No non OA visa extensions in Hua Hin because no health Insurance.

[Sheryl]

52 minutes ago, Haribo said:

.... Is it possible, If a foreigner has an international health insurance which covers one million USD for inpatient and outpatient care, and the foreign insurance company completes the form (Foreign Insurance Certificate) that the visa Non OA is renewed?

 

 

I think the form (Foreign Insurance Certificate) ist for international health Insurance companies.

 

 

 The Police Order does nto explictly address this.

 

the tgia website -- which is not a government source, but rather run by a group of local insurance companies who, obviously, have a vested interest - states that a foreign policy can be used only for the first year of entry and that policy must be bought locally from one of the "approved" companies after that.

 

Lacking any official government statement either way IOs have been treating what the tgia site says as law. Everyone who has reported asking their local IO if they can use a foreign policy has been told no.

 

It remains to be seen if Immigration will step in and give guidance on this and other aspects of the order which are unclear.

 

There also remains some doubt about whether the insurance requirement applies to extensions of OA visas that were issued before the effective date of 31/10/19. Most IOs appear to say it does but some people have reported receiving extension recently without it  (Sometimes from the same office).

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

the tgia website -- which is not a government source, but rather run by a group of local insurance companies who, obviously, have a vested interest - states that a foreign policy can be used only for the first year of entry and that policy must be bought locally from one of the "approved" companies after that.

 

One of the bizarre things I've noticed about this is that various of the Thai Embassy/Consulate websites all seem to have somewhat different language about just what they want/will allow regarding insurance for new O-A applications.

 

And in particular, among other examples, I believe someone pointed out the other day that the London Embassy's website now seems to make no mention whatsoever of the foreign insurance option, and doesn't have any links to or mention of the MoPH Foreign Insurance Certificate.

 

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

 

 

At least the Thai Embassy/Consulates in the U.S. have websites regarding the O-A visas that continue to make some references to the notion of foreign insurance being allowed at application.

 

Have no idea how London is actually enforcing the insurance requirement at the point of O-A application. Except their website pretty strongly suggests, intentionally or not, that they want people to buy policies from the Thai insurers.

Edited November 14, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[oslooskar]

9 hours ago, userabcd said:

Good luck with that one. They seem to exclude almost all health conditions.

I already have health insurance that covers me here in Thailand. Bottom-line; if I buy insurance from them it will be only for the sole intended purpose of getting an extension of my O-A visa in February. However, before I do that I will consider other options as well, like remarrying my ex-wife, who is Thai, and trying to get an O visa.

[oslooskar]

4 hours ago, Sheryl said:

They do not renew past age 80. Even if the issue you a policy now, what will you do then?

Brush up on my Spanish.

[GeorgeCross]

one more for the ever growing pile:

 

[TigerandDog]

Just received advice from a friend that he was able to obtain his extension of stay ( Non O-A Retirement ) at Chiang Mai today and health insurance was not mentioned by the IO.

[gavlar]

6 minutes ago, TigerandDog said:

Just received advice from a friend that he was able to obtain his extension of stay ( Non O-A Retirement ) at Chiang Mai today and health insurance was not mentioned by the IO.

That's good news...but so many different stories...be great to see some 1st hand accounts, which I'm sure we will over coming weeks..

[Mango Bob]

19 minutes ago, TigerandDog said:

Just received advice from a friend that he was able to obtain his extension of stay ( Non O-A Retirement ) at Chiang Mai today and health insurance was not mentioned by the IO.

Isn't there a sign at CM immigrations saying you must have insurance for an extension of stay?

[roo860]

2 minutes ago, Mango Bob said:

Isn't there a sign at CM immigrations saying you must have insurance for an extension of stay?

Yes.

[berrec]

On 11/13/2019 at 1:20 PM, cheshiremusicman said:

For people like myself aged 76, I cannot get health insurance and I would be willing to take out a 'Bond' with a Thai Bank for 440k Baht that would 'Self Insure me'. I have used the Hua Hin General hospital a few times and been very pleased with the outcome and always paid my bills. My last stay was for pneumonia and I had to pay my bills every two days. I cannot see how anybody could get out of hospital without paying their bills and if the hospital needed assurances, then just retain the patients passport until they are discharged, I would have absolutely no objections to this. If the 'Bond' was acceptable then you would not have to renew it every year only make sure that if you have had treatment of any kind then you just topped up the money in the 'Bond' to the 440k again when you left hospital. Surely the fact that we are now required to retain 400k in our bank accounts all year round is sufficient to prove that we have the money to pay for hospital treatment, again with the same proviso that we 'topped it up after treatment'.

 

Well good logicall suggestion, but of course logic is a far distant attribute that most Thai politicians and government officials lack here. 

 

The pitfall in your suggestion is it doesn't get the brown paper bags to the politicians and government officials from the insurance lobbyists that I assume are tied on this Dirty Dozen list of required health insurers to fill the coffers of those that are corrupt.

 

I am not against health insurance but I am against this money grabbing dictotical scheme of being forced to use only these Thai politicians and government official's dirty dozen mates money grabbing useless health insurance policy schemes.  

[Andrew Dwyer]

So CM immigration issued an extension on an OA without insurance ( see post #126 ) yet apparently there is a sign at CM immigration saying you need insurance for an extension ( see post #129 ).

 

Can’t be both ways ??

 

Can it ??

Is the former really an OA or does the sign say “ after 31st Oct “ .?

Got to be more to this !!

 

Edited November 14, 2019 by Andrew Dwyer

[TheAppletons]

2 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

So CM immigration issued an extension on an OA without insurance ( see post #126 ) yet apparently there is a sign at CM immigration saying you need insurance for an extension ( see post #129 ).

 

Can’t be both ways ??

 

Can it ??

 

 

  Lots of people who don't know what type of visa they have.  There's even a thread in the Chiang Mai forum right now where several people can't figure it out.  

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

1 minute ago, TheAppletons said:

  Lots of people who don't know what type of visa they have.  There's even a thread in the Chiang Mai forum right now where several people can't figure it out.  

 

 

Yes, i agree , these reports need to be first hand with a photo if possible, as you say we have had reports of people unaware of their visa status and we did have one poster reporting he had obtained an extension of an expired OA ( with no insurance ) only to realise he had an O.

 

So, if a report doesn’t show proof it’s going to be questioned, sad that people’s word cannot be taken for granted but this is an important issue for many and we need to know the true situation.

[andre47]

After reading all I went to our Jomtien Immigration today and asked whether I will need an health insurance or not.

The answer was:

Non-Immigrant Visa, Category "O-A" needs insurance

Non-Immigrant Visa, Category "O" don't need insurance

 

Hope that helps...

Attached my visa (no need for insurance)

[Maestro]

On 11/14/2019 at 3:45 AM, Roy Baht said:

Considering my visa literally has the word "Retirement" written on it by the IO, I don't think I'm going to fight on the semantics.

 

 

Does your visa have the word "Visa" written on it?

[GeorgeCross]

what is a non-RE visa?

On 11/15/2019 at 3:25 PM, andre47 said:

After reading all I went to our Jomtien Immigration today and asked whether I will need an health insurance or not.

The answer was:

Non-Immigrant Visa, Category "O-A" needs insurance

Non-Immigrant Visa, Category "O" don't need insurance

 

Hope that helps...

Attached my visa (no need for insurance)

 

what is a NON-RE visa please?

 

 

[TheAppletons]

11 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

what is a non-RE visa?

 

what is a NON-RE visa please?

 

 

  Making a guess.......it's an annotation to reflect that the person is re-entering using a re-entry permit to an existing permission to stay.  

[ubonjoe]

10 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

what is a NON-RE visa please?

it means non immigrant re-entry. I indicates a entry was done using a re-entry permit issued for a permit to stay allowed by a non immigrant visa or the extension of it.

[Roy Baht]

On 11/14/2019 at 9:53 AM, Andrew Dwyer said:

Your visa or your extension of stay ?

 

My OA visa ( expired ) doesn’t mention retirement but my extension of stay has retirement stamped above it .

 

My visa

[Roy Baht]

2 hours ago, Maestro said:

 

Does your visa have the word "Visa" written on it?

Yep. Just like your forehead has the word "Moron" written on it.

[andre47]

9 minutes ago, Roy Baht said:

My visa

 

This visa has the category "O".  ==> no insurance necessary

 

[Maestro]

On 11/14/2019 at 3:45 AM, Roy Baht said:

Considering my visa literally has the word "Retirement" written on it by the IO, I don't think I'm going to fight on the semantics.

 

 

6 hours ago, Roy Baht said:

Yep. Just like your forehead has the word "Moron" written on it.

 

Thank you for the images you posted after I asked my questiond. This has cleared matters up.

 

1. What you first called your "visa" that "literally has the word 'Retirement' written on it" is in fact your retirement extension and this "visa", which is not a visa, does not have the word visa on it.

 

2. Your visa, as per your photo, has "visa" on it, but not "Retirement"

 

3. Your extension, as per your photo, has the word "Retirement" on on it, but not "Visa"

 

These were the puzzles that I needed to get solved.

 

Furthermore, I know now that your visa was not an O-A visa and that your post was therefore off-topic in this thread.

 

I appreciate the effort you made to clear all this up.

[Maestro]

On 11/14/2019 at 12:00 PM, TheAppletons said:

Lots of people who don't know what type of visa they have.  There's even a thread in the Chiang Mai forum right now where several people can't figure it out.  

 

It is precisely this which makes the discussion on this new health insurance requirement rather confusing and difficult.  Absolute clarity about the original visa and the current extension of stay can exist only if images of them are posted, as one member very kindly did in this thread today or yesterday.

[thinktoomuch]

4 hours ago, Maestro said:

 

 

Thank you for the images you posted after I asked my questiond. This has cleared matters up.

 

1. What you first called your "visa" that "literally has the word 'Retirement' written on it" is in fact your retirement extension and this "visa", which is not a visa, does not have the word visa on it.

 

2. Your visa, as per your photo, has "visa" on it, but not "Retirement"

 

3. Your extension, as per your photo, has the word "Retirement" on on it, but not "Visa"

 

These were the puzzles that I needed to get solved.

 

Furthermore, I know now that your visa was not an O-A visa and that your post was therefore off-topic in this thread.

 

I appreciate the effort you made to clear all this up.

Most of your response doesn't seem to match the only photo I can see that was posted by Roy Baht.

 

As he said his visa does have the word "Retirement" on it (and also the word "visa").

 

The image he posted is an image of a Non-Immigrant O multiple entry visa with the word "Retirement" written on it.

 

I think you may have been looking at images from other posters and an image he quoted in a reply.

 

[andre47]

The word "retirement" is not important in relation to the insurance problem.

If the visa is category "O-A" then a insurance is necessary.

That means all new visa "O-A" and all new extensions of stay of existing visas "O-A" needs an health insurance. If you have an existing extension of stay of a category "O-A" visa then you will need an insurance the next time when you will apply for a new extension of stay.

Edited November 16, 2019 by andre47

[jacko45k]

4 minutes ago, andre47 said:

The word "retirement" is not important in relation to the insurance problem.

If the visa is category "O-A" then a insurance is necessary.

That means all new visa "O-A" and all extensions of stay of existing visas "O-A" needs an health insurance.

Surely only Extensions of Stay based on retirement!

[andre47]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

Surely only Extensions of Stay based on retirement!

no, based on a visa category "O-A"

[jacko45k]

14 minutes ago, andre47 said:

no, based on a visa category "O-A"

You are claiming an Extension of Permission to Stay based on marriage to a Thai national will require insurance (if the original Permission came from an O-A Visa)... point us to a police order stating that. The requirements for a marriage extension have not changed for many years. 

Edited November 16, 2019 by jacko45k

[andre47]

2 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

You are claiming an Extension of Permission to Stay based on marriage to a Thai national will require insurance (if the original Permission came from an O-A Visa)... point us to a police order stating that. The requirements for a marriage extension have not changed for many years. 

Original: https://www.immigration.go.th/read?content_id=5d9c3b074d8a8f318362a8aa&fbclid=IwAR39UI_zBxVLedZKgZeAeYnvb0yyyIsr6SHPhnq64ohzACO7VsLUU_LlGn0

When I went last week to our Jomtien immigration the only criterion for the officer was whether the visa is "O-A" or not. (marriage or retirement is not important).

[Peterw42]

14 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

You are claiming an Extension of Permission to Stay based on marriage to a Thai national will require insurance (if the original Permission came from an O-A Visa)... point us to a police order stating that. The requirements for a marriage extension have not changed for many years. 

Isnt that the whole point, the police order doesn't use the term marriage or retirement, it just mentions extensions (from an original OA). If you interpret it to apply to retire extension, it also applies to marriage extension.