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A Couple Or Three Questions


Coss

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It may be that I do end up in Thailand, and whilst I understand that the conditions for gaining a retirement, or a Non Imm O Family are similar, I want to keep options open. I have what they call a "remarkably fluid" set of personal circumstances at the moment.

 

And not knowing about the various visas is part of this. The Thai Embassy in NZ could have more unhelpful, but they couldn't be arsed.

 

Ideally I want to end up with 12 month (or longer) visas in both Laos and Thailand.

 

So I feel a trip to the Chatanooga... er Chang Wattana office will be in order to attain a long visa.

 

I'm pretty sure I have all the paperwork etc.

 

In Laos I am faced with a similar level of no information, but the feeling I have, is that once I'm there, they are easy to deal with, and also having contacts, who are, people working in Government, some at a reasonable level, is a giant big bonus.

 

I've often wondered, when arriving in Laos at the VT airport, how families with many children are allowed to waltz through the airport and security, without so much as a "by your leave" and meet friends and family members at the plane door. Then I discovered that in Laos it is not what or who you know, it is who you are... :)

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As I said, the re-entry permit will only keep your original 90 day permission to stay date valid. If you enter Thailand on say Sept 24th, you will get a permission to stay stamp of Dec 23rd.

 

That Dec 23rd date is all you ever get with the re-entry permit no matter how many times you leave and enter.

 

If you are going back and forth from Thailand to Laos, what is point of the re-entry permit?

 

You don’t need the Non Imm O to get a retirement extension, they will give you one on visa exempt, assuming you have the money in the bank or income verification document.

 

TH

 

 

Thanks for the info, just one point of clarification, is a multiple entry Non Imm O Family visa, continual entries? or a set number? i.e. 4.

 

 

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Thanks for the info, just one point of clarification, is a multiple entry Non Imm O Family visa, continual entries? or a set number? i.e. 4.

 

 

Before I answer one clarification. There is only one Non Imm O visa. It is given for either having a Thai wife or being over 50. There is no difference in the visa itself; there are only different reasons for it to be issued. All I have seen are single entry or multi entry (which has no limit on number of entries within the year validity).

 

You said earlier that you were considering getting an extension later, but then you said you wanted to go to Chang Wattena to get a “long visaâ€. Chaeng Wattana does not give visas. It only gives extension to existing permission to stay stamps based on having a Thai wife or retirement. Once that permission to stay stamp has been extended for a year, you then get a re-entry permit that allows to leave and on return keep that permission to stay stamp valid.

 

I ask again, what you think you are getting from a trip to Immigration asking for a re-entry permit on a 90 day permission to stay stamp.

 

Here is a brief explanation you appear to really need to read and understand.

 

Nomenclature for types of visa and permission to stay for Thailand.

 

A visa is fundamentally a document (affixed into the passport) issued to a foreigner by the Thai government allowing said foreigner to travel to the Kingdom and normally be granted permission to stay for a prescribed period. Visas can only be obtained outside of the Kingdom from a Royal Thai Embassy/Consulate (usually). A visa has a validity period which denotes the period within which the visa may be used to apply for entry. The validity period is NOT the length of time you will be permitted to stay in the Kingdom using said visa. Exceptionally, when an applicant meets the requirements for an annual extension of stay, a change from tourist visa or visa-exempt status to a non-immigrant visa can be obtained from an immigration office preparatory to the extension of stay.

 

A 'permission to stay' stamp is entered into your passport upon arrival into the Kingdom. Whatever visa you hold, you will always receive this stamp. It will include the date of entry and date when you MUST leave the Kingdom or make alternative arrangements. The 'length of stay' will be dependent on what type of visa one holds. Once inside the Kingdom, this stamp is sacrosanct, your visa is now effectively irrelevant until you re-enter the country.

 

……

 

3 month validity, single entry non-immigrant visa: pre-obtained at a Royal Thai Embassy/Consulate and will result in the holder obtaining a 90 day 'permission to stay' stamp. This visa can be extended up to one year for specific reasons and with the required documentation (see 12 month extensions).

 

12 month validity, multi entry non-immigrant visa: pre-obtained at a Royal Thai Embassy/Consulate (usually) in your home country and will result in the holder obtaining a 90 day 'permission to stay' stamp upon entry. Each time the holder enters the Kingdom whilst the visa is valid, he/she will obtain a further 90 day 'permission to stay stamp'. Such visas can be issued for students/work/family etc. but normally require supporting documentation. This visa can also be extended up to one year for specific reasons and with the required documentation (see 12 month extensions).

 

Note: a 12 month validity, multi entry non-immigrant visa may also be obtained from some Royal Thai embassies outside your home country if you can provide evidence of your marriage to a Thai citizen (marriage certificate).

 

12 month extension to a non-immigrant visa: If you are holding a non-immigrant visa, you have the option of extending this by 12 months based on either retirement (50 years old or over) or support to a Thai citizen, work, education and such. This may only be accomplished at an immigration office inside the Kingdom and certain criteria have to be met. Such extensions consist of a stamp in your passport detailing "issue date" and "permitted to stay until" date.

 

Note 1: If you are residing in the Kingdom under an extension to a non-immigrant visa and wish to leave the Kingdom at any time, then you will need to obtain a "re-entry permit" to avoid losing the extension and the subsequent need to re-apply (i.e. applying for a new non-immigrant visa and then extension of stay).

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An "O" visa is a one year visa, multi-entry but you must exit LOS after 90 days.

 

The "O-A" visa is a retirement visa, where you can pay extra and get a multi-entry at an additional cost (1700 Baht?).

You must report to Thai Immi every 90 days (now can mail in and not physically go to Immi)but do not have to exit LOS.

Depending on your nationality, you may have to have 800,000 Baht in a Thai bank account to get the O-A visa.

 

I had an "O" for quite a few years but this year I got the "O-A". Cost about the same and if I stay the 90 days I do not have to do a visa run as with the O visa.

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ThaiHome,

once again I thank you for your reply, very informative. I am most grateful.

 

As noted I have a single entry Non Imm O (family).

 

I am in Thailand for 15 days then Laos for 20 days, then Thailand for 9 days, then Laos for as long as I can, or Plan B Thailand for as long as I can.

 

So being a single entry initially, then to Laos (30 day tourist), I'd like to get a re entry on my Initial Non Imm O, or convert it to a multi entry, or retirement. For when I return to Thailand after 20 days. And possibly a third time after that.

 

Going to Chaeng Wattana is to try and accomplish this or at least get advice on what they'd like me to do.

I may be slow understanding all of this, but when I read the NZ Thai Embassy website, The Thai Immigration website, and Thai Visa, I get conflicting info, left and right and under the sideboard.

The only official advice I've had, is from a phone call to the the NZ Thai Embassy, and is that the single entry Non Imm O (family), is to go to Thailand and I should sort it out when I get there.

Cheers

Coss

 

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An "O" visa is a one year visa, multi-entry but you must exit LOS after 90 days.

 

The "O-A" visa is a retirement visa, where you can pay extra and get a multi-entry at an additional cost (1700 Baht?).

You must report to Thai Immi every 90 days (now can mail in and not physically go to Immi)but do not have to exit LOS.

Depending on your nationality, you may have to have 800,000 Baht in a Thai bank account to get the O-A visa.

 

I had an "O" for quite a few years but this year I got the "O-A". Cost about the same and if I stay the 90 days I do not have to do a visa run as with the O visa.

 

 

I'm sorry, but that is almost completely wrong. Read my post on the difference between a visa and permission to stay stamp. You are confusing them.

 

The O-A visa is issued outside Thailand that gives you 365 days permission to stay on entry. If it is a one year multi entry, then you 365 days every time you leave and re-enter for the year of the validity of the visa. When the visa is about to expire, you can leave and re-enter getting 365 days and then go get a re-entry permit that will keep that permission to stamp valid. You can go almost 2 years of permission to stay stamps with a one year multi entry O-A visa. If it is a single entry O-A visa, you must get a re-entry permit the first time you leave in order to keep the 365 day permission to stay stamp you got on entry.

 

An O visa gives you 90 days on entry, within the last 30 days you go to immigration and they give you a one year extension on your permission to stay stamp. It is not an O-A visa.

 

Immigration does not issue visas. The can convert types of visas and extend permission to stay stamps.

 

If you stay longer than 90 consecutive days you must report your address. Leaving and re-entering resets that clock.

TH

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