Rental Agreement Sufficient For Non-O Visa?

[thuisinthailand]

Hello everybody,

We have tried to find the answer to this question on this forum, but we were unable to find it. If posted earlier, sorry for that.

Currently we are here on an Non-Immigrant B visa, but we changed plans and are no longer intending to do any business inside Thailand, but we want to stay here for living. So for next year we need to switch to another type of visa. Now we have heard that it seems to be possible to get Non-Immigrant O visa at certain Thai consulates when you just present to them a rental agreement (for a house, a condo or whatever suitable to live in...) that is valid for at least 1 year from the application date.

Does anyone here has any experience with this?

(Note: we are from the Netherlands and do not yet qualify for the Long-Stay visa, as we are both not yet 50 years or older)

And is it right that with any type of Non-O visa you are no longer obliged to do visaruns?

Thanks very much in advance for any advice!

[lopburi3]

No such visa allows more than a 90 day stay and they are not normally issued for renting an apartment.

[thuisinthailand]

No such visa allows more than a 90 day stay and they are not normally issued for renting an apartment.

Do you mean to say that O visa's in general are only given for 90 day stay maximum? If so, I assume you can extend them in Thailand?

[kurtmartens]

No such visa allows more than a 90 day stay and they are not normally issued for renting an apartment.

Do you mean to say that O visa's in general are only given for 90 day stay maximum? If so, I assume you can extend them in Thailand?

Even if you got a 12 month Non-O visa, you would only be allowed to stay in the Kingdom for 90 days...and then have to exit and return. But, as Lopburi3 said, I don't see how you would qualify for a Non-O.

[thuisinthailand]

No such visa allows more than a 90 day stay and they are not normally issued for renting an apartment.

Do you mean to say that O visa's in general are only given for 90 day stay maximum? If so, I assume you can extend them in Thailand?

Even if you got a 12 month Non-O visa, you would only be allowed to stay in the Kingdom for 90 days...and then have to exit and return. But, as Lopburi3 said, I don't see how you would qualify for a Non-O.

Well, I know of someone who got an O-visa based on a rental agreement. Apart from that, I always thought that with any O-type, you don't do visaruns, but just report to Immigration every 90 days (like with the ED visa or the O-A (retirement) visa type).

[lopburi3]

You do not just report to immigration with an ED visa - if you extend every 3 months there is a payment of 1,900 baht each time and requirement to meet conditions of school attendance with paperwork from school. The O-A is an extension of stay and visa combined and an exception.

In the past some obtained O visas for a number of reasons not now allowed.

[thuisinthailand]

You do not just report to immigration with an ED visa - if you extend every 3 months there is a payment of 1,900 baht each time and requirement to meet conditions of school attendance with paperwork from school. The O-A is an extension of stay and visa combined and an exception.

In the past some obtained O visas for a number of reasons not now allowed.

Yes, of course, I forgot to mention the 1,900 baht you pay each time at Immigration and the requirement to meet the conditions. All in all, it seems some Thai consulates in Europe and Australia are much less strict when it comes to issuing O visas then the one in the neighboring countries...