Retirement Visa

[Doznotdiz]

I am male, 56 and Australian. I applied for a multiple entry retirementvisa in Australia about 10 months ago. The Visa started on October 26 2010 andsays that it must be utilised before October 26 2011. There is no mention of anexpiry date. I arrived in Thailand and the passport stamp gave me entry for 1year. However, I returned to Australia for 6 months and upon re-entry to Thailand was givenanother stamp for the period of 1 year. I would like to know if this visa isseparate to the stamp? In other words, do I have to renew my visa a year after it was issued? Regardless of the answer to that, do I have to leave the country before the stamp end date? In other words, do residents with retirement visas have to leave the country at least once a year?

One other thing: Is there a mistake with the visa utilisation date? Itsaid that it needed to be utilised within the period of one year, yet I wastold that I had to utilise it within 3 months. Or is there a difference betweensingle entry and multiple entry visa utilisation dates?

Thanks in advance.

[eyebee]

I presume you have an "O-A" visa. You don't have to leave the country until your permission to stay (not the visa) expires. But if you do leave and return you will get another year until the visa expires. So if I were you, I would do a border run just before October 26th, and you will get another one -year permission to stay (until October 2012). However, be aware, thet if you wish to leave Thailand and return after the expiry of your visa (October 26 2011), you will need to get a re-entry permit - 1,000 baht for single re-entry or 3,800 baht for mulyiple re-entry. Hope this helps.

[Doznotdiz]

That helps but it appears that you are saying that my visa expires on October 26th and yet I don't need to renew it because I have a passport stamp for the 10 months after that. That would mean that I don't have a valid visa. How can I get a re-entry permit if I don't have a valid visa? How do visas and passport stamps tie up?

[lopburi3]

You do not need a valid visa - your permitted to stay stamp in your passport is what allows you to stay here and the re-entry permit that will have that date on it acts as your visa for a new entry. While in Thailand itself the permitted to stay stamp allows you to be here.

[wpcoe]

The "must use before" date (26 Oct 2011) is the de facto "expiration date" of your visa.

Since you have a multiple-entry Non Immigrant O-A visa, you may enter Thailand as many times as you want to up to 25 Oct 2011. Each time you enter, your passport will be stamped with a permission to stay for one year from that entry's date.

Whenever you depart Thailand, your permission to stay is essentially voided, UNLESS you have a re-entry permit.

Up until 25 Oct 2011, you won't need a re-entry permit to enter Thailand, since your visa will grant you a new 12-month permission to stay each time.

e.g. You enter Thailand on 01 March 2011, you will be permitted to stay in Thailand until 28 Feb 2012.

You enter Thailand again on 15 June 2011, you will be permitted to stay in Thailand until 14 June 2012.

You enter Thailand again on 29 August 2011, you will be permitted to stay in Thailand until 28 August 2012, etc.

A nice benefit of your current visa is: if you enter Thailand again on 25 Oct 2011, you will be permitted to stay until 24 Oct 2012, almost two years past the original issue date of the visa.

If you depart Thailand to return AFTER 25 Oct 2011, and do NOT have a re-entry permit, you will either need a new visa or enter on a 30-day visa-exempt stamp, since your O-A visa is no longer valid (has "expired,") and your previous permission to stay was voided when you departed.

If you depart Thailand to return AFTER 25 Oct 2011, and DO have a re-entry permit, whatever current permission-to-stay date you have in your passport will be preserved.

e.g. If you DID enter Thailand on 25 Oct 2011, received a permission to stay until 24 Oct 2012, and HAVE a re-entry permit you can still enter Thailand after your visa is no longer valid and stay and stay until 24 Oct 2012. If your re-entry permit was a multiple re-entry permit, you can come and go as many times as you like until 24 Oct 2012. (A single-entry re-entry permit is B1000, a multiple-entry one is B3800.)

Once 24 Oct 2012 rolls around (to continue to use that example), you can no longer remain in Thailand unless you apply for a one-year retirement extension, or return to Australia to get a new Non-Immigrant O-A visa (if Aus is a location that will issue a new one. I understand some countries only issue one per person.) Most of us, I think, prefer to get one-year extensions within Thailand as it is easier (no police report, no medical report) and doesn't require a trip to the motherland at a specific time.

Clear as mud, huh?

[Doznotdiz]

Thanks. That is a clear reply, but not one I was expecting. Essentially that means that someone can apply for a multiple entry retirement visa in their home country, come to Thailand, do a border run just under a year later, and not have to renew the visa until a year after that. It doesn't make sense given the strict monetary requirements imposed and the information regarding the visas being for one year only. But in reality, one does not have to prove their financial status for visa requirements for up to 2 years.

[wpcoe]

Doznotdiz: By jove, you've got it. You've cracked the code!

[Tafia]

Dont forget to report every 90 days

[JimGant]

It doesn't make sense given the strict monetary requirements imposed and the information regarding the visas being for one year only

A visa is merely step one to a long-term stay in Thailand. As long as the chain of permissions of stay is not broken -- the key one being the last obtained *before* expiration of the visa -- you can go on forever with a visa that expired decades ago. As long as the annual renewal of the one-year permission of stay occurs before expiration of the previous one, the chain is not broken. For many here, the last visa they ever got lies in a dusty, expired passport. Their latest passport has their current permission of stay -- and reference to that long-ago, obscure visa.

Yeah, the multi-entry O-A visa allows you nearly two years here -- on a single proof of meeting financial requirements. Awhile back some consulates (LA comes to mind) allowed only single entry O-A visas. That has since changed, probably due to folks opting for the in-country retirement extension, rather than the extra hassle of a single-entry O-A. MFA was losing money -- to Immigration, no less!! -- so they improved the package by allowing the multi-entry. Also, they took away from the honorary consulates the ability to offer O-A visas. More money to be had by the MFA consulates.

Nothing, really, too sinister about this (well, the honorary consulates *were* easier to work with....). And it does give retirees a legitimate option back in farangland on their first step to retirement in Thailand.

But, after two years in Thailand, they too will be in the retirement extension queue at Immigration (unless they opt to go home and get another O-A visa).