Retirement visa in Uk passport but I also have an Irish passport can I change over?

[essex boys]

Hi all, i recently got my non o visa based on retirement and the one year extension will run untill end of may 2023, this is in my Uk passport, but I have dual nationality as I’m also an Irish citizen as my father was Irish, I see that the Irish embassy does still give letters confirming your pension income that are suitable to be used for immigration purposes, my questions are

1/ does this letter make things easier to use the income method for retirement or marriage visa as opposed to having 800,000 / 400,000 in the bank

2/ what would the process be to change to the Irish passport? I assume that I would have to let my extension of stay expire then leave Thailand and re enter on the Irish passport get another non o visa and start the process again, or could I simply turn up at immigration and get my next extension put into my Irish passport?
sorry it’s a bit long winded looking forward to any help

[foreverlomsak]

To get the letter you may have to visit the Embassy, with proof of income.

With money in the bank you only have to visit the local branch to get a letter from them and possibly a statement.

 

The only way to change from UK passport to Irish passport is to leave and return using the Irish passport. You do not need to wait until extension expiry it can be done any time.

[ubonjoe]

1. If you can get a letter from the Irish embassy to prove your 65k baht income it will be accepted to apply for the extension. No need to keep any money in the bank.

2. To use your Irish passport you would have to leave and re-enter the country using it and start all over again with a new non-o visa and extension of stay.

[OJAS]

The following link provides details of the income confirmation service which is provided by the Irish Embassy:-

 

https://www.dfa.ie/media/missions/thailand/ourservices/Pension-Income-Letter-New.pdf

 

I assume from the title of this thread that you are already the proud possessor of an Irish passport. If so, you may be interested in noting from the following link that, come the time it needs to be renewed, Ireland has, in stark contrast to the UK, caught up with the 3rd decade of the 21st Century and permits (and, indeed, would appear to require) renewals of existing passports to be applied for from Thailand online:-

 

https://www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/thailand/passports/how-to-apply-for-a-passport/

 

Meaning that you will be able to kiss goodbye to the antiquated bureaucratic procedures of the With-It Tower British Passport Renewal Experience! Lucky old you!!????

Edited March 16, 2022 by OJAS

[essex boys]

Thanks for the useful information gents, seems easy enough to do, I will leave to go back to France ( I have a small house there) probably April next year and apply for a non O using my Irish passport and then start the process when I return to Thailand, yes OJAS I hold an Irish passport, I got my first one many years ago when I was living in California, my immigration lawyer there suggested I got one so I could enter into the ‘visa lottery’ program, I entered the lottery program and I got pulled out of the hat for a green card, it didn’t alter the immigration process much but I certainly jumped the queue which saved me a few dollars in lawyers costs and time , i looked at the application for an Irish passport in Thailand, as you say it seems a lot simpler than the Uk application, plus my Irish passport lasts 7 years longer than my Uk passport.

Edited March 16, 2022 by essex boys

[DefaultName]

Do remember that the Irish Embassy gives these letters NOW, they could fall in line with the others and stop doing it at any time.  Don't depend on it continuing forever.  I have no inside knowledge, it just seems like a reasonable thing to plan for.   

[Doctor Tom]

Ho ho, good luck with that.  The IOs will have a coronary. A good agent may be able to swing it, worth a try. 

[OJAS]

4 hours ago, essex boys said:

I will leave to go back to France ( I have a small house there) probably April next year and apply for a non O using my Irish passport and then start the process when I return to Thailand

I would strongly advise you to apply for a non-O at the Royal Thai Embassy in London (which covers the UK and ROI) rather than at its Paris equivalent, since they are one of the few Western embassies which issue single-entry non-O's on the basis of retirement - click on the following link and scroll down for the necessary info:-

 

https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/84508-non-immigrant-visas

 

You should be able to satisfy their Irish residency requirement with your Irish passport.

 

In any case, I gather that the Paris Embassy have a notorious reputation for proving extremely awkward and uncooperative in granting visas of any shape, size or description for Thailand. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that, unless I'm missing something in the following link, their website contains absolutely zero information about applying for Thai visas:-

 

http://www.thaiembassy.fr/

 

Edited March 16, 2022 by OJAS

[essex boys]

@DefaultName I have only just got my visa and extension sorted out so I’m loathe to start the process on another passport until my current extension expires, but thanks for the info.

@Doctor Tom I understand where your coming from but hopefully they will accept the embassy letter, they should do as that used to be the case but as you rightly suggest, it could become a headache

@OJAS yes I will certainly be doing it through the Thai embassy in London, after dealing with the french system for my health card and residency permit I’m loathe to do anything with the french regarding paperwork, I would say they run Thailand a close second with the paperwork requirements and then turning up at the government office to be told you need some other paperwork!
 

again to all, many thanks for the help and suggestions it’s much appreciated 

[essex boys]

@ubonjoe sorry I didn’t mean to exclude you from the thank yous, I had read your suggestions but didn’t scroll up far enough and missed your name out…

thanks very much for your as ever useful input ????????

 

[essex boys]

Hi gents, following on from this topic yesterday I have been reading the Thai embassy in londons requirements for the non  O visa, it states that I have to prove legal residency in the Uk or Ireland, I have my Irish passport but no other documents to prove my legal residency is my passport enough to prove that? Or should I just come back to Thailand on a 30 day visa waiver then change to a non O here in Thailand ( which is what I done this time) any advice appreciated. I will attach a copy of the non O requirements from the London Thai embassy web site

 

• Non-Immigrant Type O (Retirement (pensioner aged 50 or above with a state pension who wants to stay in Thailand for no longer than 90 days) - single entry only)
•  
• Financial evidence e.g. A copy of pension statement if the applicant is a pensioner, or a copy of 1-month bank statement showing your income from pension, or 3-month bank statement of at least £10,000
• Confirmation of legal residence in the UK or Ireland. Copy of health insurance that covers COVID-19 related medical expenses, both inpatient and outpatient, no less than 100,000 USD for the whole period of your stay in Thailand.

[ubonjoe]

36 minutes ago, essex boys said:

Hi gents, following on from this topic yesterday I have been reading the Thai embassy in londons requirements for the non  O visa, it states that I have to prove legal residency in the Uk or Ireland, I have my Irish passport but no other documents to prove my legal residency is my passport enough to prove that?

A copy of your passport is enough to prove you are from Ireland.

 

39 minutes ago, essex boys said:

Or should I just come back to Thailand on a 30 day visa waiver then change to a non O here in Thailand ( which is what I done this time) any advice appreciated.

That is what I would do. No need to go through the e visa application process and no need for 90 days of medical insurance.

[essex boys]

@ubonjoe lovely thanks for the reply, all I will need to do then is get the confirmation of pension letter from the Irish embassy to prove to immigration  my monthly income…I guess I just take that letter to immigration instead of messing around with the bank book and bank letters etc ( I want to do the income method as opposed to keeping larger sums of money in my Thai bank account)

[ubonjoe]

19 minutes ago, essex boys said:

@ubonjoe lovely thanks for the reply, all I will need to do then is get the confirmation of pension letter from the Irish embassy to prove to immigration  my monthly income…I guess I just take that letter to immigration instead of messing around with the bank book and bank letters etc ( I want to do the income method as opposed to keeping larger sums of money in my Thai bank account)

No need for anything from your bank.

There are a few odd offices that will want the consular officers signature on it verified by the Department of Consular Affairs of the MFA.

[oldcpu]

On 3/16/2022 at 11:54 AM, OJAS said:

The following link provides details of the income confirmation service which is provided by the Irish Embassy:-

 

https://www.dfa.ie/media/missions/thailand/ourservices/Pension-Income-Letter-New.pdf

Thank you for that link. 

 

Until now I have always simply deposited required amount (by Thailand) in a fixed Thai bank account and mostly forgotten about it, but this possibility of the Irish Embassy providing proof of pension income has me reconsidering. 

 

However while Irish, my pension comes not from Ireland but rather from a European government organisation (of which Ireland is a contributing member to that organisation) ... so I am wondering if the Irish Embassy would accept a letter from that Europe organisation, as proof of my pension income, in order for the Irish Embassy to issue the income confirmation service for providing to Thailand for a Type-OA visa?   [ ... which reads to be convoluted approach but I don't believe the European organisation proof of pension income would be accepted by Thailand as the European organisation does NOT have an Embassy in any country, much less Thailand. ]

 

I am thinking I probably should contact the Irish Embassy if I wish to follow up with the  'monthly pension' approach to see if the Irish Embassy would accept the European organisation income proof, for Irish Embassy to provide the confirmation service.

 

I am fortunate that money is not at this time an issue, so I suspect it may just be easiest for myself to stick with the fixed deposit approach (as opposed to the income approach) but it does have me thinking (as a possibility to keep in my back pocket 'just-in-case' ) ...

 

Again - thanks for the link.

[OJAS]

On 3/18/2022 at 1:10 PM, oldcpu said:

Thank you for that link. 

 

Until now I have always simply deposited required amount (by Thailand) in a fixed Thai bank account and mostly forgotten about it, but this possibility of the Irish Embassy providing proof of pension income has me reconsidering. 

 

However while Irish, my pension comes not from Ireland but rather from a European government organisation (of which Ireland is a contributing member to that organisation) ... so I am wondering if the Irish Embassy would accept a letter from that Europe organisation, as proof of my pension income, in order for the Irish Embassy to issue the income confirmation service for providing to Thailand for a Type-OA visa?   [ ... which reads to be convoluted approach but I don't believe the European organisation proof of pension income would be accepted by Thailand as the European organisation does NOT have an Embassy in any country, much less Thailand. ]

 

I am thinking I probably should contact the Irish Embassy if I wish to follow up with the  'monthly pension' approach to see if the Irish Embassy would accept the European organisation income proof, for Irish Embassy to provide the confirmation service.

 

I am fortunate that money is not at this time an issue, so I suspect it may just be easiest for myself to stick with the fixed deposit approach (as opposed to the income approach) but it does have me thinking (as a possibility to keep in my back pocket 'just-in-case' ) ...

 

Again - thanks for the link.

Those embassies who still offer an income confirmation service to their nationals are, in theory, supposed to be actively verifying the accuracy of the income for which their confirmation is being sought, as required by the Immigration Bureau. Whether a particular embassy is actually doing this in practice, though, is a moot point.

 

However, assuming that the Irish Embassy are fully complying with this Immigration Bureau requirement, they may well be able to do so in the case of pension income generated in the ROI but not in the case of the likes of your European government organisation. My advice to you, therefore, would be to email a copy of your European government organisation's letter to the Irish Embassy sooner rather than later, and ask them simply whether they would be willing to confirm your income on its basis. While this may not be an issue for you at the moment, it could potentially suddenly and unexpectedly become one if, say, a particular 65k monthly transfer was not correctly coded by your Thai bank as having originated from abroad. For the sake of peace of mind, it would, I think, be better to find out now whether this possible Plan B was available to you than discovering at some point in the future when you might need it that it wasn't!

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by OJAS

[Eff1n2ret]

On 3/18/2022 at 1:10 PM, oldcpu said:

am thinking I probably should contact the Irish Embassy if I wish to follow up with the  'monthly pension' approach to see if the Irish Embassy would accept the European organisation income proof, for Irish Embassy to provide the confirmation service.

Probably a wise move, but I don't see why they shouldn't accept such proof. The info that I used to submit to the British Embassy included not only Government and private pensions, but also house rental income - admittedly also paid in the UK, but the fact that some or all of your income comes from outside Ireland  shouldn't disqualify you from using their service as an Irish citizen.