Change non immigarant visa to retirement visa

[GeKoSc]

Anyone out there who has contracted the service of a consultant to help converting a 1 year non immigrant visa into a retirement visa?

What has been your experience and which is the cost I have to count on?

[elviajero]

What you are asking to do cant be done. If you have a non immigrant visa entry and are within the last 30 (maybe 45) days you can apply for a 1 year extension of stay based on retirement (over 50). You need 800K in the bank for 60 days or a certified (by your embassy) income of 65K pm or a combination of the two.

 

It's a very simple process and you don't need to waste money on a "consultant" to help you. You'll get all the generic info you need here.

[OJAS]

Is your existing non-immigrant visa of the OA variety by any chance? If it is, do a border run the day before it expires and you will then be stamped into Thailand for a further year before you need to start applying for annual extensions of stay based on retirement.

[GeKoSc]

11 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Is your existing non-immigrant visa of the OA variety by any chance? If it is, do a border run the day before it expires and you will then be stamped into Thailand for a further year before you need to start applying for annual extensions of stay based on retirement.

Thank you for this important information. Will the border immigration ask again for application documents or is this a simple re-entrance to Thailand showing my passport only? 

[ubonjoe]

15 minutes ago, GeKoSc said:

Thank you for this important information. Will the border immigration ask again for application documents or is this a simple re-entrance to Thailand showing my passport only? 

If you have a valid OA visa issued by a embassy or consulate and enter on or before the enter before date your visa you will get new one year entry.

All you need is your passport to use the visa for entry.

[mahjongguy]

Please be sure to understand this point clearly. Your visa must be "O-A", not "O. The "Enter Before..." must still be upcoming. If so, then do a border bounce and you will be stamped in for another 365 days. After that your O-A visa will be void and and you will need to purchase a Re-Entry Permit if you wish to leave and come back to Thailand during those 365 days. In the last 30 of those days you must go to your local Immigration office and request a 1-year extension of your Permission To Stay. Lots of info here about the requirements. 

[OJAS]

25 minutes ago, GeKoSc said:

Thank you for this important information. Will the border immigration ask again for application documents or is this a simple re-entrance to Thailand showing my passport only? 

It should be a straightforward passport stamping process with no requirement for any supporting documentation.

 

Beware, though, if you are planning any trips out of Thailand during the second year, you will need to obtain a re-entry permit in order to keep your revised permission to stay alive. Failure to do this will mean that your passport will only be stamped for the standard 30 days upon your return, and you will then need to start all over again with a fresh non-immigrant visa. A single-entry permit costs 1,000 THB and a multi-entry one 3,800 THB and can be obtained from your local immigration office upon production of a completed TM8 form (plus the requisite payment, of course).

 

Alternatively you could obtain a re-entry permit at Suvarnabhumi or Don Mueang airports after checking in for an outward flight - but this might prove hit-and-miss, especially if you were in a hurry.

 

EDIT: I am, of course, assuming that yours is an "OA" and not an "O" visa!

Edited February 23, 2017 by OJAS

[D3030]

6 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

If you have a valid OA visa issued by a embassy or consulate and enter on or before the enter before date your visa you will get new one year entry.

All you need is your passport to use the visa for entry.

Thanks Joe, you explain things very clearly.. I need to exit the country via air, before my enter before date expires on my OA visa.  

 

You're the visa expert, but do you have any recommendations on a quick one day/night to go?  The immigration officer recommended Laos, but I'dlike to have a Pattaya night while I'm doing this solo.. :)

 

Will fly out of a Bangkok or Sukhotthai Airport if possible.

 

Thank you for all you do here..  

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, D3030 said:

Thanks Joe, you explain things very clearly.. I need to exit the country via air, before my enter before date expires on my OA visa.  

 

You're the visa expert, but do you have any recommendations on a quick one day/night to go?  The immigration officer recommended Laos, but I'dlike to have a Pattaya night while I'm doing this solo.. :)

 

Will fly out of a Bangkok or Sukhotthai Airport if possible.

 

Thank you for all you do here..  

Perhaps Vietnam or Cambodia  for the night out from what I understand.

Flight out of the country for lowest fares would probably be from Don Mueang (DMK).

 

[GeKoSc]

On 2/23/2017 at 11:06 AM, mahjongguy said:

Please be sure to understand this point clearly. Your visa must be "O-A", not "O. The "Enter Before..." must still be upcoming. If so, then do a border bounce and you will be stamped in for another 365 days. After that your O-A visa will be void and and you will need to purchase a Re-Entry Permit if you wish to leave and come back to Thailand during those 365 days. In the last 30 of those days you must go to your local Immigration office and request a 1-year extension of your Permission To Stay. Lots of info here about the requirements. 

Thank you for your details. Well, my NONI visa is an "0"; Would that require making a new application?

[ubonjoe]

9 hours ago, GeKoSc said:

Thank you for your details. Well, my NONI visa is an "0"; Would that require making a new application?

You could apply for an extension of stay based upon retirement during the last 30 days of any of the 90 day entries from your visa.

You will need 800k baht in a Thai bank for 60 days on the date you apply or proof of 65k baht income by way of a income letter from your embassy or a combination of the 2 totaling 800k baht.

[GeKoSc]

4 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You could apply for an extension of stay based upon retirement during the last 30 days of any of the 90 day entries from your visa.

You will need 800k baht in a Thai bank for 60 days on the date you apply or proof of 65k baht income by way of a income letter from your embassy or a combination of the 2 totaling 800k baht.

I have been advised that it will be possible to ask for an extension of my present 1-month visa up to 15 months before applying for a retirement visa. Is that true?

[ubonjoe]

7 minutes ago, GeKoSc said:

I have been advised that it will be possible to ask for an extension of my present 1-month visa up to 15 months before applying for a retirement visa. Is that true?

You wrote before you had a non-o visa which would allow a 90 day entry. There is no15 month extension possible of it. You could get  almost 15 months of total stay from a multiple entry non-o visa by doing an entry just before the enter before date on the visa.

If you had a 30 day visa exempt entry you could do an application for a 90 day non immigrant visa (category O) entry (2000 baht fee) and then during the last 30 days of that 90 day entry applying for a one year extension of stay (1900 baht fee) based upon retirement which totals to almost 15 months of total stay.

You would need at least 15 days remaining on your entry to apply for the visa. You would need to show financial proof for both steps of the process but the 800k baht would only need to be in the bank on the date of your apply for the visa.

[GeKoSc]

43 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You wrote before you had a non-o visa which would allow a 90 day entry. There is no15 month extension possible of it. You could get  almost 15 months of total stay from a multiple entry non-o visa by doing an entry just before the enter before date on the visa.

If you had a 30 day visa exempt entry you could do an application for a 90 day non immigrant visa (category O) entry (2000 baht fee) and then during the last 30 days of that 90 day entry applying for a one year extension of stay (1900 baht fee) based upon retirement which totals to almost 15 months of total stay.

You would need at least 15 days remaining on your entry to apply for the visa. You would need to show financial proof for both steps of the process but the 800k baht would only need to be in the bank on the date of your apply for the visa.

I forgot to mention that I have a 1-year m u l t i p l e entry "O" visa and my "entry before date" is 29. jan 2018 . Will that change my options for extension?

[ubonjoe]

8 minutes ago, GeKoSc said:

I forgot to mention that I have a 1-year m u l t i p l e entry "O" visa and my "entry before date" is 29. jan 2018 . Will that change my options for extension?

No it will not make any difference. You can apply during the last 30 days for an extension of any of the 90 day permit to stays from the visa.

You are extending your permit to stay not your visa.

[Sumarianson]

Anyone out there who has contracted the service of a consultant to help converting a 1 year non immigrant visa into a retirement visa?
What has been your experience and which is the cost I have to count on?

Re: How to change your Non Imm O Family to O-A retirement.

Now I can reply and answer my own post as I did my retirement visa in one day last Friday.
The requirement is 2 months or 60 days. However you need to apply 15 days before your current visa is up so the money should have been in your account at least 75 days on the date of application ( not counting the application day).
This is for your first application for an O-A extension. I already had a non immigration O on my passport due to family. When you apply for the O-A then your O extension will be terminated on that day and you will not be able to use any remaining time on that extension. As in my case I lost a month. So apply when you have 15 days left or as near as possible (weekends) without going under.
The documents I provided were ( one set of copies only)
Proof of address, deeds in my case but lease would do maybe a copy of a few bills in your name. I also provided a letter from the Juristic saying I was an owner occupier but I dont think it was necessary. 1 recent picture dated and signed on the back then glued to the application TM7.
Copies of all pages of passport.
Copy of arrival card TM6
copy of all relavent pages of bank passbook ie
1st page with your details and all the pages from deposit of 800K฿ to current.
( it is wise to make a withdrawal and a deposit just before making the copy of the last page on the application day, changwattana is easy for this as many banks are available)
A confirmation letter from your bank confirming the funds (cost: 100฿ at Bangkok Bank) better on the day, but up to 7 days prior should be ok. Withdraw a few hundred or thousand Baht from your account from ATM on the application day, without going below 800K฿. Get the staff of your bank to deposit a small amount say 100฿as they are doing the letter as I did and then and only then update your book. Get your letter from the bank and copy the last page of your book or all the relevant pages as the case may be at the photo copy shop.( I use my own printer).
Make sure you sign all copies of documents.
Pin all together and present with your original book and passport and 1900฿. Thats it.
The following year your money will have to season for a minimum of 115 days. 90 days before application and 15 days prior to your permission expiring. Do 4 months before your permission expires to be safe.

Good luck and be safe.

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Sumarianson]

Is your existing non-immigrant visa of the OA variety by any chance? If it is, do a border run the day before it expires and you will then be stamped into Thailand for a further year before you need to start applying for annual extensions of stay based on retirement.

I cannot see that this is right. If you have "permission" to stay in Thailand on a 1 year basis and you go to do a border the day before the expiry of your current retirement permission, would you not need to fulfill the 800K in the bank for 90 days or a certificate of income from your embassy plus what about the application being 15 days before you permission expires ?
I cannot see this as correct advice. I stand to be corrected. Over to you.

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[elviajero]

51 minutes ago, Sumarianson said:

Re: How to change your Non Imm O Family to O-A retirement.

Now I can reply and answer my own post as I did my retirement visa in one day last Friday.
The requirement is 2 months or 60 days. However you need to apply 15 days before your current visa is up so the money should have been in your account at least 75 days on the date of application ( not counting the application day).
This is for your first application for an O-A extension. I already had a non immigration O on my passport due to family. When you apply for the O-A then your O extension will be terminated on that day and you will not be able to use any remaining time on that extension. As in my case I lost a month. So apply when you have 15 days left or as near as possible (weekends) without going under.

What you have done is applied for an extension of stay (permit) based on retirement (not a "O-A extension"), commonly known as a 'Retirement Visa'. Non-immigrant 'O-A' visas are not available in Thailand, and are only issued by embassies/consulates outside of Thailand.

 

I doubt you lost "a month" as extensions of stay start form the day after the existing permit to stay expires. I don't know of any office that insist that you apply at least 15 days early. You can usually apply right up to the last day of a current permit to stay.

 

1 hour ago, Sumarianson said:

The following year your money will have to season for a minimum of 115 days. 90 days before application and 15 days prior to your permission expiring. Do 4 months before your permission expires to be safe.

It is 3 months, not 90 days. It's a good idea to apply early, but again you could apply on the last day.

[elviajero]

55 minutes ago, Sumarianson said:

On 23/02/2017 at 3:32 AM, OJAS said:

Is your existing non-immigrant visa of the OA variety by any chance? If it is, do a border run the day before it expires and you will then be stamped into Thailand for a further year before you need to start applying for annual extensions of stay based on retirement.

I cannot see that this is right. If you have "permission" to stay in Thailand on a 1 year basis and you go to do a border the day before the expiry of your current retirement permission, would you not need to fulfill the 800K in the bank for 90 days or a certificate of income from your embassy plus what about the application being 15 days before you permission expires ?
I cannot see this as correct advice. I stand to be corrected. Over to you.

@OJAS is referring to someone with a non-immigrant 'O-A' visa issued by an embassy/consulate outside of Thailand. The visa is valid for multiple entries for 1 year from the date it's issued. If someone with that visa enters on or before the visas expiry ('enter before') date printed on the visa, they receive a final 1 year permit to stay. They can't, and don't need to extend, that stay until the last 30 days of that final year. They only need to show the 800K in the bank when they apply for the extension.

 

 

[Ej2562]

 

I have a NON-Imm O-A visa Multiple entry valid from June 08, 2018 to June 07, 2019.

What are my reporting requirements during my stay in Thailand?

My goal is to obtain a retirement visa.  Prove of required income would not be a problem.

 

Thank you very much for your advice.

 

Ejohnson