luckyfarang Posted September 2, 2003 Report Share Posted September 2, 2003 I want to try for a 12 month O-A retirement visa at the LA consulate, which is my only choice to use in California. I have heard that the "lady" there is very unfriendly and uncooperative on any kind of non-immigrant. Also, that the consular official has a great deal of discretion. I have heard that in most cases, even if fully qualified for a 12 month O-A, only a 3 month non immigrant is granted there, and one must apply for 9 month extension at immigration in Thailand. I will be applying by mail, not in person, and I have heard that if they like your looks or politeness, or fluency in Thai, applying in person may have some benefit. So, any posters here had any luck with the retirement visa from the LA consulate lady? Did you get 12 months? 3 months? Apply in person or by mail? Any details appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mongatu Posted September 3, 2003 Report Share Posted September 3, 2003 I want to try for the same thing at the same office so I also am very interested in any responses on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen4dummies Posted September 3, 2003 Report Share Posted September 3, 2003 "So, any posters here had any luck with the retirement visa from the LA consulate lady?" The only 'luck' that I have heard of is bad luck. I attempted to get the O-A and wound up with a 60 day tourist visa, extendable for another 30 days. She told me that she would not give me an O-A. I pointed out to her that her website said they were available and she told me that she would decide what I could get. I was not impolite or impatient with her, she is just difficult to deal with. The above happened in Jan 2003. It is much easier to get an O visa here in Thailand, or at least it was in May. You will need to have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank and will need the document that shows the money came from outside the country. You will also need to be on a visa that is longer than the 30 day landed visa, a 60 day tourist visa. You will need a notarized statement from the US embassy that gives your income (a number that you can make up) and that was about it. No police record or medical documents are needed. After 3 months on my O visa I converted it to a Retirement visa last month and that was about as easy to the conversion from Tourist to O. There are a few more threads on this board that detail the procedure or checkout www.thaivisa.com. Good luck on your move. zen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickfarang Posted September 3, 2003 Report Share Posted September 3, 2003 In defense of that lady in LA, when my tourist visa had been in her office (via express mail) for about 10 days last December, and I was getting worried that I might not have time to get a replacement passport before my departure date, I called her and asked if she had my passport or not. She said that she would take time out during her lunch break and look for it and call me back my 1:00. At 2:00 I called again and she apologized profusely and told me she would look for it in a minute and call me right back. At 4:00 I called her again. She was so apologetic. I guess it was really busy there, and she said was there all by herself. It took a dozen calls each time to get through to her. She apologized again, and this time, while we were on the telephone, she went through her in-box and found by passport. When I checked the express mail tracking service that night, I saw that she sent my passport back to me within 15 minutes of our last telephone conversation. For each of the other 7 visas I received from her, she managed to return my passport with visa in it within 2 or 3 days (last time was about 24 hours!) of receiving my passport. So...she is pretty good about tourist visas (even for zen4dummies). It seems someone said, in a post, something like "No one has ever received a retirement visa from the L.A. Consulate." And I would like to know if that is true. All it would take is one success story to disprove that statement. Has anyone had first-hand experience with this? Also, it was once said in a post that we would have better luck applying for visas at an honorary consulate. luckyfarang said that he's stuck with applying to the LA consulate (I feel the same about my situation). Has anybody had first-hand experience requesting the retirement visa from an honorary consulate inside the U.S.? RickF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasmine Posted September 3, 2003 Report Share Posted September 3, 2003 Hi, Not to defend any consulate in DC nor LA. I checked with the embassy here in DC recently. The retirement visa is issued as a 90 days non-immigration. Ones must apply in Thailand to get it extended to a year. The reason I checked because I intend to spend more time in Thailand. I was told that since I was a Thai national at one time, there was no need for me to get the retirement visa (to skip all financial requirements). Just an O, then applied in Thailand. For Hubby, he will follow the same rules on financial and qualifications as other non-Thai nationals. In short, all embassies are authorized to do is, issuing a O-A retirement visa for 90 days, that is all. Cheers :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Moth Posted September 3, 2003 Report Share Posted September 3, 2003 jasmine, Yesterday I received a one year O-A Visa from the Embassy in DC. Please see the post I put up a couple of moments ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwood13 Posted September 4, 2003 Report Share Posted September 4, 2003 TM, congrats on getting the O-A Be sure when you go through immigration at Don Muang that you get a 12 month validity not the 3 months that a non-immigrant O visa would get. They've been known to mistake the O-A for an O. -redwood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Moth Posted September 4, 2003 Report Share Posted September 4, 2003 redwood, [color:"blue"]Be sure when you go through immigration at Don Muang that you get a 12 month validity not the 3 months that a non-immigrant O visa would get [/color] Would you clarify this? Do you mean that although the Visa is for one year, I might get stamped for 3 months? TM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasmine Posted September 4, 2003 Report Share Posted September 4, 2003 [color:"red"]Would you clarify this? Do you mean that although the Visa is for one year, I might get stamped for 3 months? TM [/color] Hi TM, I am confused about this too because I was told specifically that the Embassy will issue only 3 mos. even though it says you have a retirement visa. It is only in Thailand that ones can get a visa stamp for 1 year. :: Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwood13 Posted September 4, 2003 Report Share Posted September 4, 2003 Says Tiger Moth: Would you clarify this? Do you mean that although the Visa is for one year, I might get stamped for 3 months? Yes, this happened to an acquaintance of mine. The officer at Don Muang simply mistook the O-A for an O and only gave him a 3 month entry. He didn't notice the error until several weeks later. No real problem except having to go back later to get it corrected at Suan Plu Immigration in Bangkok which apparently has jurisdiction over Don Muang Immigration. So, check the date before you leave the immigration area at Don Muang. -redwood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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