My best Visa option ?

[englishman]

My best Visa option ?

 

Up until retirement a visa was never necessary and the odd time I went over the 30 days I just extended at immigration. Since retirement my length of stays has varied between 2 months and 4 months, with 3 months twice a year being the norm which for this I obtain an SETV (60 days) and just extended for the last 30 days at immigration in Jomtien . The one time I did stay 4 months I obtained a METV and after 60 days made a trip to Laos and hence got another 60 days.

This January I again plan on a 4 month trip and have been weighing my options for the best way to achieve this. I was thinking of going the METV route again but after adding up the cost of the visa itself, ( now $280 ) and a trip out of the country before my 60 days is up in order to get the remaining 60 day, I'm wondering is this the best option? After reading many posts regarding retirement visas and their cost, I'm now thinking if this maybe the route to go? I'd have to go through an agent as I do not want to tie up 800,000 baht and also my experiences with Jomtien immigration have not been the least bit positive. ( one time having my visa extension papers literally thrown back at me because I did not have the correct photo copies, possibly the rudest person I have ever met)   Also I think I am correct in that you can only spend a maximum of 6 months in Thailand on tourist visas ? And because this trip will be 4 months then I am limited to only 2 for the next ? IF I go the METV route. So is it worth getting a retirement Visa when I only visit for half the year, is that in itself an issue ?

 

[davidge]

3 minutes ago, englishman said:

My best Visa option ?

 

Up until retirement a visa was never necessary and the odd time I went over the 30 days I just extended at immigration. Since retirement my length of stays has varied between 2 months and 4 months, with 3 months twice a year being the norm which for this I obtain an SETV (60 days) and just extended for the last 30 days at immigration in Jomtien . The one time I did stay 4 months I obtained a METV and after 60 days made a trip to Laos and hence got another 60 days.

This January I again plan on a 4 month trip and have been weighing my options for the best way to achieve this. I was thinking of going the METV route again but after adding up the cost of the visa itself, ( now $280 ) and a trip out of the country before my 60 days is up in order to get the remaining 60 day, I'm wondering is this the best option? After reading many posts regarding retirement visas and their cost, I'm now thinking if this maybe the route to go? I'd have to go through an agent as I do not want to tie up 800,000 baht and also my experiences with Jomtien immigration have not been the least bit positive. ( one time having my visa extension papers literally thrown back at me because I did not have the correct photo copies, possibly the rudest person I have ever met)   Also I think I am correct in that you can only spend a maximum of 6 months in Thailand on tourist visas ? And because this trip will be 4 months then I am limited to only 2 for the next ? IF I go the METV route. So is it worth getting a retirement Visa when I only visit for half the year, is that in itself an issue ?

 

If you plan to spend that amount of time in Thailand each year then I think the best option is to get a Non O ‘for Retirement’. Not the Non O-A due to the insurance requirement.

The only thing to bear in mind is that you’ll have to be in Thailand at roughly the same time each year to get your annual Extension of Stay.

I don’t know how easy it is to get a Non O in Canada (it’s relatively straightforward in the U.K.) but that is one option. You’ll then just need to pay an agent to get the Extension of Stay. Otherwise, you can enter on a Tourist Visa, or even Visa Exempt, and pay the higher agent fee to get the Non O plus first Extension in Thailand.

If you enter in January then you’ll get a stamp until April 2025. With a multiple reentry permit you can come and go as you please. You’ll need to be in Thailand every year at some point between January and April to get the annual Extension.

As for costs, it’s roughly 15000 baht each year (a bit less probably). If you get the Non O in Thailand then the first year will be about 25000 baht plus another 4000 baht to get you a Bangkok Bank account if you don’t already have one.

[geezerrb]

43 minutes ago, davidge said:

If you plan to spend that amount of time in Thailand each year then I think the best option is to get a Non O ‘for Retirement’. Not the Non O-A due to the insurance requirement.

The only thing to bear in mind is that you’ll have to be in Thailand at roughly the same time each year to get your annual Extension of Stay.

I don’t know how easy it is to get a Non O in Canada (it’s relatively straightforward in the U.K.) but that is one option. You’ll then just need to pay an agent to get the Extension of Stay. Otherwise, you can enter on a Tourist Visa, or even Visa Exempt, and pay the higher agent fee to get the Non O plus first Extension in Thailand.

If you enter in January then you’ll get a stamp until April 2025. With a multiple reentry permit you can come and go as you please. You’ll need to be in Thailand every year at some point between January and April to get the annual Extension.

As for costs, it’s roughly 15000 baht each year (a bit less probably). If you get the Non O in Thailand then the first year will be about 25000 baht plus another 4000 baht to get you a Bangkok Bank account if you don’t already have one.

Hello again @davidge, I was a bit puzzled when you stated it was relativly straightforward in the UK? Don't you have to have the financial requirements and proof?

I still hope to become an ex-pat before this year is out and got to admit aside from finding the requirements from here in the UK difficult to really understand, I am reluctant to tie up larger sums of money like the 800k/400k in my BB account and cannot show regular transfers that are required till I actually retire there.

I have resigned to enter on a normal tourist visa (as I even found getting the 60 day a bit daunting (I am using my age and 8 years in the "wilderness" perhaps as a bit of an excuse). I will probably use Manareet and swallow the 25k cost both so money other than my monthly "living money" is not in my Thai bank accounts but earning better interest in my UK accounts and easy access when I "pop my clogs" to my "heirs", (i have heard of some problems in the event). I also have picked up in some other threads that the 25k may have increased?

Apologies for rambling on again, I appreciate the wealth of information @davidge has and continues to impart on the forum.

[davidge]

9 hours ago, geezerrb said:

Hello again @davidge, I was a bit puzzled when you stated it was relativly straightforward in the UK? Don't you have to have the financial requirements and proof?

I still hope to become an ex-pat before this year is out and got to admit aside from finding the requirements from here in the UK difficult to really understand, I am reluctant to tie up larger sums of money like the 800k/400k in my BB account and cannot show regular transfers that are required till I actually retire there.

I have resigned to enter on a normal tourist visa (as I even found getting the 60 day a bit daunting (I am using my age and 8 years in the "wilderness" perhaps as a bit of an excuse). I will probably use Manareet and swallow the 25k cost both so money other than my monthly "living money" is not in my Thai bank accounts but earning better interest in my UK accounts and easy access when I "pop my clogs" to my "heirs", (i have heard of some problems in the event). I also have picked up in some other threads that the 25k may have increased?

Apologies for rambling on again, I appreciate the wealth of information @davidge has and continues to impart on the forum.

I think I’ve posted this before somewhere but this was my application process:

Visa Procedure 

I was applying for the Non O ‘for Retirement’. I just followed the online instructions- though I had most documents etc ready on my iPad.

From memory, I uploaded:

1. Photo of details page of passport;

2. Headshot of myself taken on phone (when I submitted I got a warning that the photo might not be good enough but submitted it anyway and it was accepted);

3. Declaration form which appears during application- I printed it off, signed it and took photo;

4. My occupational pension statement. I’m too young for State Pension and the occupational pension amount isn’t very high;

5. I used a bank statement as proof of residence showing well over £10k in account, though I only uploaded one month;

6. No travel history so I wrote ‘None’ on a piece of paper and took a photo;

7. Photo of me holding passport;

8. Flight details - return flight 92 days after arrival;

9. hotel booking for first week;

10. Insurance that included 100k Covid. I was getting insurance anyway, used a Thai agent/broker and they provide a one page summary for me to upload;

11. Paid the £60 fee.

I did everything on my ipad and had no problems. Uploads each need to be less than 2mb but it’s easy to choose size of file on ipad. Some had to be jpg but PDF was ok for others.

I got the visa in about 3 days.

[Thomaz73]

13 hours ago, englishman said:

Also I think I am correct in that you can only spend a maximum of 6 months in Thailand on tourist visas ?

There is no such rule. Just in case any potential long term tourists are following

[englishman]

RTE Ottawa states right on their web site, 20 business days for a visa... my last one took well over a month

Edited October 15, 2023 by englishman

[davidge]

12 minutes ago, englishman said:

RTE Ottawa states right on their web site, 20 business days for a visa... my last one took well over a month

That’s really not good. London just takes a few days.

[englishman]

1 hour ago, davidge said:

That’s really not good. London just takes a few days.

What makes the problem worse is the fact you can only download 1 page per question, for example last time I copied the last page of my lease, the one with dates and signatures, they emailed me asking for the whole thing, all 5 pages ?? just ridiculous , flights the same...

 This is one of the reasons I'm look at the retirement visa, would save a lot of time and pain I think / I am almost always in Thailand first 3 months of the year then again Oct/ Nov so I shouldn't have an issue with renewing each year. I know many do it themselves but to be honest I just don't have the patients and don't want to part with 800K

Edited October 15, 2023 by englishman

[davidge]

Just now, englishman said:

What makes the problem worse is the fact you can only download 1 page per question, for example last time I copied the last page of my lease, the one with dates and signatures, they emailed me asking for the whole thing, all 5 pages ?? just ridiculous , flights the same...

Definitely sounds as if you’re better off just using an agent for the Non O as well. They can do it if you enter on Visa Exempt. They need at least 15 days so you’ll need to go soon after arrival.

[englishman]

Just now, davidge said:

Definitely sounds as if you’re better off just using an agent for the Non O as well. They can do it if you enter on Visa Exempt. They need at least 15 days so you’ll need to go soon after arrival.

I'd probably still get a 60 day visa then do the retirement after arrive..my reason being last trip in January I got a really hard time from Air Canada upon checking in for departure...They hunted through my passport for a visa, I explained that it was now an E visa, showed them the copy, they said they didn't understand and that their computer said I needed a Visa, I told them that this was it...eventually after about 45 mins they acquiesced. I then tried to explain to them that as a Canadian I did not need a visa..that threw them into a complete  wobbly, never heard of a visa exemption... any way I'm a little shy of traveling with just the exemption to be honest, hence the 60 day visa

davidge  

Appreciated the help and as always the straight no bullshit and factual answers, thank you    eman

[talung66]

On 15/10/2023 at 06:33, englishman said:

My best Visa option ?

 

Up until retirement a visa was never necessary and the odd time I went over the 30 days I just extended at immigration. Since retirement my length of stays has varied between 2 months and 4 months, with 3 months twice a year being the norm which for this I obtain an SETV (60 days) and just extended for the last 30 days at immigration in Jomtien . The one time I did stay 4 months I obtained a METV and after 60 days made a trip to Laos and hence got another 60 days.

This January I again plan on a 4 month trip and have been weighing my options for the best way to achieve this. I was thinking of going the METV route again but after adding up the cost of the visa itself, ( now $280 ) and a trip out of the country before my 60 days is up in order to get the remaining 60 day, I'm wondering is this the best option? After reading many posts regarding retirement visas and their cost, I'm now thinking if this maybe the route to go? I'd have to go through an agent as I do not want to tie up 800,000 baht and also my experiences with Jomtien immigration have not been the least bit positive. ( one time having my visa extension papers literally thrown back at me because I did not have the correct photo copies, possibly the rudest person I have ever met)   Also I think I am correct in that you can only spend a maximum of 6 months in Thailand on tourist visas ? And because this trip will be 4 months then I am limited to only 2 for the next ? IF I go the METV route. So is it worth getting a retirement Visa when I only visit for half the year, is that in itself an issue ?

 

As for doing SETV or METV there is no need for METV for 4 or 5 months 

Do what you usually do arrive + extension then do a visa run to get to 4 months and extend again to 5 months if you want.

No need to fork out the extra cost of METV unless your looking at 6 or more months and avoid jomtiem immigration. just do 2 or  3 visa runs. 

[Going2Siam]

On 15/10/2023 at 08:59, davidge said:

I think I’ve posted this before somewhere but this was my application process:

Visa Procedure 

I was applying for the Non O ‘for Retirement’. I just followed the online instructions- though I had most documents etc ready on my iPad.

From memory, I uploaded:

1. Photo of details page of passport;

2. Headshot of myself taken on phone (when I submitted I got a warning that the photo might not be good enough but submitted it anyway and it was accepted);

3. Declaration form which appears during application- I printed it off, signed it and took photo;

4. My occupational pension statement. I’m too young for State Pension and the occupational pension amount isn’t very high;

5. I used a bank statement as proof of residence showing well over £10k in account, though I only uploaded one month;

6. No travel history so I wrote ‘None’ on a piece of paper and took a photo;

7. Photo of me holding passport;

8. Flight details - return flight 92 days after arrival;

9. hotel booking for first week;

10. Insurance that included 100k Covid. I was getting insurance anyway, used a Thai agent/broker and they provide a one page summary for me to upload;

11. Paid the £60 fee.

I did everything on my ipad and had no problems. Uploads each need to be less than 2mb but it’s easy to choose size of file on ipad. Some had to be jpg but PDF was ok for others.

I got the visa in about 3 days.

9. hotel booking for first week. I have made some changes on my initiary since I got my O visa approved. Am I allowed to change my 1st hotel booking  (location) ?

[davidge]

11 minutes ago, Going2Siam said:

9. hotel booking for first week. I have made some changes on my initiary since I got my O visa approved. Am I allowed to change my 1st hotel booking  (location) ?

Once you have your visa the hotel booking is irrelevant. No one checks. I changed my hotel without a problem.

[Going2Siam]

Ok. Thanks.