Idiots guide to oa retirement visa extension reqd

[Phanganguy]

I'm sure its been pisted but cant find... And Im an idiot haha

I have a 12 month oa retirement visa obtained in uk and intend spending 8 months a year in thailand.

90 day repirting... No problem.

When I come to extend the visa for a further 12 months.... Can it then be re-extended every 12 months or is the extension a one off?

If Ibhave to renew my passport during an extension period... Can the extension, or future extensions be carried to the new passport?

With the oa visa I can stay in thailand 12 months... Does this also apply to an extension or do I have to do any 3 month border running?

Thank you for your patience and hopefully, simple and helpful feedback.  ;-)

[ubonjoe]

You OA visa allows unlimited one year entries for a year from from the date of issue. You can do an entry on or before the enter before date on the visa and get a new one year entry. It is possible to get almost 2 years of total stay from the visa by doing an entry just before the enter before date. 

After the enter before date you need a re-entry permit to keep the last entry valid if you want to travel.

You can apply for a one year extension of stay based upon retirement during the last 30 days of your last one year entry at a immigration office. You will need to meet the financial requirements to get it. You can keep applying for a new extension every year.

If you get a new passport your extension will be transferred to the new one.

No need to ever do a 90 day border run.

[Langsuan Man]

17 hours ago, Phanganguy said:

I have a 12 month oa retirement visa obtained in uk and intend spending 8 months a year in thailand...........If Ibhave to renew my passport during an extension period

If you are going to go back to your home country every year then the only downside of the O-A is that you will have to time your annual return to insure you arrive in Thailand before the expiration of your visa (enter before date)

I have gotten O-A's in the US for the last 10 years and my only interaction with Thai Immigration is entering and leaving the country and doing my 90 day reports.  I would rather deal with visa questions every two years by mail than deal with Thai Immigration every year to obtain extensions of stay,  bank letters or embassy income proof, etc. 

 

For some the O-A is not worth it, but if you are going to be in your home country every year it works for me and other TV posters.  The other positive is that you can renew your passport much easier in your home country 

[TBKK]

I have one follow up question regarding this post.

I've decided to obtain a new O - A visa every year in the States instead of obtaining a one year extension of my existing visa in Thailand .

I've decided that this is easier for me instead of dealing with Thai immigration every year for the past 13 years.

Does anyone know if you are allowed to obtain a new O - A visa in the States before one's existing visa expires or do you have to wait for your existing visa to expire before you obtain a new O - A visa?

 

[ubonjoe]

3 minutes ago, TBKK said:

I have one follow up question regarding this post.

I've decided to obtain a new O - A visa every year in the States instead of obtaining a one year extension of my existing visa in Thailand .

I've decided that this is easier for me instead of dealing with Thai immigration every year for the past 13 years.

Does anyone know if you are allowed to obtain a new O - A visa in the States before one's existing visa expires or do you have to wait for your existing visa to expire before you obtain a new O - A visa?

 

You don't have to wait until your current extension of stay (it is not a visa) ends. You no longer have a valid extension as soon as you leave the country.

It would be best not to have a re-entry permit to avoid problems when entering the country with the OA visa.

[dentonian]

15 minutes ago, TBKK said:

I have one follow up question regarding this post.

I've decided to obtain a new O - A visa every year in the States instead of obtaining a one year extension of my existing visa in Thailand .

I've decided that this is easier for me instead of dealing with Thai immigration every year for the past 13 years.

Does anyone know if you are allowed to obtain a new O - A visa in the States before one's existing visa expires or do you have to wait for your existing visa to expire before you obtain a new O - A visa?

 

Why every year?

The O-A Visa is known as the long stay Visa because you can remain in Thailand for up to two years before obtaining another.

[Jingthing]

7 minutes ago, dentonian said:

Why every year?

The O-A Visa is known as the long stay Visa because you can remain in Thailand for up to two years before obtaining another.

Yes, exactly, it's easy to use it for almost a two year stay with neighboring country travel, no need to go back to the U.S. 

Then if the questioner wants to get serial O-A visas in the U.S. his question is irrelevant. The original validity of the previous O-A visa would always be void. 

Edited March 29, 2017 by Jingthing

[Sophon]

6 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

If you are going to go back to your home country every year then the only downside of the O-A is that you will have to time your annual return to insure you arrive in Thailand before the expiration of your visa (enter before date)

I have gotten O-A's in the US for the last 10 years and my only interaction with Thai Immigration is entering and leaving the country and doing my 90 day reports.  I would rather deal with visa questions every two years by mail than deal with Thai Immigration every year to obtain extensions of stay,  bank letters or embassy income proof, etc. 

 

For some the O-A is not worth it, but if you are going to be in your home country every year it works for me and other TV posters.  The other positive is that you can renew your passport much easier in your home country 

One other downside is that Thailand is almost certainly at some point going to increase the financial requirements for the Non Immigrant OA visa as well as for retirement extensions, when that is going to happen is anybody's guess. If/when it happens there is a good chance that people on retirement extensions will be grandfathered at the present levels, while people relying on OA visas will have to meet the new requirements. For some that could be a major problem.

 

Sophon

[TBKK]

35 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You don't have to wait until your current extension of stay (it is not a visa) ends. You no longer have a valid extension as soon as you leave the country.

It would be best not to have a re-entry permit to avoid problems when entering the country with the OA visa.

ubonjoe,

I think you misunderstood my question.

I currently have a O - A visa that expires in October of 2017.

My question is whether I have to wait until my visa expires in October 2017 to apply and obtain a new one or will I be able to apply and obtain a new type O - A visa before my existing one expires.

Last year I had an extension of my existing O - A visa that expired in Feb of 2017 and I decided to obtain a new type O - A visa in the States in October 2016.

When I came back to Thailand in November of 2016, I had a new type O - A visa and also a vailid extension of my old visa. The immigration officer looked confused and he had to ask his collegue for assistance. They finally asked me which one I wanted to use and I told him I want to use my new O - A vias and not the extension of my old visa.

I guess that probably haven't encountered that situation too often! 

 

[Jingthing]

Why would you go through the bother and expense of getting a new O-A visa annually when each new O-A visa can be used for almost TWO years!?! 

[ubonjoe]

1 minute ago, TBKK said:

My question is whether I have to wait until my visa expires in October 2017 to apply and obtain a new one or will I be able to apply and obtain a new type O - A visa before my existing one expires.

There really no reason to get one before the current one expires. You get a new one year entry up to the enter before date on your visa. All you need to do is a leave and re-enter the country before that day and get a new one year entry and a re-entry permit to keep that entry valid when return.

If you wanted to get a new visa before the current one expires it would depend upon where you apply as to whether they will issue a new one or not. They would have to cancel your current one before issuing a new one.

 

[TBKK]

OK............I understand. 

 

Will have to ask the Thai Consulate in Chicago if I can apply for a new visa before my existing one expires. 

Didn't realize that it depends on which foreign consulate that you are dealing with.

[Langsuan Man]

OK............I understand. 
 
Will have to ask the Thai Consulate in Chicago if I can apply for a new visa before my existing one expires. 
Didn't realize that it depends on which foreign consulate that you are dealing with.

They don't care. $200 is $200 for them. They will be glad to accept your money
The reason for getting a new O-A can be as simple as not being able to return in time for it to still be valid

I broke my leg one year and NY was glad to take my money since I couldn't make it back before the "use by" date for that year. But the next year was easy because l was able to make it back before the visa expired

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[dentonian]

15 hours ago, TBKK said:

 

I currently have a O - A visa that expires in October of 2017.

My question is whether I have to wait until my visa expires in October 2017 to apply and obtain a new one or will I be able to apply and obtain a new type O - A visa before my existing one expires.

Last year I had an extension of my existing O - A visa that expired in Feb of 2017 and I decided to obtain a new type O - A visa in the States in October 2016.

When I came back to Thailand in November of 2016, I had a new type O - A visa and also a vailid extension of my old visa. The immigration officer looked confused and he had to ask his collegue for assistance. They finally asked me which one I wanted to use and I told him I want to use my new O - A vias and not the extension of my old visa.

I guess that probably haven't encountered that situation too often! 

 

 

I think your still misunderstanding how the O-A Visa works.

 

You currently have an O-A Visa issued October 2016.

It has an enter before date of ?? October 2017.

During the period Oct 2016 - Oct 2017 you can exit and re-entry Thailand as many times as you want because the Visa is multi entry.

On each re-entry you are given another 1 year permission to stay.

 

If you exit and re-enter Thailand just before the 'enter before' date on the Visa (?? Oct 2017) you will be given another 1 year permission to stay until ?? Oct 2018.

Although the Visa and it's multi entry facility expires on the 'enter before' date (?? Oct 2017) your permission to stay remain valid until Oct 2018.

If you want to exit and re-enter Thailand during the period Oct 2017 - Oct 2018, you can purchase a re-entry permit from Immigration which keeps your permission to stay valid (single entry 1,000 baht, multiple entry 3,800 baht).

 

You then don't need to obtain another O-A Visa until Oct 2018.

[TBKK]

3 hours ago, dentonian said:

 

I think your still misunderstanding how the O-A Visa works.

 

You currently have an O-A Visa issued October 2016.

It has an enter before date of ?? October 2017.

During the period Oct 2016 - Oct 2017 you can exit and re-entry Thailand as many times as you want because the Visa is multi entry.

On each re-entry you are given another 1 year permission to stay.

 

If you exit and re-enter Thailand just before the 'enter before' date on the Visa (?? Oct 2017) you will be given another 1 year permission to stay until ?? Oct 2018.

Although the Visa and it's multi entry facility expires on the 'enter before' date (?? Oct 2017) your permission to stay remain valid until Oct 2018.

If you want to exit and re-enter Thailand during the period Oct 2017 - Oct 2018, you can purchase a re-entry permit from Immigration which keeps your permission to stay valid (single entry 1,000 baht, multiple entry 3,800 baht).

 

You then don't need to obtain another O-A Visa until Oct 2018.

You are correct and I do understand how the O - A visa works. 

 

In my case, I just returned from a trip and I have permission to stay until March 15, 2018.

I plan on leaving Thailand at the end of April and not returning until November 2017 which will be after my current O - A visa expires.

I have two options, obtain a new visa before I leave the States in November or buy a re-entry permit before I leave in April and apply for a one year extension of my current visa before March 15, 2018 in Thialand.

I would prefer to obtain a new O - A visa before I leave in the States because I don't like dealing with Thai immigration in Thailand.

[Mattd]

I'm not sure that a re-entry permit prior to you leaving in April would work, I understand the logic, however, can and will immigration issue a re-entry permit whilst holding a valid ME visa?

 

[38YEARS]

What is the difference between an " O " visa and an " O-A " visa ?

I got a 1 year M " O " visa, enter before Nov 16/17 from a consulate in Canada. Only needed a signed copy of my wife's Thai ID card and a copy of our marriage registration in Alberta, (wallet size).

Upon arrival at the airport in bkk, I got a square stamp saying admitted until Feb 27/17.

went for a marriage extension in early Feb at Pathum Thani - Sam Kok station, but the paperwork that they wanted was much much more than was listed in their online requirement listing. It required 3 stops to complete a Thai marriageregistration, multiple extra photos of us both in our home, and several docs from my wife.

the girl then advised me to just get a retirement extension with the docs I had, but I only had 500,000 in the banking docs.

so, will put more baht in the bank and follow up on this later.

thus I drove to Aranyapathet as the 3 months were up, went in & out, but on presenting my passport to the thai booth, was sent over to a side table.

the in charge guy nicely told me that I could not return on the same day that I left,  but since this was the 1st time on a 1 year " O : visa, he would let it go this time only. I had done this multiple times in the past few years on 3-entry tourist visas!?

The same kind of stamp was again put in my passport, admitted until May 23/17.

I had tickets to leave on May 17/17, but will not return until mid-Oct/17.

 

I expect that they will give me 3 months the, again.

would I be better of getting another 1-year M 'O' visa before returning?

Canada people said even one of my 2 30ish daughters living in Canada Thai birth certificates would suffice. 

should I not make it back by nov16/17, this will have to do.

a retirement extension would have to be done by nov 17/17, or by the end of the 3 months admitted until date?

 

can this visa be extended for 1 year,  is it automatic on the entry dates, or does it have to be applied for and paid for?

Form number ??

 

topic seems to fit in somewhat with the Q's & A's above.

 

[ubonjoe]

3 hours ago, Mattd said:

I'm not sure that a re-entry permit prior to you leaving in April would work, I understand the logic, however, can and will immigration issue a re-entry permit whilst holding a valid ME visa?

 

Yes they will. Ther re-entry permit is for a permit to stay not the visa.

[Mattd]

27 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Yes they will. Ther re-entry permit is for a permit to stay not the visa.

OK, so a person could apply for a re-entry permit for an entry made using a still valid multiple entry visa, i.e. in this case to keep the latest permit to stay until March 2018 alive?

Edited March 30, 2017 by Mattd
x

[ubonjoe]

1 minute ago, Mattd said:

OK, so a person could apply for a re-entry permit for an entry made using a still valid multiple entry visa, i.e. in this case to keep the latest permit to stay until March 2018 alive?

Yes it would.