Expat Expert info: 3 Main types of Retirement Visas

[travelerjim]

Tod Daniels is an expat with expertise in Thai Immigration. He has posted this as helpful info to others. He has a facebook forum for exchanging questions and answers: Thai visa advice ....
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1395920320731833/

Tj

The Three Main Types of 'Retirement Visas';

People use the term "retirement visa" for a few totally different things.

They can be broken down roughly 3 ways;

Year-Long, Multi-Entry Non-Immigrant Type O Visa
1 ) a year-long, multi-entry Non-Immigrant Type O visa you get from a thai consulate based on being over 50. This visa is NOT that common any more for people based on being over 50 (retirement) and more and more consulates are stopping issuing them. This visa gets you stamped in for 90 days and then when that runs down you border-bounce (go to the border, stamp out of thailand, stamp in and out of another country and then right back into thailand) to get another 90 day stamp. You do this for the whole year the visa is valid for. You CAN get almost 15 months of stay out of this visa (in 90 day increments) though. On this visa you NEVER do a 90 day report because you can't stay in the country longer than 90 days at a time.

Year-Long, Multi-Entry Non-Immigrant Type O-A (Long Stay) Visa
2 ) a year-long, multi-entry Non-Immigrant Type O-A visa <-( note the A after the O) you get from a thai consulate in your country (or in a country you hold legal residence in) based on being over 50, by meeting the financial requirments, submitting a police background check and a medical certificate. This visa has unlimited re-entries for the validity of the visa and gets you stamped in for a complete calendar year every time you enter the country.You can get almost TWO years of stay out of this visa by exiting/re-entering the country just prior to the visa itself expiring and getting stamped in for another year. On this visa you DO a 90 day report IF you're in the country for 90 days.

90 Day Single Entry Non-Immigrant Type O Visa & a Yearly Extension of Stay
3 ) a 90 day single entry Non-Immigrant Type O visa (gotten either inside thailand OR from a thai consulate). This visa gets you stamped into the country for 90 days then you go to the local immigration office and apply for a yearly extension of stay (by meeting the financial requirements). After you get the extension of stay IF you need to you can also get a re-entry permit as well, which lets you exit/re-enter the country and keep your extension stamp 'alive' so when you return you're stamped in for the same expiration date. Every year extensions of stays expire, they cannot be renewed, you apply for a brand new one from the immigration office year after year. On a yearly extension you do 90 day reporting if you are in the country for 90 days.

4 ) there is also a 10 year Non-Immigrant Type O-X visa BUT anyone who jumps thru the hoops to get one certainly knows how that visa works so it's not worth mentioning.

Those are the things people routinely call a retirement visa.
Hope it helps (y)

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[mahjongguy]

This slice of info on "retirement visas" from Mr. Daniels is light on details but it's a good summary, possibly the best overview I've seen.

Just one thing I'd clarify: his third category reads as if the only path to the annual extension is the 90-day O visa. The O-A visa also leads there.

[dab69]

Since anyone retiring there would want a 10 year visa, too bad they didn't tell what "hoops you have to jump through."
Anyone that had any type of visa doesn't need to know how their visa works. Just every one else that wants one.

[2lz2p]

This slice of info on "retirement visas" from Mr. Daniels is light on details but it's a good summary, possibly the best overview I've seen.

Just one thing I'd clarify: his third category reads as if the only path to the annual extension is the 90-day O visa. The O-A visa also leads there.

Correct - but all 3 lead to annual extensions. I entered Thailand using the Non-Immigrant O multiple entry, visited Vietnam within my first 90 day permission to stay, receiving another 90 day stay on return to Thailand. I then did a border run for another 90 days - but returned to USA about one month after returning from border run to get my affairs in order for coming to live here. Upon return from USA, I received another 90 day permission to stay, but although there was still about 5 months validity for the Visa, I opted to go ahead and apply for the one year extension rather than continue to do border runs.

As to the O-X Visa -- a waste of time and money IMO (and apparently Mr Daniels has the same opinion) -- The financial requirements are much higher, you get 5 years when you enter and can renew for another 5 years - but, you still have to go to Immigration each year to prove you still have a substantial sum in a Thai bank (well over the 800k required when using the "O" visa and then extending the stay another year on an annual basis) and health insurance purchased from one of the companies that are listed is still in force. You still have to do 90 day address reporting. So no real advantage -- if anyone is interested in requirements, go to the Thai Embassy, Washington, DC, USA, website and look it up.

[mahjongguy]

2lz2p: "Correct - but all 3 lead to annual extensions."

#1 O visa
#2 O-A visa
#3 O visa & yearly extension of stay

Daniels' choice of categories inadvertently makes it seem that an O-A cannot be extended.