The 12-month Non-Immigrant Long-stay [retirement] Visa

[Smiles]

Found a couple of good websites which provide the latest info on applying for, and (hopefully) successfully receiving, a 12-month Long Stay [Retirement] Visa.
There are a lot of questions on this topic every so often, and as the threads get longer and longer they often start to get more and more confusing ... especially with there often being different 'takes' on some of the technicalities.

There are two methods for applying for this Visa:

From within Thailand . . . essentially means that you are wishing to change a Tourist or Non-Immigrant short-stay visa (which you presumably already hold) into a 12-month Non-Immigrant Long-stay [Retirement] Visa.
[/*:m:3uv9ec8m]
From your home country . . . in which case you would apply to the Thai Embassy or a Consulate for a 12-month Non Immigrant Type 'O-A' Visa.[/*:m:3uv9ec8m]
In the end, either method gets you the same Retirement Visa, although the application process is slightly different in terms of the documents the two methods ask you to provide.
But . . . no matter which method you choose to use, when the visa is closing in on it's expiry date, the hoops you need to jump through to receive your regular yearly extension are exactly the same.

These two links (in my opinion) reallly help to clear up most of the questions. Each is quite straightforward.


How to get the 12-month (multiple entry) Non Immigrant Long Stay Visa from WITHIN Thailand: http://www.wpcoe.com/visa/
[/*:m:3uv9ec8m]
How to get the 12-month (multiple entry) Non Immigrant Long Stay Visa from OUTSIDE Thailand: http://www.mfa.go.th/web/2482.php?id=2493[/*:m:3uv9ec8m]

Hope this helps.

Cheers ...

[Brad the Impala]

Agreed that both sites are very clear, and worthy of inclusion in the resources archive.

Just one tiny niggle, always! Not quite certain how current they are.

[Smiles]

Brad, things have not really changed much with the application and criteria for getting the Long-Stay/retiement visa.

The info in the Thai Foreign Ministry site is exactly the same as that on the Vancouver Consulate's site, and describes exactly the process I went through recently.
Even the financial requirements (including the amounts) have been un-changed for some time now (years at least). Perhaps this sounds unusual for Thailand, and perhaps it is in many cases where "regulations" are the be-all and end-all, but as far as this particular visa is concerned ... it's same-same.

Cheers ...

[bkkguy]

These two links (in my opinion) reallly help to clear up most of the questions. Each is quite straightforward.

[list=1] How to get the 12-month (multiple entry) Non Immigrant Long Stay Visa from WITHIN Thailand: http://www.wpcoe.com/visa/


unfortunately your post and this first link are full of incorrect or misleading statements that are not "straightforward" and do not "help to clear up" anything, they just add to the confusion that most people have with visas, expiry dates, entries and permission to stay!

the procedure outlined in the first link does not get you a 12-month (multiple entry) Non Immigrant Long Stay Visa at all - it gets you a single entry Non Immigrant O visa and a 12 month extension to your current permission to stay. at the end of the 12 months you need to apply for another extension to the permission to stay (not an extension to the visa)

the Non-Imm O-A visa is completely different - it is a 12 month multiple entry visa and a 12 month permission to stay is granted on each entry and is usually only issued in your home country and the info on the second link is correct - it is a government site! and yes the permission to stay can be extended if you wish.

there is 12 month multiple entry Non-Imm O visa and on each entry you get a 90 day permission to stay, this is usually not issued in Thailand and it is getting harder to obtain in countries close to Thailand but is usually easily available in your home country, though usually not for retirement, more often it is for marriage or visiting family.

this is not just being pedantic - using the correct terminology is the only way people can really understand what they can do and how!

bkkguy

[

this is not just being pedantic - using the correct terminology is the only way people can really understand what they can do and how!

bkkguy

Very correct! And everything is changing all the time to add to confusion. Little by little rules on all visas have been
made tighter over last 10 to 15 years. Hard to see unless you stand back and know how easier was before. Thailand now very funny place to come to and likely worse yet to come. Maybe good thing Bangkok under water soon!

he-he :cheers: he-he

These two links (in my opinion) reallly help to clear up most of the questions. Each is quite straightforward.

How to get the 12-month (multiple entry) Non Immigrant Long Stay Visa from WITHIN Thailand: http://www.wpcoe.com/visa/


unfortunately your post and this first link are full of incorrect or misleading statements that are not "straightforward" and do not "help to clear up" anything, they just add to the confusion that most people have with visas, expiry dates, entries and permission to stay!

the procedure outlined in the first link does not get you a 12-month (multiple entry) Non Immigrant Long Stay Visa at all - it gets you a single entry Non Immigrant O visa and a 12 month extension to your current permission to stay. at the end of the 12 months you need to apply for another extension to the permission to stay (not an extension to the visa)




bkkguy, did you bother to read the site fully? Whilst Smiles post is technically incorrect as you point out, the web site is not incorrect in any way thatI can see. Indeed it points out very clearly.....

The above procedure is the process whereby you can enter Thailand on a 30-day visa-waiver stamp and then convert to a Non-Immigrant O visa and acquire a one-year extension for retirement without departing Thailand.
There is an entirely different route you can take, by actually getting a visa in the USA before you leave. That visa is an "O-A Retirement Visa." The requirements and process to apply for it are different from what this web page addresses. e.g. You need medical clearance and a criminal record check. It is beyond the scope of this web page to explain in detail the pluses and minuses of the O-A visa acquired in the USA vs the one-year retirement extension acquired in Thailand.



Why don't you do what the author of the website asks?


Questions? Comments (or corrections!) for this web page?
Feel free to send me an e-mail.

These two links (in my opinion) reallly help to clear up most of the questions. Each is quite straightforward.

[list=1] How to get the 12-month (multiple entry) Non Immigrant Long Stay Visa from WITHIN Thailand: http://www.wpcoe.com/visa/


unfortunately your post and this first link are full of incorrect or misleading statements that are not "straightforward" and do not "help to clear up" anything, they just add to the confusion that most people have with visas, expiry dates, entries and permission to stay!

the procedure outlined in the first link does not get you a 12-month (multiple entry) Non Immigrant Long Stay Visa at all - it gets you a single entry Non Immigrant O visa and a 12 month extension to your current permission to stay. at the end of the 12 months you need to apply for another extension to the permission to stay (not an extension to the visa)

the Non-Imm O-A visa is completely different - it is a 12 month multiple entry visa and a 12 month permission to stay is granted on each entry and is usually only issued in your home country and the info on the second link is correct - it is a government site! and yes the permission to stay can be extended if you wish.

there is 12 month multiple entry Non-Imm O visa and on each entry you get a 90 day permission to stay, this is usually not issued in Thailand and it is getting harder to obtain in countries close to Thailand but is usually easily available in your home country, though usually not for retirement, more often it is for marriage or visiting family.

this is not just being pedantic - using the correct terminology is the only way people can really understand what they can do and how!

bkkguy
I fail to see how the first web site is "full of incorrect or misleading statements that are not 'straightforward'". I believe the words Retirement and Visa in the title are in quotation marks for a reason. What do you suppose that reason might be, you pedantic person. (After all you admit you are pedantic. You say you are "not just being pedantic...")

Also from that web site:

"The above procedure is the process whereby you can enter Thailand on a 30-day visa-waiver stamp and then convert to a Non-Immigrant O visa and acquire a one-year extension for retirement without departing Thailand."

Yeah, okay, I can see where that is clearly incorrect and misleading, and totally at odds with your version of the truth, which is:

"the procedure outlined in the first link does not get you a 12-month (multiple entry) Non Immigrant Long Stay Visa at all - it gets you a single entry Non Immigrant O visa and a 12 month extension to your current permission to stay."

Smiles, now you know why I no longer even think about trying to offer assistance to others on this forum. Simply a waste of time.

[edited to add: Sorry to step on your post gwm4asian. I was composing my message while yours was being posted. Nice to know that someone agrees with me!]

[TrongpaiExpat]

I am still working out why a 'bkkgwm' resides in Pattaya and then there's a 'bkkguy' that does live in Bangkok. I am so confused :geek: You guys should flip a coin and one of you change names.

I get you guys confused. I know one of you is a pretty nice poster but the other, well........... but for the life of me, I just don't know which.

I am still working out why a 'bkkgwm' resides in Pattaya and then there's a 'bkkguy' that does live in Bangkok. I am so confused :geek: You guys should flip a coin and one of you change names.

I get you guys confused. I know one of you is a pretty nice poster but the other, well........... but for the life of me, I just don't know which.
I actually pestered Spike about changing my online name on the forum, but apparently it can't be done. In the back of my mind, I've been debating changing my name once I hit 1,000 posts with this one. Would seem like an appropriate time to start over. FWIW, I lived in BKK for five years and was living there when I joined.

And, if/when I rejoin, it will be with my actual name. Sort of. It will all be clear if/when I do it.

I won't hold my breath, nor lose any sleep, wondering which of us you think is a pretty nice poster. :drunken:

(In the olden days of the board, according to the one-whose-name-begins-with-H, we could well be the same person!)

[Smiles]

" ... I get you guys confused. I know one of you is a pretty nice poster but the other, well........... but for the life of me, I just don't know which ... "
Both bkkguy and bkk gmw have been around for a coon's age, and not just on Sawatdee, but long before.
Bkkguy is the dude who takes no prisoners, but knows his stuff. Need a question asnswered about visas? ... ask bbk gwm

Both valuable members of Boardie Land.

Unlike passwords, I don't think User Names ('handles') can be changed, except by re-registering all over again (probably with a different email address).

Cheers ...

[bkkguy]

bkkguy, did you bother to read the site fully? Whilst Smiles post is technically incorrect as you point out, the web site is not incorrect in any way thatI can see.




I fail to see how the first web site is "full of incorrect or misleading statements that are not 'straightforward'".


as a starting point perhaps one of you two (or the linked site author) could give me some official definition of what a "a 30-day visa-waiver stamp" referred to on the site might be?

bkkguy

[Smiles]

Yes. The first link is a site which describes how to get a 12 month retirement visa from starting point "no visa at all" . . . i.e. a 30-day no-visa-necessary tourist entry.

Using the info in that link it shows one how to change 'upward' to a retirement visa if you have any type of entry ... just plug in your own particular visa situation, all the way from a no-visa-at-all to a non-imm visa scenario.

I thought that was pretty clear, and still do. Guess I was correct about the 'taking no prisoners' analogy as well ('anal' being a perfectly-placed part of that word ... for this thread) :blackeye:

Cheers ...

as a starting point perhaps one of you two (or the linked site author) could give me some official definition of what a "a 30-day visa-waiver stamp" referred to on the site might be?

bkkguy

Are you a complete idiot? You have just answred your own question on another thread, quoting from Thaivisa.

Are you a complete idiot? You have just answred your own question on another thread, quoting from Thaivisa.
I don't think he's an idiot at all. Rather anal, and unable to see outside the box, perhaps.

However, he is dangerously close to fitting my definition a troll (someone who posts only to inflame or draw a reaction), so I will no longer respond to his posts. I have no objection to him using his own preference of generally-accepted visa- and immigraton-related terms, but apparently that is not a mutually shared idea?

As someone who prefers to eschew use of upper-case letters to begin sentences, perhaps he may miss their significance partially? I consider a "30-day visa-waiver stamp" (conversational terminology) to be something different than a "30-Day Visa-Waiver Stamp" (implying some sort of official title/designation). Or, is the part that bothers him that it is not referred to as a "visa-exemption stamp which one receives on a page in their passport that grants a 30-day permission to stay in the Kingdom of Thailand to the bearer of the passport?"

We might as well be dismissing and challenging each other because failure to use the Queen's English in public can be incorrect and misleading.

Who knows. And, who really cares?

[bkkguy]

as a starting point perhaps one of you two (or the linked site author) could give me some official definition of what a "a 30-day 30-day visa-waiver stamp" referred to on the site might be?

bkkguy

Are you a complete idiot? You have just answred your own question on another thread, quoting from Thaivisa.

perhaps we are looking at different pages, the page I linked to includes "entry stamp" and "permission to stay" - both well understood and clear terms used as defined on many official Immigration web sites, but no reference to a "visa-waiver stamp" which is why I am asking for clarification!

bkkguy

as a starting point perhaps one of you two (or the linked site author) could give me some official definition of what a "a 30-day 30-day visa-waiver stamp" referred to on the site might be?

bkkguy

Are you a complete idiot? You have just answred your own question on another thread, quoting from Thaivisa.

perhaps we are looking at different pages, the page I linked to includes "entry stamp" and "permission to stay" - both well understood and clear terms used as defined on many official Immigration web sites, but no reference to a "visa-waiver stamp" which is why I am asking for clarification!

bkkguy

Starting at the first sentence on the entry you link to, it says......

The basic entry/visa types of interest to most readers are listed below. For full information you may want to read the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Website

Why don't you do just that, and then tell us what it is you don't understand.

[bkkguy]

The basic entry/visa types of interest to most readers are listed below. For full information you may want to read the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Website

Why don't you do just that, and then tell us what it is you don't understand.

I have read the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Website, I have read the ThaiVisa summary and many other sites and for the third and final time the term I don't understand is "30-day visa-waiver stamp" and you can't tell me what is it because there is no such thing, but if you to keep using the term even though it has no meaning in the real world then go right ahead, I will leave you to it!

bkkguy

I have come to the conclusion that you are for sure an idiotic troll.

Your first post said......
unfortunately your post and this first link are full of incorrect or misleading statements that are not "straightforward" and do not "help to clear up" anything, they just add to the confusion that most people have with visas, expiry dates, entries and permission to stay!


When your points were proven incorrect you have had to resort to comlaining about a single phrase. No justification for your
full of incorrectstatement.

Well, here is a selection of web sites that use the phrase visa waiver. Enjoy.
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/chan ... quirements (http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/changes+thai+and+czech+visa+requirements)
http://pubweb.fdbl.com/news1.nsf/948437 ... enDocument (http://pubweb.fdbl.com/news1.nsf/9484373285c25d95862574430059d2f4/05d449881460ac7a852571fc00644ac6?OpenDocument)
http://www.pattayaexpatsclub.com/visainformation.htm
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php ... pic=188656 (http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=188656)

In the last one you will see that the terms visa exempt and visa waiver are used interchangeably.

Now, lets go back to your first post in this thread. What are the errors?

There is alot of conflicting information around. I have read several times before that IF you are applying from your HOME country, You don't need the 800,000 deposit in a thai bank UNTIL you Reapply after your first year. This would seem to confllict with the Thai govt webpage.

[Smiles]

" ... There is alot of conflicting information around. I have read several times before that IF you are applying from your HOME country, You don't need the 800,000 deposit in a thai bank UNTIL you Reapply after your first year. This would seem to confllict with the Thai govt webpage. ... "
That's true Jake, you don't need that in the original visa application, as long as that one is the O-A application from outside Thaland. That was really the whole point of this thread . . . that the two methods for obtaining the Long Stay Visa do differ somewhat depending on whether you are applying from inside, or outside, Thailand.

But if look at the links, the second one ~ i.e. the one from the Thai Foreign Ministry ~ in fact describes the application necessary from 'outside' Thailand, not inside.
The "inside" route is Link #1, which is NOT a Thai Foreign Ministry or Immigration website. In that visa application you do need to satisfy the Thai bank account needs as long as you are not using the "income'' alone, or a combination of the two.

Also ... If you read more carefully, the so-called 'conflicting' information you allude to on this thread is regarding semantics and word-for-word definitions . . . not the 2 slightly different application processes.

Cheers ...

Are you scared to justify your first post? Smile was right!

Smiles.. In Link #2... under requirements.. it says "A copy of bank statement showing a deposit of the amount equal to and not less than 800,000 Baht or an income certificate (an original copy) with a monthly income of not less than 65,000 Baht, or a deposit account plus a monthly income totalling not less than 800,000 Baht. - In the case of submitting a bank statement, a letter of guarantee from the bank (an original copy) is required. ". Do you take this to mean you must show at least that much in your HOME COUNTRY BANK ACCOUNT?. I read that as saying You must have that amount in a Thai Bank Account. But I could be wrong....

[Smiles]

Smiles.. In Link #2... under requirements.. it says "A copy of bank statement showing a deposit of the amount equal to and not less than 800,000 Baht or an income certificate (an original copy) with a monthly income of not less than 65,000 Baht, or a deposit account plus a monthly income totalling not less than 800,000 Baht. - In the case of submitting a bank statement, a letter of guarantee from the bank (an original copy) is required. ". Do you take this to mean you must show at least that much in your HOME COUNTRY BANK ACCOUNT?. I read that as saying You must have that amount in a Thai Bank Account. But I could be wrong....
For the O-A visa (described in Link #2 which is the Thai Foreign Ministry site) you must apply for that from outside Thailand, and the financial requirements (if you are not using the 'Income Only' option) are for a statement of account in your home country.

Link #1 explains the process of receiving a Long Stay visa from within Thailand (and it is NOT a Thai Foreign Ministry site), and THAT is the application process which requires a Thai bank account and a specific amount deposited.

You need a statement of a Thai bank account within Thailand only if your are either: (1) applying for a Non Imm 12-mth Long stay Visa from within Thailand, or, (2) for an application for extension of stay after your original visa is come up close to ending.

Cheers ...

I'm starting to regret posting on this subject at all. I only did it because I thought these were good 2 sites which made things a bit clearer. Apparently not :blackeye: