Non Immigrant O Visa At The Airport

[robertcox59]

I will be arriving Bangkok airport in early May. I am 69, an America, and I will not have a visa when I arrive. Can I obtain or upgrade a tourist visa to a non immigrant O visa at the airport? And then after a few days can I extend the 90 day on immigrant O visa to a one year retirement visa at an immigration office in Udon Thani?

If not, can I apply for a 90 day non immigrant O visa in Laos, and then convert it to a one year retirement visa at the Thai immigration office in Udon Thani or Nong Khai?

Thank you.

[Jingthing]

A number of points from the OP.

You say you won't have a visa when arriving at BKK, so I am assuming you mean you will be getting a 30 day stamp at BKK and won't be entering on a tourist visa. A 30 day stamp isn't a visa.

No, you can't convert a 30 day stamp (or a tourist visa if you had one) to a single entry O visa at BKK.

About the Udon Thani office, I don't know if you can do a change of visa status (from a 30 day stamp to a single entry O) there or not. That service is not available at all offices. Hopefully someone can tell you that info because it's an important thing for your case.

If you can do a change of visa status at UT immigration, great, then you can. That would be step one the two step process, the second being the application for annual extension based on retirement. Often both can happen the same day depending on how you are qualifying financially (if not using the Thai banked 800K you don't have a money seasoning issue). If you have a pension, you will need an embassy income letter from either the Bangkok embassy or the Chiang Mai consulate.

If Udon office doesn't do change of visa status you can do that step at Bangkok immigration. But please make sure you know whether Udon does that or not before trying that.

Alternatively, yes you can easily get a single entry O in Laos just for being of a certain age, ha ha.

Another option, yes, try to find a "friendly" consulate in the US that will give you a single entry O based on your intention to get retirement extensions. Sadly, you may come across some that will say, apply for O-A from DC or LA instead, but it's worth a try to avoid the worry about arriving without an O visa.

Another issue, if you arrive with no visa, you will likely have trouble being boarded in the USA to Thailand unless you have a ticket out Thailand anywhere else within 30 days. Even a tourist visa in your passport would take care of that.

Best of luck.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Jingthing