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O-A After Extension of Stay


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4 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Still gotta figure out if I can get this done to the L.A. Consulate's satisfaction without the time hassle of sending in fingerprints.

You can get fingerprint cards from the embassy and have prints done at the thai police clearance center in Bangkok.

See: https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/fingerprint-cards/

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On 2/1/2019 at 6:41 PM, Gtto said:

Mosan,

  Thanks for all that. Was it required to get the stuff from the FBI or will local police do? Could you leave the application  in person or did you have to do it by mail? I was going to go to the consulate in NY. The crazy part is that I will be there in three weeks but I have less than 12 months on my passport and no time to get a new one before I go or after I get there. That means I will have to fly back there when my extension runs out.

I got mine from local city police in home city in Oklahoma. Walked in...gave forms...20 minutes later four copies Stamped NO POLICE RECORD. 

Took all of the forms requiring notarization ...police report, medical form, my company pension I submit with my federal income taxes, and social security annual statement... to my local bank. They notarized my signature on each form as being me. No charge for notary.  

Edited by travelerjim
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31 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You can get fingerprint cards from the embassy and have prints done at the thai police clearance center in Bangkok.

See: https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/fingerprint-cards/

 

Had no idea!!!  Never knew anything about getting fingerprint cards from the U.S. Embassy to use with the FBI, or that Thai police fingerprinting done with the correct card would suffice for an FBI check. Thanks Joe!

 

AFAIK, it would be the first time in my life I've ever been fingerprinted for anything!

 

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7 minutes ago, travelerjim said:

I got mine from local city police in home city in Oklahoma. Walked in...gave forms...20 minutes later four copies Stamped NO POLICE RECORD. 

Took all of the forms requiring notarization ...police report, medical form, my company pension I submit with my federal income taxes, and social security annual statement... to my local bank. They notarized my signature on each form as being me. No charge for notary.  

 Was that for Thai visa purposes, and if so, for use at what Embassy or Consulate?

 

Was the check  they provided you a local records check, or a state-level police records check?

 

Edited by TallGuyJohninBKK
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On 2/1/2019 at 5:46 PM, mosan said:

I just returned from the US. I did a Non-immigrant O-A Multiple Entry at the Thai Washington D.C. embassy. Went very smooth. Initiated a police report from the FBI online and they immediately emailed me a letter to send along with a fingerprint card which can be obtained from any police office or security firm.

 

I had to snail mail the fingerprint card to them and they snail mailed the results letter back to me. The FBI report came back in 11 days. They will email you the result, but the Thai Embassy wants originals for the police report (and the medical certificate) signed in blue or black ink.

 

Visited my local primary care doctor and she gave me a quick checkup and completed the medical certificate that I downloaded from the Thai embassy website...along with the 2 required application forms required for the O-A VISA.

 

Mailed by Unites States Postal Service Priority Mail Express (next day delivery $24.70) to:

 

Consular Section

Thai Embassy

2300 Kalorama Rd. N.W.

Washington D.C. 20008-1623

Tel. (202) 640-5658 / (202) 640-1439

Fax. (202) 459-9536

Email: [email protected]

 

- VISA application forms

- Two 2"x2" passport photos

-  FBI report (State or Federal) 

-  Medical certificate

-  $200 postal money order

-  Passport

- Social Security income letter (printed from the mySSA website)

- Defense Accounting and Finance (DFAS) income letter (printed from the myPAY website)

- Prepaid self addressed "stamped not metered" USPS Express envelope for the return of your passport.

 

I also threw in my 1099SSA (Social Security), and 1099R (Retired Pay) tax documents from 2018 for good measure as income verification.

 

I sent the originals and a copy of each item—they wanted 2 complete sets of everything— but no copies of passport pages needed, and no need to sign any copies of anything except the application forms themselves.

 

The entire process took about 15 days...YMMV

 

P.S. I've been living in Thailand since 2000 and always did extensions using the income affidavit from the US Embassy in Bangkok. With this process, I visited home and skipped the in-country Immigrations dance all in one fell swoop...although I did drop into the Immigrations Office after arrival and the Officer pulled up my credentials on her computer and completed the TM30 in about 15 minutes. Rumor has it I'll get 2 years out of this baby... 

I mailed mine to Los Angeles Thai Consulate by US Post Office Priority Mail 2-3 day delivery $6.70. And included a returned stamped Priority Mail 2-3 day envelope addressed to me. I could track the mailing both ways. Turnaround time in LA usual 10 working days. Be watchful of holidays. I have read reports of walk in to Consulate in LA...walk in morning first day...receive afternoon second day. LA by the way is responsive to emails...I sent one as followup and received a reply afternoon same day.

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12 minutes ago, travelerjim said:

I got mine from local city police in home city in Oklahoma. Walked in...gave forms...20 minutes later four copies Stamped NO POLICE RECORD. 

4 minutes ago, travelerjim said:

I mailed mine to Los Angeles Thai Consulate

 

So the L.A. Consulate accepted a visa application from someone from Oklahoma??? I thought the different Thai consulates and embassy each had particular regions of states that they had jurisdiction for.

 

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40 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

So the L.A. Consulate accepted a visa application from someone from Oklahoma??? I thought the different Thai consulates and embassy each had particular regions of states that they had jurisdiction for.

 

If using the below Thai Embassy Chicago webpage and putting your mouse over the map it will outline the regions each of the 4 main Thai Embassy/Consulates in the U.S.   And yea, Oklahoma is not in the LA embassy coverage area like you said.  Typical....can't always go by what Thai govt websites say.

http://www.thaiconsulatechicago.org/jurisdiction.php

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12 minutes ago, Pib said:

If using the below Thai Embassy Chicago webpage and putting your mouse over the map it will outline the regions each of the 4 main Thai Embassy/Consulates in the U.S.   And yea, Oklahoma is not in the LA embassy coverage area like you said.  Typical....can't always go by what Thai govt websites say.

http://www.thaiconsulatechicago.org/jurisdiction.php

 

That's interesting... I don't think I'd ever seen that map before....

 

So that means, much to my surprise, that us good ole Texas (mailing address) boys can actually appropriately apply via the DC Embassy....  I would have thought TX would have been in the LA Consulate's jurisdiction.... but I apparently would have been wrong!

 

I probably will ask the LA Consulate at some point if they'd handle an application from me with a TX address on all my docs, but staying with family in the LA area at the time of applying...

 

Also, they may not be so strict about their formal boundaries...I was looking earlier, and didn't find a map like that or mention of jurisdiction on the LA Consulate's website.

 

LA has the appeal for me of being able to handle the application and return stamp in person. DC has the appeal of not having to submit 4 frickling copies of everything like LA requires.

 

 

Edited by TallGuyJohninBKK
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I didn't see the map thing on the DC or LA sites either....didn't check their NYC site.  However, I do know years ago it "did" appear on their sites very prominently (that why I went looking to see what is shown now) when they first decided to implement their regional support system.  It was probably important back then for some reason(s) but has since been devalued.  

Edited by Pib
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18 minutes ago, Pib said:

I didn't see the map thing on the DC or LA sites either....didn't check their NYC site.  However, I do know years ago it "did" appear on their sites very prominently (that why I went looking to see what is shown now) when they first decided to implement their regional support system.  It was probably important back then for some reason(s) but has since been devalued.  

There is a list for the jurisdictions on the embassy site here. https://thaiembdc.org/consular-services/

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On 2/2/2019 at 2:03 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

In the past at least, American expats living abroad full-time had to be careful to not stay too long back in the U.S. during any calendar year in order to preserve their foreign residency exemption from the tax penalty for not having a qualified Obamacare health insurance policy.

 

However, I think that tax penalty provision for not having an ACA qualified policy is not going to apply for the 2018 tax year....and onward.

 

But it's still a pretty expensive place to stay for very long, if you don't have your own home or a family member's home to stay in. Nightly hotel rates are not cheap and add up very quickly.

 

Having just done my taxes for 2018 I can say that the way they word it in TurboTax is that the penalty for not having Obamacare is now $0 (the implication being that if you don't pay that $0 penalty you are subject to arrest and imprisonment ???? ).  Used to be some flat amount or a percentage of income whichever was higher.  Thankfully sanity has been restored and that has been undone.  

I claimed my usual "C" exemption for living in a foreign country over a certain number of days, and/or being outside the US for a certain number of days.

 

Under the old rules, you were liable to pay a partial penalty ("tax") if you visited the US for more than I think 34 days in a year.  That's basically still true but the penalty is $0.  Always struck me as odd that when I returned to the country I was born in and am a citizen of I had to start a clock so I didn't stay too long in my own country.  If I did "stay too long" I was charged for not buying a product I couldn't use.  The whole thing was ridiculous, but also very sad.  I'd like to see the whole thing disappear but at least starting in 2019 there no penalty greater than $0 imposed.

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1 hour ago, skatewash said:

Having just done my taxes for 2018 I can say that the way they word it in TurboTax is that the penalty for not having Obamacare is now $0 (the implication being that if you don't pay that $0 penalty you are subject to arrest and imprisonment ???? ).  Used to be some flat amount or a percentage of income whichever was higher.  Thankfully sanity has been restored and that has been undone.  

I claimed my usual "C" exemption for living in a foreign country over a certain number of days, and/or being outside the US for a certain number of days.

 

Under the old rules, you were liable to pay a partial penalty ("tax") if you visited the US for more than I think 34 days in a year.  That's basically still true but the penalty is $0.  Always struck me as odd that when I returned to the country I was born in and am a citizen of I had to start a clock so I didn't stay too long in my own country.  If I did "stay too long" I was charged for not buying a product I couldn't use.  The whole thing was ridiculous, but also very sad.  I'd like to see the whole thing disappear but at least starting in 2019 there no penalty greater than $0 imposed.

 

Well, in truth, expats were just a bystander casualty of how that whole issue was legislated. The purpose was to get U.S. folks to buy into some insurance plan, and have a penalty for those that didn't to support the subsidies for those that did.  At least, the feds DID provide an exemption for those really living outside the U.S.

 

But, for instance, if you had a family/parental emergency or something that temporarily pulled you back to the U.S. for longer than the specified period, you'd get nailed with the ACA penalty in the past. As I recall it from last year, at least when I did my federal taxes last year, it was something like about $695. Fortunately, that's at least one potential expat pitfall that we don't have to worry about any longer.

 

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On 2/1/2019 at 10:31 PM, AAArdvark said:

Specifically, local police are excluded.  It must be state or federal. 

That's what they say but I did with a local report from county clerk's office and took my chance and it was successful. I will continue doing local report till they reject me. 

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On ‎2‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 11:07 AM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

So the L.A. Consulate accepted a visa application from someone from Oklahoma??? I thought the different Thai consulates and embassy each had particular regions of states that they had jurisdiction for.

 

I wonder if you were a walk in it wouldn't matter where you applied? I think I remember a recent post where someone applied at DC and it was sent back because they were in Chicago's zone.

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On 2/1/2019 at 2:28 AM, Gtto said:

I currently have an extension of stay based on retirement. Does anyone know if it is a problem getting an O A after having this extension assuming all criteria are met? Thanks.

No problem 

Edited by onera1961
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On 2/3/2019 at 12:49 PM, ubonjoe said:

You can get fingerprint cards from the embassy and have prints done at the thai police clearance center in Bangkok.

See: https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/fingerprint-cards/

Are fingerprints for OA visas a specific USA requirement? I have not read any reports on here of OA applicants at the London Embassy being required to provide fingerprints - and it is certainly not included in the list of requirements on their website!

 

http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services/7742/84508-Non-Immigrant-visas.html#7

 

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Are fingerprints for OA visas a specific USA requirement? I have not read any reports on here of OA applicants at the London Embassy being required to provide fingerprints - and it is certainly not included in the list of requirements on their website!

 

http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services/7742/84508-Non-Immigrant-visas.html#7

 

Fingerprints for a non imm o-a multi entry visa via a Thai Embassy or Consulate in the US are not an absolute requirement. I have obtained a number of these visas and have never been required to be fingerprinted.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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On 2/2/2019 at 2:50 PM, Tapster said:

@SpokaneAl

 

There are many pedants on TV.

Some correct people who talk about 'renewing their visa', and insist that they refer to an 'extension of stay' instead.

 

You have taken this to a new level, congratulations.

 

My use of the word extend implies my understanding of this.

 

 

 

 

So we can safely take it, then, that you consider one of these:-

 

Image result for apple image download

 

to, in fact, be one of these:-

 

image.jpeg.e6fe8173da8f6ebe26ffc63a02a6e8ea.jpeg

 

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