Cheapest Health Insurance

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, 1 said:

With the O Visa I assume you apply for an extension in the exact same way as you do an OA Visa so you are not required to leave the country every year?

Same as extending a OA visa entry. No need to leave the country unless you want to.

[Peter Denis]

9 minutes ago, 1 said:

Sorry for my laziness here.

With the O Visa I assume you apply for an extension in the exact same way as you do an OA Visa so you are not required to leave the country every year?

All the options/details to convert to a Non Imm O - retirement Visa are addressed in the comprehensive Roadmap I sent you 3 hours ago.

And glad to see that @DrJack54 wake-up call post made you consider the options you have to avoid the @#$%^ thai IO-approved health-insurance scam.

[1]

So doing my research on the O Visa and looking at the Phnom Penh Thailand Embassy it appears to be easier then getting a residence certificate!

 

The other thing I note that would work perfectly for me is that they will accept foreign currency for proof of income " Financial evidence of at least 200,000 Baht or 65,000 Baht per month in income or retirement funds (or equivalent in any currency" I'm pretty sure the 200,000 is a typo. I'm assuming I could just provide bank statements from my Australian Bank.

 

No mention of police checks, no mention of doctor's certificates. Accepting that they say other the documents may be requested, but it would seem an odd thing to request something like a police certificate on the day of your application without it being mentioned previously.

 

Anyway hoping somebody you may have been through this process at this office may be able to offer further information.

 

http://www.thaiembassy.org/phnompenh/en/services/7962/106432-Non-Immigrant-Visa-"O"-(Retirement).html

 

 

 

[1]

I should also add the proof of retirement is a particularly annoying document and does not seem to be included at the above Embassy. But certainly would be handy if I don't have to go to the Australian Embassy in Bangkok given I live in Pattaya.

[AussieBob18]

Visa Agent?  10K-15K?  

[1]

39 minutes ago, AussieBob18 said:

Visa Agent?  10K-15K?  

Not as long as I have a functioning brain! 555

[ubonjoe]

2 hours ago, 1 said:

Anyway hoping somebody you may have been through this process at this office may be able to offer further information.

There appears to be a error on that list.

I am sure that should be 800k baht.

I can recall a report or 2 from sometime ago about getting a non-o but they had wait a few hours for their application to beaccepted by the head of the consular section.

The Phnom Penh embassy is not known to be friendly location to apply for any visa.

[1]

18 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

There appears to be a error on that list.

I am sure that should be 800k baht.

I can recall a report or 2 from sometime ago about getting a non-o but they had wait a few hours for their application to beaccepted by the head of the consular section.

The Phnom Penh embassy is not known to be friendly location to apply for any visa.

Thanks mate. Was aware the 200000 was probably a typo was more hoping the lack of other stuff was relevant! 

Depending on what comes back here I may try it anyway and default to The Tourist exemption if it fails. 

[OJAS]

On 2/24/2020 at 4:13 PM, jacko45k said:

Nobody knows for sure... but they cannot impose 12 month insurance requirement on a Non-Imm-O VISA as it only allows a 90 day stay.

Extensions is another matter.

I agree that non-O visas would almost certainly continue to be issued by those embassies and consulates in the ASEAN region that still issue them (as would visa-exempt/tourist visa conversions by immigration offices) on the grounds of being aged 50 or over without the need for mandatory health insurance, as is the case now.

 

But subsequent extensions of stay could, as you say, be a different matter altogether. As I see things, it would merely take a further rewrite of para 2.22 of Police Order 327/2557 on the Immigration Bureau’s part to bring all remaining original non-imm visa types (including the non-O) within the scope of the health insurance requirement for retirement extensions - as now, in practice, applies to non-OA visas past and present.

 

So I fear that original non-OA visa holders who have subsequently obtained non-O visas in the hope of avoiding the health insurance requirement for future retirement extensions might, at some stage, find themselves in for a rude awakening.

[Tagaa]

On 2/24/2020 at 4:13 PM, jacko45k said:

Nobody knows for sure... but they cannot impose 12 month insurance requirement on a Non-Imm-O VISA as it only allows a 90 day stay.

Extensions is another matter.

You are correct that they cannot require 12 month policy for a 90 day visa, but I believe they will soon require it for a yearly extension.

 

I would also posit that later this year or next, they will come up with yet another requirement or hoop for the white foreigners to jump through. And eventually Thailand will follow the bad example of South Africa. All the Thai apologists will say I've gone round the bend. But when it happens here, I'll be enjoying 4 distinct seasons in my own country with a 44 magnum on my hip and a 12 gauge close at hand. What will you do when they come for you here? Throw empty Leo bottles at them? Chok dee with that plan.

 

Wake up & smell the kim chi folks. These people DO NOT want us here and have now said so publicly. Do yourself a favor and get ahead of them and make plans to return to the West. SE Asia is not an option. Note recent changes in Vietnam & statements by Duterte in the P.I. If you have made a life here, leaving is not an easy & quick thing to do. It will require forethought and planning. My suggestion is to make plans for an exit on your schedule, not theirs.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Tagaa
clarity

[jacko45k]

13 hours ago, OJAS said:

So I fear that original non-OA visa holders who have subsequently obtained non-O visas in the hope of avoiding the health insurance requirement for future retirement extensions might, at some stage, find themselves in for a rude awakening.

It would be a rude awakening for all of those on retirement extensions, not simply those who switched from an O-A to avoid insurance. I would be forced to obtain a qualifying insurance policy, when actually I have voluntarily obtained domestic insurance. Insurance I feel is sufficient but obviously immigration do not. 

I have heard a few simply say they expect they would have to leave Thailand, although, more likely, requirements could be avoided for a price. 

[BobBKK]

On 2/24/2020 at 5:16 PM, Peter Denis said:

All the options/details to convert to a Non Imm O - retirement Visa are addressed in the comprehensive Roadmap I sent you 3 hours ago.

And glad to see that @DrJack54 wake-up call post made you consider the options you have to avoid the @#$%^ thai IO-approved health-insurance scam.

Could you send that to me to please?  or publish it here.  I know a 77 year old who is oblivious to the problems coming his way when he tries to renew his visa.

 

[BobBKK]

On 2/24/2020 at 1:47 PM, Vacuum said:

Change your visa to a NON-O ?

is it really that simple?  I'm worried for an old guy i know stuck on a O-A and @77 ex-cancer I doubt he'd get insurance coverage.

[jacko45k]

4 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

is it really that simple?  I'm worried for an old guy i know stuck on a O-A and @77 ex-cancer I doubt he'd get insurance coverage.

At the moment yes it is and may even be an only resort for the example you cite. 

[Peter Denis]

47 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

Could you send that to me to please?  or publish it here.  I know a 77 year old who is oblivious to the problems coming his way when he tries to renew his visa.

Hi BobBKK,

Just PM-ed you the comprehensive Roadmap to apply for or convert to a Non Imm O - retirement Visa.

Indeed, a 77 year old retiree on an OA Visa will not be able to simply extend that Visa for reason of retirement as he did previous years.  And at his age there are no thai IO-approved health-insurance policies to which he can subscribe, so he definitely will need to convert to an O - retirement Visa.

Note: Unless he is married to a thai national, because in that case it is actually only a matter of applying for reason of marriage when this OA extension of stay is due.  But if not married to a thai national the Roadmap will provide him with all options to switch to an O Visa (no health-insurance needed).

[OJAS]

3 hours ago, BobBKK said:

is it really that simple?  I'm worried for an old guy i know stuck on a O-A and @77 ex-cancer I doubt he'd get insurance coverage.

As already said that's the only option available to him at the present time.

 

And IMHO he also needs to brace himself for the possibility that, even with an original non-O visa, he might one day be required to do the completely impossible in his case (i.e. obtain a TGIA-approved health insurance policy) in order to obtain a fresh retirement extension. A further rewrite of para 2.22 of Police Order 327/2557 would "simply do the trick" in that regard as far as the Immigration Bureau were concerned.

 

EDIT: All this, of course, assumes that he doesn't have alternative reasons for applying for annual extensions (in particular marriage to a Thai national).

 

Edited February 28, 2020 by OJAS

[BobBKK]

4 minutes ago, OJAS said:

As already said that's the only option available to him at the present time.

 

And IMHO he also needs to brace himself for the possibility that, even with an original non-O visa, he might one day be required to do the completely impossible in his case (i.e. obtain a TGIA-approved health insurance policy) in order to obtain a fresh retirement extension. A further rewrite of para 2.22 of Police Order 327/2557 would "simply do the trick" in that regard as far as the Immigration Bureau were concerned.

 

If that day ever came many, many of us would be in big Do-Do!