What are the requirements and costs for transferring visas and extensions from an old passport to a new one in Thailand?

Vincent A 94 y/o friend of mine (who has since passed on) had been here so long that his financial requirement was only 200K baht (as he was over 65 in 1998 and grandfathered in at that amount) :O

When I took him to get his stamps transferred to his new passport it took about a page and a half in notations, but he'd been here since 1995 or so without ever breaking the yearly extension cycle. That was 23 years of extensions ;)

Nope, look at the image of the transfer of my stamps. I entered the country on the old passport the first time 19 Apr 2004, I got a Non-O visa and entered the country on 6 Jan 2009 (just before I turned 50) and I have been on unbroken extensions since then. You can see they transferred the stamps on 18 March 2014. They don't list all the extensions.

This is what it looks like when they transfer stamps to a new passport. :)

@Colin ******

I have gone over this time and again on the group. No matter what every Tom Dick and Somchai foreigner and thai official alike call it, there is NO such thing as a retirement visa, Period, end of story.

There are TWO things commonly referred to as a retirement visa

There is a 90 day Non-Immigrant Type O <-(O meaning other) visa issued based on being over 50 and then a yearly extension of stay from the immigration office for the same reason. The ONLY place the word "retirement" appears is in engrish 90 day Non-O and on your extension of stay . The officials do that for the ease of the foreigners because the real reason for that visa and extension is actually กรณีใช้ชีวิตในบั้นปลาย <- in the instance of living out the end of your life.

The other thing called a 'retirement visa' is a year-long, multi-entry Non-Immigrant Type O-A (Long Stay) visa gotten from a thai consulate in your country BEFORE you come here. You can use funds in your country to meet the financials. This visa requires a police back ground check and a medical certificate.

BUT NEITHER of those is a "retirement visa". :/ They are issued because you're over 50.

@Tod ********

thanks for being strong regarding this, and Robert, also. It's what makes this the go-to visa information site. I appreciate it immensely...

What du mean there's no such thing as a retirement visa?

Fool explain yourself!!

@Tod ********

I'm glad you don't just block people. Reading TVA is the only laugh i get some days.😀

Tommy Oh, sorry about that.

Sorry but I'm an admin of the group :O , I along with the other admin/moderating staff most definitely tell you to dial it back a notch without feeling in the least bit fatherly toward you ;)

Thanx for clearing that up for me though (y)

@Tod ********

it means I don't need another person trying to be a father telling me to dial it back.

@Lance ******

They will have more questions than. Why is this Immigration Office not user friendly, the officers in there are just bullies. Can I apply at different Immigration Office? And the poor I/O just did his job.

Robert Lagas i think immigration let you call it what you want. They are probably tired of correcting every tom dick and harry that walks in asking for a visa. One day they will meet a hard nose immigration officer that will say no have then they will be back on here asking why did i just get turned down for my retirement visa.

Also to give proper advise, different visa's and Extension of Stay have different rules and requirements. It's like a beer, you can order in every bar but every branche taste different and has different prices.

@Tod ********

i agree it's important to use the correct terminology. Like the guy who just paid a chunk of cash for overstay confused his enter before date with his admitted until stamp.

@Tod ********

ok I'll delete that comment.

@Lance ******

actually you can get visas from the thai immigration office :O You can get 90 day Non-Immigrant type ones for working, marriage, being over 50, etc. BUT none of those visas are valid longer than 90 days, then you go on an extension of stay.

@To***

like I said, if you want to participate in this group please call it what it really is, sorry.

No hard feelings, that's just how the group is.

It is the near constant misuse of terminology that causes most of the confusion when talking about visas and extensions of stays to thailand.

FWIW: I'm a father and a grand father and I had a father too, what's that got to do with the price of whores at Nana, :O Sorry I meant the price of tea in China. I mix up my metaphors sometimes. :P

A simple explanation is that a "visa" is used to enter a country, that's all. Once in a country you get stamped in until a specified date, which can usually be extended. The visa is long gone.

@Tod ********

likewise, dial yourself back. I'm a father, grandfather and had a father. As stated above, as long as I ask Immigration for a retirement visa, they call it a retirement visa, issue me a visa and stamp it as a retirement visa. I will refer to it as such. Feel free to call it what you want.

@To***

you need to dial it back a notch.

If you go to the immigration office once a year and and get a stamp you DO NOT have a visa, period end of story.

I don't care in the least what every Tom, Dick & Somchai foreigner and thai official alike call it. :O :/

The stamp clearly says "EXTENSION OF STAY" not a single word about a visa.

You wanna contribute to this group, by all means do, but you need to use the right terminology. Okay?

@Robert ******

to make it clear to you..... as long as I go to the immigration office and I ask for a retirement visa, they call it a retirement visa..... I'll stick with the officials.

To make it more clear to you Tommy Locklear, many people write about retirement visa and after some questions it seems to be: 1)Extension of Stay gotten at Local Immigration Office, 2) Non Immigrant O single entry visa based on being over 50 years old, 3) Non Immigrant O multiple entry visa based on being over 50 years old,4) Non Immigrant O-A visa, 5) Non Immigrant O-X visa. So 5 total different things with the same name to make it easy, but impossible to give advice if the correct stamp or sticker inside your passport is unknown.

What is the stamp????? A Visa stamp.

Read the stamp and show me where is says VISA. The first line is the office where you got this stamp and the second line is Extension of Stay. Different than a Visa, with different rules and regulations. The small extra stamp with the word "retirement" is extra to indicate that this extension of stay is given to you based on being over 50 years of age.

OBTW, you can delete what you want... it doesn't make what you are saying right.

@Robert ******

ok, how about this immigrant.... as long as the Thailand Immigration Office stamps my visa as a Retirement Visa, I'll listen to the officials instead of you. Stop spreading your interpretation of the Thai immigration laws.

Yep, I'm just an Immigrant who spend a few days in the classrooms of Immigration Police to learn about their policies and stamps etc. But if you don't delete it I will.

@Robert ******

oh, and just go on what a immigrant says???

As long as a commercial website with lots of incorrect information call it what ever they want it is still not retirement visa. I suggest you cancel this link before people go around with incorrect information.