New Retirement Visa Question

[rrose070]

OK, so we went to Vientiane, got new tourist visas - no problem! Our only advice would be to get there no later than 8:00 AM the day you're applying for your visa - we got there about 8:15 and there were probably about 60 people ahead of us. Waiting after applying to pay is a hassle, but the whole application process only took us about 2 hours. Next day, picking up the visa - easy as pie!

Now to my question: now that we've bought ourselves sufficient time to begin applying for the retirement visa, we are wondering if our plans will cause us problems. We would like to spend (roughly) mid-Oct. through mid-March or early May in Thailand, but spend spring and summer in USA. Will this affect our eligibility, since we won't be available to check in with immigration every 3 months? Any suggestions? Mucho Gracias!

[Jingthing]

You are not required to report your address when not in Thailand. You do need to always get a reentry permit before traveling or you will lose your permission to stay on the current annual extension. After returning to Thailand, you must report your address after 90 days. You do need to be in Thailand to apply for additional annual extensions. So what you describe sounds manageable.

[ubonjoe]

The reports are for staying over 90 days in the country so you are not required to make them if you leave the country. You can be out of the counrtry as much as you want as long as you are here to get yourr next extension.

Be sure and get a re-entry permit before you leave and do your report 90 days after your date of return.

[DrDave]

We do the same thing as you're planning to do - about 5 months in Thailand, and 7 months in the US each year.

There are no problems or issues with doing this. Just make sure you have a re-entry permit (either single or multiple) before you leave Thailand to return to the US.

Also - the timing of when you receive your retirement visa is significant, since you'll have to apply for an annual extension in person, in Thailand between 11 and 12 months after your visa is granted. You'll need to time your application so that in 12 months time, you'll be back in Thailand, since the extension cannot be done from outside the country. (I got caught by this last year and had to do a quick trip back to Thailand to get the extension, which for me was less hassle than applying for a new O-A retirement visa in the US).

As noted by the other posters, the 90 day reporting requirement is no problem. The clock starts ticking when you enter Thailand, and re-sets if you leave and return. Thus, you only need to report after 90 days of being in Thailand continuously.