Yearly Non O extension

[Old Bangkok]

Neighbour has been in Thailand for many years on OA extensions.

He is 85 years old and can't travel outside the country.

2 years ago, he changed inside the country, from OA to O with reason marriage to Thai. Not needed to travel outside country.

 

Did NON O extension, reason marriage, without any troubles this month.

However, he does not like to take all the required pictures every year.

He could only change from OA to Non O marriage, and not to NON O retirement at that time inside the country.

 

I know you can change the reason for NON O each year at time of extension, but he is coming from original OA.

Does immigration allow him to change NON O, reason marriage change to reason retirement next year?

He has the required money in the bank for long time.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Officially changing from OA to O visa in Thailand is not possible/legal, but of course paying an agent or dodgy IO might overcome this.

Assuming he changed from OA to avoid the mandatory health insurance are you sure they have not just changed the reason of his OA to marriage ( thus avoiding the insurance ). ? If so, changing to retirement would put him back to square one.

 

If, on the other hand, he has managed a change from OA to O visa in house then the possibility of him changing his reason to O visa based on retirement is strong and he should contact the agent ( if one was used) or simply ask at his immigration.

[DrJack54]

OP....your friend did not change from non O-A to non O.

He was using extension from a non O-A based on retirement to extensions from a non O-A based on marriage. 

He can always change what the extension is based on.

 

He can change back to extension based on retirement however that has a health insurance requirement. 

 

He can only switch to non O by exiting Thailand to kill off non O-A

Then reenter visa exempt and obtain a non O at his immigration office. 

 

Subsequent extension based on retirement does not require insurance. 

Edited August 13, 2023 by DrJack54

[Mike Teavee]

1 hour ago, Old Bangkok said:

Neighbour has been in Thailand for many years on OA extensions.

He is 85 years old and can't travel outside the country.

2 years ago, he changed inside the country, from OA to O with reason marriage to Thai. Not needed to travel outside country.

 

Did NON O extension, reason marriage, without any troubles this month.

However, he does not like to take all the required pictures every year.

He could only change from OA to Non O marriage, and not to NON O retirement at that time inside the country.

 

I know you can change the reason for NON O each year at time of extension, but he is coming from original OA.

Does immigration allow him to change NON O, reason marriage change to reason retirement next year?

He has the required money in the bank for long time.

As other's have said, he can't change from a Non-IMM OA to a Non-IMM O in-country so chances are he's simply changed his reason for extension to Marriage which does not require Health Insurance. 

 

If he can't leave the country then he might be able to get around the Health Insurance requirement by getting a letter from an Insurance company saying he cannot get Insurance & depositing 3 Million THB in the Bank (NB I'm not recommending he does this, just saying that it's a possibility). 

 

Alternatively I know guys in Pattaya who don't have Health Insurance so use an agent for their Non-IMM OA extension & it costs an extra 2,500b on top of the normal 12,500b. 

 

 

 

[lopburi3]

Believe simple thing is just keep marriage extension - if photos are the issue, rather than an absent wife, expect he could hire someone to take for him and talk with immigration officer might even provide other options at his age. 

[BritTim]

While I understand that travel is difficult for him, he seems well enough to be outside hospital. It is possible (for a price) to arrange a land border bounce using an ambulance. This is a one-time process, and may be worth the cost.

[Old Bangkok]

I'm 71 so what do I know?

 

Thanks Lopburi3.

His wife is around and I think 76 or 78 years old.

I will tell him to stay with marriage.

 

 

[brianthainess]

On 8/13/2023 at 8:05 AM, Old Bangkok said:

However, he does not like to take all the required pictures every year.

 

If your his neighbor, you could take them, he is making problems for himself over at most 6 photos once a year, We just ask a friend of the wife.

[khunPer]

On 8/13/2023 at 4:04 AM, DrJack54 said:

OP....your friend did not change from non O-A to non O.

He was using extension from a non O-A based on retirement to extensions from a non O-A based on marriage. 

He can always change what the extension is based on.

 

He can change back to extension based on retirement however that has a health insurance requirement. 

 

He can only switch to non O by exiting Thailand to kill off non O-A

Then reenter visa exempt and obtain a non O at his immigration office. 

 

Subsequent extension based on retirement does not require insurance. 

Can you really change extension of stay to be based on marriage with the so-called "retirement visa"..?

[BritTim]

45 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Can you really change extension of stay to be based on marriage with the so-called "retirement visa"..?

Yes, you can. You do not have a 'retirement visa'. You have an extension of your temporary permission to be in Thailand based on retirement, which you can subsequently change to further extensions for reasons other than retirement (often marriage). You can read an English translation of the Police Order giving all the allowable reasons for extensions at https://aseannow.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=436487. Note that superseding Police Orders have subsequently changed some of the rules for extensions by reason of retirement.

[circa02]

8 hours ago, brianthainess said:

If your his neighbor, you could take them, he is making problems for himself over at most 6 photos once a year, We just ask a friend of the wife.

6-8 pictures should do it. Don't forget to include house/condo/apt number in at least one of them.

 

Also they wanted last year's photos too, which was an unexpected requirement.

[khunPer]

23 hours ago, BritTim said:

Yes, you can. You do not have a 'retirement visa'. You have an extension of your temporary permission to be in Thailand based on retirement, which you can subsequently change to further extensions for reasons other than retirement (often marriage). You can read an English translation of the Police Order giving all the allowable reasons for extensions at https://aseannow.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=436487. Note that superseding Police Orders have subsequently changed some of the rules for extensions by reason of retirement.

Thanks, but you cannot extend your stay on these general conditions for all visas. For example, a non-O issued based on retirement can to my knowledge not be used for "business"; i.e., extension because of a work permit. For a non-OA visa the extension based on retirement also requires a health insurance, which is not an issue when extending because of retirement with a non-O or non-B visa. That's why I was surprised over that a non-OA – the so-called "retirement visa" – can be have extended the stay based on marriage.

Quote

NON-O (Basic)

The applicant must be over the age of 50 and retired. Those who are above 50 but have not yet retired can not apply for this type of visa; they are advised to apply for the O-A visa, instead.

Quote

NON-OA (1 year)

This type of visa may be issued to applicants aged 50 years and over who wish to stay in Thailand for a period of not exceeding 1 year without the intention of working. Holder of this type of visa is allowed to stay in Thailand for 1 year. Employment of any kind is strictly prohibited.

Quote

NON-OX (5 years)

Purpose of Visit  This type of visa may be issued to applicants who are over 50 years of age and over and wish to stay in Thailand for a period of not exceeding 10 years without the intention of working. Holder of this type of visa is allowed to stay in Thailand for 5 years each time with the possibility of an extension of up to 5 years at the Royal Thai Immigration Bureau (total 10 years).

Source link: Royal Thai Embassy.

[DrJack54]

2 hours ago, khunPer said:

That's why I was surprised over that a non-OA – the so-called "retirement visa" – can be have extended the stay based on marriage.

Indeed it can.

 

The one thing ( not 100% on this)... I have vague feeling that the very first extension from the non O-A has to be based on retirement.

Subsequent annual extensions can be based on retirement or marriage.

Obviously many married guys changed to based on marriage when the insurance Bomb hit non O-A folk.

Manny non married guys exited Thailand to kill off the non O-A and obtain a Non O (retirement) 

[CartagenaWarlock]

On 8/12/2023 at 9:10 PM, Mike Teavee said:

Alternatively I know guys in Pattaya who don't have Health Insurance so use an agent for their Non-IMM OA extension & it costs an extra 2,500b on top of the normal 12,500b. 

If he exits Thailand to kill his OA, he has to convert his entry to a Non-O that costs an additional 12,500 unless he gets the Non-O from outside Thailand. Hence, it takes 5 years to get his additional 12,500 back doing what he is doing now, i.e. paying an extra 2.5K on top of 12.5K, plus the expenses of an Thailand exit and reentry. 

[BritTim]

8 hours ago, khunPer said:

Thanks, but you cannot extend your stay on these general conditions for all visas. For example, a non-O issued based on retirement can to my knowledge not be used for "business"; i.e., extension because of a work permit.

There is a catch 22 in the specific case of switching from a permission to stay based on retirement to one based on working. That is not exactly because of the rules on extending your permission to stay. It is because you cannot get the work permit while on a permission to stay based on working (and, obviously, cannot get an extension based on working without a work permit). 

 

As you yourself note, there is no problem going in the other direction.

[OJAS]

On 8/14/2023 at 2:41 PM, khunPer said:

Can you really change extension of stay to be based on marriage with the so-called "retirement visa"..?

As already said, perfectly possible to switch from retirement to marriage as the reason for annual extensions of stay. It should, however, be noted that, in the year in which the switch is made, the new marriage extension will be dated from when it is applied for rather than from when the permission to stay granted under the previous retirement extension expires.

[circa02]

5 minutes ago, OJAS said:

As already said, perfectly possible to switch from retirement to marriage as the reason for annual extensions of stay. It should, however, be noted that, in the year in which the switch is made, the new marriage extension will be dated from when it is applied for rather than from when the permission to stay granted under the previous retirement extension expires.

Interesting, is there a benefit then to submitting the extension on the very last day of your permission to stay and thus having to do this once every 13 months instead of every 12? The under consideration of 30 days counts as permission to stay for all intent purposes?

[steve187]

6 minutes ago, circa02 said:

Interesting, is there a benefit then to submitting the extension on the very last day of your permission to stay and thus having to do this once every 13 months instead of every 12? The under consideration of 30 days counts as permission to stay for all intent purposes?

the yearly  extension would be dated from the date of application not from when you get the stamp in your passport, its always from the date of application when changing from one type of extension to another, married to retirement of vice versa