I read in the forum some time ago a list of consuls that are easygoing in their paperwork requirements when issuing Non Im "O" visas. Anyone have any recent news about the state of play at the Manilla Consulate?

Cheers

Rob

first off, the manila "consulate" is actually and EMBASSY. there is a thai consulate in cebu city, however. the embassy in manila is not very user friendly. just a week ago, i had a friend who has lived in thailand on non-imm B's and T-visa for aver 2 years go to the MNL embassy for another non-imm O this time because he recently turned 50 and wanted to apply for the retirement extension when he returned to thailand. this guy is an upstanding person and a retired real estate developer of some means. anyway, they flat=out said no to his request and offered a T-visa instead. if he wanted any other, they said he had to return to his home country (USA) and apply there!!!

i told him this was the runaround and that as far as i know, penang was still giving out non-imm O's for those of retirement age.

first off, the manila "consulate" is actually and EMBASSY. there is a thai consulate in cebu city, however. the embassy in manila is not very user friendly. just a week ago, i had a friend who has lived in thailand on non-imm B's and T-visa for aver 2 years go to the MNL embassy for another non-imm O this time because he recently turned 50 and wanted to apply for the retirement extension when he returned to thailand. this guy is an upstanding person and a retired real estate developer of some means. anyway, they flat=out said no to his request and offered a T-visa instead. if he wanted any other, they said he had to return to his home country (USA) and apply there!!!

i told him this was the runaround and that as far as i know, penang was still giving out non-imm O's for those of retirement age.

Manila is not a nice place to go for a visa. Go to Penang.