Had a bit of trouble getting my Non OA in New Zealand. The embassy wanted my Thai insurance company to fill in the Non Thai Insurance form saying their non Thai insurance was the same as if they were a Thai Insurance company. This resulted in a phone yelling match as I attempted to explain that the form is for folks who got their insurance in their home country but in the end the Thai Agent filled in the form and emailed it to the embassy. I also got from the Medical Services dept their operation procedure which I sent to the Thai embassy in NZ pointing out they did not need this form if I had Thai Insurance. As a side note this information also included embassy login details to check for insurance. So it seems any embassy has the ability to check if your insurance is registered.
Coming back through Chiang Mai immigration they wanted to see my insurance details. I said that you can not get an OA visa now without insurance so why do they need to see them?. In the end the insurance card was accepted and through immigration without a photo or finger prints (only I think because the machine on that booth was broken).
All in all this was alot of effort to avoid having 800k in a Thai bank (which I do have in the bank). I had spent several wasted days in Thailand getting hospital checkups for the insurance, visits to various government departments to ensure I knew as much as I can (only to have the Thai embassy not know how to process the OA). I had arranged getting all this for a Non OA 4 months ago when a long term deposit in NZ would make having the 800k at home worthwhile for the interest and no insurance was required. But the world interest rates has changed and it seems all currency is losing against the Thai baht, so any delays in bringing that Foreign money over is just throwing away money in my mind.
But done and dusted. I now have a Non OA, which I will change to a Non O instead of renewing the insurance and OA extension and just go with the Non O which is much much easier and cheaper
TLDR : Answer Summary
The user shared their experience of obtaining a Non OA visa in New Zealand, detailing challenges with Thai insurance requirements and embassy procedures. They had to argue with the embassy about the necessity of a specific insurance form, and ultimately resolved the issue with the help of a Thai insurance agent. Upon arriving in Chiang Mai, immigration officers requested to see insurance details despite insurance being a prerequisite for obtaining the visa. After navigating through several bureaucratic hurdles, the user successfully acquired the Non OA visa but plans to switch to a Non O visa for an easier and cheaper process in the future.
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.
