Experience of OA extension at Immi Division 1 Chaeng Wattana

[theghizmo]

I recently extended my OA visa at Immi Division 1 Chaeng Wattana. I did it myself, no agents involved, no interpreter, and I had no past experience (first extension) so I did expect things to be difficult. Hope this is helpful to others who plan to do the same.

 

List of documents:

 

1. Form (get from counter at the entrance)
2. Photo 4x6 - 1 copy 
3. Hand drawn map (use google map and draw a 1 km radius from your home)
4. OA Insurance copy (should be verifiable from TGIA website)
5. House rental agreement + bluebook of owner + Thai ID of owner - All copies 
6. Bank passbook cover + bank letter (Dated same day) + balance entry (same day ) - All original + copy (3 month balance of 800,000 should be maintained prior to the date of application)
7. 1900THB
8. TM 30 copy

 

 

TM30

1. Form
2. House rental agreement + bluebook of owner + Thai ID of owner - All copies 

 

Reentry

1. Form
2. Photo 4 x6 1 copy
3. 3800THB

 

Tips:
Reach early, take token for both tm30 and visa extension
Go to bank and get letters
Come back and do tm30 first 
Then go to extension counter
Can take appointment online too

[KhunBENQ]

52 minutes ago, theghizmo said:

OA Insurance copy (should be verifiable from TGIA website)

Would you tell what your age is and what the insurance cost?

 

[HerewardtheWake]

Reading the OP: With the multiple entry stamp, the total for a year's extension of the O-A visa seems to come to about 5,700 baht. The Long Term Residence (LTR) visa comes to 50,000 one time payment for a 5 year+5 year visa; with no requirement of 800,000 Baht bank balance,with a multiple entry stamp, once a year equivalent of the 90-day report, and a reported special entry gate at the airport. It seems that for those who can meet the LTR visa requirements, LTR seems to be a better deal?

[mokwit]

Just now, HerewardtheWake said:

Reading the OP: With the multiple entry stamp, the total for a year's extension of the O-A visa seems to come to about 5,700 baht. The Long Term Residence (LTR) visa comes to 50,000 one time payment for a 5 year+5 year visa; with no requirement of 800,000 Baht bank balance,with a multiple entry stamp, once a year equivalent of the 90-day report, and a reported special entry gate at the airport. It seems that for those who can meet the LTR visa requirements, LTR seems to be a better deal?

There is the 5/10 year OX visa which has this stipulation: After obtaining a visa, you must come back for a qualifying examination every 1 year at the local
immigration office and must report 90 days by appointment.

 

So, it's not really a 5 year visa if yearly re-qualifying

 

I think I prefer the 800k and yearly "re-qualification" without limit of the 1 year retirement extension

[theghizmo]

41 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Would you tell what your age is and what the insurance cost?

 

Age 57, insurance cost is around THB 8K with very very high deductible and exclusions, effectively its useless, only good enough as a PA insurance I guess. I didn't bother getting a proper 3.5M SA THB insurance which has no deductible because no insurance company will accept me without heavy underwriting process. Even if I pay a very high premium, there will be a lot of exclusions. I will rather get another reasonable SA insurance with affordable premium.

 

Since my original visa is OA I have no option regarding insurance, those who have non-o (retirement) are excluded from this insurance requirement. I do consider changing my visa type in future to avoid this cost.

 

 

@HerewardtheWake I do not qualify for LTR due to income limit. But yes, its an attractive option for long term stability (somewhat). Also note that there is insurance requirement for LTR, insurance renews every year so the visa also needs to be reviewed every year. Effectively, I still need to visit immigration every year and also need to buy the insurance every year. So, the effort is same as my current OA visa

[KhunBENQ]

6 hours ago, theghizmo said:

Age 57, insurance cost is around THB 8K with very very high deductible and exclusions, effectively its useless, only good enough as a PA insurance I guess

So they don't take it too serious to check the type of insurance.

Good for you.

[DrJack54]

8 hours ago, theghizmo said:

+ copy (3 month balance of 800,000 should be maintained prior to the date of application

Two months prior..

 

Better plan would have been to obtain the TM30 earlier and have that in your paperwork.

In that way you could make a booking which at CW which runs like clockwork.

Allow enough time to do bank letter etc on lower level.

 

For those with SCB account be aware they do not have branch at CW. 

[Pib]

6 hours ago, theghizmo said:

 

@HerewardtheWake I do not qualify for LTR due to income limit. But yes, its an attractive option for long term stability (somewhat). Also note that there is insurance requirement for LTR, insurance renews every year so the visa also needs to be reviewed every year. Effectively, I still need to visit immigration every year and also need to buy the insurance every year. So, the effort is same as my current OA visa

The 10 year LTR visa (i.e., really a 5 year + year 5 visa) is "not" reviewed each year.  After its initial issue where you get the first 5 year permitted to stay and 5 year multi-entry stamp it is not reviewed again until it's time to apply for the 2nd 5 year stamp of the 10 year visa.  No fee for the 2nd 5 year stamp if approved (or disapproved) as the entire 10 year LTR visa fee is paid when getting the 1st 5 year stamp.

[Lorry]

I thought for OA-visa you don't need 800,000 in a Thai bank?

You do not need them when you apply for the visa (you can use money in your home country bank).

However, do you still need them if you want an extension?

 

If yes, it means without money in a Thai bank you can stay maximum 2 years with the OA-visa (leave Thailand before the end of the first year and come back shortly before the end of the first year).

Is this correct?

[glegolo18]

Ops, I nearly missunderstand you, considering the wording of "extending your Non Immigrant O-A"...

So you did NOT at all extend that O-A..... That you can only do by passing the boarder....

What you have done is that you have made an extension of stay based on your period of stay/permission of stay.... Nothing else.....

 

[DrJack54]

57 minutes ago, glegolo18 said:

What you have done is that you have made an extension of stay based on your period of stay/permission of stay.... Nothing else.

No...

His non O-A has expired.

He applied for a 12 month extension from his original non O-A. 

Hence all the financial requirements he mentioned and insurance. 

[Tod Daniels]

10 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

So they don't take it too serious to check the type of insurance.

Good for you.

Actually they DO take checking the type of insurance REALLY seriously and the can log in to the website that shows IF you're insured by one of the 12 approved thai insurers for the required 100K USD coverage.

I think right now the cheapest premium you can get is thru LMG with one million baht deductible (basically it's insurance just to tick the box that you have it as you pay the first 33K USD of any claim ???? )

In addition to the paper you bring from your insurance company showing your coverage and the dates it's in effect, while you are waiting for your passport to be returned Immigrations logs into the TGIA website and checks that it's "registered"
Here's a sample of what data they show when they look you up. This one is from a friend who got his OA extension just before the changes to the insurance where it went from 40k/400k to 100kUSD and the old 40/400 was accepted. 

 

[theghizmo]

2 hours ago, Tod Daniels said:

Actually they DO take checking the type of insurance REALLY seriously and the can log in to the website that shows IF you're insured by one of the 12 approved thai insurers for the required 100K USD coverage.

I think right now the cheapest premium you can get is thru LMG with one million baht deductible (basically it's insurance just to tick the box that you have it as you pay the first 33K USD of any claim ???? )

In addition to the paper you bring from your insurance company showing your coverage and the dates it's in effect, while you are waiting for your passport to be returned Immigrations logs into the TGIA website and checks that it's "registered"
Here's a sample of what data they show when they look you up. This one is from a friend who got his OA extension just before the changes to the insurance where it went from 40k/400k to 100kUSD and the old 40/400 was accepted. 

 

This is true, they did verify my data from TGIA website and they do take is requirement very seriously for extensions based on OA visa. But it's limited to checking dates, policy type, sum assured and authenticity only. They do not check exclusions, mandatory deductions etc... Just a checkbox in my opinion.

 

4 hours ago, glegolo18 said:

Ops, I nearly missunderstand you, considering the wording of "extending your Non Immigrant O-A"...

So you did NOT at all extend that O-A..... That you can only do by passing the boarder....

What you have done is that you have made an extension of stay based on your period of stay/permission of stay.... Nothing else.....

 

I am not sure about technicalities of this, but the process and requirement of normal extensions of Non Imm O retirees and Non Imm O-A retirees is different, so imo highlighting an "O-A visa extension" case in the thread title made sense. 

 

9 hours ago, Lorry said:

If yes, it means without money in a Thai bank you can stay maximum 2 years with the OA-visa (leave Thailand before the end of the first year and come back shortly before the end of the first year).

Is this correct?

Actually this is interesting, I also believed the same that everytime I re-enter the country I get another 1 year as long as my OA visa is valid, but for some reason that did not happen.

 

When I entered the country for the first time they checked my insurance date and stamped a "O-A entry" with that date (its entry date + min of (1 year OR upto insurance date)). After that, whenever I re entered I never got any other extensions OR any different date at airport immigration. I had a multi-entry OA visa. I entered thailand from both DMK and BKK. 

[glegolo18]

8 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

No...

His non O-A has expired.

He applied for a 12 month extension from his original non O-A. 

Hence all the financial requirements he mentioned and insurance. 

What do you mean Dr Jack, with all respect I do not get your wording at all.... I understood it as his O-A VISA was expired, but NOT his period of stay/permission of stay connected to that VISA!!! AND he can not extend a VISA, you know that very well... That was what I did say...

[JimTripper]

7 hours ago, theghizmo said:

When I entered the country for the first time they checked my insurance date and stamped a "O-A entry" with that date (its entry date + min of (1 year OR upto insurance date)). After that, whenever I re entered I never got any other extensions OR any different date at airport immigration. I had a multi-entry OA visa. I entered thailand from both DMK and BKK. 

That’s strange. I thought they would have extended a year out from each entry checking the insurance each time.

 

How are you going to get 2 years if they don’t extend it when you re-enter? Maybe you should have asked the officer at the border. It’s not illegal to ask. Or go to immigration and ask them to extend it a year without using the border entry to do it??