redwood13 Posted April 6, 2004 Report Share Posted April 6, 2004 shotover said:d. Proof of financial support (800,000 baht deposited in Thai bank OR proof of monthly pension totaling at least 800,000 baht annually). Note: I have documentation showing retirement income exceeding 800,000 baht annually, but I only keep about 150,000 baht in a Thai bank account. Shotover This doesn't sound right. Normally in applying for an O-A visa at a Thai Embassy or Consulate one can meet the bank deposit requirements using your account in a US bank or a combination of a US bank deposit and monthly income to meet the 800,000 baht requirement. (This would be approx. US$20,000.) With the O-A you're admitted to Thailand for a period of one year and you don't have to open a Thai bank account until shortly prior to requesting a one year extension at the end of your first year here. If one is applying for an extension of an O visa in Thailand for the purpose of retirement then the money would have to be in a Thai bank prior to requesting the extension. And you must have documentation from the Thai bank that the money was deposited in your account from a source outside Thailand. Given your need to go to Cambodia I'd think it best for you to apply for a multiple entry O visa, if you don't think you can get all the paperwork together in time to apply for an O-A visa at the DC Embassy. -redwood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shotover Posted April 7, 2004 Report Share Posted April 7, 2004 Thanks Lopburi and Redwood for you very helpful responses. With the Songkran holiday coming up, I may drive to the Thai Embassy in DC this week rather than rely on them processing the Visa application through Express Mail. Hopefully, I can get better information from Embassy staff in person than I get on the phone. I assume an O-A visa is the same as a Retirement Visa. If I am granted a Retirement visa in the US prior to arriving in Thailand, then arrive in Thailand in late April, will I have to reapply for a new visa when I subsequently visit Cambodia and reenter Thailand in May or June? . . . Or does a retirement visa allow unlimited reentries to Thailand? I do understand that I have to report every 90 days to Thai Immigration. Shotover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwood13 Posted April 7, 2004 Report Share Posted April 7, 2004 shotover said:I assume an O-A visa is the same as a Retirement Visa. If I am granted a Retirement visa in the US prior to arriving in Thailand, then arrive in Thailand in late April, will I have to reapply for a new visa when I subsequently visit Cambodia and reenter Thailand in May or June? . . . Or does a retirement visa allow unlimited reentries to Thailand? I do understand that I have to report every 90 days to Thai Immigration. Shotover Yes, the O-A visa is a retirement visa. It is a retirement visa issued OUTSIDE of Thailand. The "A" apparently stands for "approved". Meaning you are approved for a stay of one year in Thailand on arrival at Don Muang. If you get a multiple entry O-A you can leave and reenter Thailand as many times as you want until the visa expires. But, if you only have a single entry then BE SURE YOU GET A REENTRY PERMIT before leaving Thailand. If you don't, your retirement visa is voided and you'll have to start all over again and apply for a new retirement visa. Just to clarify, you only have to report to immigration every 90 days if you've been in Thailand continuously for the full 90 days period. If you're here for say 60 days, then go to Cambodia and then return the clock starts all over again. One more thing, if you haven't done so, you may want to set up a wire transfer agreement with your bank while you're still in the US. -redwood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB747 Posted April 10, 2004 Report Share Posted April 10, 2004 Here in the USA >thai-la.net/visa/retire.htm< you receive an O-A for 90 days with single journey. You must request one year stay at Bangkok Airport. On another board someone did not request his one year visa stamp and was given a 30 day visa. He was able to correct the stamp in Bangkok with no problems. On the O-A application I have for retirement there is no way to get multiple entry. Multiple only if you are Thai or business. Application ask how many entries you want at 50 USD a pop. The second year is when you get a real retirement visa with multiple entry, also all new rules from within Thailand. All the above may be wrong. I have stated MO for a first time retirement visa from The Royal Thai Consulate here in the USA, (Over 50 with guarantied retirement money for life, no desire to work). If (very big IF) I stay a second year will need a Bank for the money requirement. Thinking about HSBC (The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp.), because one can have USD, BP or THB account. Anyone have experience with HSBC. The bank is on the web and again MO is the HSBC is the way to go. Worried because could not find this bank in our search engine. To answer the original question: Think the man must buy as many entries here in the USA as he thinks he will need his first year in Thailand to keep his long stay visa in force. If he plans to go to Cambodia and/or the Philippines he will need to have prepaid his reentry to Thailand. IMO his 50 USD money order is only good for one entry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shotover Posted April 10, 2004 Report Share Posted April 10, 2004 Thanks to the advice I received in this thread, I now have a "O-A Multiple Entry" Thai visa good for one year. It was accomplished as follows: I phoned the Thai Embassy in Washington DC several times, usually getting just a voice mail. When I finally spoke to a Thai national at the Embassy, he was either unable or unwilling to provide answers to questions regarding documentation requirements. In addition, he said it would take at least a week to process the Visa application, and gave no assurance the documents I described having would be sufficient. I then phoned the Houston Thai Consulate, and spoke to a very helpful Alma, who patiently and clearly addressed my questions about documentation requirements. I express-mailed my documents and $125 USD money order on April 7, the Houston Consulate received them on April 8, and on April 9 I received my passport from the consulate with the multiple entry O-A (approved Retirement visa). My next challenge is arranging monthly deposits to my Thai bank account. My former employer won't wire pension payments to overseas banks, and my bank charges $45 USD (1800 baht) for each wire transfer. That's one quality LT! Again, thanks for the very useful information and advice given in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiHome Posted April 10, 2004 Report Share Posted April 10, 2004 Is O-A the one that gets you a 1 year entry stamp at the airport? Not real clear what is different from a plain "O". On the wire transfers, I think you will find that in the US, that $45 or so is what it will cost. But why do you need monthly deposits? Just use your US ATM card to withdraw living expenses and only use the wire transfer for the visa amount when you extend it next year. TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwood13 Posted April 10, 2004 Report Share Posted April 10, 2004 BB747 said:Here in the USA >thai-la.net/visa/retire.htm< you receive an O-A for 90 days with single journey. You must request one year stay at Bangkok Airport. On another board someone did not request his one year visa stamp and was given a 30 day visa. He was able to correct the stamp in Bangkok with no problems. On the O-A application I have for retirement there is no way to get multiple entry. Multiple only if you are Thai or business. Application ask how many entries you want at 50 USD a pop. The second year is when you get a real retirement visa with multiple entry, also all new rules from within Thailand. All the above may be wrong. I have stated MO for a first time retirement visa from The Royal Thai Consulate here in the USA, (Over 50 with guarantied retirement money for life, no desire to work). If (very big IF) I stay a second year will need a Bank for the money requirement. Thinking about HSBC (The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp.), because one can have USD, BP or THB account. Anyone have experience with HSBC. The bank is on the web and again MO is the HSBC is the way to go. Worried because could not find this bank in our search engine. To answer the original question: Think the man must buy as many entries here in the USA as he thinks he will need his first year in Thailand to keep his long stay visa in force. If he plans to go to Cambodia and/or the Philippines he will need to have prepaid his reentry to Thailand. IMO his 50 USD money order is only good for one entry. Have you actually obtained an O-A from the LA Consulate? The Los Angeles Consulate rarely issues retirement visas. I know of one person who's gotten one there and I know of a number of folks who've been rejected. One of the great benefits of having a board like this one and others is that you can receive up to date information from folks who have recent experience. Though the websites of the Thai Embassy and Consulates can give some general guidelines the actual process can vary greatly from what is stated. Yes, in items nos. 11 & 12 at: http://www.thai-la.net/visa/retire.htm it states you have to request a one year stay, however I don't know of anyone including myself who hasn't been automatically been given a one year stay. I did read somewhere of the guy who only got 30 days but this was a mistake on the part of immigration. I also know of a guy who was only given a stay of 90 days when he arrived at Don Muang but when he went to immigration to get it extended to a year they admitted an error was made and he should have been given one year on arrival. The O-A visa is relatively rare and some of the immigration officers at Don Muang are not all that familiar with it. They will sometimes consult with a senior re the proper procedures in handling it. Re the visa application form, the one shown on the LA Consulate site is not the same form I used when I applied nor are either of these the same as the one shown on the Thai Embassy site. http://www.thaiembdc.org/forms/visa.pdf Note that this websites don't always have correct information on them. As rules are changed by Bangkok the sites don't seem to be updated in a timely manner. For example some of the sites still state the applicant must be 55 y/o to apply when it has been 50 for the last few years. Re HSBC, I believe they have a fairly substantial minimum balance requirement and there are costs involved in maintaining the account unless kept well above this minimum. -redwood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwood13 Posted April 10, 2004 Report Share Posted April 10, 2004 shotover said:Thanks to the advice I received in this thread, I now have a "O-A Multiple Entry" Thai visa good for one year. It was accomplished as follows: I phoned the Thai Embassy in Washington DC several times, usually getting just a voice mail. When I finally spoke to a Thai national at the Embassy, he was either unable or unwilling to provide answers to questions regarding documentation requirements. In addition, he said it would take at least a week to process the Visa application, and gave no assurance the documents I described having would be sufficient. I then phoned the Houston Thai Consulate, and spoke to a very helpful Alma, who patiently and clearly addressed my questions about documentation requirements. I express-mailed my documents and $125 USD money order on April 7, the Houston Consulate received them on April 8, and on April 9 I received my passport from the consulate with the multiple entry O-A (approved Retirement visa). My next challenge is arranging monthly deposits to my Thai bank account. My former employer won't wire pension payments to overseas banks, and my bank charges $45 USD (1800 baht) for each wire transfer. That's one quality LT! Again, thanks for the very useful information and advice given in this thread. Congrats on getting the O-A :) Feels good doesn't it Did Houston require any notarization of your documents? (And by the way did DC indicate they wanted notarization done or were you even able to get that much information out of them?) Re those hefty wire transfer fees what many of us do is transfer money every 3 or 4 months instead of monthly. I've also read that Citibank's wire transfer fees are substantially less than other banks but I think there may be a minimum balance requirement. You might check on that. -redwood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwood13 Posted April 10, 2004 Report Share Posted April 10, 2004 ThaiHome said:Is O-A the one that gets you a 1 year entry stamp at the airport? Not real clear what is different from a plain "O". On the wire transfers, I think you will find that in the US, that $45 or so is what it will cost. But why do you need monthly deposits? Just use your US ATM card to withdraw living expenses and only use the wire transfer for the visa amount when you extend it next year. TH Yes, the O-A will get you stamped in at Don Muang for 1 year. You only need to report your address every 90 days to immigration. You can obtain an O visa for the purpose of retirement, enter Thailand and then by meeting the documentation requirements at an immigration office in Thailand apply to have that O visa extended to a full year on the basis of qualifying for retirement. A lot of people find this easier than going the O-A route. Re wire transfers there have been a few reports of immigration wanting to see a series of deposits over a one year period from outside Thailand instead of a single deposit. There seems to be a lot of variation in how this is interpreted. You do want to avoid any appearance that you've been working in Thailand while staying here on a retirement visa. -redwood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Moth Posted April 10, 2004 Report Share Posted April 10, 2004 You said, "Don't forget you have to report your address every 90 days on the 4th floor after you get your visa (or entered Thailand). ". I have been here just over 90 days after return trip to US. I have no problem in reporting but am curious. how do you know you should do this? What is the penalty if you don't do it in time (as I am at about 95 days)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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