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What are the requirements and procedures for renewing the OA retirement visa in Thailand?

OA Retirement VisaVisa Application ProcessThailand ImmigrationPolice CertificateBank Account RequirementsVisa Renewal
Nov 1, 2020
4 years ago
Shea ************
ORIGINAL POSTER
Hi, some questions about the OA retirement visa.

When you first apply for it, from your home country, you need a police certificate from your home country and monies in a bank.

(1) At that stage, initial OA issue, can the money be in a Thai bank account in Thailand or must it be in your home bank account?

(2) When you come to the end of year one, do you have exit the country and return to your home country or can you go instead to a nearby country to process and renew the OA visa?

(3) In year 2, do you still need to provide a police cert and if you do does it have to be from your home country again?

Thanks much.....
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TLDR : Answer Summary
The OA retirement visa can be applied for either with funds held in a Thai bank account or a bank account in your home country. Once you have the visa, you can leave and re-enter Thailand within its validity period from any country; direct return to your home country is not necessary. For the second year of the visa, while applying for a yearly extension at the immigration office, a police certificate is not required. However, you must demonstrate having 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account for two months prior to applying and have mandatory health insurance from approved providers.
NON-O RETIREMENT VISA RESOURCES / SERVICES
  • Go to the Retirement Visa Section for information on requirements, including age restrictions, financial requirements, and necessary documentation.
  • For immediate assistance, contact Thai Visa Centre directly via LINE at @ThaiVisaCentre or Email them.
  • Explore recent discussions by using the Non-O Retirement Visa tag in the search box at the top of the page.
  • Join the Thai Visa Advice Facebook Group to ask your questions, and get advice from others.
Saffy *************
Sadly with this covid madness it's not possible to exit & re-enter the country so easily. I just lost my 2nd year option for that same reason..... Just about to reapply 😢
4 years ago
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Tod *********
yep, know that you are not alone

it messed up a lot of people, who jumped thru the hoops in their country, got an O-A visa, came here, got stamped in for a year, but then were unable to get out and back to activate another year entry stamp before their visa sticker expired. :/
4 years ago
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Tod *********
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Tod *********
1 - when you apply for the O-A visa in your country at a thai consulate you can have the money in a bank account in your country OR in thailand.

2 - You are a little confused how that visa works, you can't renew it at all. It's a year long visa, that has unlimited entries for the year it's good for. If you exit and re-enter the country before the visa expires you'd get stamped in for a whole new year. doesn't matter where you go to as long as you stamp out of thailand, stamp in and out of another country and then stamp back into thailand before the visa sticker itself expires (something you're unlikely to do now with this covid-shit-show going on) you'll get stamped in for a whole new year

3 - when you go to apply for the yearly extension at the immigration office you don't need a police report, BUT you need to meet the requirements by having the 800K baht in a thai bank account in your name only for two months before you apply for the extension and you need to have the mandatory insurance policy from one of the 14 approved thai carriers
4 years ago
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Brad ********
Thanks, I'm going to be on American Medicare in a few months which I know the original Medicare doesn't cover me in a foreign country. I'll actually be on a Medicare Advantage plan which will cover emergency and urgent care outside of the US but I don't guess that would satisfy the Thai O-A visa requirements. Therefore, I would have to buy one of the Thai plans. My original plan was to split time between Thailand and the US. I understand that is not currently easily doable but I'm trying to make several contingency plans hoping that conditions will change in the next 6 to 12 months. Thanks again for your help.
4 years ago
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Jon *******
Does the insurance policy have to cover the full year if you get the extension in Thailand? I have a designated policy I bought in July as I was mistakenly told by RTEL that the O-A visa could be issued in London at that time. Eventually I had to come on a non O marriage visa, so the policy will run out in July 2021.
4 years ago
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Tod *********
@Jon ******
 The way it works with an O-A visa, IS

You can use an insurer in your country to get the visa from the consulate and to enter the country (they will stamp you in only as long as the policy is valid for up to one year) AND you can use that foreign insurance to exit/re-enter for the validity of the visa too (again they will stamp you in only as long as the policy is good for up to one year)

BUT

When you go to apply for an in country yearly extension of stay from an O-A visa you must be insured by one of the 14 approved thai insurance carriers who are authorized to issue O-A insurance.

Here's the list of them;

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4 years ago
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Brad ********
@Tod ********
 When reentering Thailand does the insurance have to be good for 12 months from the reentry date? How do they confirm the insurance on reentry? I'm not familiar with the way Thai insurance works. Is it normally a one year policy paid upfront? If they require a full 12 months from reentry does that mean you would have to update the policy immediately before reentry?
4 years ago
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Tod *********
@Brad *******
, I think you're mixing up entering on a valid O-A VISA and entering on a year extension from an O-A visa

SO few of people are able to "re-enter" thailand that I believe it's a moot point, BUT the way it used to work IS

When you enter on a valid O-A visa you get stamped in for as long as your insurance is valid for (up to a year) and if you leave/come back while that visa is still valid you will only get stamped in for what ever the validity of your insurance is (up to a year) so if your policy runs out in 6 months that's all you get stamped in for even though that visa allows you a year entry stamp.

Now with a yearly extension of stay from an O-A visa <- from the immigration office, you get stamped in for as long as the insurance is valid for (up to a year) AND if you exited re-entered (by holding a re-entry permit) you would still get stamped in for the same expiration date. '
4 years ago
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Brad ********
@Tod ********
 Thanks. So if I initially entered on a valid O-A visa and had eight months remaining on my insurance I would get stamped in for 8 months? If I then left and re-entered 6 months later without modifying the insurance I would only get stamped in for the two remaining months of the insurance? However, if I updated my insurance for 12 months immediately before re-entry I would get stamped in for 12 months? Do you know if the standard insurance policy is always for a 12 month period and when updated is also for 12 months. Or can it be done less than that at a certain designated number of months?
4 years ago
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Tod *********
@Brad *******
 you're on your own with the insurance as this is a visa advice group not an insurance advice one ;)

BUT

the way it works IS, you get stamped in for as long as the insurance is valid for.

FWIW, all the thai insurance companies I contacted about O-A insurance will do only a single year policy at a time

Personally I think you're pretty premature thinking you're gonna exit/re-enter the country like we used to. It'd be far better to plan on getting a year entry stamp off an O-A from your country with insurance from your country THEN get a thai insurance plan that covers you for the first year extension you'd apply for when that year entry stamp ran out.
4 years ago
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Tod *********
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Tod *********
@Jon ******
 if you're here on an O visa based on marriage there is NO insurance required to get a yearly extension
4 years ago
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Jon *******
@Tod ********
 my policy is with an approved company and complies with the criteria, but as it's a 12 month policy I bought it in July, I was wondering if it had to cover the full year if I get the OA extension now? I'm going to immigration next week so I will find out then!
4 years ago
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Tod *********
@Jon ******
 you don't need insurance to get an year extension based on retirement from an O visa, BUT you need to look on the visa sticker itself and if it says you got the visa based on marriage you can't use it to get an extension based on retirement.

I think you should make your own topic and ask your questions because you don't have an O-A but an O visa
4 years ago
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Jon *******
@Tod ********
 Thanks. I can't extend based on marriage because I have a UK marriage certificate and can't get it legalised in time but I can get the extension based on the retirement financial criteria instead.
4 years ago
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Jon *******
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James *********
@Tod ********
 Isn't 65,000 baht/mo certificate acceptable as well? Or do you need to actually open thai bank account with 800K?

Also, can't one apply/convert to an O before OA expiration?
4 years ago
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Tod *********
@James ********
, the US, UK, Australia stopped giving the notary certificates at the end of 2018 (and some countries never issued them) so IF your country doesn't issuing an income from abroad notary paper you have to transfer in to the country from abroad into a thai bank account in your name only a minimum of 65K baht a month each month, every month for the preceding 12 months before you apply for an extension.

AND

nope you can't go to an O visa inside the country from an O-A, it can't be done..
4 years ago
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James *********
@Tod ********
Marriage O visa i believe you can.

The income source is Social Security Letter. Same letter used to obtain O-A Visa in the first place. You're saying that the 65K needs to be transferred starting now to thai bank in order to get extension?
4 years ago
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Tod *********
@James ********
 and I'm saying you can't use a social security letter from the US to show income from abroad, you used to be able to use the notary letter that you got from the US consulate here but as I said they stopped issuing them back on Dec 31 2018. That means IF you're an american (or from a country that also doesn't issue that notary letter anymore) and you want to use monthly income your only option is to transfer a minimum of 65K baht a month into a thai bank account in your name only from overseas for 12 months before you apply for your new extension

AND

You cannot switch to an O visa from an O-A entry stamp. What you can do isl once you get a year extension based on the reason you got the O-A <- (retirement) then the next year you could apply for an extension based on marriage to a thai.

That's the only way you can 'switch', and you're not switching from an O-A to an O visa, you're switching the reasons for getting an extension from one based on retirement to one based on marriage to a thai (which is a totally different thing)
4 years ago
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Paul ********
@Tod ********
 Hi Tod, just a note on my recent experience with extending O-A and the income method, Phayao immigration wanted to see statements from the supplying banks/pensions and they told me the money had to come from one source only, namely government pension, they reluctantly gave me a stamp and said they took pity on me but I wouldn’t be able to do it again with multiple incomes (Phayao Immigration) I know every province is different but just my experience
4 years ago
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Tod *********
@Paul *******
 thanx,

There is no rule that it has to come from one source only and it has to be a government pension. They were just blowing smoke up your backside to try to scare you into going to the banked money method :O

I know that several offices take a 'dim view' of a person having multiple transfers in each month to meet the monthly income threshold of 65K baht a month. BUT you are totally allowed to do it and there is nothing in the rules that says you can't.

A friend gets two separate pensions which total more than 65K and he had 12 months of the transfers in to his thai account and got grief over it,

BUT

at the end of the day once he proved they were both valid and both what he was stating they were, they gave him the extension no problem..
4 years ago
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Paul ********
Yep, just a local rule I guess, was planning to keep same method but they said I couldn’t, my government pension alone is not enough even when I get it from next April
4 years ago
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Paul ********
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Shea ************
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Tod ********
 yes, confusion admitted, hence the questions. I am used to the Non O (retirement), not the OA. Very full answer, thanks very much Tod. So if I go out anywhere, I get another 12 months upon coming back into Thailand, alternatively if I stay in for the full term, I need to go to Immigration and get a 12 month extension, no police report needed, is that correct?
4 years ago
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Tod *********
@Shea ***********
 correct, before this covid nitemare it was no problem to get an O-A, come in, get stamped in for a year, then before the O-A sticker expired bounce out and back to get a "second year" entry stamp (giving you two years of stay on a visa that lasts just one year). Now, not so easy AND I'd plan on being able to meet the requirements to get a year extension at the immigration office after the first year entry stamp is running down
4 years ago
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Shea ************
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Tod ********
 Great, thanks Tod, much appreciated
4 years ago
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Susan **********
@Shea ***********
 --GOOD QUESTION--JUST WHAT I WAS CONFUSED ABOUT ALSO!!and thanks
4 years ago
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Shea ************
ORIGINAL POSTER
Ah, and just to clarify further - is it also true that when you come to your year extension (end year 1) at Immigration office in Thailand they (still) don’t mind if the money is in a Thai Bank or your home country?
4 years ago
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Tod *********
@Shea ***********
 what is the country your passport is from?
4 years ago
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Shea ************
ORIGINAL POSTER
and I am asking about the full 800k deposit, not monthly. Can the monies be in either country at extension time at immigration in Thailand (after year 1)?
4 years ago
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Tod *********
@Shea ***********
 in your case you CAN get a letter from the irish consulate here that states you get xxx dollars a month and you could use finds in your country

If you don't meet the requirements to get that letter from your consulate and you want to use banked money method you would need to transfer it into a thai bank account in your name only and it would need to be there 2 months before you apply for your year extension

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4 years ago
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Shea ************
ORIGINAL POSTER
Tod, thanks for dfa pointer, good if one was showing monthly. I am asking about the full 800k deposit, not monthly though. Can the monies (full 800k) be in either country (Home country or Thailand) at extension time at immigration in Thailand (after year 1)?
4 years ago
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Tod *********
@Shea ***********
 NO, it cannot, you would need to transfer it into a thai bank account in your name only and it would need to be there 2 months before you apply for the extension
4 years ago
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Shea ************
ORIGINAL POSTER
Super Tod, got it. Thanks much.
4 years ago
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Shea ************
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