Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the O and the O-A Retirement Visa. Now I put up a video last week or about last week from the time of this video being made as well as possibly being published, where I asked viewers, I asked folks that are frequent viewers the channel kind of what do you want me to talk about. As I said at the time, coming off of Thailand reopening and it not being such an ongoing exigent thing, sort of an urgent need for up to date information on this channel on every little nuance of Thai Immigration moment to moment as to what's going on, what would you kind of like to talk to me kind of generally about. 

One thing folks brought up to me was something I brought up some years ago which is okay, so when they brought in the insurance requirement associated with the O-A Retirement Visa, I mentioned it at the time, I have mentioned it since that I thought it is not outside the realm of possibility that the O Retirement Visa could one day see those requirements imposed as well. In essence a kind of merger if you will of the O and the O-A category so it's all just kind of one big Retirement Visa category. 

For those who are unaware, O Retirement Visas are generally issued and extended here in the Kingdom of Thailand while O-A Retirement Visas are issued at Thai Embassies and Consulates outside of Thailand and then they can be extended by Thai Immigration here in Thailand. The big difference between the two, one of the biggest differences is, the O-A Retirement Visa requires 3 million Baht, that's $100,000, as of now, as of the fourth quarter of 2022, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the O-A requires this insurance in order to not only get an O-A but to maintain an O-A. With respect to an O Retirement Visa, it does not have those requirements. There's not that requirement associated with the O Retirement Visa. Now I have done videos in the past where I have said look, to my mind it is not outside the realm of possibility that we could see those requirements also be for the O as well. So again in essence a sort of "merger" if you will of the two requirements. 

As of the time of this video, I don't think that that's imminently going to happen. I don't even think that is on the reasonably foreseeable horizon. Do I think it's possible at some point in the future you get an Immigration Officer, or Head of the Immigration Division that says "no, we need to kind of consolidate these requirements, get them all into sort of one place? It's possible, but at least for the immediately foreseeable future and for even kind of the longer term, kind of the medium term if you will, I don't think it is going to happen anytime soon.