Samui O/a Visa Experience

[Rooo]

Went to Samui Immigration for my third O/A visa. Armed with an embassy letter,instead of 800,000.00 baht 3 months deposit.

Here is how it went.The following is a summary of conversations we had.

They really would like to see the money in the bank instead of income letter.

Even though my deposits for the year were well above the required 65 + baht per month & a healthy bank balance.

Kept on showing me brochure showing the alternate ways & requirements , but kept on pointing out the 800,000.00 option & I kept at pointing out the alternative.

Took my ORIGINAL embassy letter & kept it.

My take on all this & my understanding, is that it is much simpler for them to have the money there, one photo copy of bank book page & bank letter.They hate embassy letters as they are all different & require a bit of time to understand.

He also was surprised as to why my letter was filled out in my own handwritting,I explained to him that it is a statuory declaration & that is how it is done,oh well that didn't go down too well , until I asked him to call embassy & verify.

Total time to acquire Visa this year five & a half hours . Well maybe better luck next year.

[Chiangmai Cheers]

No such problem in Chiangmai, for retirement visa In and out 20 minutes. Only required letter from Embassy and photo. Had a look at bankbook with balance of about 20,000 thb.

Immigration staff in Chiangmai extremely friendly and helpful.

[naka]

I would guess that from where they are sitting, a letter from the Embassy

has less credibility than a cash deposit in a local bank ! and why not ?

Naka.

[Rooo]

I would guess that from where they are sitting, a letter from the Embassy

has less credibility than a cash deposit in a local bank ! and why not ?

Naka.

Yes Naka, but the deposits in the bank over a year's period, should be a testament to the truth of that letter.I agree if you only get a letter but can't show the money flowing in, it would be questionable.

[JonnieB]

I would guess that from where they are sitting, a letter from the Embassy

has less credibility than a cash deposit in a local bank ! and why not ?

I would agree that the handwritten ones that you get from the US embassy don't look to official compared to government docs here in Thailand...with their red stamps and Garuda emblems and all that. In comparison the US doc doesn't look to great and to some Thai immigration official who has never seen one before, he could be forgiven in thinking that the farang had just banged it out on his own computer and printed it out before coming to the immigration office. It might help to keep the cashiers receipt you get when you pay for the notarization fee.

However, my last experience was not too bad in Jomtien...had the letter and my other docs in order and in and out in about 20 minutes.

[lopburi3]

The US Embassy document is a printed form on Embassy letterhead the you fill in the blanks and has the notary signature and raised seal of the US Government.

[jonniebkk]

The US Embassy document is a printed form on Embassy letterhead the you fill in the blanks and has the notary signature and raised seal of the US Government.

Yeah but still not very impressive looking and could easily be printed out from a home computer. As for the embossed raised emblem...I'm sure there is someone in Bangkok/Pattaya who already has a fake one and is producing fake embassy letters as I write

I guess one way to do away with the fake letter problem would be to just go the B800k in the bank route. This equals the monthly minimum income amount times 12 (for 1 year). I would have no problem with this...basically it just says that immigration wants to see 1 years worth of living expense money for a yearly extension to stay in LOS. Don't see why it wouldn't also be easy to extend this to any foreigner, regardless of age.