FYI Netherlands and Belgium. Don't know about other countries. (Non imm. OA)
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TLDR : Answer Summary
Recent updates indicate that applicants from the Netherlands and Belgium can apply for the Non-Immigrant O-A (Long Stay) visa online, with enhanced financial and insurance requirements. The new financial threshold is set at 1.2 million baht (equivalent to 100,000 baht monthly income), and mandatory health insurance coverage has been increased to 3 million baht. These changes apply at Thai consulates abroad and are not yet uniform across all locations, especially during the initial application phase.
Robert *******
Netherlands and Belgium including other countries can now apply for the visa using the on-line statement. Let us focus on the requirements needed mentioned on the website where you actually apply for a visa. What ever a consul or parttime web builder decide to put on their website is irrelevant.
It is not a mistake on the eVisa website; the website has an error. There are reports coming in that some consulates may want the Non-OA visa to have the new 1.2M THB requirements.
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Benjamin ******
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LungBen *******
Only e-visa in Belgium since this week
Tod *********
We are seeing more and more thai consulates update their website to show the increased financial requirements for people buying Non-Immigrant Type O-A (Long Stay) visas.
The old requirements were 800K baht or the equivalent and the new requirements are 1.2 million baht (100K baht a month income) or the equivalent.
There is also an increase in the insurance for the O-A visa from the 40k/400k out/in-patient coverage to a 3 million baht policy 😮
It's not at every consulate yet, some have increased the insurance requirement but not the financials but it certainly seems to be what they will all require here in the not to distant future.
NOTE: AT THIS TIME, this change is only when you buy the initial O-A at the thai consulate in your country before you come here and has abso-tively, posi-lutely NOTHING to do with getting a yearly extension of stay at the immigration office on an O-A visa entry or previous extension from an O-A. The requirements are still 800K (or 65K a month) and the 40k/400k mandatory insurance from one of the 18 approved carriers
Visas and extension of stays are separate documents. It looks like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is increasing the requirements for the Non-OA visas. A Non-OA visa is valid for one year. However, once a person acquires a Non-OA visa, they can get a one year extension of stay based on retirement. If a person has an existing extension of stay based on retirement, the last time the requirements for a one year extension of stay based on retirement were changed in 1998 (or thereabouts), people on existing extension of stays were grandfathered in.
Being grandfathered in means you submit documents to continue receiving the extension of stays. I expect any changes to one year extension of stays based on retirement to also be grandfathered in as well.
you can't increase the requirement on an existing extension. It's not possible to change law backwards. So please don't spread information what is clearly untrue!
that is not strictly true. I have been on yearly extensions on an O-A since 2014. When they brought in the health insurance requirements for extensions on O-A I had to comply. There was no grandfathering of existing O-A holders unless you are in Phuket where they appear to have grandfathered those on O-A’s issued before a pre-specified date and they do not need the compulsory health insurance to get their annual extensions.
that some immigration offices forcing it doesn't mean it's legal. It's a base of anglo Saxon law, that you can't change permission backwards. It applies in many cases in Thailand like alcohol selling law. Once permitted you can extend but a new owner of the place won't get it. Same like driver licenses and non o extensions. Every changes apply only for new visas.