I Washed My Passport

[Maestro]

A non o visa can also be applied for in bangkok as I and others have done, you can convert a tourist visa into a non imm o visa, just need to do the same paper work as when you apply for a 1 year extension and have the money in the bank or the income at time of application for conversion.

I now see what you mean, bazmlb. You applied at the local immigration office for a change of visa from tourist visa to non-O visa, and during the same visit you applied for an annual extension of your permission to stay, at which point your passport was stamped with something like “Application is under consideration. Applicant must report to this office in person on (date)”, the date being 45 days after your date of application.

Please note that these 45 days are not “extra”; they are counted as part of the one-year extension you have applied and paid for.

From your latest post I now also understand that you filled out two separate forms, one for your application to change visa and a second one for your application of extension of stay, and you paid two separate fees, 2,000 Baht for the change of visa and 1,900 Baht for the extension of stay, i.e. a total of 3,900 Baht.

Thank you for the clarifications you have given.

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Maestro

Edited August 21, 2006 by maestro

[bazmlb]

A non o visa can also be applied for in bangkok as I and others have done, you can convert a tourist visa into a non imm o visa, just need to do the same paper work as when you apply for a 1 year extension and have the money in the bank or the income at time of application for conversion.

I now see what you mean, bazmlb. You applied at the local immigration office for a change of visa from tourist visa to non-O visa, and during the same visit you applied for an annual extension of your permission to stay, at which point your passport was stamped with something like “Application is under consideration. Applicant must report to this office in person on (date)”, the date being 45 days after your date of application.

Please note that these 45 days are not “extra”; they are counted as part of the one-year extension you have applied and paid for.

From your latest post I now also understand that you filled out two separate forms, one for your application to change visa and a second one for your application of extension of stay, and you paid two separate fees, 2,000 Baht for the change of visa and 1,900 Baht for the extension of stay, i.e. a total of 3,900 Baht.

Thank you for the clarifications you have given.

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Maestro

close but not quiet, i didnt apply at the same time but applied around the 40 day from expiry i went back to extend, the extra days were given at the time of conversion, these were on top of what my orignal tourist visa (60day) would have taken me thru till so i guess thats a 30 day extension plus 15 days really.

Forms, yes one to convert 2000 baht and one to extend 1900 baht, plus all the costs for letter from embassy 500 odd baht, translations etc all maybe another 1000 baht so around the 5k mark for initial visa plus extension plus the 1200 baht for the initial Tourist visa.

[Maestro]

close but not quiet, i didnt apply at the same time but applied around the 40 day from expiry i went back to extend, the extra days were given at the time of conversion, these were on top of what my orignal tourist visa (60day) would have taken me thru till so i guess thats a 30 day extension plus 15 days really.

It looks like the regular 90 days one gets when entering Thailand on a non-O, in your case counted from the date of change from the tourist visa to non-O, this appaently being the standard procedure. In other words, when you made that change, you forfeited the remaining days of the tourist visa and from that moment were in Thailand on a 90-day stay based on the newly acquired non-O.

From reading this forum, it seems that quite a few inquirers have been advised of this possibility of changing the visa category and have taken advantage of it. As you say, for somebody already in Thailand on a tourist visa it is a considerable saving compared to changing one’s status by getting a non-O from a Thai consulate in a nearby country, and less arduous, too. While it does not apply to the original poster of this thread, others in the same situation as you were in can benefit from this information.

Your first annual extension of stay, you probably already know, will be counted from the date you made the change from tourist visa to non-O at the immigration office.

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Maestro

[pistonpilot]

Getting a non-o visa 90 days is a no-brainer in the USA. I applied to the embassy in Washington DC and showed them a copy of my lease for a house here. That was it.

I don't see an advantage to a tourist visa and then having to change it. Am I missing something?

[Maestro]

I don't see an advantage to a tourist visa and then having to change it. Am I missing something?

No, you are not missing anything. There is no advantage by comparison with getting a non-O in the first place, before leaving one’s home country to fly to Thailand. In that sense, Bazmlb’s intermezzo was off topic in your thread, as it does not apply to somebody who is already in Thailand on a non-O.

It is of advantage to somebody who does not qualify for a non-O for his trip to Thailand (the Washington consulate considered you qualified because you had a lease for a house in Thailand) and therefore obtains a tourist visa, enters, gets married, changes visa status to non-O, gets annual extension.

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Maestro

[bazmlb]

Getting a non-o visa 90 days is a no-brainer in the USA. I applied to the embassy in Washington DC and showed them a copy of my lease for a house here. That was it.

I don't see an advantage to a tourist visa and then having to change it. Am I missing something?

If you dont meet the criteria before you go or you go and meet a nice partner and decide to marry then you would be there maybe on a tourist visa already, in my case we had decided to get married but had no chance to do it before i got to Thailand, this may be the case for others too.

Maestro

the 90 days was actually 105 before the o visa ran after the conversion

[bazmlb]

I don't see an advantage to a tourist visa and then having to change it. Am I missing something?

No, you are not missing anything. There is no advantage by comparison with getting a non-O in the first place, before leaving one’s home country to fly to Thailand. In that sense, Bazmlb’s intermezzo was off topic in your thread, as it does not apply to somebody who is already in Thailand on a non-O.

It is of advantage to somebody who does not qualify for a non-O for his trip to Thailand (the Washington consulate considered you qualified because you had a lease for a house in Thailand) and therefore obtains a tourist visa, enters, gets married, changes visa status to non-O, gets annual extension.

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Maestro

My original post was on topic, but i had to go off topic to answer your off topic question Maestro

You dont have to wait till then all the time, I as some others applied for ours outside the 30 days, they told me i could come anytime to do it dont need to wait, but some have been told toher things, usual thai stuff go and try anyway if your ready.

I went to see about my 1 year extension today and got a "still under consideration" stamp, no visit from bib yet so hopefully next month

When i applied for the initial non im o, they even gave me free 45 days extra, so nothing is at it seems

When i applied for the initial non im o, they even gave me free 45 days extra, so nothing is at it seems

A non-O visa is applied for at a Thai consulate. What are those free 45 days extra given to you by the consulate?

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Maestro

[Maestro]

the 90 days was actually 105 before the o visa ran after the conversion

Oh, so Immigration started to count the 90 days of the non-O from the “admitted until” entry stamp you got when you arrived on the tourist visa? Good of them; this way you didn’t lose a single day of what you paid for.

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Maestro

[bazmlb]

the 90 days was actually 105 before the o visa ran after the conversion

Oh, so Immigration started to count the 90 days of the non-O from the “admitted until” entry stamp you got when you arrived on the tourist visa? Good of them; this way you didn’t lose a single day of what you paid for.

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Maestro

Yes as always with immigration, dress nice, smile and be open and friendly, they are very nice and helpful people. ( or at least the ones at bangkok have been so far)

Hope you took the last post with the tongue in cheek way i meant it mate