visa minefield

suej · Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 5:39 am Post subject: visa minefield

HELP!! I've tried to read lots of advice on visas and am more confused than before. Once we have bought our home in hua hin what type of visa would we need if i wanted to stay for the summer hols 6 weeks ? & when we retire in a few years ( wishing our lives away 6 years & counting ) we want to stay for 6 months at a time approx what type of visa then & can we get them before we go?

No doubt there will be many more questions if we go through with the house purchase. At least its stopping me thinking about work!! Cussing

SHADOW · Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 7:45 am Post subject: Visa

You will need an O visa if you are going to buy a house as you will need to open a company to purchase a house for you. The O visa must be applied for o/s of Thailand and lasts one year allowing you to stay 89 days at a time.
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lomuamart · Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:28 pm Post subject:

Hello suej,
Yes, the whole visa situation can be daunting and confusing, but in your situation should be fairly straightforward. I don't profess to be an expert on visas, but hopefully the following will help and not be too confusing!!
1. As shadow says, you should check out what visa you need to buy property here. Call The Thai embassy.
2. If you're staying for only six weeks after you've bought the property, then a single entry tourist visa will suffice - 60 days on entry and one extension of 30 days at an immigration centre in Thailand. Cost of extension 1,900 baht. Alternatively, a single entry Non Immigrant category "O" will give you 90 days on arrival. Cost and hassle wise, the latter would be preferrable.
3. Once you've retired, ie over 50 years old, you can apply for a Non Immigrant Visa, category retirement. You will need to be that old and show 800,000 Baht in a Thai bank account or an income of 80,000 per month or a combination of both as long as total income for the year is over 800,000. This visa means you never have to leave Thailand. You only have to report to an immigration centre every 90 days to confirm where you are living and renew the visa every year with the same financial requirements.
If you want to exit Thailand, you need a re-entry permit otherwise you invalidate the visa. Cost again, I think, is 1,900 Baht.
If you're only staying for 6 months, this may not be the best route for you to take. It would probably be better to get a double entry tourist or double entry non- immigrant category "O".
I don't see where you come from. If British, apply for the visas at The consulate in Hull. There're very accomodating, more so than The Embassy in London.
For 30/60/90 day entries, read 29/59/89.
Hope that helps. You've got a lot of choice.

suej · Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 2:29 pm Post subject:

Thanks for help, it sounds much easier than before. All weve got to do now is buy the house.

DrKnow · Rookie Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 12

Hi

The advice above is pretty sound, dont get too fazed by the Visa situation, it seems to change quite frequently. You will here a lot of rubbish but the above is pretty solid.
The best advice is to telephone an "Honary Consulate" in your country as they will speak to you (the main ones will be by appointment only or an answering machine). Enjoy your stay.

Very Happy

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