Sharing a personal experience. Questions and thoughts welcome. Extending a 90 Day Non-O Visa for one year at Bangkok Immigration Division 1 on 27 January. This is directed at anyone doing this for the first time ever or someone seeking a refresher. It’ll be long and not very informative for the experienced. Please keep it in mind.

Getting there: I’m located near the Sukhumvit Road BTS aka the Green Line. Left residence at 10:35. Arrived @ Mo Chit Station 50 minutes later cost 62 baht. Taxi arrived at BKK Imm Div 1 main entrance 11:45. 105 baht on the meter. Paid 120.

Initial Entry: Show passport; guard scans it. Pass through security with bag going through detection machine. Straight to information desk to pick up forms for the extension. Proceded directly to queue area. Received queue ticket section L1 at ~11:55. 28 people ahead in the queue.

Bangkok Bank Information: Walked straight down to bank. 11 people ahead of me in the queue. Filled out TM7 & associated forms in the bank. Queue moved slowly. Had copies made in the meantime. Took 55 minutes for me to make it to a bank employee. I had 800,000 baht letter made and also ordered a six month printout of my account activity, each cost 100 baht. (As a test I ordered a one year activity letter (200 baht) which you cannot get same day. It arrives by email one day later. Estimated earliest arrival time by bank employee was 2:00 pm. Arrived 1:20 pm.) Walked out of the bank at ~1:05 pm.

Back to copy area to make duplicates of the banking information just in case. Always have extra copies made.

Arrived area L1 at ~1:10 pm.

Documents I brought with my to the L1 Area to be processed. 1) 12 month lease signed by me & owner with owner Thai ID attached. Each page initialed/signed by me and owner; witness page also signed by real estate pro. 2) TM30 online version completed by real estate pro. 3) Passport main page, most recent stamp page & Non-O Page. 4) Bank Letter 800K. 5) 6 month activity report from bank. 6) Same day update: bank account activity. 7) Passport Photo.

Area L1 wait: Line moved quickly. Called to Immigration Officer desk at ~2:25 pm. & presented docs. Approval process was pleasant and quick. Signed a few docs again in front of the IO, drew a map of the area in which my building is located & paid fee. IO applied stamps and stapled slip informing me of date to do first 90 day report which must be done in person. I briefly surrendered passport and bank book for supervisor final approval. IO officer says everything OK; please wait outside. It’s now 2:40 pm.

~2:50 pm: Intern/Trainee: “Mr. Michael” She has passport and bank book and bill in hand. One year retirement visa stamp in passport. I’m good in the Kingdom for 1 year. I walk out the door at 3:00 pm.

Getting home: This is for the 30 day extension group at Laksi. Lak Si IT Square is 3 km from Imm Div 1. Aircon Taxi cost usually 70 baht. The Dark Red train line run by State Railway of Thailand is adjacent the Mall. Laksi to Bang Sue main railway station is 20 baht. MRT Blue Line from Bang Sue to Sukhumvit (connect to Asok BTS) is 37 baht. Your cost from there will vary. It’s a bit of a roundabout way to travel (takes about 40 min to reach the BTS) but you can chow down or shop at Laksi & Asok. The MRT and BTS are separate companies so each have a different rider smart card.

General Thoughts:

*Train transport was free due to the Lunar New Year celebration gift from the companies to the public. I believe the real bonus was so many people were celebrating the new year fewer people were seeking immigration services. If you eliminate the lunch hour (12:00-13:00) I was in and out in less than two hours. I consider that a quick processing time.

*You can get an 800K bank letter ahead of time and update your bank book using automated machines in the government complex. My time in the bank was much longer than I anticipated.

*The one year account activity letter from cannot happen same day. One year renewals: keep this in mind!

*The copy shop in the complex I use knows what stamps you are required for the each visa that I’ve needed.

*Making an appointment is great. Allow a little extra time so you are ready with all your paperwork. If you aren’t fully prepared you have to get a new queue ticket.

*Thank you if you made this far and are still awake. I’ll reply to questions if anyone has them.

I am renewing a retirement visa and am struggling to get the Thai bank account letter early in the morning.

Before then queuing at immigration (Chaeng Wattana). Often too late to get a decent #

Any advice appreciated.

-Does the bank account letter have to be issued the same day as renewal?

-Is there a Bangkok bank nearby?

I have a marriage extension appointment at Chaeng Wattana on a Monday morning, but I can only get the 400K THB bank letter the preceding Friday. Does Chaeng Wattana accept bank letters up to 7 days old? Any advice appreciated!

I have a few questions regarding the 1 yr Extension for the Non O marriage visa.

- based in BKK, so I will go to CW. I read that the under consideration period is 21 days there and that I can apply from -45days onwards. If I go early, let’s say 40 days before, is the under consideration period still 21 days or the full 40 days?

- in regard to the bank letter with the 400k. I assume this is just the print out of all the past transactions + the signature of the branch manager right?

- those 6 pictures of me together with my wife have to be taken at specific locations within and in front of our condo?

Thanks a lot

Retirement visa extension-can I issue the bank letter (for the 800,000) a day before?

hello, admin group and everybody, happy lunar new year !

my OA 1 yr retirement visa that I applied in my home city expired in March 2023 and I was given a 1 year entry stamp till March 2024 when I re entered bkk in March 2023.

I am planning to apply for a 1 year extension of my OA retirement visa in bkk in the last week of February. Thanks to the previous posts here, I roughly know the documents needed for the application but I got a few questions and I hope to ask for advice.

1) I know a bank letter is needed but how should the letter be dated in order to fit the application ?

2) do I hv to leave my passport there and about how long can I get it back with a successful application ?

3) could I apply for the multiple entry visa at the same time as I apply for the retirement visa?

4) is there a form I have to fill in for the retirement visa? could I hv the link please ?

thank you for your time.

Hi all, 12 month extension of stay, (marriage), coming up and having to try and juggle appointments etc around Songkran holidays.

Just a question re the bank letter confirming my 400K in my account, (separate account which remains untouched all year). Does anybody know how far in advance of my appointment I can get the letter from the bank ? The list of required docs from CW specifys the letter required, but is a bit light on details such as lead time etc.

Thanks in advance of any responses.

Just wanted to give a quick review of annual extension for retirement at CW.

2 weeks ago I went to my scheduled appointment time and even with all the information I had to hand write my reasoning for switching provinces from Samut Prakarn to Bangkok. All in all it went pretty well and the officer said that they were working to do a fast approval and to come back today with an updated bank book and bank letter.

Arrived this morning and within about 15 minutes had that submitted and my passport returned with the stamp through March 2024.

I walked away telling myself that's great. Still a total of 2 trips but no under consideration stamp. I just paid today and got the yearly. Not sure if this is a growing trend or not. Plus side only 1 stamp in passport haha

They were really focused on the bank balances more so than I've had in previous years so guessing that's more a CW thing.

Thanks to Tod for privately answering a couple of questions I had prior to scheduling. As always very helpful.

Hello, When I first apply for the 90 day non-o visa based on being over fifty and retired, do I need the banking info ( the 800k and the letter) ?

Or is that not needed until applying for the year extension ( within 30 to 45 days before the non-o visa expires?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

I have an appointment on Monday at Chang Wattana immigration to extend my marriage visa.

If I go today to get the letter from the bank confirming funds in the bank will the accept it or does it have to be done on the day?