@Ivan *******

Sorry Ivan, I can't comment about an aged pension.

To those snickering over the interest on 800,000B in a US account paying for the required OA health insurance, yeah, it has been this whole time. If you already have insurance or will pay out of pocket and don't mind 800,000B sitting in a Thai account go for the O visa.

@Brandon ***********

Not true about having to leave after 2 years. I've extended 4 times now. The advantage of the OA for me is that I can keep the 800,000B in my US account and the interest it makes covers the cost of my insurance here. Bringing in minimum 56,000 Baht each month is what I do anyway. The OA made sense for me.

The background check wasn't difficult. You register online at the FBI website. Find a place that does fingerprints like some USPS branches. They upload your prints to the FBI. You get an email with the results often within hours.

@Stan *****

Yes. The OA requires a background check. A police record doesn't mean though that your visa request will be automatically rejected. YMMV.

Unless it's changed in 3 years, for the medical I went to my doctor and after he was done laughing he filled out the medical form. For the background check I used the FBI website. I needed to get fingerprinted at a post office offering the service. Usually I'd get the results via email within a couple of hours.

@Mick ******

Same here last year but this year I chickened out and paid for the stamped version. Next year I'll have both versions and try the app version first to see if it's accepted again.

@Tod ********

I did not get a new 90 day report with my extension (CW). In fact they were explicit that it was a separate process due to it being a separate system.

Side note: as an ex-IT type person I can't believe they're at least two separate systems. Separate interfaces into a single system, yes, but not separate systems. That wouldn't make sense.

I know, I know. TiT!