What are the differences between the Non-O and Non-OA retirement visas in Thailand, and why do many expats prefer one over the other?

Non-OA can actually be for 2 years of playing the insurance cover and re-entering Thailand well. But Non-O is more popular as no medical insurance needed - for older folks the insurance cover can cost a pretty penny.

Because MOST expats in Thailand can BARELY afford to live here as it is on what's left of their meagre pensions after all their ex-wives take their cuts.

So having an O(A) Visa means you HAVE to have an overpriced healthcare policy that's barely worth the recycled paper it's printed on. While an "O" visa means you do NOT have to have ANY insurance at all.

And there's really NO difference as far as length of stay is concerned.

Get an "O" visa and before the 3 months is due, apply to Extend that Temporary Stay for a year. Then every year after that you apply to extend that temporary stay by another year.

You do NOT get an "Non-O" and then change to a "Non-O(A)" after three months.

Not sure where you're getting that from.

Non-O OR Non-O(A) are BOTH supposed to be acquired outside the country - unless you have an different kind of Visa and apply to change the Visa type. (For example if you have a Non-B (work) Visa and want to change it to a Non-O.)

A Non-O can be extended for a number of reasons, including retirement or marriage.

A Non-O(A) is strictly a "retirement" Visa class.

I have a Non-O visa that I have been "extending" for awhile now. I also have a very good healthcare plan, WAY better than that lame "400k coverage for 40k/year" scam deal the gov't cooked up with the insurance agencies when they made insurance mandatory for O(A) Visa applicants.

I used to have a policy from Bangkok Bank's health insurance provider that gave me 800k of coverage with 20k per day outpatient coverage - for about 21,000 baht per year.

But after the gov't colluded with the insurance companies and came out with that "400k of coverage and 40k per day in outpatient coverage for 40k per year scam" - the Bank wouldn't let me renew the old policy and tried to get me to buy that "new" deal.

And they ended up losing money because I went to a different Insurer and bought a better policy (that costs more of course but has way better coverage).

But for the majority of expats living in Thailand, that is not an option.

My policy costs the equivalent of about 200 baht per day.

For most expats - that's money they'd rather be spending on having an extra beer or two everyday - and maybe an extra meal from a street vendor.

Yeah, the reality is - MOST of them are NOWHERE near as rich as they'd like YOU to believe.

But if YOU thought they were skint and didn't have 2 coins to rub together, you're less likely to "stand them a drink" until their (imaginary) pension cheque is deposited or the bank corrects "their" screw up and puts the transfer they made last week into their account, right ?

Yeah, they'd much rather have YOUR money in THEIR pocket because THEIR pocket is probably rotted out from only being washed once a year and that was by mistake when they passed out in the shower one night or their "teerak" hosed them down after they soiled themselves.

And you see them - everyday.

Old, fat, bald (or white haired) foreigners.

Sitting in the same bar everyday, carefully nursing one beer for all it's worth. Stopping to buy a beer at 7-Eleven and then some rice and skewers of meat from a street vendor on their way back to their Thai-style fan room.

Where they'll try to use the free wifi from across the street so they can go on the forums and brag about how rich they are but "they keep all their money back home" for a dozen different reasons.

And how they don't need no stinking "medical insurance" and so on and so on.

And when they do get sick they have to beg friends and family for money so they can try to fly home (if they have "free" healthcare) or go to a gov't hospital and hope they can afford treatment.

And that is why they prefer the "O" Visa instead of the "O(A)" because really, the "O(A)" doesn't offer anything more than an "O" visa - but you have to have the medical coverage.

And that's money they'd rather have in the one pocket they still have that isn't rotted out.

you are assuming people have insurance and have no criminal record 🤔

I got my one year OA before i left my home country, it was easy enough to do. There’s enough to do when you get here - drivers license, bank account, house book/pink card- without having to worry about an extension in the first 90 days.

Been here for 6+ on OA extensions (retirement). 800k is my insurance policy, because you NEVER know when you'll need money by yesterday in a foreign country. My local immigration accepts a "Thai approved" insurance policy that costs me under 10k yearly.

I got my 1-year non-AO retirement visa in October while outside Thailand. I qualified on regular passive income so no deposit required. It was relatively straight forward.

You first have do 30 days tm30 then tm 47 that is 3 months valid do 2 times more and then you get non o visa, if you want it make more easy, contact visa support Bangkok and ask for Grace so will help you and its easy

Kind Regards

Johnny S the Dutch

I have a Non-OA, mostly since I didn't want the stress of getting a bank account in a hurry and getting the funds in on time to mature.

A Non-OA is definitely a lot more hassle to get. You can only get it from the Thai embassy in your country of residence. You need a lot more paperwork, which needs to be in either Thai or English and some need to be notarized. In the end it was so much effort to get everything exactly right (the Thai embassy in Holland isn't the easiest)that I hired a local agency to finish it.

AXA (and probably other companies as well) has a relatively cheap insurance that is suited for this Visa (but doesn't really cover much or anything).

So is it worth going through all the hassle? Well, if you're not 100% sure Thailand is your forever home it gives you a whole year (or even two, if you're lucky) to find out before you have to put in 800k baht in a local dead end bank account.

Would I do it again this way? Nope, probably not

I have been in Thailand about 6 months now just got my Non O visa retirement visa. But i get the feeling Thailand are trying to make it to difficult to retire here and i think a lot more changes are coming... Me i am considering other countries that make it easier.

Say that you have no idea without saying you have no idea. Welcome to Thailand

Pour le non O l’assurance n’est pas obligatoire, mais ont peu aussi en choisir une qui n’est pas sur la liste officielle des visa non OA.

Don't make the same mistake I did , had a yr Non O visa, thought no problem take my time and sort out the rest for the required extension. Arrived in Thailand didn't even look at stamp in passport until in hotel, what 90 days is that a mistake, no. Yes visa is good for a yr but my stay in Thailand was 90 days.

Sounds like that is only pertinent ent to the US, as that's where the FBI lives.

Following

Non O very easy after you get the first 12 month extension.Don't see any benefits to having a OA visa

Because these people want to live here after they have visited and don’t want to go back

Maybe look into it with some better research. 90 days then extend for 12 months.

Can you get a 12 month extension on top of a 12 month extension?

It's easier to just spend your 30 days and move on...TH has lost a lot of its charm over the last 10 years for me. I used to look forward the last few years to coming to Thailand spend 58 days then go to VN Laos or phillipines and return and spend another 54 to58 days. Was a nice winter escape but TH immigration has a special way to take the joy out of visiting. I will just go somewhere else and free up space for someone else.

What I cant take is the hypocrisy. We all know limiting visits to 30 days from 60 will not reduce the hooliganism. We know retirees staying up to 60 dsys are not the problem. We all know where the trouble makers and the biggest cheap Charlie's are coming from but the door is held wide open for them

If you are from a non English speaking country, you have to translate all the papers - by a certificated translator - to English or Thai.

So, for me that would be roughly $600 in costs for transaltions.

And, I am not sure: but you missed 3 or 4 more papers that are required for the Non OA.

As soon as you are in Thailand, the paperwork for the extension: is the same. And actually the OA is more "complex" as it still requires for example proof of health insurance.

OA requires a FBI clearance and medical policy from Thailand. At 79 medical is impossible so I am looking at the Non O

Believe I can get a retirement in Thailand with no fbi and medical policy. Crazy

Why not get a LTR visa. Better and easier.

I was just having this conversation with ChatGPT since I also was curious why so many would choose the Non-O vs the OA. You read about so many issues with the various requirements on extending the Non-O such as proper residential credential and issues with opening a bank account, while needing to get your 800K baht in to season correctly. I'm leaning towards a OA and then getting a year worth of montly deposits in, leaving at the end of the OA and coming back in on the Non-O with the account all ready set up, thereby eliminating the insurance requirement and giving me time to determine where I actually want to reside. Much less pressue.

So just to reinforce a lot of what’s been written here, I recently relocated to Bangkok on the non-immigrant OA. Most of what’s posted here is true. I did need to go through a few extra hoops in my home country to get the security of the Visa before moving. Those extra steps were not really difficult at all (just a little extra time), but as everyone correctly acknowledges, the main issue I confirmed at immigration once I arrived in Thailand, is that at the end of my first year if I want to apply for an extension of stay for my non-immigrant OA (instead of doing the free extra year by virtue of a border bounce with a new insurance contract), I will be forced to switch to one of the approved Thai insurances.

I haven’t gone into the depth of research on them to know if they’re good or not. I know from friends that live there that they are more restrictive on pre-existing conditions, but they are also much cheaper than the international insurance that I’m currently on now. So your choice should really depend on what your medical needs are, since that seems to be the main difference between the two visas when it comes to extensions of stay, unless I’m missing anything. You don’t have to go through all of the other hoops every year, just on the initial application, and yes, you need to have the 800 K seasoned in a Thai bank when you apply for the extension of stay, to the best of my understanding.

If you don’t mind having Thai health insurance from the second year forward, the extra application steps were really not a big deal.

So do your research on the health insurances that Thailand is recommending and dig a little deeper onto pre-existing conditions if you have any and what they will or will not cover. Unfortunately, it falls to each of us to do our own due diligence and go into the details of these medical plans.

If I don’t find a comparable and comfortable Thai health plan close to the end of my first year, I plan on letting my Visa expire, going to a neighboring country, and starting the process over again on a non-immigrant O 90 day, so I can keep the insurance that I want, but this is only if I can’t find a satisfactory Thai alternative insurance.

So if anyone has had good experiences with any of the Thai approved health insurances, maybe it would be helpful to people on this board to list them here and go a little deeper in this conversation from a practical standpoint?

It’s probably also best for people that are selling Thai insurances that are NOT on the approved list, to maybe not solicit because it’ll just confuse people that don’t know the difference between what is approved Thai health insurance and what is not. Just my two cents. 

Well what I personally did was come in on a 60 day visa free then extended it for 30 days and during that applied for my non o which in total gives me 18 months. So there is that benefit but the oa u need all those other documents but otherwise they are essentially the same so why put yourself through extra work for no benefits 🤔🤔

The biggest advantage of the OA is you can get two years in Thailand and not have to put one single baht in a Thai bank account. If you can offset this against the cost of health insurance you're in front.

When you extend the OA after your year is up(technically you could do 2 years) you’re required to have Thai approved medical insurance. Even if you have the greatest insurance policy in the history of insurance policies, if it’s not one of the approved companies from the Thai govt list it won’t count.

The extension from the Non-O does not have that requirement

Since October 2023, the Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa is only available as a 90-days single entry visa. When you enter Thailand, you get stamped in for a 90-days admitted stay.

For the 1-year Extension of Temporary Stay Permit out of this 90-days stay permit, one can obtain a multiple entry permit on Immigration. This re-entry permit allows you to exit and re-enter Thailand during the 1-year stay permit as many times as you wish.

*** The alternative would be the 365-days multiple entry Non-Imm-O/A Longstay Visa.

This visa however comes with a mandatory health insurance, a police record check and a medical health certificate.

The Non-O/A Longstay Visa can only be applied for in your home country (i.e. the country of your official residence).

You need a financial proof of a minimum of 800,000 THB equivalent in US Dollars in your home bank account.

The only advantage is that within the first 2 years, you can leave the financial proof of 800K in your home bank account. You don’t need to show money in a Thai bank.

But as soon as you switch to the annual 1-year Extension of the Stay Permit, the financial proof must be made inside Thailand.

From the extension onward, the mandatory health insurance must be a tgia-listed private Thai health insurance (you could argue the true value of such contracts). And you need a minimum of 800,000 THB in your Thai bank account. On the day you apply, this money must have seasoned for 2 months.

Alternatively you could supply an income affidavit of your embassy over a monthly 65,000 THB income.

In case your embassy does not issue such affidavits anymore (these are the US,UK, Australian, Canadian and Norwegian embassies) you should ask your Immigration if they accept a 12-months bank statement over the consecutive monthly transfer from abroad of a minimum of 65,000 THB, month for month not missing a single month.

*** The 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa has no mandatory health insurance requirement, and no such police and medical checks requirements.

It only requires you to get a Thai bank account opened ASAP after entering Thailand and getting stamped in for 90 days, and transfer a minimum of 800,000 THB into it, because you need proof this money has been sitting in your account for 2 months in order to apply for the 1-year Extension of Stay Permit Based on Retirement (at least in the first year)

*** For people who wish to relocate for a planned Longstay in Thailand, I recommend to start on the Non-O (without the “A”) Visa, because on this visa you keep your freedom of choice regarding the health insurance.

People who plan to go back to their home countries every second year, and apply for the next Non-Imm-O/A Longstay Visa, it could be the alternative to keep a worthy foreign health insurance and leave their money in their home banks.

They're not, they're saying it is better to get a 90 day Non-O visa and then get 12 month extentions. Do not get the Non-OA visa because it has more requirements. After the initial 90 days for the Non-O both get 12 month extensions. So its easier and cheaper to go the Non-O route than the Non-OA route.

If you think 1-4 are so easy go ahead

You are confusing a 12 months extension of stay versus the Non-OA which is a visa you can only get in your home country.

The extension of stay requires none of those documents.

That's not correct.

You arrive on the 90-day non-O visa. Then you apply for annual extensions. Extensions are not visas. The non-OA is only available as a VISA from the Thai embassy in your home country, and has nothing to do with you staying in Thailand.