Any recent experience getting Type-O visa (retirement) from Thai Consulate in Los Angeles?

[ilms]

A friend would like to get a Type-O visa (90-day, based on retirement) at the Thai Consulate LA and then apply for a 1-year extension in Thailand.  He would like to avoid the Type O-A due to the health insurance requirement (he has good insurance, but as it's from a non-Thai company, it may be a hassle to use it for visa purposes). The Thai Consulate LA's website lists the Type-O for retirement in the "visa types" section  and there is no health insurance requirement, but  we wanted to check as we have been hearing reports of some Thai Consulates now requiring health insurance for Type-O. Have emailed LA Consulate but they only respond with a link to their website. Hopefully, it will be as the website seems to indicate (no health ins. required for Type-O), but sometimes information is outdated or inaccurate. If anyone has recent experience with this and can share, we would appreciate it. 

BTW, we're aware that you can apply for Type-O in Thailand (with no health ins. req.) but local IO advised against it saying that it would be difficult/impossible for a person to open a Thai bank account without some kind of non-tourist visa. IO here requires that 800K be in Thai bank for 2 months before applying for Type-O. If they came on a tourist visa, maybe an agent can help with the bank account, but it would be preferable to just get the Type-O before coming to Thailand.

[DrJack54]

17 minutes ago, ilms said:

The Thai Consulate LA's website lists the Type-O for retirement in the "visa types" section  and there is no health insurance requirement, but  we wanted to check as we have been hearing reports of some Thai Consulates now requiring health insurance for Type-O.

Yes for example Australian Thai embassy requires health insurance for Non O retirement.

 

This link Thai consulate LA does not mention insurance requirement.

The link also has link to application.

 

 https://thaiconsulatela.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/non-immigrant-type-o-retirement 

 

Hopefully someone that has done it recently can confirm.

From your OP it seems your friend will be dealing with Jomitien immigration office hence the reason for obtaining the non O in home country. 

[BasketCase]

I did it 2 1/2 years ago via the LA consulate. 
 

technically, you just get a generic non-O visa, which is good for 90 days. Then you extend it in-country to a non-O based on retirement. Got the bank account as soon as I could anfer arrival. 
 

no insurance requirement

[Captain Monday]

What is the benefit to doing it this way vice entering 

visa exempt then applying for I guess is called 

non-O conversion with money in Thai bank

 

I would want to get off the NON 0-A bogus insurance goat rope but my schedule of “constant international travel” does not easily allow me to stay long enough to accomplish the conversion  extension.  

Edited January 29 by Captain Monday

[blazes]

I just looked up the Non-O visa on the website of the Vancouver  Consulate.

 

It here mentions insurance.  (Out of date???)

 

https://www.thaiconsulatevancouver.ca/consulate/documents/visa/non-imm-o-retirement.pdf

[BasketCase]

Individual consulates can and do make up their own rules. Would not surprise me is a Canadian consulate required by insurance.  The can only go by my own experience with LA, and no insurance required for a non-O

 

the benefit of getting the non-O before entering the country’s you can easily get a back account to process the extension. No need to do the whole agent extortion routine. 

[ilms]

On 1/29/2024 at 8:50 AM, Captain Monday said:

What is the benefit to doing it this way vice entering 

visa exempt then applying for I guess is called 

non-O conversion with money in Thai bank

Thanks for the replies.   The IO where he would apply for it (Krabi) has said that in order to get the Type-O from them, the applicant would need to have the 800K seasoned for 2 months in an account at a Thai bank when the visa application is made. The IO suggested getting the Type-O in one's home country, as they think it would be difficult/impossible to open an account if here on visa exempt or tourist visa. Of course, an agent may be able to help with that, but my friend was hoping to just get the Type-O before he arrives. 
Hopefully the LA Consulate will adhere to what is on their website (no ins. requirement for 90-day Type-O). We've emailed the consulate to confirm this,  but they just reply with a link to their website.