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Thai O Retirement Visas: Insurance and Re-Entry Issues

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing insurance and re-entry issues with respect to Thailand and the Thai O Retirement Visa. 

Now we made videos on this topic and we got pretty in-depth on this some months back but a lot of folks have brought some things to my attention. It appears that there are some misconceptions still out there in the public or the broader public at large I guess I should say perhaps beyond my more avid audience who don't really understand that notwithstanding the fact that a Thai O Retirement Visa may be issued and one may actually have a Thai O Retirement Visa, notwithstanding the fact that Thai O Retirement Visas do not require insurance at least when extending in country, that Insurance may be required in a Thai Retirement context with respect to trying to get for example a Certificate of Entry to come back to Thailand even when using one's re-entry permit. 

To elucidate this, there was a recent article from the Pattaya Mail. That is thepattayamail.com. The article is titled: Double Whammy Insurance Requirements Face More Expats Abroad. Quoting directly: "Thousands of expats aged over 50 face additional hurdles if they leave Thailand and wish to return. Thai Embassy websites worldwide have confirmed that foreigners requesting a non-O Visa abroad based on retirement will need two kinds of insurance before the Certificate of Entry can be granted. The latest ruling also applies to expats who have a one year Retirement Extension granted by Thai Immigration and based on a non-O Visa and wish to return to Thailand using a valid re-entry permit."

A couple of things. Not to get too much onto the fine points but it should be noted that prior to the COVID thing, Embassies abroad were not issuing Thai O Retirement Visas. They were exclusively issuing O-A. That was, at least from our experience here at the firm, that was what we were seeing. Now, this is an issue. Where we see folks that had left Thailand on a Retirement Visa, they had an O they had no extension here in Thailand, had their re-entry permit they left, they got stuck out. We helped bring some folks in in that set of circumstances once that category was cleared for return to Thailand and yes insurance was required notwithstanding the fact that in country that would not necessarily be a requirement. 

So again, this insurance thing is going to be very fact specific. It is going to depend where you are at but yes it can be a problem for folks who have never had to deal with insurance before that are abroad and looking to return to Thailand using their non-O Retirement Visa.