Renewing O/a Visa

[Rooo]

If you live in Samui, can you renew your visa in Chiang Mai?

[lopburi3]

You do not renew an O-A visa. That is issued by a Consulate for retirement and provides a one year permitted to stay on entry. You can extend your stay one year at a time at Immigration, either from O-A or other non immigrant visa entry. That should be done in your area of residence. I do not believe Chiang Mai will do if your address is Samui. Bangkok might if you have a valid reason.

[wpcoe]

If you really have a "Non Immigrant O-A" visa issued in your home country, you might be able to get a second year out if it by simply obtaining a re-entry permit.

Before further discussion, though, do you have a "Non Immigrant O-A" visa issued by a Thai embassy/consulate in your home country, i.e. NOT an extension for retirement issued in Thailand?

[lopburi3]

You will not get another year if you use a re-entry permit - you must enter using the multi entry non immigrant O-A visa before its expiration date. After expiration you will require a re-entry permit for any further travel outside of Thailand.

[wpcoe]

You will not get another year if you use a re-entry permit - you must enter using the multi entry non immigrant O-A visa before its expiration date. After expiration you will require a re-entry permit for any further travel outside of Thailand.

Well, that's what I meant: instead of getting a one year extension (before the expiration date of the O-A visa), get a re-entry permit to keep your comings and goings legal for (almost) an extra year. That was an option not previously mentioned in this thread and wanted to point it out to Rooo. Sorry for any confusion!

[lopburi3]

I suspect you may not have it right yet. You make a normal exit prior to your O-A visa expiration and receive a new one year permitted to stay stamp - you then (after getting the new stamp) obtain a re-entry permit if you plan further travel to keep that new date alive. A multi entry non immigrant O-A thus provides almost two years of stay in this manner before you are required to start extending on a yearly basis at Immigration.

[wpcoe]

I suspect you may not have it right yet. You make a normal exit prior to your O-A visa expiration and receive a new one year permitted to stay stamp - you then (after getting the new stamp) obtain a re-entry permit if you plan further travel to keep that new date alive. A multi entry non immigrant O-A thus provides almost two years of stay in this manner before you are required to start extending on a yearly basis at Immigration.

Not sure where we are mis-understanding each other. I understand, agree with and see no contradiction with what you have said versus what I've said.

Your original post (#2) only mentioned the option of obtaining a one-year extension.

My original post (#3) added the option of delaying that extension process until the next year by obtaining a re-entry permit (to keep the permission-to-stay alive if he leaves Thailand after the O-A expires). Is that not equivalent to getting (up to/almost) two years' use out of a single visa before needing to apply for an extension?

My next post (#5) simply restates that there is an option to getting a one-year extension, namely using the re-entry permit route to keep the permission-to-stay alive.

Nowhere do I see any contradiction in what we are both saying. The only thing I noticed was that post #2 did not mention the option of using a re-entry permit to keep the permission-to-stay alive. From that post, the only option seemed to be a one-year extension.

I say: "you might be able to get a second year out of [the O-A visa] by simply obtaining a re-entry permit." (po-TAY-to)

You say: "A multi entry non immigrant O-A thus provides almost two years of stay" (po-TAH-to)

Whew. Do we agree to agree? :-)

[Rooo]

I have a re-entry permit,but every time I leave Thailand,the new stamp is only valid to the original expiry date.

So say my extension is valid for a year from the 6th of november 2007 till 6th nov 2008,my re-entry permit is also with these dates.So say I leave on the 20th of december & come back on the 30th of december, the re-entry stamp will show the date 30dec2007 till 6th november 2008.

I have travelled several times on multi-entry stamp & never heard of getting another 12 months on re-entry.

PS the re-entry permit is exact dates as visa extension.

Edited October 29, 2007 by Rooo

[wpcoe]

I have a re-entry permit,but every time I leave Thailand,the new stamp is only valid to the original expiry date.

So say my extension is valid for a year from the 6th of november 2007 till 6th nov 2008,my re-entry permit is also with these dates.So say I leave on the 20th of december & come back on the 30th of december, the re-entry stamp will show the date 30dec2007 till 6th november 2008.

I have travelled several times on multi-entry stamp & never heard of getting another 12 months on re-entry.

Do you have a one-year multi-entry Non Immigrant O-A Visa issued in your home country?

Or are you on an extension (for retirement) issued in Thailand?

There is a significant difference....

[Maestro]

I say: "you might be able to get a second year out of [the O-A visa] by simply obtaining a re-entry permit." (po-TAY-to)

Let’s use a calendar to illustrate how you got it wrong:

1. John Doe got a multiple-entry non-O-A visa from a Thai consulate on 14 November 2006. Must be used before 13 November 2007.

2. John Doe arrives in Thailand on 20 November 2006. His passport is stamped with a permission to stay (admitted until) 19 November 2007.

You say: simply get a re-entry permit and you can stay for an additional year.

Lopburi says (correctly): leave Thailand before the visa expires (ie not later than 12 November 2007), enter Thailand again and upon arrival you will again receive permission to stay for one year. In order to keep this new permission to stay alive if you travel outside Thailand, you need a re-entry permit before you leave Thailand.

The misunderstanding on your part, I suspect, is a different use of the term “re-entry permit”. This term does not mean – and in this forum has never been used to mean – making a border run in order to get a new entry stamp for a new permission to stay.

--

Maestro

[Rooo]

I have a re-entry permit,but every time I leave Thailand,the new stamp is only valid to the original expiry date.

So say my extension is valid for a year from the 6th of november 2007 till 6th nov 2008,my re-entry permit is also with these dates.So say I leave on the 20th of december & come back on the 30th of december, the re-entry stamp will show the date 30dec2007 till 6th november 2008.

I have travelled several times on multi-entry stamp & never heard of getting another 12 months on re-entry.

Do you have a one-year multi-entry Non Immigrant O-A Visa issued in your home country?

Or are you on an extension (for retirement) issued in Thailand?

There is a significant difference....

My original one was issued in home country & ever since extensions from Thailand.

[mahjongguy]

Do you have a one-year multi-entry Non Immigrant O-A Visa issued in your home country?

There are other sub-possibilies. For example, in 2005 Los Angeles issued me a single-entry Non Immigrant O-A Visa which needed to be utilized within 90 days. I entered, got permission to stay for 1 year from date of entry, and purchased a multi re-entry stamp with a matching expiration date.

[wpcoe]

I say: "you might be able to get a second year out of [the O-A visa] by simply obtaining a re-entry permit." (po-TAY-to)

Let’s use a calendar to illustrate how you got it wrong:

1. John Doe got a multiple-entry non-O-A visa from a Thai consulate on 14 November 2006. Must be used before 13 November 2007.

2. John Doe arrives in Thailand on 20 November 2006. His passport is stamped with a permission to stay (admitted until) 19 November 2007.

You say: simply get a re-entry permit and you can stay for an additional year.

Lopburi says (correctly): leave Thailand before the visa expires (ie not later than 12 November 2007), enter Thailand again and upon arrival you will again receive permission to stay for one year. In order to keep this new permission to stay alive if you travel outside Thailand, you need a re-entry permit before you leave Thailand.

The misunderstanding on your part, I suspect, is a different use of the term “re-entry permit”. This term does not mean – and in this forum has never been used to mean – making a border run in order to get a new entry stamp for a new permission to stay.

--

Maestro

Why you think my understanding is any different than yours, I'm not sure. (After all, I obtained my understanding from you two. <g>) Unless you are reading too much (or not enough?) into my post when I said:

"If you really have a "Non Immigrant O-A" visa issued in your home country,

you might be able to

get a second year out if it by

simply

obtaining a re-entry permit.

Before further discussion, though..."

The "might be able to" indeed referred to the fact that it would depend on the last date of entry determining the final permitted-to-stay date, i.e. the closer that last date of entry was to the expiration date of the visa, the closer to two years could be obtained. Although unlikely, it is possible he entered Thailand within a week of getting his O-A visa and never left. That would not get him anywhere near "a second year."

The "simply obtaining a re-entry permit" was to contrast post #2 that only mentioned getting an extension, which by my assumption would also include getting a re-entry permit. Get it? "simply obtaining a re-entry permit" versus "applying for an extension and getting a re-entry permit." Getting only a re-entry permit is "simpler" (one process and payment) than getting an extension plus a re-entry permit (two processes and payments) in my vernacular.

"Before further discussion, though" indicated there was a bit more to my proposal, e.g. needing to re-enter Thailand close to the expiration date of the visa to get close to two years. I didn't want to risk confusing or overwhelming him (like I'm now overwhelming everybody else <g>) with all the details if he wasn't using a current O-A visa (and it turns out he isn't).

I have never associated the term "re-entry permit" with a border run. My use of the term re-entry permit is identical to yours and lopburi's.

But, enough is enough. It doesn't apply to the OP's situation anyway, now that we know he has already been using extensions and not in the original validity term of the O-A visa.

[lopburi3]

And you are still wrong - obtaining a new one year permitted to stay stamp is done by an entry into Thailand using a multi entry O-A visa. You do not obtain additional time using a re-entry permit (which only provides your current permitted to stay date). Use of a re-entry permit would prevent getting a new one year permitted to stay stamp. Once you take the action and obtain the extra one year permitted to stay stamp is when you would obtain/use a re-entry permit. While the multi entry visa is valid you do not want a re-entry permit as you get "one year" permitted to stay on any entry - using the re-entry permit you only get to keep your current permitted to stay until date.

[wpcoe]

I have travelled several times on multi-entry stamp & never heard of getting another 12 months on re-entry.

PS the re-entry permit is exact dates as visa extension.

That's because you are on an extension. The thread title led me to wonder if you were on a current O-A visa. If you are on a current O-A visa (i.e. not past its expiration date) you are stamped for a new 12-month permission-to-stay with each entry until the visa does expire.

My original one was issued in home country & ever since extensions from Thailand.

Thanks for clarifying your status. What I was proposing (or thought I was proposing <g>) was a method to effectively get a second year from an O-A visa, NOT from an extension.

(I no longer have any confidence that I am expressing myself clearly any more. I have re-edited that previous paragraph so many times, and still fear it's not expressing what I mean. However, I need closure <g>, so I'm posting it as you see it now.)

[wpcoe]

And you are still wrong - obtaining a new one year permitted to stay stamp is done by an entry into Thailand using a multi entry O-A visa. You do not obtain additional time using a re-entry permit (which only provides your current permitted to stay date). Use of a re-entry permit would prevent getting a new one year permitted to stay stamp. Once you take the action and obtain the extra one year permitted to stay stamp is when you would obtain/use a re-entry permit. While the multi entry visa is valid you do not want a re-entry permit as you get "one year" permitted to stay on any entry - using the re-entry permit you only get to keep your current permitted to stay until date.

My sins of omission are as great as anybody else's I guess. I never said when to get the re-entry permit. If I had, I would have said to do it as late as possible (to allow for an unexpected last minute trip out/back into Thailand to give the maximum permission to stay.) I never fully laid out the process. I would only do that if it were applicable. It is NOT applicable to the OP's post, so I did not go into the nth degree of detail. I thought I made it quite clear in my reply to Maestro that "there was a bit more to my proposal" that I would have detailed if it were applicable to the OPs situation. It wasn't, so I didn't. I guess I was wrong.

I never meant to say that a re-entry permit would give him more time, I said there might be an option to spending the time and money to get a one-year extension. I think to many people (perhaps not you and Maestro) the bottom line of getting the re-entry permit, and hence avoiding the extension process for up to a year, has the appearance of "getting a second year out of" the O-A visa. I guess I was wrong.

You keep saying I'm wrong. That would be like me saying YOU were wrong when you didn't mention the re-entry permit option in post #2. You were trying to keep it simple, and that's not a crime in my book. I prefer to keep it simple, as well. But when someone says I'm misunderstanding when I'm not, and that I'm wrong when perhaps it's a matter of I'm not being clear enough, my testosterone requires that I defend my honor. <g> I guess I was wrong.

Perhaps I was bloody wrong, too, for trying to add constructively to this thread.

I really don't think you intend to be working my last nerve. For my sanity, though, I will NOT be responding within this thread any more.

[ratcatcher]

And you are still wrong - obtaining a new one year permitted to stay stamp is done by an entry into Thailand using a multi entry O-A visa. You do not obtain additional time using a re-entry permit (which only provides your current permitted to stay date). Use of a re-entry permit would prevent getting a new one year permitted to stay stamp. Once you take the action and obtain the extra one year permitted to stay stamp is when you would obtain/use a re-entry permit. While the multi entry visa is valid you do not want a re-entry permit as you get "one year" permitted to stay on any entry - using the re-entry permit you only get to keep your current permitted to stay until date.

My sins of omission are as great as anybody else's I guess. I never said when to get the re-entry permit. If I had, I would have said to do it as late as possible (to allow for an unexpected last minute trip out/back into Thailand to give the maximum permission to stay.) I never fully laid out the process. I would only do that if it were applicable. It is NOT applicable to the OP's post, so I did not go into the nth degree of detail. I thought I made it quite clear in my reply to Maestro that "there was a bit more to my proposal" that I would have detailed if it were applicable to the OPs situation. It wasn't, so I didn't. I guess I was wrong.

I never meant to say that a re-entry permit would give him more time, I said there might be an option to spending the time and money to get a one-year extension. I think to many people (perhaps not you and Maestro) the bottom line of getting the re-entry permit, and hence avoiding the extension process for up to a year, has the appearance of "getting a second year out of" the O-A visa. I guess I was wrong.

You keep saying I'm wrong. That would be like me saying YOU were wrong when you didn't mention the re-entry permit option in post #2. You were trying to keep it simple, and that's not a crime in my book. I prefer to keep it simple, as well. But when someone says I'm misunderstanding when I'm not, and that I'm wrong when perhaps it's a matter of I'm not being clear enough, my testosterone requires that I defend my honor. <g> I guess I was wrong.

Perhaps I was bloody wrong, too, for trying to add constructively to this thread.

I really don't think you intend to be working my last nerve. For my sanity, though, I will NOT be responding within this thread any more.

Wow!!

Jai yen yen!!

Edited October 30, 2007 by ratcatcher

[Patriciachas]

And you are still wrong - obtaining a new one year permitted to stay stamp is done by an entry into Thailand using a multi entry O-A visa. You do not obtain additional time using a re-entry permit (which only provides your current permitted to stay date). Use of a re-entry permit would prevent getting a new one year permitted to stay stamp. Once you take the action and obtain the extra one year permitted to stay stamp is when you would obtain/use a re-entry permit. While the multi entry visa is valid you do not want a re-entry permit as you get "one year" permitted to stay on any entry - using the re-entry permit you only get to keep your current permitted to stay until date.

My sins of omission are as great as anybody else's I guess. I never said when to get the re-entry permit. If I had, I would have said to do it as late as possible (to allow for an unexpected last minute trip out/back into Thailand to give the maximum permission to stay.) I never fully laid out the process. I would only do that if it were applicable. It is NOT applicable to the OP's post, so I did not go into the nth degree of detail. I thought I made it quite clear in my reply to Maestro that "there was a bit more to my proposal" that I would have detailed if it were applicable to the OPs situation. It wasn't, so I didn't. I guess I was wrong.

I never meant to say that a re-entry permit would give him more time, I said there might be an option to spending the time and money to get a one-year extension. I think to many people (perhaps not you and Maestro) the bottom line of getting the re-entry permit, and hence avoiding the extension process for up to a year, has the appearance of "getting a second year out of" the O-A visa. I guess I was wrong.

You keep saying I'm wrong. That would be like me saying YOU were wrong when you didn't mention the re-entry permit option in post #2. You were trying to keep it simple, and that's not a crime in my book. I prefer to keep it simple, as well. But when someone says I'm misunderstanding when I'm not, and that I'm wrong when perhaps it's a matter of I'm not being clear enough, my testosterone requires that I defend my honor. <g> I guess I was wrong.

Perhaps I was bloody wrong, too, for trying to add constructively to this thread.

I really don't think you intend to be working my last nerve. For my sanity, though, I will NOT be responding within this thread any more.

Wow!!

Jai yen yen!!

Question for Lopburi 3

I am getting a O/A retirment multi entry visa from UK am i right to say that when i have entered thailand and got the 1 year stamp if i exit in the last month of the year to stay on re entry will i then get another 1 year stamp.

[lopburi3]

You do not use a re-entry permit until your multi entry visa has expired. You get visa November 1 and enter Thailand November 4, 2007 and get a stamp for one year until November 3, 2008. If you wish to extend your time rather than making application for an extension of stay you can exit/enter anytime before Nov 3, 2008 and get a one year permitted to stay from the day you enter. So if you make an entry on October 30, 2008 you will be permitted to stay until October 29, 2009. Almost two years from first entry until you need to visit immigration to extend your stay. After October 31, 2008 you no longer have that valid multi entry visa so if you want to travel again you will require a re-entry permit during that time (just as you would on a normal one year extension of stay from Immigration).

Edit: Corrected dates to reflect visa issue date of November 1 (rather than entry date). Sorry.

[Patriciachas]

You do not use a re-entry permit until your multi entry visa has expired. You get visa November 1 and enter Thailand November 4, 2007 and get a stamp for one year until November 3, 2008. If you wish to extend your time rather than making application for an extension of stay you can exit/enter anytime before Nov 3, 2008 and get a one year permitted to stay from the day you enter. So if you make an entry on November 2, 2008 you will be permitted to stay until November 1, 2009. Almost two years from first entry until you need to visit immigration to extend your stay. After November 3, 2008 you no longer have that valid multi entry visa so if you want to travel again you will require a re-entry permit during that time (just as you would on a normal one year extension of stay from Immigration).

Understood many thanks for information it is invaluable.

[JimGant]

So if you make an entry on October 30, 2008 you will be permitted to stay until October 29, 2009. Almost two years from first entry until you need to visit immigration to extend your stay. After October 31, 2008 you no longer have that valid multi entry visa so if you want to travel again you will require a re-entry permit during that time (just as you would on a normal one year extension of stay from Immigration).

Lop, wouldn't 'after October 30, 2008' be the date on which you no longer have a valid multi entry visa, not "Oct 31?" My newer paste-in visa has the day before issue, one year hence, as "date of expiry" -- does that mean I have until midnight of that date before my visa expires(?). But the older, stamped visas say "this visa must be used before" day before issue, one year hence. A much clearer explanation, and which I would think would clarify what "date of expiry" means.......

If you wish to extend your time rather than making application for an extension of stay you can exit/enter anytime before Nov 3, 2008 and get a one year permitted to stay from the day you enter.

Actually, he'd need to enter *before* his visa expires -- and your example of "October 30, 2008" would seem to be the last date available, at least based on my question, above.

"If you really have a "Non Immigrant O-A" visa issued in your home country, you might be able to get a second year out if it by simply obtaining a re-entry permit.

In fairness to WPCOE, he looks like he's depicting how to keep a multi entry O-A visa ticking as a multi entry vehicle for two years. And he has a mindset that everyone travels. The key, however, is that a re-entry permit is *not* needed to get two years out of your O-A visa -- if you don't plan to travel. The only travel needed in this two years would be the out and back near the expiration date of this O-A visa, the re-entry of which is covered by the multi entry visa still having a few days of validity left. (But, probably 'nuf said about all this.)

Edited October 30, 2007 by JimGant

[Maestro]

Visa issued on 1 NOV 2007, must be utilized before 31 OCT 2008. Taken literally, the last possible date for entry into Thailand is 30 OCT 2008. On 31 OCT it is no longer valid for entry into Thailand. In other words, the visa is valid for one year minus one day. The intention, however, probably was that it should be valid for one year, but I would not recommend to take the chance with an entry on that “before” date.

Yes, “admitted until” means until midnight of that date. Note, however, that the scheduled departure time of your flight counts, not the time you present your passport at the immigration desk.

--

Maestro

[lopburi3]

In fairness to WPCOE, he looks like he's depicting how to keep a multi entry O-A visa ticking as a multi entry vehicle for two years. And he has a mindset that everyone travels. The key, however, is that a re-entry permit is *not* needed to get two years out of your O-A visa -- if you don't plan to travel. The only travel needed in this two years would be the out and back near the expiration date of this O-A visa, the re-entry of which is covered by the multi entry visa still having a few days of validity left. (But, probably 'nuf said about all this.)

The problem is you can not use a re-entry permit to obtain a second year, or any extension of your current permitted to stay stamp. Only after you have used your multi entry visa for the last time and it expired would you even want to obtain a re-entry permit and then only if you planned travel. In the way he was wording it you got the re-entry permit in order to obtain an extra year and that is just not the case and would cause people to lose there chance to obtain a new one year entry if they did that.

[chicowoodduck]

The problem is you can not use a re-entry permit to obtain a second year, or any extension of your current permitted to stay stamp. Only after you have used your multi entry visa for the last time and it expired would you even want to obtain a re-entry permit and then only if you planned travel. In the way he was wording it you got the re-entry permit in order to obtain an extra year and that is just not the case and would cause people to lose there chance to obtain a new one year entry if they did that.

Would I be right to assume that if I enter Thailand on the 30th of December, 2007, with a single entry "O-A" Retirement visa issued from the Los Angeles Embassy in the USA, that I should obtain a TM.8 re-entry document, skip out of the country prior to the 30th of December, 2008, for a day or two and when I return I'll get another year extension and not have the hassle of applying to immigration for an extension? I like the sound of it, but sometimes certain things are too good to be true!

[JimGant]

Would I be right to assume that if I enter Thailand on the 30th of December, 2007, with a single entry "O-A" Retirement visa issued from the Los Angeles Embassy in the USA, that I should obtain a TM.8 re-entry document, skip out of the country prior to the 30th of December, 2008, for a day or two and when I return I'll get another year extension

Nope. If nothing else, this thread should have established that a re-entry stamp *only* keeps your last 'permitted to stay' permission alive -- it doesn't extend anything, nor resurrect expired visas. In the case of a single entry Non Imm O-A, your visa effectively 'expires' (stamped "used") when you first enter Thailand. So, no more out and ins on this visa, and thus no more one year admitted stamps. If you do decide to travel, yes, you'll need to get a re-entry stamp -- to enable you to re-enter with the same "admitted until" date (which would be 29 Dec 2008 per your example, above -- the only "admitted until" stamp you'll get with this visa, being single entry). If no re entry stamp, you'll be stamped in with a 30-day visa exempt stamp. Then, back to square one.

Interestingly, the LA Consulate has of late been pretty emphatic about only issuing 'single entry Non Imm O-A visas.' This adheres to the original concept of O-A visas, which were only issued as single entry, thus allowing a single one-year permitted to say stamp -- but not a two years possibility by gaming the nature of a multi entry Non Imm O-A visa.

But, the re-entry permit obtained from Thai Immigration plays *no* part in any extension gaming, regardless of the flavor of your Non Imm O-A visa.

[lopburi3]

As Jim says above - a single entry will not obtain more than one year stay and any travel will require a re-entry permit to keep that one year alive. There was a lot of misunderstanding when the O-A started and all were single entry and nobody knew about the re-entry permit requirement and a lot of hard feelings when they returned to only get a 30 day visa exempt entry. They then made the multi entry type to avoid this but that opened the extra stay possibility (as immigration always stamped a full year) so now it seems they may be returning to the single entry - hopefully explaining the need to obtain a re-entry permit prior to travel.

[chicowoodduck]

Would I be right to assume that if I enter Thailand on the 30th of December, 2007, with a single entry "O-A" Retirement visa issued from the Los Angeles Embassy in the USA, that I should obtain a TM.8 re-entry document, skip out of the country prior to the 30th of December, 2008, for a day or two and when I return I'll get another year extension

Nope. If nothing else, this thread should have established that a re-entry stamp *only* keeps your last 'permitted to stay' permission alive -- it doesn't extend anything, nor resurrect expired visas. In the case of a single entry Non Imm O-A, your visa effectively 'expires' (stamped "used") when you first enter Thailand. So, no more out and ins on this visa, and thus no more one year admitted stamps. If you do decide to travel, yes, you'll need to get a re-entry stamp -- to enable you to re-enter with the same "admitted until" date (which would be 29 Dec 2008 per your example, above -- the only "admitted until" stamp you'll get with this visa, being single entry). If no re entry stamp, you'll be stamped in with a 30-day visa exempt stamp. Then, back to square one.

Interestingly, the LA Consulate has of late been pretty emphatic about only issuing 'single entry Non Imm O-A visas.' This adheres to the original concept of O-A visas, which were only issued as single entry, thus allowing a single one-year permitted to say stamp -- but not a two years possibility by gaming the nature of a multi entry Non Imm O-A visa.

But, the re-entry permit obtained from Thai Immigration plays *no* part in any extension gaming, regardless of the flavor of your Non Imm O-A visa.

Thanks so much for the clarification, seems pretty straight forward the way you have presented it! Now if we can just get you to work for Thai immigration lads! Oh, and you are right on the mark about the LA Consulate, they are pretty clear about issuing ONLY single entry Non Immigrant "O-A" visas. I guess they want to put everyone through the paper "hoops" after a one year stay. Perhaps they figure that if you are really retired, you certainly have the time to do all the paperwork exercises.

[chicowoodduck]

As Jim says above - a single entry will not obtain more than one year stay and any travel will require a re-entry permit to keep that one year alive. There was a lot of misunderstanding when the O-A started and all were single entry and nobody knew about the re-entry permit requirement and a lot of hard feelings when they returned to only get a 30 day visa exempt entry. They then made the multi entry type to avoid this but that opened the extra stay possibility (as immigration always stamped a full year) so now it seems they may be returning to the single entry - hopefully explaining the need to obtain a re-entry permit prior to travel.

As of this writing, I've got a TM.8 attached to my hip!