My understanding is that I must get police clearance if applying here in the USA

How does this work?

Who do I get it from? local police in San Jose, California? the State of California? the FBI?

What does the form need to be? There is nothing about it on the Thai Consulate of Los Angeles site that I could find.

As to medical - who can fill out the form I downloaded? My personal physician? or must I go to someone approved by the Thai Consulate?

I have tried to search this but I am not finding what I need.

Thanks!

My understanding is that I must get police clearance if applying here in the USA

How does this work?

Who do I get it from? local police in San Jose, California? the State of California? the FBI?

What does the form need to be? There is nothing about it on the Thai Consulate of Los Angeles site that I could find.

As to medical - who can fill out the form I downloaded? My personal physician? or must I go to someone approved by the Thai Consulate?

I have tried to search this but I am not finding what I need.

Thanks!

To apply for a Non Imm O Visa you do not need a Police Report or a Medical Report.

http://www.thaiembdc.org/consular/visa/Non-Img.aspx

For a non-O you don't need a police clearence. It would give you the right to come to Thailand and you would get 90 days of permission to stay, which you can extend by a year if you qualify.

Only for a O-A longstay visa is a health- and police check required. This is for people of over 50 only, and would give you a 1year stay without the need for an extension. But if you are over 50 you can choose between the non-O based on retirement and the O-A visa. The difference is that for a O-A you need the police check and medical check but can stay for 1 year and the non-O gives you only 90days but no checks. Both you can exctend for 1 year, each year.

My dated information is that both the LA consulate and the DC embassy will not issue a Non-O to you if you say your reason is retirement. In that case, they will say apply for the O-A. If that is still the case and you wish to avoid the extra hassles of applying for the O-A, you need to find another consulate to grant you a Non-O or simply get a tourist visa (or even a 30 day stamp) and apply for the Non-O and retirement based extension IN Thailand. To do that you need at least 21 days left on your current extension of stay. That is why entering with a 30 day stamp puts some time pressure on the process.

Edited March 14, 200917 yr by Jingthing

Jingthing has a good point, some Embassies and consulates won't issue a non-O based on retirement. You could try the consulate in Houston for better results.

If you are applying for the O-A in L-A your current medical doctor would be the perfect person to fill out the medical form. The only problem you might have is that some more "ethical" doctors will not sign the form unless they perform the medical tests implied on the form and that will not be covered by insurance. For the police clearance, I think you can approach San Jose city police and ask them if they can provide a police clearance document. If they can, I think that will be accepted.

.......simply get a tourist visa (or even a 30 day stamp) and apply for the Non-O and retirement based extension IN Thailand.

To do that you need at least 21 days left on your current extension of stay. That is why entering with a 30 day stamp puts some time pressure on the process.

It sound as though you should forget the O/OA visa in the USA.

Get the Tourist visa, good for 60 days then at least 21 days before the end

do the conversion to O in Thailand.

No need for Medicals or Police Clearance.

Yes, if going for the O plus extension in Thailand, a tourist visa would be a much better option that a 30 day stamp. Also there are issues boarding a plane without a RT ticket and no visa.

However, some people still find they do like the O-A. For people using the bank account method it means they can delay moving the money to Thailand and you can also play that game of getting an extra one year stamp near the end of the first permission to stay.

I went to the Police HQ in San Francisco and got the clearance form. It was cheap but I think it took a day or two.

I submitted a Medical Certificate that I had obtained the week before in Bangkok, but the L.A. consulate kicked it back. They insisted that I have it done in the States, which is pretty strange considering that the form is 99% Thai language. I took it to my usual doctor and between us we made our best guesses how to fill it out. It cost me the typical minimum office visit charge.

They probably wouldn't accept the medical report from Thailand because they know they're worthless.

I would have never expected them to accept anything but a certificate from a US doctor as the Thai embassy and consulates are located in the US and also of course they know the Thai certificates are a joke. Regarding police reports, I think police records are networked and if you are wanted by the FBI or the police in Idaho, San Jose would know about it.

Edited March 15, 200917 yr by Jingthing