Visa`s

[niggle]

We got an OA visa from Hull - took about 15 minutes by going in person. This gave us 90 days. towards the end of that we went to HH immigration applied for retirement visa - no police check, health check etc - out in 20 minutes with visa in hand (minus a few baht tea money)
Dead easy
_________________
Curiosity killed the quantum cat

[huahindolly]

We haven't found a good place for social tennis, or any organized tennis for that matter. There are a lot of empty tennis courts at the local condo's, but when we ask if we can pay to play, it's "sorry, residents only." Palm Hills is/seems to be the closest place with good courts that we can play on for about 100 baht. Hilton has a health club that gives you access to their rooftop tennis courts for an extra fee. If you're interested, we'd love to play a set of doubles when you're here!

If anybody else has a better grip on tennis, I'd love to hear about it.

HHD

[lomuamart]

HuaHinR,
I'll do my best to differentiate.
A Non Imm OA is basically available to those who qualify in their home country. You must be over 50 and have over 800k Baht in a bank account (not necessarily Thailand, but normally your own) or an income/pension of 65k a month, or a combination of the two as long as that total adds up to over 800K. (So, 400k in a bank account and an income of 33,333 per mth).
That's just maths, but if you meet these requirements and have a health check and police clearance certificate, you'll get a Non Imm OA.
The benefit of this is that your visa will be valid for a year and more to the point you'll be stamped in for year when you arrive here. It's like a retirement extension in advance.
An extension to a Non Imm O visa on the basis of retirement (it's the same 50 years old and same money stuff) is applied for within Thailand. You need the Non O first and that's normally easily obtainable in your home country or regionally as long as you qualify. Note, multi entry Non Os are becoming very difficult to get over in SE Asia. With the multiple entry, you have to exit every 90 days, but you can apply for the extension on any entry you want.
The benefits of the OA are you get a year up front, reporting to Imm every 90 days. If you pay for a multi-entry variety (naturally more expensive), you can exit just before the visa expires and get another year. Downsides are that the health and police checks will be necessary.
I would reckon that most people who retire here get a simple Non O visa from their home countries on the basis of checking out retirement and then extend here. However, if you're relying on 800k savings, they must be in a Thai bank account for three months before applying (not so with the OA and that may suit some people more, although they will have to eventually show it). The income just needs Embassy confirmation and maybe supporting documents/home bank statements. That dosn't need to come to Thailand. However, if you're not able to demonstrate that you're living reasonably off foreign income, the assumption will be that you're working here. Not good news without a Work Permit.
With the extension here, you can pay for a multi-reentry permit - I think that's about 3,800 and you can come and go as many times as you want during the year. If you don't intend to, but at some time need to, then simply apply for single re-entry permit - it's 1,900 I think. If you don't have that you lose everything and have to start all over again.
That must be the longest post I've ever done on HHAD, so I hope it makes sense. I'm sure others will be able to explain it all without so many words.
BTW, other than a Non OA (which is really a long-stay visa), there is no such thing as a retirement visa. What you get is an extension to a Non O visa, based on retirement.
_________________
"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered". George Best.

[lomuamart]

[lomuamart]

Just looked it up.
There is no mention of an OA visa:
http://www.thaiconsul-uk.com/pdfs/Ab%20%20Visa%20Application%20Pack.pdf
_________________
"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered". George Best.

[Gail]

When my husband and I first came to Thailand we came on an ordinary holiday visa for 30 days, then we went to Penang to get a multi-entry, where you had to go out every 90 days. After that we got a retirement visa and just report to immigration every 90days, 800,000 baht in the bank 3 months before the visa is due and then we live of that during the year and just top it up. If we need to go out of the country we just get a re entry permit at 1000 baht each. You can can a multiple reentry but not worth it unless you go out of Thailand more than 4 times. Never had any problems at immigration other than I haven't photo copied something that I should have. they have always been really helpful. There is a Bupa Office in town now doing insurance. I enquired about it when in Market Village, it wasn't too expensive. The office is just past the King's Palace on the main road out of Hua Hin. They do a blood pressure check and like to know your Doctor in the UK, to make sure you haven't got anything horrible wrong with you. If you need to know anything else just shout

[Nereus]

[nevets]

I have a cat o , and retirement visa extension this costs 1900 bhat and when i leave the Kingdom i get a re_entry stamp in the passport this cost is 1000 bhat this takes about half an hour every year and no problem yet.

[sessachief]

Good Information. Sad to hear about lack of tennis set-up.
That said Golf might make up for it. As for golf well I am sure I will enjoy playing a few rounds with a some social players, in the early days.
First things first is choosing Ch am or Hua Hin to try out ..or further south.
All this excitement!

[Lev]

Please can we start new threads on sports in the activities section, this one is about visas.

thanks.
_________________
Sponsor HHAD | Hua Hin Hotel Bookings | Hua Hin Property

[margaretcarnes]

Lomu - like I've said before on another topic, the Hull consul could, IMHO, be a bit suss these days. Lets just say nothing would surprise me. For a long term visa I think London would be a much safer bet.
Lets hope Chas makes the right decision though between HH, Chaam, or further South, which is no doubt where Buksi will come in...........

BTW I really admire anyone who has the stamina to play tennis in the tropics!
_________________
'If'n ya cain't say nuth'n nice, don't say nuth'n at all' Thumper.

[niggle]

Apologies, the visa from Hull was Non imm O (not OA) as I previously stated
_________________
Curiosity killed the quantum cat