My process to change my OA retirement that I had at the beginning and then many annual extension on this, to an O-Visa retirement.

[hakancnx]

On Monday, July 4, I was at the border crossing in Chiang Khong.

 Went across the bridge to Laos, redeemed a visa, US $40, went in and out shortly after.  No problems at all.

 Just a little waiting for the bus.

 

 Back to Thailand Immigration which also went well.  The officer grumbled a bit about why I killed an extension/Visa and how difficult life would be for me now.

 

 However, I convinced the officer that it was exactly 30 days of exempt I wanted.

 

 Now today, July 6, I have submitted my application for an O-Visa at the immigration office in Chiang Mai.

 

 Also went without problems.

 

Required was:

 

 Copies of the passport, TM30, TM6, Bank certificate that there is B 800,000 in the account, and a copy of the bank book.

 Nothing else.

 

 But they wanted everything in a double edition, which I have not seen anywhere.

 

 But with a little footwork, it was also fixed.

 

 It was a little fun that the helpful officer thought it made sense to apply for a new O-visa.

 

 Now the application will go to Bangkok first and then I will pick up my new Non Immigrant O-Visa Single entry, on August 4th.

[DrJack54]

13 minutes ago, hakancnx said:

Now today, July 6, I have submitted my application for an O-Visa at the immigration office in Chiang Mai.

Good.

You were able to apply for non O with approx 28 days remaining on your 30 day permit.

Some over look this.

Some offices require 15 days and I think CM require 21. 

[hakancnx]

9 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Good.

You were able to apply for non O with approx 28 days remaining on your 30 day permit.

Some over look this.

Some offices require 15 days and I think CM require 21. 

Actually my 30 days was not enough due to many holidays in July. So I was forced to first get an extension of 30 days, and then apply for the O-Visa. But all in the same day. 

[scubascuba3]

OA in title is a bit of a red herring as it wasn't part of this process

[hakancnx]

32 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

OA in title is a bit of a red herring as it wasn't part of this process

On the contrary. The original OA was the reason for me to get rid of it. 

[Silencer]

15 minutes ago, hakancnx said:

On the contrary. The original OA was the reason for me to get rid of it. 

Thank you for the information. All things being equal (which they never are) if you have a choice between changing an OA to an O, or marriage visa, which would you choose. Drawbacks/considerations in either compared to the other?

[DrJack54]

7 minutes ago, Silencer said:

Thank you for the information. All things being equal (which they never are) if you have a choice between changing an OA to an O, or marriage visa, which would you choose. Drawbacks/considerations in either compared to the other?

If anyone originally had a non O-A and was also married why would they just not obtain extensions from the non O-A based on marriage.

In that case insurance is not required.

Simple financials option of 400k in bank for 2 months + under consideration period.

Walk in the park.

Clearly extensions to a non O based on retirement has very simple requirements and paperwork compared to extentions based on marriage.

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by DrJack54

[ProbPossConf]

Did you also submit two TM.87 written in blue ink along with two identical photos?

[oldcpu]

2 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

If anyone originally had a non O-A and was also married why would they just not obtain extensions from the non O-A based on marriage.

In that case insurance is not required.

That's true about the Health Insurance (from a limited Thai list) not being required for the Type-OA non-immigrant visa (for marriage extensions) and I took advantage of that myself in a recent renewal when at renewal of my annual 'permission to stay' extension, I changed from 'retirement' to 'marriage' .

 

Still, I plan to switch to a Type-O in the future even thou married to a Thai.

 

Why ?  My views:

 

(1) a Type-O (retirement extension) has significantly less paperwork than a Type OA (marriage extension) - I won't spam the forum with all the details (maps , pictures of one and one's wife in home .. etc ... ),  and

(2) an extra trip to City Hall to get the Kor-22 marriage certificate renewed is NOT required for a Type-O (retirement extension) but it is required for a Type-OA (marriage extension),  Dependent on the City Hall this can be quick or be a long wait at City Hall, and

(3) the wife is NOT required to go to immigration for a Type-O (retirement extension) but she is required at immigration for a Type-OA  ( marriage extension), and

(4) a Type-O (retirement extension) can be done in a couple of days (possibly on the same day for some) where a Type-OA (marriage extension) in my case took over 5-weeks [and for a while, when waiting these 5-weeks, any one looking at my passport would think I was on an 'over stay' in Thailand - even thou I wasn't ], and

(5) no need on a Type-O (retirement extension) for an immigration officer to visit one's place, but in some cases for a Type-OA (marriage extension) the Immigration want to visit one's place.

 

For some of us (like myself) we don't care whether its 400k or 800k in the bank.  We are lucky that the 400k difference doesn't matter.

 

Perhaps the money is the driving issue for some.  How tight is one's money, and is the 400k additional Thai baht an issue?    If the 400k Thai baht not an issue, and if one has already a plan in place (for different reasons) to leave Thailand and return, why not change from a non-immigrant-OA to a non-immigrant-O ?

 

I am hoping later this year to change from a Type-OA to a Type-O non-immigrant visa, for the reasons noted above.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by oldcpu

[interested]

what was the situation with proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test ?

was there any requirement to enter Laos?

was there any requirement to enter Thailand?

[Andrew Dwyer]

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

OA in title is a bit of a red herring as it wasn't part of this process

On the contrary, the OA visa and retirement extension thereof is the reason the op , and many before him, are converting to an O visa.

I will be doing the same in a month .

[hakancnx]

58 minutes ago, ProbPossConf said:

Did you also submit two TM.87 written in blue ink along with two identical photos?

Yes

[hakancnx]

13 minutes ago, interested said:

what was the situation with proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test ?

was there any requirement to enter Laos?

was there any requirement to enter Thailand?

Had to show proof of vaccinations at the Lao border. 

On the thai border, nothing at all. 

[flexomike]

17 hours ago, hakancnx said:

Actually my 30 days was not enough due to many holidays in July. So I was forced to first get an extension of 30 days, and then apply for the O-Visa. But all in the same day. 

when you did your border crossing did they require you to do a new TM6, there have been a few posts that people coming in on planes are not longer required to do them, I think this might cause some problems with immigration unless they no longer require you to have one when doing extensions, the online report does not require one. I will be doing the same as you did in the near future and am just curious about the TM6

[portlandtree]

not sure why one wants to change OA to O  ??? but note this  (An non immigrant O visa can be issued for many reasons including retirement, marriage, accompanying a retired or working spouse or volunteering. It is also possible to change a tourist visa or visa exempt entry stamp into a non o visa and some immigration offices in Thailand. If you are considering this method in order to retire in Thailand, then please reach out for advice as although the process is possible it is not straightforward and can require expert guidance.

[DrJack54]

56 minutes ago, portlandtree said:

. If you are considering this method in order to retire in Thailand, then please reach out for advice as although the process is possible it is not straightforward and can require expert guidance.

I think it's very straightforward. 

Exit without reentry permit in order to kill off your non OA reenter visa exempt and obtain a non O.

Walk in the park. 

Edited July 7, 2022 by ubonjoe
added A to non 0

[flexomike]

39 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

I think it's very straightforward. 

Exit without reentry permit in order to kill off your non OA reenter visa exempt and obtain a non O.

Walk in the park. 

I think you would only want to exit to kill off your OA, unless I am missing something

 

[ubonjoe]

5 minutes ago, flexomike said:

I think you would only want to exit to kill off your OA, unless I am missing something

 

That was typo that I have now fixed for him.

[DrJack54]

9 minutes ago, flexomike said:

I think you would only want to exit to kill off your OA, unless I am missing something

 

That's correct.

The person I quoted started with this comment....

"not sure why one wants to change OA to O ???" 

 

The main reason to switch from non O-A to non O based on retirement is to avoid the mandatory insurance.

In order to do that then to exit Thailand having been on extensions to a non O-A without a reentry permit will kill off the non O-A.

Being done very often now. 

 

Edit: @flexomike

I made error in my post that uj kindly fixed. 

Edited July 7, 2022 by DrJack54

[flexomike]

1 minute ago, DrJack54 said:

That's correct.

The person I quoted started with this comment....

"not sure why one wants to change OA to O ???" 

 

The main reason to switch from non O-A to non O based on retirement is to avoid the mandatory insurance.

In order to do that then to exit Thailand having been on extensions to a non O-A without a reentry permit will kill off the non O-A.

Being done very often now. 

That is what my plan is after I get back from my US trip in September, tired of paying for the worthless insurance

[DrJack54]

Just now, flexomike said:

That is what my plan is after I get back from my US trip in September, tired of paying for the worthless insurance

You are not alone.

Without the insurance requirement the non O-A visa was a ripper 

It would be my go to without the insurance, especially for folk that return to home country every couple of years.

It no longer has appeal for many.

 

[JohnOFphon]

The cost of the mandatory OA insurance went up for me this year. Last year..just over 7,000. This year, just over 11,000. Insurance lady said it had to do with my age and some new requirement from Thai Immigration.  

So, next year, July. I want to exit and kill the OA. Come back visa exempt.

Go to Immigration and start the Non O process.

A day or so after I return, I will transfer over 800,000 into a new account. One that I won't use for everyday business.

I know that I have to leave all of that in the account until I have been granted a new extension.

July 2023 to July 2024. If I live that long.

I have asked this question and gotten 3 different answers.

If I keep transferring 65,000 + per month. 800K in July and 65K Aug to July 2024. Can I use those transfers to show Immigration as income from abroad? 

Then I can take the 800K and use as I want. 

[PETERHOF]

In addition to the bank certificate, did they required evidence of foreign currency fund transferred to your Thai bank account as indicated in the list of documents to provide (5.3) ?

[DrJack54]

28 minutes ago, JohnOFphon said:

I have asked this question and gotten 3 different answers.

If I keep transferring 65,000 + per month. 800K in July and 65K Aug to July 2024. Can I use those transfers to show Immigration as income from abroad? 

Then I can take the 800K and use as I want

So yes to begin with a non O retirement you would need to use money in the bank method assuming your embassy does not provide income letter.

If you started your 65k transfers at the same time as obtaining your extension and maintained that until your next extension then you could switch to income method showing immigration 12 months of transfers.

After that the 800k is not required in the bank. 

[hakancnx]

9 hours ago, flexomike said:

when you did your border crossing did they require you to do a new TM6, there have been a few posts that people coming in on planes are not longer required to do them, I think this might cause some problems with immigration unless they no longer require you to have one when doing extensions, the online report does not require one. I will be doing the same as you did in the near future and am just curious about the TM6

I had to do a TM6. Yes. 

Land border requires this. 

 

[PETERHOF]

On 7/6/2022 at 9:49 PM, hakancnx said:

Yes

Hello, Chiang Mai Immigration didn't required anything about proof of adress ? (If tenant : rental contract / If owner : copy household registration & chanote.

 

Did they required 800 000 baht in bank two months before your application date, 6th july ?

 

Thank you

 

Best regards

 

Bruno