I was surprised when I called the Hull consulate looking to get an O visa recently - And told that for my particular situation this option was no longer available - I needed to be married to Thai or in receipt of State pension (and hence over the age of 65 yrs) - Previously I got this by neither and just by showing funds in a deposit account and being over the age of 50 yrs old to get me the O visa.

For anyone else in my situation - And looking for alternatives - It seems you can apply to London for OA, but doing this requires a medical check certificate / letter and a criminal check certificate / letter and then both need to be notarised.

While I have no experience of doing it this way - Reports are suggesting that the medical and criminal was fairly straight forward and cost for combined was around £150 - £180 (depending upon medical practice pricing), however the independent notarised services were troublesome and expensive - Many were experiencing a total cost around £500, which seems very high.

Obviously the easier way of doing this would be a tourist or an exempt visa on arrival and then converting while in Thailand. And for me it does beg the question - Why go back to UK at all if you are looking for long stay and you are over 50yrs of age, have no state pension and not married to a Thai national?

my doctor cert cost £80 , my police record check was £58 ( dependent on what post service you require I paid £10 ) . The notary £ 60 .

Visa £120 .

Excellent response - giving actual numbers - very much appreciated.

It seems that the medical and the Criminal were about what others are paying i.e around £150 - Its the Notary that many seem to have had bad experiences with - A few people were refused the Notary service from solicitors unless they had the criminal and medical reports sent direct to the solicitor saying that they could not Notarise if the reports were simply supplied by the customer - So the solicitor would need to make the applications and hence the process became more expensive.

It sounds like you got a good price at £60 - well done. While most make the application through a solicitor, there are alternatives - Or did you use lower cost alternative?

You should not need an official notarisation either by a notary public or by a solicitor who has that official capacity. Certification by a solicitor will be sufficient and that entails you providing the docs, the solicitor making copies of the docs and then stamping and signing them. Disclosure Scotland is the cheapest and simplest for police record and is acceptable by the London Thai embassy.

Do they give out ,1year non immigrant 'O'visa,s in Savannkhet-Laos.

Do they give out ,1year non immigrant 'O'visa,s in Savannkhet-Laos.

The will do a multiple entry non-o visa based upon marriage to a Thai there with no financial proof needed.