AN O-A VISA IS NOT A RETIREMENT VISA

I have noted that many Australians and USA citizens refer to an O-A visa as a retirement visa. Aside from there being no such thing as a retirement visa anyway, an O-A visa is not it!

GETTING YOUR NON IMMIGRANT O VISA

The most common pathway to getting the extension based on retirement is to obtain a Non Immigrant O Visa (90 day validity) from your home country before you arrive Thailand. You can obtain this visa in Thailand, but then that's an extra step that you will have to go through with immigration before applying for your extension of stay based on retirement. It really isn't difficult to get from your home country either, so it is advisable that you do this. Here are the requirements for the UK Thai Embassy. Please note that requirements may differ slightly from country to country. Visa application form Passport or travel document with validity not less than 6 months and at least 2 blank pages, as well as the photocopy of passport. The actual passport must be submitted with visa application form. Two (2) recent photos (taken within the past 6 months) Supporting documents for the purpose of visit to Thailand. (Please see details for each type.) A copy of pension statement if the applicant is a pensioner, or a copy of 1-month bank statement showing your income from pension, or 3-month bank statement of at least £10,000 Once you have your Non Immigrant O Visa, you can enter Thailand and stay for 90 days. You will have to wait 60 days before you can file your retirement visa application at the immigration office and follow the steps laid out in this post.

RULES FOR THOSE RETIRING WITH A SPOUSE (DEPENDENT)

It may be the case that you're a foreign couple who want to retire to Thailand. In this situation, there are two possibilities for obtaining the visa: Each partner obtains a retirement visa by following the financial requirements laid out above: that is ฿800,000 in a Thai bank account two months prior to applying; or proof of ฿65,000 income per month, as verified by your embassy; or a combination of the two. One of you obtains a retirement visa and the other receives a visa as his/her dependent. The visa holder is generally the male party. The easiest route is for you to both independently get visas. One reason for this is that if the main visa holder were to pass away then the dependent's visa would be immediately void. This could be problematic because it would present you with a visa issue to overcome at a time when you would be going through a lot of grief and having to sort out a lot of other things in your life. In this situation, you could essentially leave the country and come back in on a 30-day exemption stamp, or get a tourist visa from a Thai embassy in a neighbouring country. But this still might not give you the time you need to get all your affairs in order and take care of probate. It sounds quite morbid, but it is worth considering – because at a time like this you would not want the hassle of sorting out visa issues. The other reason to avoid going down the dependent visa route is that Thai immigration has moved the goalposts on this visa are a couple of times over the last decade. Both times they have reverted back to the original rules, but it can cause confusion and be problematic. In the case of a dependent, immigration requires the financial aspect of the extension to be provided by the male party and not through a joint bank account. Similarly, if you are using a letter from your embassy to prove your income to extend your visa, this must solely be in the man's name and not in joint names. In other words, the income is verified as the man's income and not a joint income. It is also worth noting that if you are seeking to obtain a dependent visa for your spouse and your spouse is not yet 50 years old, your spouse must enter Thailand on a Non-Immigrant O Visa. This is because a 30-day on arrival stamp cannot be converted into a Non-Immigrant O Visa inside Thailand, if you are not yet 50 and seeking an extension based on retirement.

HOW TO RENEW YOUR RETIREMENT VISA

Your retirement visa (extension of stay based on retirement) will last for one year. But don't wait until that year is almost up before you start planning to renew it. In fact, you can renew your visa up to 45 days before it expires. Remember that you need to ensure that your Thai bank account balance does not fall below the ฿800,000 threshold three months prior to renewing your visa. Also consider that if you need a proof of income letter from your embassy, you should plan this at least a few weeks before you apply for your visa. Some embassies require you to make an appointment and they may be busy at the time you apply. Don't worry though, the letter from your embassy will be valid for six months, so is perfectly fine to obtain the letter up to a couple of months before you need to renew your visa.

90-DAY REPORTING

Once you have your retirement visa, there are two important rules that you must follow to ensure that you do not overstay your visa or invalidate your visa. You must conduct 90 day reporting. This means you must report to an immigration office in Thailand every 90 days. This is because Thailand has a law that states that a foreign national must produce his/her address if staying in the kingdom for 89 or more days. The address is reported on a TM48 form. Perhaps the most common mistake foreign nationals make when living in Thailand on a retirement visa is leaving the country without getting a re-entry permit. A re-entry permit can be obtained from an immigration office or the airport before leaving the country. This permit will be stamped in your passport and protects your visa from expiring while you are outside of the country. If you do not get a re-entry permit, then your visa will be invalidated and when you re-enter Thailand you will get a standard 30 day exemption stamp. As noted, you can obtain a re-entry permit as you are leaving the country. However, if you are able to plan in advance, it may be better to get one a few days before you leave to ensure that you get it done in time and don't miss your flight if you are in a rush to the airport. The re-entry permit form is known as TM13.

WHAT DOCUMENTS DO I NEED FOR A RETIREMENT VISA?

To obtain the extension based on retirement, you will need to attend an immigration office, such as the office located at the Ministry of Foreign affairs in Bangkok. On the day you will need 5 things, as follows: Passport with Non Immigrant O Visa inside. Photocopies of: photo page of passport, page showing visa, page showing last entry date into Thailand. TM.7 (extension of stay form completed and signed). Attach a passport photo and include phone number by your signature. Departure Card (TM.6) (make a photocopy) 2 passport size photos Proof of funds and or proof of income (letter from bank/embassy). Bank letter cannot be more than 3 days old. If using the lump sum application route, you'll need an updated photocopy of your bank book page that shows the balance. Obviously take your bank book along too. Proof of address (copies of rental agreement, and utility bills (if you have them)) Application fee of ฿1,900 THB

WHAT IF I DON'T MEET THE FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS?

Perhaps you don't have an ฿800,000 lump sum of money to put in a Thai bank account, or a monthly income of ฿65,000. In this case you can still meet the financial requirements by combining the two. For example, let's say that you earn 50,000 a month. That would equal ฿600,000 a year. In this case you would only need to deposit ฿200,000 in your Thai bank account to make up the required ฿800,000. However, you would need to provide both the letter from the bank and the proof of income letter from your embassy

NEW RULES FOR OZ,UK, DANISH AND US NATIONALS

Australian,British, Danish and US nationals are no longer able to obtain a letter from their respective embassies to confirm that they have a pension income or other income of the required ฿65,000 amount. This means that nationals of these countries will have to go down the route of having ฿800,000 in a Thai bank account, or they must have the ฿65,000 income paid into a Thai bank account each month and prove this by way of a 12-month bank statement history. This is problematic for those who have not held a bank account for 12 months. It is therefore likely that British and US nationals will have to go down the 800k lump sum route, at least for the first year anyway. On the plus side, money transfers to a Thai bank account are relatively cheap these days

WHAT ARE THE RETIREMENT VISA REQUIREMENTS?

There are three key requirements, as follows: You must be over 50 years old You must have a monthly income of 65,000 Thai Baht or more Or, ฿800,000 in a Thai bank account for 60 days+ before applying for the extension. And ฿800,000 remaining for 3 months after the extension, and ฿400,000 thereafter. The ฿800,000 must be in the bank for at least 2 months before your visa application. As of 1st March, 2019, the ฿800,000 must also remain in your bank for 3 months after the extension, and, after those 3 months, you must keep ฿400,000 in there indefinitely. You also need a letter from your Thai bank to confirm the ฿800,000 is there and has been there for the required time frame. For consecutive visas (so the second and third year) the ฿800,000 has to be in the bank 3 months before you apply for the visa, and the other rules remain the same. Note that you need a letter from your bank verifying the balance and a copy of your bank book. Note that you can also use foreign currency, but the money must be the equivalent of ฿800,000 Baht. There are a number of banks offering foreign currency accounts, but you must make sure that the amount you have in there equals the requirement for the extension of stay: exchange rates fluctuate throughout the year, and this may leave you short if you don't monitor it. Instead of having ฿800,000 in a bank account, you can show an income of ฿65,000 per month, without having to bring the money into Thailand. For those who don't want to tie up such a large amount of money in what essentially will be a zero interest account, it may be preferable to use this requirement, particularly if you have a steady pension income, or income from investments. You will need to provide details of this income over a three-month period, by way of bank statements and through a notarized letter from your embassy that verifies the monthly income.

WHAT IS A RETIREMENT VISA?

In truth, there is no such thing as a retirement visa, per se. However, when we talk about a retirement visa, we refer to it as such because people applying are generally retirees intending to spend their retirement in Thailand. Moreover, you can't work on this type of visa, so it's generally for those who've stopped work and entered the sunny side of life. What most refer to as a retirement visa is officially known as an extension of stay based on retirement. The way the extension of stay based on retirement is obtained is by entering Thailand on a Non Immigrant O Visa, which we will discuss a little later, and then by obtaining the retirement extension from an immigration office – provided you meet the requirements.

HEALTH INSURANCE IN THE NEWS, MY PERSONAL VIEWS

I agree wholeheartedly that visitors to Thailand should have to take out accident insurance and not be allowed to enter Thailand without it. In my view this will help to relieve Thailand’s problem of young people renting super bikes and driving recklessly and when drunk. When they have an accident Then it’s Thailand who has to foot the bill to fix them and send them back to the country they came from and likely to never come back again. So it’s a loss,loss, situation for Thailand through no fault of their own Mandatory long stay retirees insurance, whilst a good idea in principle, it is totally impractical and mostly unworkable. Health insurance is hard to get after 60 and certainly anything after 75 nobody wants to know you. And what about if you come with baggage?, like previous incidents of serious illness, like you are a cancer survivor, or something much simpler but everyone knows a diabetes sufferers Diabetes can affect every part of the human body and if you have a previous pre-condition mention on your insurance of diabetes, it’s very likely you will never get paid by an insurance because they will say it’s because of diabetes, a pre existing condition) This type of retiree insurance program has been floated before, I remember it the first time over five years ago. Since then it has raised its ugly head three years ago, again last year when big joke was appointed and now this year with the new immigration head appointee. It makes good sense in many ways I myself have been the beneficiary of a recent payment by my health insurance after a long stay in hospital of over 1 million baht Simple fact is that without it and the care of the people at the hospital, I would have been dead weeks ago, but I pay £313 per month with discount for the privilege,it should be over £500. Now whether you can afford to pay for that Level of cover is your choice, but for today and the past months I am very happy I could avoid afford to do so.

I LIST SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ’S) FROM MY CLIENTS THAT SHOULD HELP YOU:

Q. Can I work on a Retirement visa? A. No you cannot work in Thailand on a retirement visa. However, this visa is just for Thailand and we have many clients you utilise the visa but continue to work outside of the country. The visa is only a retirement visa – it will not affect your status outside of Thailand. By that I mean it doesn’t mean you have now stopped working and are actually retired. Q. Can I leave the country on a retirement visa? A. Yes, as long as you have a re entry permit you can leave and re enter. The retirement visa is renewed year, so you must re enter before the expiry date on the visa. Q. How many times can I leave? A. If you have a multi re entry permit you are free to come and go as you like, this can be made at the same time we process the visa at Chiang Mai Immigration. Q. Is there a minimum amount of time I have to stay in Thailand? A. No you are free to travel as much as you like but you will need to be in Thailand before the visa expires in order to renew it. Q. How many days before the visa expires can I renew? A. At present the maximum time is 45 days, for most clients we start the process about 30 days before to ensure there are no issues, and then take them to Chiang Mai immigration for the renewal. Q. Can my wife and family follow my retirement visa? A. Yes, however in order to do this they will need to already have non immigrant O visas obtained from outside of Thailand at a Thai consulate or embassy as well as documents to show the relationships between the family. Q. Can I follow my Wife’s/Husbands visa? A. Yes, as long as you have a non immigrant 0 visa from outside the country, we will also need documents to prove the relationship. Q. Can I show money in my bank in my home country to obtain the retirement visa? A. No the money has to be in a Thai bank. We will be happy to assist you with the opening of your account and make sure everything goes smoothly for you. Q. If I lose my retirement visa can I apply for a new one? A. Yes if there is any issue which means you can’t renew we can start the process for you again and obtain a new visa, there is no penalty for losing the visa. Q. What are 90 day reports? A. Thai Law requires all foreign to check in with immigration for every 90days they are in the Kingdom. At Assist Thai Visa we can take care of this for you, and make sure you never miss a report and always comply with the rules. Q. Can I get a visa longer than 1 year? A. At present the retirement visa is based on a 1 yearly renewal. It is therefore not possible to get longer than this.

TM 30 RESPONSIBILITIES

Section 38 : The house – master , the owner or the possessor of the residence , or the hotel manager where the alien , receiving permission to stay temporary in the Kingdom has stayed , must notify the competent official of the Immigration Office located in the same area with that hours , dwelling place or hotel, within 24 hours from the time of arrival of the alien concerned. If there is no Immigration Office located in that area , the local police official for that area must be notified. Section 77 : Whoever fails to comply with the provision of Section 38, shall be punished with a fine not exceeding 2,000 Baht. If said person is a hotel manager, he shall be punished with a fine from 2,000 Baht to 10,000 Baht.

NON IMMIGRANT O VISA MULTIPLE ENTRY

1. The Non Imm O ME Visa allows entries of 90 days. You must exit and re-enter the Country every 90 days to receive another 90 days. You cannot make 90 day reports to local Immigration. You can however extend each 90 day permission to stay by another 60 days at local Immigration for 1,900 baht. 2. Providing you return before the 'enter before' date of the Visa, you will be given another 90 days. The validity of your Visa and the validity of your 'permission to stay' are separate entities. You cannot renew your Visa in Thailand. A new Non Imm O ME Visa must be applied for at a Thai Embassy/Consulate. You can alternatively, within the last 30 days of any 90 day periods of permission to stay apply for an annual extension based on marriage at local Immigration providing you meet the financial requirements. (1,900 baht). 400,000 deposited in a Thai bank (in your name only) for 2 months prior to the date of the application, OR, a letter from the British Embassy confirming an income of 40,000 baht per month. This is a 'permit', not a 'Visa'. It allows you to stay for 1 year and you can make 90 day reports at your local Immigration office. Unlike the Non Imm O ME Visa, it does not allow any entries into Thailand. You must purchase a re-entry permit (single 1,000 baht, multiple 3,800 baht) if you intend to leave/re-enter during the period of the permit.

GETTING A NON IMMIGRANT FOR RETIREMENT EXTENSION

The first step to apply for a long term extension of stay for retirement (not a visa) at immigration is to get a non immigrant visa entry. You can apply for a 90 day non immigrant visa (commonly a category 'O') entry at immigration. At Chiang Mai immigration will need at least 21 days remaining on your current entry or the 30 day extension of it to apply for a change of visa status (rules state 15). General requirements are here (click English at top right of the page for English). https://www.immigration.go.th/content/service_80 Note that the 800k baht only has to be in bank on the date you apply. Then during the last 30 days of the 90 days you can apply for the extension of stay. You will need 800k baht in a Thai bank for 60 days or proof of 65k baht income or a combination of the 2 to obtain a total of 800k baht.