What are the new insurance requirements for the O-A Visa renewal in Thailand?

@Roberto ********

how do you get the second year if you don't have approved insurance?

@John *********

When you have an OA visa, you automatically get an extra year of validity when you come back to the Kingdom after you left (1 year extension automatically stamped in your passport at the airport).

So, your initial one year OA Visa is actually valid for 2 years, if you plan it well.

Then you just have to apply for it in your home country every two years, to keep it rolling.

@Eric ******

always provided you have valid insurance for the full year. As Roberto said it's also not an extension but a final 12 months stamp during the validity of your visa, which gets you stamped in for 12 months every entry for the duration of the visa (assuming insurance for the same period)

@Eric ******

Correct except you're not getting a one-year extension stamped in your passport when you re-enter. You're actually getting a one year entry stamp. Two very different entities.

@Roberto ********

You're absolutely correct on the terminology.

Reading what this person had wrote in his previous posts, I was just trying to use TERMS that would be clear enough and not add more confusion to his thoughts.

Communication is only useful when the other party has a chance to understand what you're saying.

@John *********

Until this year you could use home country insurance, I just renewed it from the date of the bounce. Now I guess you'd just use the strategy I mentioned before. Get the insurance, then cancel it as soon as it's served it's purpose

@Roberto ********

ah so you've never actually done that. I did wonder how you managed to not follow the requirements of your visa yet still have a visa. It's not a strategy I'd recommend as your visa is only valid for as long as your insurance is valid.

@John *********

It's no different to people who use agents. That's all the agents do, set up insurances and bank accounts for short term use. But yes I have actually done it once to facilitate a border bounce. I still have insurance which meets the requirements but is not a Thai recognised company. I just never had any desire to transfer 800k and leave it sitting in a Thai bank account for the rest of my life, so I now use the income method on a non-O although my intention is to get an OX the next time I'm in Australia

@Roberto ********

the OX makes a lot of sense for Australians. I don't see any agents being able to "help" with an OA, while I get the point you're trying to make but I've seen a number of people coming croppers due to using dodgy agents, although they are not all so.

@John *********

I'd would never ever use an agent, I was merely pointing out the tactics they use. When I did the border bounce in question the insurance requirement had changed to 1 million baht, and the premium was ridiculous, considering I'd not long renewed my own insurance at about half the price and double the benefits, so it was a risk I was prepared to take, and if I was caught out, I could still show I had the required insurance, just not with one of "their" companies. During the course of that year, I left the country, got a non-O and reentered on that, so the insurance requirement became superfluous. But yes, the OX from Sydney looks attractive as I like the idea of a five year stamp. Those that already have it swear by it

@Roberto ********

How did you get an non-O outside the country? Is this something special for Australians? My experience is that it's O-A if you apply outside Thailand and O if you convert inside of Thailand!?