I attended my local Immigration Office in Lopburi on Friday 18th. I had, I thought, all documents to allow me to convert a single entry Tourist Visa ex Savanakhet into a one year OA "Retirement" Visa..... The office accepted that my UK Embassy Income letter was OK. But require it to be stamped as valid at ChaingWaettana before accepting it with the application.

That's news to me! Has it happened to anyone else?

The implication is that that would be necessary for all circumstances in which an Embassy Income letter is a required document........

I shall be visiting ChainWaettana tomorrow, then back to Lopburi thereafter....... I will report how I get on......

You will NEVER get a Non Immigrant O-A VISA inside Thailand, forget it.... That is not doable and have never been..

Ubionjoe will instruct you further...

 

Glegolo

You and I both would have supposed so..... Savanakhet instructed me to do it this way and Lopburi thought it routine on Friday....... Strictly speaking, what they say they are doing is converting one type of Visa to another......... And that is apparently OK......

The bit with wider relevance is this requirement to validate the Embassy Income letter. Which is new to me.

 

I think you missunderstand the whole thing here. What I understand is that yes you can go from a tourist-VISA to a Non Immigrant "O"-VISA but that ONLY if you aim for an extension of stay, based on either reirement or marriage...

 

So if you just are looking for an conversation inside Thiland, forget it, and O-A VISA  NEVER..

 

Glegolo

Edited August 21, 20178 yr by glegolo

It is not a OA visa application though.

You will be apply for change of visa status to get a 90 day non immigrant visa (category O) entry. Then during the last 30 days of that 90 day entry you will apply for a one year extension of stay based upon retirement.

You will be getting the signature of the consular officer that signed you income letter from the embassy at the consular affairs department of the MFA.

Flow chart of the process is here (click the English version to enlarge it) http://www.consular.go.th/main/th/services/6441/71860-ขั้นตอนการรับรองนิติกรณ์เอกสาร---Legalization-Proc.html

You best option will be to have them send it to you by EMS rather than waiting around all day for the express service.

Yes. That's exactly how I understood it, ubonjoe. The only bit that surprised me was the "legalisation" requirement for the Embassy Income letter bit......

Am I right that the legalisation service is done here.....???

http://bangkok.immigration.go.th/en/location1.html

 

30 minutes ago, chrisyork said:

The office accepted that my UK Embassy Income letter was OK. But require it to be stamped as valid at ChaingWaettana before accepting it with the application.

That's news to me! Has it happened to anyone else?

Yes, it is becoming more common now.  Some offices require it for the conversion of a Tourist entry to a Non-O 90-day (your next step), but do not require it for the 1-year extension (go figure), but each office makes up their own rules.

 

To be clear, you will first "convert" to a Non-O 90-day visa, then you will apply for a 1-year extension near the end of that.

2 minutes ago, chrisyork said:

Yes. That's exactly how I understood it, ubonjoe. The only bit that surprised me was the "legalisation" requirement for the Embassy Income letter bit......

Am I right that the legalisation service is done here.....???

http://bangkok.immigration.go.th/en/location1.html

 

Close but not there. Map to for the department of consular affairs is here. https://goo.gl/maps/ac9a9uLXrEF2

Ta muchly, UbonJoe!

 

As an aside to this for UbonJoe and for JackThompson.........

Savanakhet had led me to believe that the whole process could be done on the spot at my local immigration. So I was a bit disappointed with this extended sequence of actions explained more fully at Lopburi. I opined that perhaps it might be better to take another trip out of country and get a straightforward O-A Retirement at Vientiane/Savanakhet. Lopburi were VERY keen for me not to do that but to follow this process through them.

Maybe the mesage is getting through that a lot of farang are spending a lot of money OUTSIDE Thailand at Thailand's behest......

I would add that Lopburi is a positively exemplary office. Well laid out, pleasant officers, never a queue etc etc. Just a pity it's a 120 km drive... Us farang want everything, don't we... :)

You do not get this still.. Unless you are residing in Lao, or a Lao national, you will NOT get an O-A VISA in Laos. IF you are british you need to go home to your England to get that VISA.

 

Glegolo

Edited August 21, 20178 yr by glegolo

7 minutes ago, glegolo said:

You do not get this still.. Unless you are residing in Lao, or a Lao national, you will NOT get an O-A VISA in Laos. IF you are british you need to go home to your England to get that VISA.

 

Glegolo

Yes, I had confusion about that. What I got in Laos was a type "O", not an "O-A".
I had been told in Chonburi Immigration that I would have to have my US Embassy income affidavit counter signed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Bkk, which would have required an extra trip to Bkk anyway, so I sidestepped the whole issue, including the IO officer in Pattaya who offered to make all the little problems go away for a mere extra 16,000 baht, by going to Savannakhet.
I am confused by the reference to Consular Affairs, as I was told I had to go to Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Same same?

 

31 minutes ago, Bill Miller said:

I am confused by the reference to Consular Affairs, as I was told I had to go to Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Same same?

 

You do it at the department of consular affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). If you went to the offices of MFA it would be the wrong place.

1 hour ago, chrisyork said:

As an aside to this for UbonJoe and for JackThompson.........

Savanakhet had led me to believe that the whole process could be done on the spot at my local immigration. So I was a bit disappointed with this extended sequence of actions explained more fully at Lopburi. I opined that perhaps it might be better to take another trip out of country and get a straightforward O-A Retirement at Vientiane/Savanakhet. Lopburi were VERY keen for me not to do that but to follow this process through them.

Maybe the mesage is getting through that a lot of farang are spending a lot of money OUTSIDE Thailand at Thailand's behest......

I would add that Lopburi is a positively exemplary office. Well laid out, pleasant officers, never a queue etc etc. Just a pity it's a 120 km drive... Us farang want everything, don't we... :)

Savanakhet gave you correct info - but it is a 2-step process.  First, you convert to a Single-Entry Non-O 90-Day Visa (Not an O-A), then you get the 1 year extension (Not a Visa - only an extension of your permission-of-stay) near the end of that validity.  This is nothing new. 

 

The only part that has changed, is that one used to be able to drive to Bangkok (Chang Wattana) and get your "conversion" to a Non-O done there regardless of where you lived in Thailand.  At that office, the process of "conversion" was straightforward.  Now, they are forcing local offices to do the conversions, and some are not happy about this evidently "difficult paperwork," so adding in extra steps to discourage people from doing it. 

 

@Bill Miller outlined how he dealt with this problem - by going out for a Single-Entry Non-O 90-Day Visa (Not an O-A) at a nearby consulate. 

But, if all your office wants is that MFA stamp, this is a minor inconvenience.  Note that I was recently informed that it can be done entirely by mail - see here (and the doc /form to print out):

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/930739-pension-verification-stamp-from-ministry-of-foreign-affairs/?do=findComment&comment=12194001

 

As you are not that far from CW, it may be easier to simply go there and submit the document, and allow them to mail it back to you.

 

FYI - a "Non-O-A Visa" is a 1-Year Multiple Entry Visa which can only be applied for in your home-country - not related to this discussion.

It would appear that the link to the Consular Department is not working at the moment, so I’ve listed below what you need to do.  Hope this helps.

 

Procedure for Mailing Service

1.  Complete application form (see attached PDF)

2.  Supply your address plus telephone number on separate sheet if necessary.

3.  Supply a copy of your passport (photo page plus current visa)

4.  Supply original embassy letter plus a copy (no need to have translated)

5.  Supply a post office money order made payable to payable to Mr. Adulsak Chobchuaychart for 460 Baht (400 Baht document processing fee plus 60 Baht EMS return postage fee 60 Baht).

6.  Post to:

     Mr. Adulsak Chobchuaychart,

     Legalization Division, 

     Consular Department, 

     Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 

     123 Changwattana Road, 

     Laksi,

    Bangkok 10210

 

For more information,
Tel. 02-575-1058-9,
Fax 02-575-1054
Email : [email protected]
Tel. 1111 or
Tel. 02-981-7171 ext. 33218

 

MFA Legalisation Form.pdf

Edited August 21, 20178 yr by 007 RED

i was just at immigration at Samut Prakran and was also asked to get the stamp from the MFA on my Embassy-stamped Letter of Income. I assume this is at Chang Wattana in Lak Si ?

 

Do I need any supporting documentation to get said stamp ?

 

Thanks

12 minutes ago, bobonzo said:

i was just at immigration at Samut Prakran and was also asked to get the stamp from the MFA on my Embassy-stamped Letter of Income. I assume this is at Chang Wattana in Lak Si ?

 

Do I need any supporting documentation to get said stamp ?

 

Thanks

No supporting documents are required. This is what I posted earlier in this topic. Address of the department of consular affairs is on the flow chart.

Flow chart of the process is here (click the English version to enlarge it) http://www.consular.go.th/main/th/services/6441/71860-ขั้นตอนการรับรองนิติกรณ์เอกสาร---Legalization-Proc.html

To avoid waiting for the express service I suggest you have it sent to you by EMS.

Thanks Joe.

 

Curious if this is a recent development ?

 

11 minutes ago, bobonzo said:

Curious if this is a recent development ?

For the Samut Prakan office it is. Other offices on the outskirts of Bangkok have been asking for it.

Thanks again.

 

I should add that although the staff at Samut Prakan had a hard time explaining the stamp, they were incredibly helpful and friendly. I did not have a map of my residence with me and the clerk found a map on her phone and printed it out for me !

The new Immigration Office in Tha Yang required me to provide the additional stamp when I extended in Feb.   What a PITA.   I will stop by and ask them well ahead of my next extension if they are still requiring it.

30 minutes ago, bobonzo said:

Thanks again.

 

I should add that although the staff at Samut Prakan had a hard time explaining the stamp, they were incredibly helpful and friendly. I did not have a map of my residence with me and the clerk found a map on her phone and printed it out for me !

It will be a sticker like this one certifying the signature on it.

 

just returned from the Consular Affairs Legalization office on Chang Wattana. Arrived there about 730am. No signs in English so I just watched what other people did when the windows opened. They have some booths outside the windows that is where they check your documents and give you a number chit. Then wait for your number to and go to window. They take your documents and money and  tell you to wait for a receipt. In about 10 mins they called my name, gave me a receipt, and told me to come back at 230. I has opted for the 'express' service for 400B.

 

At a little before 230, people start to line up at one of the windows. I followed suite and once the window opened it was about 15 mins before I got my turn, produced my receipt, and got my docs back, stamped as requested.

 

A long day but all done in 1 day. A little confusing at first, but there's plenty of agents around to watch and follow what they do.

 

The clerks were helpful and friendly and spoke english.