is no need to report yearly with documents, only need to report when your passport expires or the initial 5 years is up, only need to do the 90 day report. ( i guess you need to keep your yearly health insurance  and bank statements)

The requirements/conditions on the Thai Embassy website when applying for the O-X Visa clearly state as one of the conditions for the Non Imm O-A Visa that

'Foreigners must report, in person, to the immigration officer every 1 year for the examination of the qualifications and supporting documents.'

This is Thailand with each local IO a fiefdom interpreting, adding or voiding the rules.  So it looks like you are lucky that YOUR local IO waves that requirement, but other IOs that do follow the regulations will normally impose it

[howerde]

16 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

The requirements/conditions on the Thai Embassy website when applying for the O-X Visa clearly state as one of the conditions for the Non Imm O-A Visa that

'Foreigners must report, in person, to the immigration officer every 1 year for the examination of the qualifications and supporting documents.'

This is Thailand with each local IO a fiefdom interpreting, adding or voiding the rules.  So it looks like you are lucky that YOUR local IO waves that requirement, but other IOs that do follow the regulations will normally impose it

Thai embassy websites do not always show the correct information, the London embassy shows you can apply for a 0=X  in Thailand and you can't,  And i deal with Chang Wattana who i am sure are up to date

Edited December 25, 2020 by howerde

[Peter Denis]

4 minutes ago, howerde said:

Thai embassy websites are not always correct, the London embassy shows you can apply for a 0=X  in Thailand and you can't,  And i deal with Chang Wattana

You wrote earlier 'They told me i was the first O-X they had seen...'

So Chang Wattana - by far the largest IO in Thailand - has not seen any O-X before.  Interesting...

Also and especially in this case I would not be very confident that an oral statement by an Imm Officer that is in contradiction with what the O-X requirements/conditions stipulate, might not be challenged later by a different officer.

I would NOT recommend the O-X Visa option to anyone wanting to stay long-term in Thailand, but if you can afford it and it meets your needs then of course that''s OK.   I can only repeat that there are other well-established options to stay long-term in Thailand that do not require permanently parking 1.5 million THB on your personal Thai bank-account nor subscribing to an IO-approved Thai health-insurance policy issued by a TGIA-associated insurer. 

[howerde]

19 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

You wrote earlier 'They told me i was the first O-X they had seen...'

So Chang Wattana - by far the largest IO in Thailand - has not seen any O-X before.  Interesting...

Also and especially in this case I would not be very confident that an oral statement by an Imm Officer that is in contradiction with what the O-X requirements/conditions stipulate, might not be challenged later by a different officer.

I would NOT recommend the O-X Visa option to anyone wanting to stay long-term in Thailand, but if you can afford it and it meets your needs then of course that''s OK.   I can only repeat that there are other well-established options to stay long-term in Thailand that do not require permanently parking 1.5 million THB on your personal Thai bank-account nor subscribing to an IO-approved Thai health-insurance policy issued by a TGIA-associated insurer. 

I was referring to immigration at the airport not seeing an 0-X visa, i have phoned  immigration and also had a Thai phone for me and on borh occasions was told there is no need to report  yearly, i would believe them more than an embassy website, i am happy with what i have and i earn more interest here than i would earn in the UK. My Thai  approved insurance is cheap, though i am still in my 50s

I would say once you get to your mid 60s  or have any medical conditions, then this is not the visa to go for

Edited December 25, 2020 by howerde

[Peter Denis]

7 minutes ago, howerde said:

I was referring to immigration at the airport not seeing an 0-X visa, i have phoned 1178 and also had a Thai phone for me and on borh occasions was told there is no need to report  yearly, i would believe them more than an embassy website, i am happy with what i have and i earn more interest here than i would earn in the UK. My ThIa  insurance is cheap, though i am still in my 50s

I would say once you get to your mid 60s  or have any medical conditions, then this is not the visa to go for

Good for you.  But I wonder...

When the O-X Visa provides you with a 5 year permission to stay stamped in your passport on entry, and there is NO need to report yearly how and when are Immigration gonna check that you did meet the requirements, i.e.

- at least 1.5 million THB permanently parked on your Thai personal bank-account;

- a Thai IO-approved health-insurance policy that meets the Non Imm O-X requirements.

If there is no obligation for annual reporting, you might as well ignore those rules once you got that 5-year permission to stay stamp in your passport, and at the end of the 5 years you then simply exit Thailand and apply abroad for a new Visa.  If it would be as simple as that, then the Non Imm O-X would be a very attractive option, so I doubt that you would never have to visit your local IO during that 5-year period to verify whether you meet the Non Imm O-X conditions of stay.

[howerde]

10 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Good for you.  But I wonder...

When the O-X Visa provides you with a 5 year permission to stay stamped in your passport on entry, and there is NO need to report yearly how and when are Immigration gonna check that you did meet the requirements, i.e.

- at least 1.5 million THB permanently parked on your Thai personal bank-account;

- a Thai IO-approved health-insurance policy that meets the Non Imm O-X requirements.

If there is no obligation for annual reporting, you might as well ignore those rules once you got that 5-year permission to stay stamp in your passport, and at the end of the 5 years you then simply exit Thailand and apply abroad for a new Visa.  If it would be as simple as that, then the Non Imm O-X would be a very attractive option, so I doubt that you would never have to visit your local IO during that 5-year period to verify whether you meet the Non Imm O-X conditions of stay.

Another way of looking at it, if you  obtained the visa and after 1 year in Thailand. left for  2 years, how would you show immigration  your second year documents, that would mean your visa lapsing,  i guess time will tell

[Peter Denis]

1 hour ago, howerde said:

Another way of looking at it, if you  obtained the visa and after 1 year in Thailand. left for  2 years, how would you show immigration  your second year documents, that would mean your visa lapsing,  i guess time will tell

If you have the 5-year permission to stay stamp in your passport, and you bought a multiple-entry Re-Entry Permit before exiting Thailand, it would protect that 5-year permission to stay. 

On re-entry at any moment during that 5-year period border-immigration would not require you to provide evidence of you still meeting the financial requirements, as that would be physically impossible for you when re-entering Thailand.

But they could ask you for the Health-Insurance Certificate you need with a Non Imm O-X Visa.  Not sure how that would work (whether they would stamp you in again for 5 years or whether they would limit the permission to stay to the expiry date of the mandatory health-insurance).

Would be interesting when you could keep the Forum updated on how works when re-entering with a Re-Entry Permit protected permission to stay from your Non Imm O -X Visa.

[George36]

This stuff makes my head swim.  5555. Thanks for all the replies and, since so much subjectivity is involved in this, I would not move forward and will do the retirement path.

 

I could overcome a lot of the discussions to see the way to O-X but the insurance is an absolute deal breaker for me.  I see anywhere from 60-90,000 Baht a year for this 67 year old and rising yearly after that to one in the 70s at 130,000 Baht.

 

I have Tricare For Life and do not desire to pay about $200-300 dollars a month extra.

 

Merry Christmas to all as it is Christmas morning in beautiful, sunny San Diego, Ca.

 

Gonna be a glorious da.

 

Thanks.

[crowned]

yes, from me as well, as a "newbie" on O-X here this year, I have appreciated everyone's input.

regards and best wishes...the forum is a great source of information and alternative views.

Thanks to everyone

[Peter Denis]

9 hours ago, George36 said:

This stuff makes my head swim.  5555. Thanks for all the replies and, since so much subjectivity is involved in this, I would not move forward and will do the retirement path.

 

I could overcome a lot of the discussions to see the way to O-X but the insurance is an absolute deal breaker for me.  I see anywhere from 60-90,000 Baht a year for this 67 year old and rising yearly after that to one in the 70s at 130,000 Baht.

 

I have Tricare For Life and do not desire to pay about $200-300 dollars a month extra.

 

Merry Christmas to all as it is Christmas morning in beautiful, sunny San Diego, Ca.

 

Gonna be a glorious da.

 

Thanks.

The LMG Insurance Plan-1 (with 200K deductible) is the cheapest Non Imm O-A and O-X compliant insurance, and sells at an annual fee of 6.000 to 11.400 THB when in the age bracket of 51 to 75 years.  Of course it should not be regarded as 'insurance' but is actually nothing more than an entrance paper to meet that #$^%^&* IO-imposed insurance requirement.

Entering Thailand VisaExempt or on a 60-day Tourist Visa, will allow you to apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa and subsequent 1-year extensions of stay.  Doing so you will NOT be confronted with mandatory health-insurance.  But going that road does require you to park +800K on a personal Thai bank-account semi-permanently, and you would have to apply every year for a 1-year extension, but when doing this 'for reason of retirement' it's a relatively simple process for long-term stay in Thailand.

Note: Personally I prefer the Non Imm O-A Visa as it provides me with almost 2 years of IO hassle free stay in Thailand > NO need to park any funds on a Thai bank-account and NO need to visit IO during those two years for 1-year extensions.  At the end of the two years when visiting my home-country I simply re-apply there for a new Non Imm O-A Visa and repeat the above.  However, it does require the IO-approved health-insurance, but I consider that a small price (surely when subscribing to the LMG Insurance Plan-1 policy) for the benefit of not having to apply for 1-year extensions or parking/transferring funds to a Thai bank-account.

Edited December 26, 2020 by Peter Denis

[LivinLOS]

On 12/25/2020 at 3:43 AM, howerde said:

I have an O-X visa and have been told by immigration there is no need to report yearly with documents, only need to report when your passport expires or the initial 5 years is up, only need to do the 90 day report. ( i guess you need to keep your yearly health insurance  and bank statements)

And any discussion about keeping your 3 mil, or 1.5 mil, or whatever, however long ?? 

Thats the bit that seems totally unclear. 

[LivinLOS]

On 12/24/2020 at 6:59 AM, Sheryl said:

Since you still have to go to Immigration every year, nto much advantage over O-A that I can see, and with higher financial requirement

2 x 5 year chunks with (unclear) little further interaction is a huge advantage.. 

[howerde]

2 hours ago, LivinLOS said:

And any discussion about keeping your 3 mil, or 1.5 mil, or whatever, however long ?? 

Thats the bit that seems totally unclear. 

I contacted immigration again this morning, and again told you DO NOT need to report to immigration every year, just do 90 day reports which can be done online after the first report, you go to immigration at the end of your 1st  5 year point or if your passport expires in meantime( i was stamped in for 4 years as my passport expires in 2024 , at this point they check that the finance and health insurance has been maintained through out. i have looked at other embassy websites the only thing clear is  there is a lot of variation.

  I did not ask about the finance side as i have decided to keep it simple and keep the 3 million, as it earns me more than i would get in UK.the embassy sites that mention ie London shows you need to keep the 3m for a year, then you can withdraw 1.5m though it states that the 1.5 m must be spent in Thailand, i can not see immigration going going through years of receipts to confirm that it was spent in Thailand. Immigration do not seem to reply to emails, i tried in english and in Thai, no reply, but on the phone they would go and check, try them on 1178

[zoltannyc]

If you can afford a one time payment of 1million Baht I would go ahead with the 20 year Elite visa. At age 66 you can still live an other 20 years easily. With Elite visa there is no health insurance requirement so if you have a global insurance you can save 1million Baht on the insurance premium  for 20 years ( 20x50,000Bath so it offsets the price of the Elite visa. Yes you still have to do 90-day-report , I do it over Internet  takes 5 min every three month. With all O visas the stay permit is one year after that you have to renew the stay permit or leave and reenter the country.

[DrJack54]

1 hour ago, zoltannyc said:

With all O visas the stay permit is one year after that you have to renew the stay permit or leave and reenter the country.

If you did not obtain a new extension leaving Thailand and re-enter would mean you would need to obtain a new non O.

Regards annual extension based on retirement.......if you use money in bank and leave 800k plus in a dedicated account, the annual extension is a walk in the park. Could not be more simple. 

Very few folk have opted for non O-X for good reason. 

[zoltannyc]

3 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

If you did not obtain a new extension leaving Thailand and re-enter would mean you would need to obtain a new non O.

Regards annual extension based on retirement.......if you use money in bank and leave 800k plus in a dedicated account, the annual extension is a walk in the park. Could not be more simple. 

Very few folk have opted for non O-X for good reason. 

You are right, however the mandatory health insurance requirement messes things up. 
O-X visa is pretty much the worst visa option to stay in Thailand, especially if you plan  to expire here. 

 

[DrJack54]

15 minutes ago, zoltannyc said:

You are right, however the mandatory health insurance requirement messes things up. 
O-X visa is pretty much the worst visa option to stay in Thailand, especially if you plan  to expire here. 

 

Ha! Love the way you use term 'expire'.

Has a much nicer ring to it than die.

Yes I hope to expire in Thailand. Hopefully not for few years. 

[zoltannyc]

10 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Ha! Love the way you use term 'expire'.

Has a much nicer ring to it than die.

Yes I hope to expire in Thailand. Hopefully not for few years. 

'expire' - I heard it first from "George Carlin on Soft Language", check on youtube.

[crowned]

visited my local IO again, so while there, enquired again about whether I need to report every year on my O-X, or after 5 years. Counter officers doing the processing said "just go the stamp" (which would mean only at the end of 5 years}. Some more questioning got us in a consultation with a more senior IO from the back office. This IO showed us their rules for O-X from their internal documentation. There is definitely a statement that a YEARLY visit to Immigration is required. The document was in Thai, but confirmed by the IO and my Thai partner that yearly reporting is needed.

I'm not saying that other locations might treat this issue differently, but for my local office, and from the guidelines on the Immigration system shown to us, it seemed fairly clear what is expected. The document is STM 5, and didn't seem just something written up for the local office. 

I'll certainly be back every year with the necessary bank and insurance info to keep me "valid".

Good luck to all those navigating the mysteries of this visa type. 

[LivinLOS]

On 12/28/2020 at 6:15 AM, howerde said:

I contacted immigration again this morning, and again told you DO NOT need to report to immigration every year, just do 90 day reports which can be done online after the first report, you go to immigration at the end of your 1st  5 year point or if your passport expires in meantime( i was stamped in for 4 years as my passport expires in 2024 , at this point they check that the finance and health insurance has been maintained through out. i have looked at other embassy websites the only thing clear is  there is a lot of variation.

  I did not ask about the finance side as i have decided to keep it simple and keep the 3 million, as it earns me more than i would get in UK.the embassy sites that mention ie London shows you need to keep the 3m for a year, then you can withdraw 1.5m though it states that the 1.5 m must be spent in Thailand, i can not see immigration going going through years of receipts to confirm that it was spent in Thailand. Immigration do not seem to reply to emails, i tried in english and in Thai, no reply, but on the phone they would go and check, try them on 1178

Sorry for the slow reply, dont log in here much.. 

First.. Thanks for doing the leg work.. Its great 'your' immigration confirmed that.. I just wish we could get it safely in writing somewhere.. Along with all the other aspects. 

The stages of money is important, and confused at best but at least some horses mouth information. 

[LivinLOS]

On 1/1/2021 at 10:29 AM, zoltannyc said:

You are right, however the mandatory health insurance requirement messes things up. 
O-X visa is pretty much the worst visa option to stay in Thailand, especially if you plan  to expire here. 

 

The insurance can be done with a huge deductible bringing it down to a few 1000 per year.. I agree its sort of useless insurance at any level. 

[LivinLOS]

On 1/1/2021 at 9:09 AM, zoltannyc said:

If you can afford a one time payment of 1million Baht I would go ahead with the 20 year Elite visa. At age 66 you can still live an other 20 years easily. With Elite visa there is no health insurance requirement so if you have a global insurance you can save 1million Baht on the insurance premium  for 20 years ( 20x50,000Bath so it offsets the price of the Elite visa. Yes you still have to do 90-day-report , I do it over Internet  takes 5 min every three month. With all O visas the stay permit is one year after that you have to renew the stay permit or leave and reenter the country.

Thats 1 million baht spent.. v 3 million baht simply deposited though.. 

I dont see that as a better deal.. 

[LivinLOS]

1 hour ago, crowned said:

visited my local IO again, so while there, enquired again about whether I need to report every year on my O-X, or after 5 years. Counter officers doing the processing said "just go the stamp" (which would mean only at the end of 5 years}. Some more questioning got us in a consultation with a more senior IO from the back office. This IO showed us their rules for O-X from their internal documentation. There is definitely a statement that a YEARLY visit to Immigration is required. The document was in Thai, but confirmed by the IO and my Thai partner that yearly reporting is needed.

I'm not saying that other locations might treat this issue differently, but for my local office, and from the guidelines on the Immigration system shown to us, it seemed fairly clear what is expected. The document is STM 5, and didn't seem just something written up for the local office. 

I'll certainly be back every year with the necessary bank and insurance info to keep me "valid".

Good luck to all those navigating the mysteries of this visa type. 

Sigh.. and just the opposite of the above.. 

Really is a particularly messy visa class.