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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawThailand Immigration LawWhen Is a 1 Year Thai O-A Retirement Visa NOT a 1 Year Visa?

When Is a 1 Year Thai O-A Retirement Visa NOT a 1 Year Visa?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing “When is an O-A Retirement Visa that is valid for 1 year not actually conferring 1 year? When is it not actually a 1 year Visa?”

The short answer to this is "well it depends on circumstances". For the most part where we see it especially here recently, I have gotten a lot of emails from clients that have come in, they have used our service to come in in Retirement Status and they have said "Hey, I got my Entry Stamp. The sticker in my visa says it is valid for a year and it was my understanding at entry I get a one year status stamp." Well no, actually in point of fact, as we pointed it out back in I believe October 2019, and since then, since the insurance requirements have been brought forth regarding the need for insurance to maintain status here in Thailand, one of the provisions of this states that you can only maintain your O-A Retirement status for the duration of your insurance validity. So, if you get insurance for a year and you lock that in for example a month before you actually arrive in Thailand, you are going to end up with an 11-month stamp because they are actually going to look at your insurance paperwork when you arrive and they are going to say “OK, yeah, you have got a 12 month visa sticker here. The max I can give you on one stamp is 12 months but your insurance is a policy that only covers you until 11 months from now so I am only going to give you an 11 month stamp.” Again, it is going to be fact driven.

Long story short, "Yeah, there are circumstances and it is Insurance contingent wherein you are not going to get a full 12 month Stamp when you are entering Thailand on an O-A Retirement Visa".