Another Retirement Visa Question

[rogerdee123]

Well .... today (6 Jan) I got the retirement visa and a multi-rentry permit ... it took about two hours. George ... please take note ..... my 90-day non-immigrant visa was only 8 days old!

It was much easier than anticipated.

I started the day at 8AM at the embassy picking up my "letter from the embassy" ... then to the bank where I picked up my letter from the bank (verifying my 800,000 baht + deposit) and then to Suan Plu arriving at about 10:00AM.

First ..... I picked up my TM7 form and the lady who gave it to me looked at my passport at noted that my non-immigrant "O" visa was valid until April 2nd. She said .. "you must come back and apply on this date (2nd April) ... but then she added ... "go ask my boss".

So ...I went to the boss (3 nice ladies in room 102) and one of them looked at my passport and non-immigrant "O" visa and noted the April 2nd expiry date. She had a discussion in Thai with then other two ladies and then told me to go and ask the "inspector". I said "thank you" and turned to go to the inspector and before I took three steps, the nice lady was saying ..."Mister" .. "Mister" ... and she waved me back.

Then she took my passport and documents and issued to me the retirement visa.

Everyone was quite cooperative and friendly ... in marked contrast to my vists to Suan Plu 15 years ago. My pictures weren't the correct size .... but "Mai Pen Rai" ... they used them anyway. The cashier where I( paid my 1900 baht fee even came out into the hall looking for me when she realized that she forgot to write something on one of my forms. This lady gets the award for the extra effort ...which she really didn't have to do.

I had to wait for an hour for my multiple re-entry permit ... but what the ###### ... they had a football game playing on one of the video's in the big waiting room. Time flew by!!!

Anyway ... overall a very positive experience ... and much much easier than anticipated!!!

By the way .... MEDICAL CERTIFICATE IS NOT REQUIRED.

[Axel]

rogerdee123, CONGRATULATIONS!

It's nice to read a positive comment.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Good for you Roger. Not everyone has a dream ride, you must have lots of personality...

[JimGant]

I started the day at 8AM at the embassy picking up my "letter from the embassy"

Roger,

What's this 'letter from the embassy' all about? I thought I had all the requirements memorized by now, but this doesn't ring a bell. But, then, I'm still recovering from New Year's.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Probably a certification of address by the Embassy. Rarely asked for these days, I think Roger covered all options. He'll tell you .

[rogerdee123]

The letter from the Embassy was a sworn statement about my income. I filled out a form which listed my name and passport number and then I said how much my income was per month. The consular officer had me swear that it was true and then he signed and stamped it. Frankly I'm not sure it was necessary given tyhat I already had arranged for the letter from my bank (i.e. the 800,000 baht balance). At the embassy I told them that I understood that a letter was necessary from the Embassy to obtain a Retirement Visa and they said that the statement verifying income was the only thing they did regarding retirement visa. I told them that by Bank in Bangkok was already arranging a letter regarding my 800,000 baht deposit. And the Embassy guys just said ... well this is all we do (income verification). So I went ahead and got it.

Also it was interesting that my address was not asked for during the entire process for the retirement visa. The only place that my address was asked for was when I applied for the re-entry permit.

The letter from the Embassy did not mention my address. Only my passport number.

The letter from my Bank also did not mention my address.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Nevertheless you got there. Good for you. There is never black and white here, just vaying shades of grey. T i T