Non O-A Visa Extension Timing and Visa Valid Until Question

[biervoormij]

I received my Non O-A Visa on the 1st of December of 2019 and it is valid until the 2nd of December of 2020. I did not enter the country until the 1st of March 2020 and have a stamp saying I can stay until the 28th of February 2021.

 

I assumed I would start my visa extension around the 14th of February 2021. After reviewing the valid until date on my visa did I misunderstand the timing and should I have already started the extension process?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[DrJack54]

Need obtain extension up till 28 Feb 21

Applying around 14 Feb good idea. 

[Peter Denis]

On 11/23/2020 at 9:31 AM, biervoormij said:

I received my Non O-A Visa on the 1st of December of 2019 and it is valid until the 2nd of December of 2020. I did not enter the country until the 1st of March 2020 and have a stamp saying I can stay until the 28th of February 2021.

 

I assumed I would start my visa extension around the 14th of February 2021. After reviewing the valid until date on my visa did I misunderstand the timing and should I have already started the extension process?

During the 1-year Visa validity (in your case till 2nd of December 2020), each time you exit Thailand and re-enter before Visa validity expiry, you will be stamped in for the 1-year permission to stay a Non Imm O-A Visa entitles you to.

However, a quick border-run to make use of that full 2nd year the Visa can provide you, will not be possible with the current land-border closures (and the quarantaine and other measures on re-entry by air make flying in/out unfeasable too).  So that means you will lose the additional potential 9 months you could have squeezed out of your Non Imm O-A Visa.

But you do have a permission to stay till 28 Feb 2021, which means that - if borders are not open by then -  you would need to apply for a 1-year extension of stay based on your original Non Imm O-A Visa.  This can be done in the last month and up till the very last your current permission to stay provides you (28 Feb 2021).  But obviously it is recommended not to wait till very last day to do the application, and do it at approx 1 week earlier in case your application is incomplete and you need to get hold of additional documentation.

 

You also need to be aware that when applying for that 1-year extension of stay (say on 21 February), that you would have to:

1 - meet the financial requirements for such application (and when using the +800K Funds in bank method, that means you would need to have the funds latest 21 December on your personal Thai bank-account as there is a 2-month seasoning requirement)

2 - have an IO-approved health-insurance policy issued by a THAI insurer that meets the IO requirements and is aligned for the period the 1-year extension of stay you are applying for, will provide you (LMG Insurance Plan-1 with 200K deductible, with no need for a medical exam, is the cheapest/easiest way to meet that insurance requirement).

 

>> I did PM you a comprehensive guideline document outlining the different methods you can use to meet the financial requirements for such application, as well as practical info with tips & caveats on how to subscribe to the required health-insurance policy.

To access your PM-messages just click the letter-icon next to your profile when logged in to the Forum.

[Peter Denis]

On 11/23/2020 at 9:31 AM, biervoormij said:

I received my Non O-A Visa on the 1st of December of 2019 and it is valid until the 2nd of December of 2020. I did not enter the country until the 1st of March 2020 and have a stamp saying I can stay until the 28th of February 2021.

...

In my previous response I addressed your actual query.

But I am curious about what you wrote in the quote rendered higher.

Normally when you entered Thailand on 1st of March 2020, border immigration would have checked your Visa and then stamped you in for either:

- the 12 months your valid Non Imm O-A Visa entitles you to;

- the insurance expiry date of the mandatory Non Imm O-A compliant insurance policy for such Non Imm O-A Visa';

whichever is shortest.

But you wrote that you were stamped in till 28 Feb 2021, and so that means that either

- you had a 2-year period of Non Imm O-A compliant insurance, OR

- the border Immigration official 'overlooked' the fact that your insurance period was shorter than the 1 year your Non Imm O-A Visa entitles you to.

I presume that the latter is the case, as I have only seen 1 case of a Non Imm O-A Visa holder that succeeded in getting a 2-year insurance notification in his passport.  And if so, that means that you have been very lucky the Immigration officer made that mistake. 

>> Can you please enlighten me re the above.  Thanks!

[biervoormij]

Thank you both DrJack and Peter Denis. This information was very helpful.

 

Peter on the insurance when I was preparing to apply for my O-A I booked my flight and the start of my insurance to be on the same day the 1st of March.  My flight ended up getting changed to the 29th of February arriving on the 1st of March.  I ended up arriving on the same day my insurance started but had planned a one day difference.  They seemed very concerned about my insurance both when I applied for the visa and when entering into the country. It seemed they would have preferred to have the original from the insurance company rather than the printout I had from an email attachment but thankfully they accepted what I had.

 

Thanks again for all the information.

[Peter Denis]

21 hours ago, biervoormij said:

... on the insurance when I was preparing to apply for my O-A I booked my flight and the start of my insurance to be on the same day the 1st of March.  My flight ended up getting changed to the 29th of February arriving on the 1st of March.  I ended up arriving on the same day my insurance started but had planned a one day difference.  They seemed very concerned about my insurance both when I applied for the visa and when entering into the country. It seemed they would have preferred to have the original from the insurance company rather than the printout I had from an email attachment but thankfully they accepted what I had.

Thanks for clarifying.

At which Thai Embassy did you apply for your Non Imm O-A Visa?

Normally the Thai Embassy would want to see the Foreign Insurance Certificate of your Non Imm O-A compliant insurance policy when you used a non-Thai insurer, or a copy of the Health Insurance Certificate when you made use of a Thai insurer.  In both cases they would then take-over the EXPIRY date of that insurance policy in a note on the Non Imm O-A Visa sticker (see sample attached below).

And then Thai border-immigration will simply stamp you in for whichever is shorter - that insurance expiry date or the 12 months your valid Non Imm O-A Visa entitles your to.

It seems you are extremely lucky that both your Thai Embassy as well as Thai border-immigration accepted an e-mail print-out of your insurance policy and stamped you in for the full 1 year.

 

 

[biervoormij]

I did the insurance through a Thai company (Pacific Cross) and did the process of getting it mostly via email. I only received the email with the policy and some type of certificate of coverage a few days before applying for the visa.

 

I do not have the line on my visa with Health Insurance Ends on it but have the line Employment Prohibited.

 

I applied and received my visa in Washington DC, USA. I feel very lucky to be in Thailand not so much because of the insurance but if I would have booked my flight for 2 weeks later I don't think I would have been allowed into the country.

 

[sscc]

I am in same situation.  Relevant date for me is to apply for an Non-Imm O-A Visa extension ( first time extension ) is mid-December 2020   --- planning to go to Jomtien IO on Dec 16 2020.

 

Already sorted out the health insurance and received LMG Insurance certificate. 

800K  Baht had been locked in K-bank account since Aug 2020.  

 

My question is should I go to K-bank and ask for a letter and bank statements in the past three months to show to IO ?   If I need letter or statements or both,  roughly when should I go to K-bank for these papers ? 

As I have not stayed for a full year so far,  my K-Bank account is of course less than one year old.   

I wonder if the bank letter is same as the others doing second or third or... extension. Would the bank staff get confused or not ? 

 

Thanks for your help.