Bank Account For First Retirement Visa

[lifeincnx]

First post, so I apologize if my question is rudimentary. I am applying for my first retirement (O-A) visa; applying from the US. For clarification, on the initial 800,000 THB requirement, that would have to be in a US bank until I arrive in Thailand and can open a bank account there. Is this correct as some information talks about a Thai account of 800,000 baht.

[Jingthing]

That is correct. For the initial O-A you show the money in your home country. For later annual extensions based on retirement using the 800K, the money will need to be in a Thai bank account.

[Lite Beer]

That is correct. For the initial O-A you show the money in your home country. For later annual extensions based on retirement using the 800K, the money will need to be in a Thai bank account.

This is correct.

[noise]

That is correct. For the initial O-A you show the money in your home country. For later annual extensions based on retirement using the 800K, the money will need to be in a Thai bank account.

This is correct.

I would suggest a little more investigation (if i am reading all this correctly).

My experiences and all my friends experiences went through the following process. Now I am just relating what we did/had to do, not stating this as the Thai immigration laws or legal interpretation. You need a more authoritative source than me for that. However, since my/our experiences differ from what I see here I wanted to comment. I may be reading too much into the words, but reference to money in a bank in the U.S. completely confuses me. So......

1. Have to apply for the retirement visa while actually in Thailand. Applying in the U.S. only resulted in getting a 90 day visa to give time to apply for the retirement visa.
   
2. Applying in Thailand without a 90 day visa was told had to get a 90 day visa before can apply for retirement visa.
   
3. Once on a 90 day visa and applying for retirement visa: 800,000 baht had to be in a Thai bank in the applicants name only (no joint account). NOTE: This is where Jingthing's comment confused me as it seems to say you do not need money in a Thai bank for your first year's retiree visa, just the 2nd year's extension.
   
4. Since the applicant has not been in country long, the deposit may be a recent one. The bank book and a letter from the bank verifying the amount on deposit is required. Depending upon the immigration agent, the letter either has to be same day or can be a day old.
   

Those are the steps everyone I know on a retiree visa had to go through.

[Lite Beer]

That is correct. For the initial O-A you show the money in your home country. For later annual extensions based on retirement using the 800K, the money will need to be in a Thai bank account.

This is correct.

I would suggest a little more investigation (if i am reading all this correctly).

My experiences and all my friends experiences went through the following process. Now I am just relating what we did/had to do, not stating this as the Thai immigration laws or legal interpretation. You need a more authoritative source than me for that. However, since my/our experiences differ from what I see here I wanted to comment. I may be reading too much into the words, but reference to money in a bank in the U.S. completely confuses me. So......

1. Have to apply for the retirement visa while actually in Thailand. Applying in the U.S. only resulted in getting a 90 day visa to give time to apply for the retirement visa.
   
2. Applying in Thailand without a 90 day visa was told had to get a 90 day visa before can apply for retirement visa.
   
3. Once on a 90 day visa and applying for retirement visa: 800,000 baht had to be in a Thai bank in the applicants name only (no joint account). NOTE: This is where Jingthing's comment confused me as it seems to say you do not need money in a Thai bank for your first year's retiree visa, just the 2nd year's extension.
   
4. Since the applicant has not been in country long, the deposit may be a recent one. The bank book and a letter from the bank verifying the amount on deposit is required. Depending upon the immigration agent, the letter either has to be same day or can be a day old.
   

Those are the steps everyone I know on a retiree visa had to go through.

You are talking about a 12 month extension of stay based on retirement. The OP is talking about the O-A Visa only available in your own country. Details here from the Thai Embassy Washington http://www.thaiembdc.org/consular/visa/Non-Imglong.aspx

[retiredusn]

You can also just show a tax return or valid pension as proof of funds in the US . If you work it right after getting the OA all you will need too do after your first year is cross the border or fly out and return for a (free) one year extension. So in fact you will not need to show money in the Thai bank entil your 3rd year. for extension. Just make sure you get a multi entry entry.

[noise]

You are talking about a 12 month extension of stay based on retirement. The OP is talking about the O-A Visa only available in your own country. Details here from the Thai Embassy Washington http://www.thaiembdc.org/consular/visa/Non-Imglong.aspx

You could be right. However, please bare with me as I add a comment or two and some more personal experiences.

First, while I don't know that many people, I have never met anyone who arrived with a one year retirement visa. Everyone I know had to apply while phyisically in Thailand.

I went to the Wash D.C. Thai Embassy site and extracted the following from the O-A visa description:

Validity of a visa:-

single entry : Validity of a visa is 3 months.

multiple entries : Validity of a visa is 1 year.

Period of stay:-

Travelers with this type of visa will be permitted to stay in Thailand for a period of 1 year.

This says to me that the visa issued in the U.S. could be valid for a year. If you do not want to pay $175, you get a single entry visa and can enter Thailand once anytime within the year but have to leave after 3 months. If you do pay for the multiple entry, you can travel to and from Thailand as often as you want during the year the visa is valid while never staying over 90 days at any one time.

I say this because if you do not have re-entry and the visa is only valid 3 months, then it is obviously not a year visa. I then extrapolate what multiple entries mean. So you can stay for one year, but you have to break it up into 4 three month periods.

To support that interpretation here is a personal experience: two weeks ago at the U.S. Consulate in Chiangmai I met and talked with a U.S. citizen who was getting his income verification letter for his "first" retirement visa. He said he came to Thailand on the U.S. issued O-A multi-entry visa a year ago, did not read it carefully, and was not told to report his address every 90 days, so he didn't. He assumed he had a one year visa. Then at the end of the year, when he went to renew, he was disabused of that notion and slapped with a massive fine for overstaying his visa 275 days. He was not happy but, since he realized he did not read his visa carefully, he was thankful he didn't have to leave the country to reapply. Immigration was understanding, even though they did not waive the penalty. And, since he violated his original visa, it was no longer valid and he had to get a 90 day visa to apply for the retiree visa.

So, my input for what it is worth.

[Mario2008]

You have to make a distiction bewteen the validity of a visa and the period you are allowed to stay. The validity of a visa tells you within which period you should make use of the visa. That is within 3 months for a single and for a multiple it is an unlimited times during one year.

When you make use of the visa you get permission to stay for 1 year. With a multiple that is every time you enter Thailand you will get permission to stay for 1 year. So by just leaving and re-entering before the visa expires you get almost 2 years of stay.

[Lite Beer]

Noise. You seem to be getting different Visa types mixed up.

RE. The person you met who did not do his 90 day reports. Every one who stays longer than 90 days has to report his/her address to Immigration. The fine for not doing this is 2,000 Baht. So I do not know where you get the 275 days overstay from, unless he had a Multi Entry Non O Visa requiring him to exit the country every 90 days. He would not be on overstay with a Non O-A Visa.

Non Imm O Visa single entry. Good for a stay of 90 days.

Non Imm O Visa Multi Entry. Good for muliple entries of up to 90 days at a time. Do the last border run just before it expires and you get another 90 days giving a total of 15 months.

Non Imm O-A Visa obtained in your home country. Good for a stay of 12 months. You have to report your address to Immigration every 90 days.

Non Imm O-A Visa Multi Entry obtained in your home country. Good for multiple entries of up to 12 months at a time. Do a border run just before it expires and you get another 12 months, giving a total of 2 years. Again report to Immigration every 90 days of continuous stay.

12 month extension based on retirement obtained from Immigration. Good for 12 months stay. 90 day address reports needed.

[ubonjoe]

You could be right. However, please bare with me as I add a comment or two and some more personal experiences.

Validity means the amount of time you have to use the visa.

Period of stay is one year each entry.

A single entry is only one entry getting a permit to stay for 1 year. If you want to leave and come back during that year you would need to get a re-entry permit.

Multiple entry means that for one year you can leave and re-enter as many times as want and get a 1 year permit to stay each entry. If you were to make an entry the day before the visas validity ended you would get one year. So you would be getting about two years total stay. After the visa ends you would need a re-entry permit if you wanted to leave the country.And apply for an extension 1 year after your last entry.

Your example needs some more explanation or clarification.

If he got charged with an overstay (max fine 20,000 baht) he did not have an O-A visa. He had a normal O visa which required him to leave every 90 days. Just reading what it says on the visa would tell you that you only get 90 days per entry.

If he had an real single entry O-A he would of been fined 2000 baht for not making 90 day reports. Unless he left the country without getting a re-entry permit and then re-entered and overstayed 275 days on a visa exempt entry thinking his visa gave him one year.

It you were to do go back through the topics on this forum you would find lots of posts from members that have or had O-A visas/

[whalewhat]

May I add a question to the discussion? You all seem to know more than I do so maybe you can help me understand a term or two. To receive a non-immigrant O-A long term/retirement the Thai Embassy in Los Angeles, Ca. wants a certificate of income to prove my monthly income. And it wants this certificate to be notarized. What is a certificate of income? Notarized by any notary or one affiliated with my Embassy?

thanks for any input.

[ubonjoe]

I think you got your answer on your topic.

The certificate of income can be a tax form or anything that shows income.

It can be notarized by any notary public in the US.