Getting Retirement Visa re newed.

[Jessi]

My retirement visa is due to expire 30th April

I will be leaving Thailand for a few days in early April, when I return to BKK airport do I get an automatic one year extension at Immigration in the airport? or do I have to make a new application at the Immigration office in my province?

I will be returning before the current visa expires.

Retirement Visa, Retirement extension of stay, what ever you want to call it. I always call it a retirement visa.

Thank you for any help.

[JDGRUEN]

Well OP ... A Retirement Visa ... Category 'O-A' and an Extension of Stay based on Retirement... while similar in allowing you a long stay ability in Thailand are administered differently and are different in significant ways. So - to get the best advice from the people here... it would be best if you checked your Passport and other papers and post what you find...

An "O-A" Retirement visa has to be obtained in your home country -- not in Thailand ... And Extension of Stay based on Retirement is obtained here in Thailand at Immigration. Which was the origin of your 'visa'?

[ubonjoe]

Unless you have a valid OA visa from an embassy or consulate you will not get a one year entry,

If you have an extension of stay based upon retirement you got at an immigration office you will need a re-entry permit and would only be stamped in up to the date you extension ends. You then would need to get a new extension.

If you have an extension it would be better to get the new extension and re-entry permit before you make your trip.

[Sophon]

Quote: "Retirement Visa, Retirement extension of stay, what ever you want to call it. I always call it a retirement visa."

And that's a problem when you ask a questions like this, since both Non-Immigrant OA visas and retirement extensions are frequently referred to by people as "retirement visa", and the answer to your question depends on what it is you have..

If you have a multiple entry Non-Immigrant OA visa, then you will get a new one year permission to stay at the airport when you arrive, since you say that you will arrive before the visa expires.

If, on the other hand, you have a one year extension obtained at an immigration office in Thailand, then you will have to apply for a new extension like you did before. Furthermore, you will need a re-entry permit to protect your current permission to stay, or you will have to start over from scratch, which includes getting a Non Immigrant visa so that you are here on the type of permission to stay that allows you to apply for a retirement extension.

Since you write "or do I have to make a new application at the Immigration office in my province", I am guessing you have the latter?

Sophon

[steve187]

In a previous thread the OP was asking about a single entry re-entry permit.

[Jessi]

On my visa it says RETIREMENT @ the top then extension of stay until xxxxx and some numbers dont know what that means. I got the current one at Rayong Immigration

[Jessi]

In a previous thread the OP was asking about a single entry re-entry permit.

That is correct, but what is your point?

[Sophon]

On my visa it says RETIREMENT @ the top then extension of stay until xxxxx and some numbers dont know what that means. I got the current one at Rayong Immigration

Then it's not a visa but an extension, and you will have to get a re-entry permit before you leave and apply for a new extension (at Rayong Immigration if you still live there) when you come back.

Sophon

[Jessi]

Thank you for your help.

[Sophon]

In a previous thread the OP was asking about a single entry re-entry permit.

That is correct, but what is your point?

I think he meant that applying for a re-entry permit implies that you probably have an extension, since you wouldn't need (or want) one with a valid visa.

Sophon

[NancyL]

If the OP has an extension, then he better make sure that the people at the airport just stamp him thru until the date of expiration of this extension and not given him 30 days. Of course, that's assuming he has a re-entry permit.

We ran into this potential problem when we went to Siem Reap two weeks before Hubby's reitrement extension was set to expire. He was all gag-gag about wanting to take care of it before we left Chiang Mai and I thought it was a waste of a perfectly good unused re-entry permit not to wait.

Of course at Swamp Bunny, I had to brow beat the Immigration officer to make sure she observed his re-entry permit and stamped with a five-day entry. He had an appointment at CM Immigration for the annual retirement visa extension two days after we returned from Siem Reap -- which was wonderful, incidentally. It will be where are the Chiang Mai of the next generation.

[hml367]

NancyL,

Regarding: "We ran into this potential problem when we went to Siem Reap two weeks before Hubby's reitrement extension was set to expire. He was all gag-gag about wanting to take care of it before we left Chiang Mai and I thought it was a waste of a perfectly good unused re-entry permit not to wait."

Wouldn't the Re-Entry Permit still be valid until the Valid Until date? I mean, if the Re-Entry permit had not been used, it would not have USED stamped on it, would it?

Just wondering how that would work.

[uptheos]

If the OP has an extension, then he better make sure that the people at the airport just stamp him thru until the date of expiration of this extension and not given him 30 days. Of course, that's assuming he has a re-entry permit.

We ran into this potential problem when we went to Siem Reap two weeks before Hubby's reitrement extension was set to expire. He was all gag-gag about wanting to take care of it before we left Chiang Mai and I thought it was a waste of a perfectly good unused re-entry permit not to wait.

Of course at Swamp Bunny, I had to brow beat the Immigration officer to make sure she observed his re-entry permit and stamped with a five-day entry. He had an appointment at CM Immigration for the annual retirement visa extension two days after we returned from Siem Reap -- which was wonderful, incidentally. It will be where are the Chiang Mai of the next generation.

You mean the immigration officer didn't know enough to give the correct stamp and you saved the day?

[mahjongguy]

An Immigration officer definitely might think she was doing him a favor by stamping him in a 30 day Visa Exempt entry when in fact it would break the chain of extensions. Well worth fighting for.

"Wouldn't the Re-Entry Permit still be valid until the Valid Until date? I mean, if the Re-Entry permit had not been used, it would not have USED stamped on it, would it?"

That is a very good question, and I don't believe it's been answered before. I often have an unused single Re-Entry Permit when I renew my extension. It does not get stamped USED nor CANCELED, even if I get a new permit along with my new extension. The old one appears to be good for another couple of weeks, but is it really still valid?

[ubonjoe]

An Immigration officer definitely might think she was doing him a favor by stamping him in a 30 day Visa Exempt entry when in fact it would break the chain of extensions. Well worth fighting for.

"Wouldn't the Re-Entry Permit still be valid until the Valid Until date? I mean, if the Re-Entry permit had not been used, it would not have USED stamped on it, would it?"

That is a very good question, and I don't believe it's been answered before. I often have an unused single Re-Entry Permit when I renew my extension. It does not get stamped USED nor CANCELED, even if I get a new permit along with my new extension. The old one appears to be good for another couple of weeks, but is it really still valid?

Hopefully the immigration officer would ask if you wanted the time allowed by the re-entry permit or the 30 day visa exempt entry. It's always a good idea to check your stamp before leaving the arrival immigration area because they do make mistakes.

They might stamp a single re-entry permit used. A multiple is valid until it's expiration date which is equal to your permit to stay you had when it when it was issued and would never be stamped used.

For all intents and purposes an existing re-entry becomes invalid as soon as you get a new permit to stay date from an extension. The expiration date on the re-entry permit must be the same as your permit to stay date.

[hml367]

Thanks, Ubonjoe.

[uptheos]

An Immigration officer definitely might think she was doing him a favor by stamping him in a 30 day Visa Exempt entry when in fact it would break the chain of extensions. Well worth fighting for.

"Wouldn't the Re-Entry Permit still be valid until the Valid Until date? I mean, if the Re-Entry permit had not been used, it would not have USED stamped on it, would it?"

That is a very good question, and I don't believe it's been answered before. I often have an unused single Re-Entry Permit when I renew my extension. It does not get stamped USED nor CANCELED, even if I get a new permit along with my new extension. The old one appears to be good for another couple of weeks, but is it really still valid?

Immigration officers don't do 'favours' they have to go by the rules.

They certainly know enough to look at your current status in Thailand and I guarantee you that they know what a re-entry permit is for and who uses them. certainly not someone coming in on a 30 day Visa Exempt.

If your renewal says up until XX then that's what you will get, nothing to fight for.

[mahjongguy]

"For all intents and purposes an existing re-entry becomes invalid as soon as you get a new permit to stay date from an extension. The expiration date on the re-entry permit must be the same as your permit to stay date."

I agree with that, and so it think it would be good procedure for the old Re-Entry Permit to be stamped CANCELED when the extension is renewed.

[Jessi]

If the OP has an extension, then he better make sure that the people at the airport just stamp him thru until the date of expiration of this extension and not given him 30 days. Of course, that's assuming he has a re-entry permit.

We ran into this potential problem when we went to Siem Reap two weeks before Hubby's reitrement extension was set to expire. He was all gag-gag about wanting to take care of it before we left Chiang Mai and I thought it was a waste of a perfectly good unused re-entry permit not to wait.

Of course at Swamp Bunny, I had to brow beat the Immigration officer to make sure she observed his re-entry permit and stamped with a five-day entry. He had an appointment at CM Immigration for the annual retirement visa extension two days after we returned from Siem Reap -- which was wonderful, incidentally. It will be where are the Chiang Mai of the next generation.

Thanks for the heads up about that Nancy.