Will London Issue New O - A Before Old O Expires

[johngooding]

Hi, 50 plus male, not married yet, living in 'own' house Khon Kaen since Dec 06. Came in on Non Imm O multi, expires 16 November 07, easily obtained from Cardiff UK. 3 visa runs to Nong Khai since then, no problems there. UK works pension, under 65K and money offshore UK transfered as needed for living in Thailand, so not 800K for 3 months.

Will be back in UK one week end of October and wish to obtain Non Imm O -A from Thai embassy London. I believe I have all neccessary items to apply, including new CRO search, bank and income evidence, and understand need to get notary to sign off documents etc.

Only question is; if I go to embassy on 29th October, will they issue Non O -A, while old O still valid. Presume they have to strike out old one, otherwise on return to BKK 6th November, will have 2 visas, one giving 90 days stay and the other 1 year. Or may they refuse to issue as I have a valid Visa. Direct email to embassy has brought no response.

For pension reasons I do not wish to register at British embassy BKK, and get proof of income letter yet. so would like to use the effective 2 years, the Non Imm O - A gives, and give me time to get all the balls in place for an extension of stay based on retirement, in say 23 months time.

Thanks for any advice offered, apologies if a little long.

[lopburi3]

Website does not provide much information other than the police check must be Scotland Yard and medical is still listed. What is not mentioned in multi entry. If you intend to use for two years the multi entry type is a must but have no idea if London issues single or multi or both. A single entry would only cover one year from day of entry.

Yes your old visa will likely be canceled.

[griffer]

not exactly same circumstances ..but...

i am on multi entry non imm O...it expires 28/dec/2007

i was back in UK in july and applied for another..so that it ran to next summer (2008)

it was granted..old visa was not cancelled, and although i pointed out the new visa at thai immigration , he insisted on using the old visa until that expires.

so you can have two concurrent visas that overlap.

[johngooding]

Thanks for the replies. Lopburi 3 reassuring, but the advice from griffer on non cancelling of old visa a worry as reentering on old visa would only give 90 day stamp. I suppose that would just mean one Nong Khai visa run when new visa would be the only valid one, and hence a one year stamp.

To clarify the multi entry, I have 2 UK friends who have both obtained the multi Non Imm O -A from London. Just to clarify another point, the embassy in London is the only place in England that can issue a preapproved O - A. Hull and other consulates while friendly cannot issue them, even though Hull website gives the requirements and forms. It issues a single or multi O for 90 days entry stamp and the forms they supply are to submit for an extension when in Thailand.

I will go through the process at the end of October, re-enter on 6th November and post the results.

[lopburi3]

When you enter Thailand you fill out an arrival card and enter the visa information on it. You should enter the O-A visa information.

[johngooding]

Thats good thinking Lopburi3. Thanks for that.

[johngooding]

For my upcoming Non Imm O-A application I have been reading all the available FAQ's etc on Royal Thai Embassy London site. They list the usual requirements of 65,000 Baht monthly or 800,000 annual, (they say income, and do not mention deposit). They then say equivalent to annual £14,000. There is no date on this, but this works out at 57 Baht to the pound. The current rate is over 68 in Thailand. This does seem to make it more difficult to meet the requirements for UK based income or savings. I will hope to clarify this during my visit.

[griffer]

I would agree with lopburi...use the number of the new visa on the arrivals form. I would assume that as you have 2 different types of visa (O + O-A) that the officer will use the type you have stipulated. i had 2 visas of the same type (O) so it really made no difference which one he used. i was just pointing out that you can have over-lapping visas.