Quest for Non-Immigrant O Visa with Retirement Extension

[430xc]

I currently have a triple entry tourist visa issued by a Thai consulate in the USA ant it expires at the end of March 2014. I am seeking to change this to a Non-Immigrant O visa and then get a 1 year retirement extension. I am over 50 years old and am not yet married to a Thai citizen. I have been told different things by two different Thai immigrant offices, lawyers and others.

I went to the US Embassy in BKK and got an income statement already. I was told by Thai immigration in Udon Thani that I needed to go to Vientiane (or other embassy outside of Thailand) Thai Embassy and change to a Non-Immigrant O which is good for 90 days. Then I should come back to the immigration office in Udon after 60 days but before 90 days to get the 1 year retirement extension.

Friends told me that I could get everything done at one time at the Thai immigration office in Jomtien. I went there with all my paperwork, pictures, etc. The lady there said OK, But since I live in Udon Thani, she could not do it for me and that the Udon office could, no problem. I went back to the Udon office with this information and they said again that I had to go out of Thailand to change to a Non-O. We told the officer what was said in Jomtien and then was offered to have everything done at one time but it would cost a lot of money. I said no, that I would go to Vientiane.

I have looked for a trip report about changing from a tourist visa to a Non-O in Vientiane on several forums without much success. Can anyone give me a link to a report if one exists or give me a description and suggestions of what I need to do once I get to the Thai/Lao border.

I think I remember information somewhere saying that I need to leave my paperwork and passport with the Thai embassy and pick it up the next day. I want to do things correctly and not risk doing things "under the table" for a price.

Thanks for any help in this matter.

430xc

[thepool]

You will need to "convert" (2000 Bht) in Bangkok with evidence of being able to qualify for an extension of stay.

Once this has been achieved the application in Udon for an extension of stay should be a formality.

Be aware that the affidavit of income will have to be re-acquired as Bangkok will retain the first original.

Also be prepared to show evidence which supports the affidavit !

There is really no need to suggest that corruption is part of the process --------------------it is not !

[Jingthing]

OK, this is an easy one.

Not ALL offices offer the change of status to O service.

Jomtien does.

Bangkok does.

Clearly your office doesn't.

So your options are now limited to getting an O outside Thailand or doing the conversion in Bangkok.

With either of those, you can then apply for your annual retirement extension at your local office.

Cheers.

[lopburi3]

As said use Bangkok or do as Udon suggests and visit Vientiane (they say that because it is closer than Bangkok). Bangkok will do if your local office will not but other offices will not do unless you live in there area. You do not get a visa at a border - you visit the Thai Consulate section of there Embassy and submit paperwork for the visa and obtain the next day.

[ubonjoe]

It would be best to make a quick trip to Vientiane (next day service) to get a single entry non-o visa. You will just need your passport to prove your age. I suggest though you take a copy of your income affidavit you got from the embassy as a just in case measure.

You could make a trip to Bangkok to do a conversion but you would more than likely need to make 2 trips because they are giving a 15 day under consideration stamp before they issue the visa. Also it appears you may not have the minimum 15 days left on your last entry required to do the conversion.

[430xc]

Thank you for the replies.

[bangkapi]

I'd do the visa at Jomtien... Jomtien walks you through everything even if you have to return 3 days in a row to get it done.... The place is grand central station on steroids.

[Jingthing]

I'd do the visa at Jomtien... Jomtien walks you through everything even if you have to return 3 days in a row to get it done.... The place is grand central station on steroids.

That doesn't apply to the OP. For the conversion step in Thailand, it is ONLY possible at either Bangkok or your LOCAL immigration office if they offer that option. Jomtien correctly would not serve people who are not LOCAL to the Jomtien office.

Cheers.

[ubonjoe]

I'd do the visa at Jomtien... Jomtien walks you through everything even if you have to return 3 days in a row to get it done.... The place is grand central station on steroids.

The OP already tried Jomtien and got turned away because he lives in Udon.

[oldgent]

could all this be done at immigration in Chiangmai ??

[Jingthing]

could all this be done at immigration in Chiangmai ??

It could be for people who use CM as their LOCAL office (and only them) as CM accepts applications for change of status for this purpose. Not for the OP though as he is not local to CM.

[padeakin]

Here is a link to some info about documents required to get the Non Immigrant O based on retirement from Vientiane.

http://vientiane.thaiembassy.org/vientiane/en/consular/consular_check/

It lists some additional documentation required.

For the purpose of long-stay retirement (an eligible person must be over 50 years of age), documents required are;
1. Curriculum Vitae
2. Official letter from the concerned Embassy/Consulate certifying the monthly income of at least 65,000 Baht
or Official letter from the Bank in Thailand certifying a valid account of at least 800,000 Baht, and is being held
not less than 3 months
3. Recent Police clearance or equivalent reference of no criminal conviction
4. Medical certificate

I do know if the Curriculum Vitae, Police report and medical certificate are required for a single entry visa or if they are only required for multiple entry. or if they are even still issuing single entry visas based on retirement.

Can anyone on here answer that question? and more questions below

Curriculum Vitae - can that be in English, or must it be in Thai? certified or not?

Police report - From home country or from Thai Police?

Medical certificate - From home country or from Thai Police?

[ubonjoe]

Here is a link to some info about documents required to get the Non Immigrant O based on retirement from Vientiane.

http://vientiane.thaiembassy.org/vientiane/en/consular/consular_check/

It lists some additional documentation required.

For the purpose of long-stay retirement (an eligible person must be over 50 years of age), documents required are;

1. Curriculum Vitae

2. Official letter from the concerned Embassy/Consulate certifying the monthly income of at least 65,000 Baht

or Official letter from the Bank in Thailand certifying a valid account of at least 800,000 Baht, and is being held

not less than 3 months

3. Recent Police clearance or equivalent reference of no criminal conviction

4. Medical certificate

I do know if the Curriculum Vitae, Police report and medical certificate are required for a single entry visa or if they are only required for multiple entry. or if they are even still issuing single entry visas based on retirement.

Can anyone on here answer that question? and more questions below

Curriculum Vitae - can that be in English, or must it be in Thai? certified or not?

Police report - From home country or from Thai Police?

Medical certificate - From home country or from Thai Police?

Those are the requirements for a Lao citizen or resident to get a OA long stay visa.

They don't list any requirements for a non-o visa for being 50 or over.. There have been many people get them and all that is needed is your passport to prove your age.

This has been discussed in other topics.

[Jingthing]

Yeah, that's a poor website design. Cut and paste from somewhere else. Not surprised that would confuse people about what is required to get a single O there for expats over 50 preparing to apply for an annual extension based on retirement in Thailand.

[padeakin]

Thanks for pointing out that the information on the website does not apply to us.

Ubonjoe: Your suggestion that it is discussed in other topics is not really helpful, There is lots of out of date and inaccurate information in old posts, especially relating to Visa requirements that seem to regularly change. it is much more useful to start a fresh discussion to which people will respond with recent experiences, than to trail through old information.

So what about the proof of funds, do they ask for this at Vientiane or not? I am hearing conflicting reports about this?

[ubonjoe]

I don't recall there ever being a report of Vientiane wanting financial proof to get a non-o visa for being 50 or over.

[KevinB]

Guys - I can tell you getting a Thai Visa can be a bit taxing to say the least - partly because different offices of Immigration seem to apply slightly different rules and (more troublesome) some offices (and the officers there in) seem to interpret the (variable) set of rules in different ways. Here is my story which might help the person posting in this case (and others in a similar situation).

I have a Thai partner and two children (aged 6 and 2) living here - I've been here since 2006. However, I work as an International Consultant and travel a lot both regionally in SE Asia and am often on multiple month contracts in Africa - where I generally travel back to Bangkok every couple of months and am regularly at home for a month or two. Now as I can enter the country without a Visa it is often no problem, I arrive get one month entry on a tourist visa - and then leave - getting an extension if I need one or simple paying an over-stay fine at the airport on my departure - if I needed to stay a few more days. Never had to do a Visa run in

The problems always arise if I have to get a Visa for another country while I'm in Thailand. Some Embassies insist that they can only issue a Visa to someone actually resident - having a valid Non-immigrant O visa always helps getting around this. So I have on a number of occasions over the last 8 years got Non-Immigrant Visas in many countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Kenya, South Africa, New Zealand and the UK (hence why I'm am a tame authority about the different application requirements at different Thai Embassies - and the big variation in Visa prices).

I'm currently on a 3 year contract in West Africa and because I'm often found arguing with Check-in clerks that I really don't need a visa to enter Thailand - it became easier to always have a multiple Non-immigrant O visa in my passport - travel is stressful in itself without having to argue with some ill-informed person who doesn't want to believe the print out from the Thai Government Site of Nationalities of passports able to get a Visa on entry.

Recently because the most convenient stop-over on my journey back is Doha, Qatar I've been getting a 3 or 6 month multiple Visa there while I stop over to see friends and family (the most expensive place to get a Visa because rightly the Thai's assume everyone living there is super rich).

Now to avoid this on-going hassle and because I was assured that it was real easy to do I went to my Immigration Office at SamutPrakan (I live in a cluster complex beyond Swampy. I popped in to find out if I could convert the existing 6 month multiple entry non-immigrant O Visa into a renewable year long version - with proof of the appropriate amount of Thb in a local account for 6 months. NO PROBLEM I'M TOLD but because I had made a comment about how expensive the Visa had been - the very nice officer said - Sir why waste this Visa it runs for another 3 months come back before it expires and we can issue you with a new visa valid from that date. So on my next trip back to Bangkok - and just before I left I popped in to get my new one year long non-immigrant O visa - new guys behind the desks - Oh we can't issue the extension Visa because this current visa only has 8 days before it expires and the regulation requires that the application must be at least 10 working days before the expiry date.

So back to the drawing board - so on my next visit to West Africa I found myself in Abuja - the Federal Capital of Nigeria for a few days - so used the opportunity to get a one-month single entry Non-immigrant O visa at the Embassy there -(I have a Short-term Nigeria resident Visa as part of my job) - found new regulations I needed a certificate from the Nigerian Drug Enforcement Agency to prove I hadn't been convicted of a drug offense in the recent past (managed to talk my way round that one) - the cost was again high - based on the fact that the staff there may believe that Nigerians come here for "business" and can obviously afford a premium price.

I'm back now in Bangkok and have a non-Immigrant Visa that lasts for one month - AN ABSOLUTE PREREQUITE - I UNDERSTAND to get a new long term Non-Immigrant O Visa. I've been told over the years that it is IMPOSSIBLE to convert a tourist visa into a Non-immigrant Visa while in Thailand. I have never been offered a potential to get this done in country by paying "something extra". So take it to be TRUE - no Non-Immigrant O Visa NO CONVERSION to annual extension Non-Immigrant O Visa. Hope that observation helps others.

I'll post my success or "Return to GO - Do not collect a visa" failure once the saga is over.

[ubonjoe]

I don't know what kind of visas you have been getting; A non-o single entry gives you a 90 day entry not 30 days.

You could go Savannakeht Laos and get a multiple entry non-o visa based upon marriage that would give you 90 day entries for a year. And it can be stretched to 15 months by doing an entry just before it expires.

[oldgent]

is it a must to get a single entry or multiple entry when applying for O visa extension

[KevinB]

In some parts of the world where nationals all need Visas to enter Thailand the Embassies issue One month, and Three month - single and multiple entry Visas - with very different fee rates. (in Doha you can also get a 6 month entry visa both tourist / medical and Non-Immigrant O but there are no 6 month Visas (of either type) available for example in Nigeria or Ghana (nor the Philippines - but I think that was because I was in the country on a 3 month business visa).

Also as I stated I'm not married to my partner - entering because I'm the father of two Thai children.

[KevinB]

I'm assured that all I need for my Non-Immigrant O Visa extension is a valid visa for at least a month (well 10 working days if I take them at their word) - so only a single entry was required. If I had to travel suddenly I could get a re-entry permit at the airport and could then arrive back here before my visa expires - I've done that before on a single entry visa when I had to travel unexpectedly to Indonesia for a business meeting.

All of this is a bit strange because I can get a Visa at the airport valid for 30 days but this doesn't work for the extension.

This causes some concern at some Thai Embassies who find it strange that I'm applying for a Visa that I don't need - when I explain my situation to the Visa officer - they shrug they shoulders and smile knowingly - one once said to me "we have some complicated rules" - I nodded in agreement.

[laislica]

You will need to "convert" (2000 Bht) in Bangkok with evidence of being able to qualify for an extension of stay.

Once this has been achieved the application in Udon for an extension of stay should be a formality.

Be aware that the affidavit of income will have to be re-acquired as Bangkok will retain the first original.

Also be prepared to show evidence which supports the affidavit !

There is really no need to suggest that corruption is part of the process --------------------it is not !

The first reply seems to me to be correct.

I arrived on a 30 day visa waiver (note, Not a Tourist visa)

Fortunately I was in Chiang Mai and the Brit Consul provided me with the required proof of earnings (at a price of course LOL).

The friend I was staying with provided me with copies of the Tambian Baan (House Book) as proof of residence. A rental contract will also do.

Immigration then gave me the required 30 day Non Imm O Visa.

A short time later, I then purchased another proof of earnings from the consulate.

Immigration was then able to issue the one year retirement extension.

As I now have a bank account in Thailand, I kept more than 800,000 Baht in a "liquid account", ie not tied up in a high interest account.

It cost 100 Baht to get a letter from the bank to confirm that the funds had been in the bank for the required time along with a copy of the bank book that had been updated that day..

(First time must be in the bank for 60 days, subsequent times 90 days)

The cost from the Consul was 2,750 Baht each time......

Once you have the extension you can move the money into another, higher interest account, or just spend it LOL

Just make sure you have the required 800,000 minimum in the bank 90 days before the next extension application.

Finally, be aware that it is important that your bank book is updated in a way that shows the money was there for the required period.

Thai banks will "aggregate" entries if they are over a long period of time.....

Print outs from your on-line bank will not do.

So put in the money and update the book at the time.

If you make a wire transfer your book will not be updated until you (or a trusted person) puts it in the update machine........

It's what your book says that is important.

I trust that UbonJoe will correct any small mistakes I make cos he is superb and very helpful.

But, if you eventually marry, you can apply for an extension based on marriage.

Advantage is you need only 400,000 Baht in the bank and you can apply for a work permit if needed.

Disadvantages.

Need witnesses to agree who you and your wife are etc at the time of the application.

You must draw a map how to get the the property you live in with your wife.

You must provide photos of you and wifey and the property.

You will get a provisional 30 day extension whilst your papers go to Bangkok and they you get the years extension (or not)

There may be a follow up by immigration to see if you really are there as you said, they may talk to neighbours as verification too.

Unless you are strapped for the financials or need a WP, it's easier to go for the retirement extension.

(Note extension - Not Visa!)

It is a one year extension to your Non Imm O Visa!

and you just do it annually.

Don't forget to make your 90 day reports to immigration.

All the necessary forms are available to download on TVF.

Good luck and please don't think that the visa and extension procedures are horrible in Thailand.

(I thought so at first but then I had no idea how difficult the UK Border Control make it for a Thai wife to visit for a two to three week holiday.....Visa refused - true story)

Thailand welcomes you on a 30 day waiver on entry for many outside countries, how easy is that?

Heck, the first time I visited I had no idea about visas, I just turned up!!!

[ubonjoe]

In some parts of the world where nationals all need Visas to enter Thailand the Embassies issue One month, and Three month - single and multiple entry Visas - with very different fee rates. (in Doha you can also get a 6 month entry visa both tourist / medical and Non-Immigrant O but there are no 6 month Visas (of either type) available for example in Nigeria or Ghana (nor the Philippines - but I think that was because I was in the country on a 3 month business visa).

Also as I stated I'm not married to my partner - entering because I'm the father of two Thai children.

You have apparently been getting tourist visas and/or a visa exempt entry and wanted to do a conversion to a non immigrant visa entry. To do this you need at least 15 days remaining on your entry.

But you will not qualify for this or even a multiple entry non-o visa unless you are the legal father of your child. Since you are not married to your children's mother you must first legitimize your parenthood. See this topic for info: How To Gain Parental Rights As A Father

You can get single entry non-o visas at most embassies and consulates with only their birth certificates and copies of their house book.

You can also obtain a 60 day extension at immigration from any type of entry to visit them. You will need their birth certificates, copies of their house book and some proof of address. The children and their mother would need to go to immigration with you.

[430xc]

I have a question for Ubonjoe and KevinB. Perhaps I am being too detailed or worried about small things. I just do not want to be caught in a time bind due to a little detail.

I was issued a 3 entry Tourist Visa in the USA on July 29, 2013 and it says "Enter before -- Jan 28, 2014". I only used 2 entries, the last one being on January 24, 2014. The stamp in my passport says, valid until March 24, 2014. I will be going to Vientiane Laos on Wednesday March 19 to convert my Tourist visa to a Non-Immigrant O visa (single entry I assume for 90 days). I understand I will be able to pick up my passport with new visa the next day.

With regard to KevinB's post #17, do I need to be concerned about my tourist visa only having 5 days remaining? Or do I need to go to my local Thai immigration office before I go to Laos and pay 1900 baht for 30 day extension to my current entry, which would give me more than the 10 working days (mentioned in post #17)?

Sorry for seeming to be too worried about little things. Thanks to all for the replies.

430xc

[thepool]

KenivB's posts are confused and contain a number of misleading and inaccurate comments.

In your case the visa in the passport has expired. What you have is "permission to stay" until March 24. This permission to stay may, if required, be extended at an immigration office by 30 days at a cost of 1900 Bht. As you intend leaving on March 19 there is no need to extend.

NB

You will not be "converting" a visa in Laos but applying for a new visa.

[ubonjoe]

You will not be converting visas at the embassy you will be applying for a single entry non-o visa.

You don't need any time left on your visa when you apply for the non-o that would only be needed if you were doing a change of visa status at immigration,

[430xc]

You will not be converting visas at the embassy you will be applying for a single entry non-o visa.

You don't need any time left on your visa when you apply for the non-o that would only be needed if you were doing a change of visa status at immigration,

Thanks "the pool" and Ubonjoe for your quick answers

Cheers

430xc

[santaf]

You will not be converting visas at the embassy you will be applying for a single entry non-o visa.

You don't need any time left on your visa when you apply for the non-o that would only be needed if you were doing a change of visa status at immigration,

Thanks "the pool" and Ubonjoe for your quick answers

Cheers

430xc

Question to 430xc: I assumed you got your Non-O visa in Vientiane. What documentation did you need to show other than the usual application form, copies of passport pages and photo? Did you need to show the original income verification letter as well? Thanks in advance.