@Stuart **********

I’ve heard that some people do that. I didn’t do that because I live in Thailand full time. I would never be in the US long enough to complete the OA application process which is a bit of a pain. It’s a peculiar visa and some people benefit from the peculiarities.

It also benefits people that don’t want to open a Thai bank account because you can keep applying using funds in your home country bank.

I did get 18 months on my OA visa because of a trip to Cambodia but I really didn’t care about the extra months. Yearly extensions is where most people want to be.

@Jan *****************

I switched from my OA to a 10 year pensioner LTR IN 2023. In my case my OA insurance could be used for the LTR.

@Susan *******

That is what I did. I kept 800,000฿ in the bank + a couple of 100,000฿ emergency buffer and then topped off the account with my monthly expense money. The buffer keeps you from accidentally dipping into the 800,000฿. This way you can use just one bank account. Often people get a separate bank account for the 800,00฿ to protect it from monthly expense accidents. That’s OK but I sounds like it is a chore to get a bank account these days for new arrivals.

Note that yearly extensions for the O and OA are identical except for the OA insurance requirement. The 800,000฿ deposit is the same for both visas. As I recommended earlier, you might as well get an O and deal with insurance separately.

@Jan *****************

I got my OA in 2017 before the insurance requirement. It made more sense then.

@Susan *******

The O and OA visas are not the same thing. I would really recommend pursuing an O visa followed by yearly extensions. It will give you more insurance options that aren’t tied to your visa.

I switched from an OA to a 10 year LTR visa. The LTR is another option that is not well known.

@Stuart **********

OA yearly extensions also require the 800,000 baht deposit.

@Andy *********

At least I am not asking stupid questions about rawdogging.

My idea - stop looking at IG and Tik Tok

I have a pensioner LTR. While you don’t have to report that you meet the financial requirements each year it is unknown what they are going to want to look at when you extend at year 5. I am going to make sure I have all financial and insurance documents to show that I did meet the requirements each year.

What you are getting is a queue number to get a queue number. I used to get there at 8:30am. All the early birds streamed inside in about 15 minutes. Then I entered and got my queue number in a few minutes for section L.