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I assume you mean you want to change your permission of stay (extension) to retirement from marriage.

Your O-A Visa expired on it's valid until date.

 

Unfortunately only medical cover from one of the Thai approved companies is acceptable for extensions from an O-A Visa for the purpose of retirement. Overseas medical policies are not accepted for Immigration purposes, only those from the approved Thai Insurers website are acceptable.

Home - Health Insurance for Long Stay Visa in Thailand (tgia.org) 

LMG is the cheapest, but useless in terms of coverage, but meets the minimum requirements.

 

@Peter Denis has produced a roadmap guide with very useful information on this subject.

 

 

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i just extended my 0-A marriage and iam currently in thailand but wish to go back to the retirement visa as we are experiencing issues with immigration due to my wifes house in which we do not live but rent instead...i seems to confuse immigration....so can you change a visa while here in Thailand......and your saying i cannot use medical insurance out of Thailand....

 

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19 minutes ago, comfortablynumb54 said:

i want to change my 0-A visa from marriage to retirement....any info how to go about this would be appreciated...also can you not get medical insurance through your own country for coverage for 0-A visas......a little confused as i read that it seems insurance through Thai companies is required....thanks...

Hi, I did PM you a comprehensive Guideline document on how to stay long-term in Thailand when over +50 years of age.

Tomorrow I will respond in a separate message on your specific question on how to switch from your current 1-year retirement extension to a marriage extension based on your original Non Imm O-A Visa.  The comments provided by @Tanoshi are fully correct, but there are additional aspects you need to be fully aware of when switching from marriage to a retirement-extension.  

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5 minutes ago, comfortablynumb54 said:

i just extended my 0-A marriage and iam currently in thailand but wish to go back to the retirement visa as we are experiencing issues with immigration due to my wifes house in which we do not live but rent instead...i seems to confuse immigration....so can you change a visa while here in Thailand......and your saying i cannot use medical insurance out of Thailand....

 

You appear somewhat confused.

Your wife is registered in a Blue house book as living at the address you rent.

 

Where are you and the wife living?

You only need to supply details of address where you actually live, if rented, or family, then signed copies of the owners/landlords Tabien Baan and ID card. You should have filed a TM30 previously for the same address your staying at.

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1 minute ago, comfortablynumb54 said:

well i hear that i need Thai medical insurance to extend my 0-A visa but no mention of me getting Thai insurance....confusing to say the least...

Your not extending your O-A Visa. Your O-A originally grated you permission to stay for 12 months.

Your extending that permission of stay again for another year.

 

You do require medical Insurance if extending based on marriage.

You do require medical Insurance if extending based on retirement

Immigration only accept medical Insurance policies from one of the Thai approved Insurers from the link already posted.

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1 minute ago, comfortablynumb54 said:

well just finished doing my extension...just waiting for approval and nobody at immigration has told me i need Thai insurance

Probably because it's based on marriage, so not required.

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5 minutes ago, comfortablynumb54 said:

there seems to be an issue with immigration about my wifes blue house book but we live  in another house that we rent which immigration is aware of...and yes we have done the tm 30 same address..

Probably looking to create a problem which some tea money could resolve.

 

Many Thais are registered in Blue house books, but don't live there.

You should be supplying signed copies of the landlords Blue house book and ID card and perhaps a rental contract as proof of your residential address.

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2 minutes ago, comfortablynumb54 said:

yes its based on marriage...so if i change then i have to use the Thai insurance....is that correct...

Pointless changing as long as the wife will put up with you ????

 

Yes you need a Thai Health Insurance policy for an extension based on retirement.

You'd also need 800K in a Thai bank or proof of 65K monthly transfers for retirement.

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18 minutes ago, comfortablynumb54 said:

i have the coin required...be here in Thailand a few years now but what i cannot get is your telling me that for marriage extension i dont need Thai insurance only for retirement....

The Thai IO-approved health-insurance policy issued by a TGIA-associated insurer, is ONLY required when applying for

- a 1 year extension of stay

- for reason of retirement

- based on your original Non Imm O-A Visa.

When applying for any other reason (marriage, dependent Thai child, ...) or when applying for an extension of a Non Imm O Visa, it is NOT required.

Note: And there are some provinces (e.g. Phuket) where the IO does - under certain conditions - not enforce that health-insurance requirement, even when applying for a 1-year extension for reason of retirement based on a Non Imm O-A Visa.

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21 hours ago, Tanoshi said:

Your not extending your O-A Visa. Your O-A originally grated you permission to stay for 12 months.

Your extending that permission of stay again for another year.

 

You do require medical Insurance if extending based on marriage.

You do require medical Insurance if extending based on retirement

Immigration only accept medical Insurance policies from one of the Thai approved Insurers from the link already posted.

So in summation:

Extension fee 1,900THB

Mandatory Covid-19 test 2,700-5,000 THB

(Unclear whether waived if previously received covid-19 vaccine)

1 year LMG Thai health insurance coverage 9,000-11,500 THB 

(no withstanding cost of additional health insurance that will actually cover all in-out patient services sans LMG's high deductible and noninsuranable exceptions)

Maybe 15,000-/+THB total cost to extend visa. 

 

 

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21 hours ago, comfortablynumb54 said:

i have the coin required...be here in Thailand a few years now but what i cannot get is your telling me that for marriage extension i dont need Thai insurance only for retirement....

 

The only thing you need Thai Insurance for is an extension of an OA visa based on retirement

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5 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

So in summation:

Extension fee 1,900THB

Mandatory Covid-19 test 2,700-5,000 THB

(Unclear whether waived if previously received covid-19 vaccine)

1 year LMG Thai health insurance coverage 9,000-11,500 THB 

(no withstanding cost of additional health insurance that will actually cover all in-out patient services sans LMG's high deductible and noninsuranable exceptions)

Maybe 15,000-/+THB total cost to extend visa. 

 

 

 

Mandatory Covid-19 test 2,700-5,000 THB - not required.

 

1 year LMG Thai health insurance coverage 9,000-11,500 THB - price dependant on age.

 

(no withstanding cost of additional health insurance that will actually cover all in-out patient services sans LMG's high deductible and noninsuranable exceptions) - Optional, not a requirement for the extension.

 

 

 

 

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I am insured with April Health Insurance which is an international insurance with a Bangkok branch and not part of the aforementioned Thai insurance list. I had absolutely no problem with my extension of my OA visa based on retirement when submitting a confirmation provided by April stating that my insurance meets the required insurance coverage.

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8 hours ago, Taccos said:

I am insured with April Health Insurance which is an international insurance with a Bangkok branch and not part of the aforementioned Thai insurance list. I had absolutely no problem with my extension of my OA visa based on retirement when submitting a confirmation provided by April stating that my insurance meets the required insurance coverage.

Thanks for the info.  It's interesting to note (which Imm Office?), but taking into account the inconsistency how different Imm offices interpret and enforce the requirements, I would NOT recommend anyone doing same as they would risk their Non Imm O-A retirement extension application being refused for not FULLY meeting the requirements as stipulated in the PoliceOrder governing this matter.

The requirements are four-fold:

1- The health-insurance policy must be approved by IO as compliant to Immigration requirements for a Non Imm O-A or O-X extension application (hence the insurance certificate > see #3);

2- The health-insurance policy must be issued by a Thai TGIA associated insurer (policies issued by a foreign international insurer or a Thai non-TGIA associated insurer;

3- A health-insurance certificate issued by your insurer has to be presented when applying for the Non Imm O-A retirement extension, covering the period of that 1-year extension (if the insurance validity period is shorter your permission to stay will be capped to that insurance end date);

4- Immigration will check using the data on that health-insurance certificate whether your policy has been registered on the IO TGIA health-insurance database.

>> For each of those 3 requirements there are reports of applicants having their extension application refused because not meeting one of the requirements.

As this is Thailand, there are of course cases (like yours) where the Immigration office approved the application even when not fully in compliance with those requirements. 

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Sorry for the late reply! I got my OA visa based stay with foreign health insurance extended at the Koh Samui IO. There are various official sites referring to this option of having a foreign health insurance, such as
https://www.thaiembassy.com/travel-to-thailand/health-insurance-thailand-for-retirees

 

https://thaiconsulatela.org/en/visa/visa-type/non-immigration-category-o-a/


Totally legit as far as I can tell. Anyway it worked for me ????

 

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On 1/19/2021 at 5:00 PM, Srikcir said:

So in summation:

Extension fee 1,900THB

Mandatory Covid-19 test 2,700-5,000 THB

(Unclear whether waived if previously received covid-19 vaccine)

1 year LMG Thai health insurance coverage 9,000-11,500 THB 

(no withstanding cost of additional health insurance that will actually cover all in-out patient services sans LMG's high deductible and noninsuranable exceptions)

Maybe 15,000-/+THB total cost to extend visa. 

 

 

Extensions of Stay based on marriage do NOT require insurance.  As already stated in other posts, insurance only for extensions of stay based on retirement when having entered Thailand with O-A (Not O) Visa

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7 hours ago, Taccos said:

Sorry for the late reply! I got my OA visa based stay with foreign health insurance extended at the Koh Samui IO. There are various official sites referring to this option of having a foreign health insurance, such as
https://www.thaiembassy.com/travel-to-thailand/health-insurance-thailand-for-retirees

 

https://thaiconsulatela.org/en/visa/visa-type/non-immigration-category-o-a/


Totally legit as far as I can tell. Anyway it worked for me ????

Good for you, but NOT 'totally legit'.  The PoliceOrder governing this mandatory Thai IO-approved health-insurance, clearly stipulates that when applying for the 1-year extension for reason of retirement based on your original Non Imm O-A Visa that only a TGIA-associated insurer policy is accepted.

There have been several reported cases of original Non Imm O-A Visa holders applying for the 1-year extension for reason of retirement that were denied their extension because of the above.

Foreign international insurance (even when it provided unlimited coverage or a multiple of the 400K/40K in/out-patient coverage) was not accepted.  There was even a case of Thai Insurance that met the coverage requirements but not issued by a TGIA-associated insurer that was not accepted.

Part of the verification process by the Immigration Office is to check whether your policy details as mentioned on the Thai Insurance Certificate have been inputted by your Thai insurer on the IO Health-Insurance database system.  Once again, there were some reported cases of applicants where their insurer had forgotten to do this, and had their application refused (luckily in these cases a call to the insurer and them inputting the data on the spot, solved the issue).

 

So lucky for you that Koh Samui IO did accept your 1-year retirement extension application based on your original Non Imm O-A Visa, but this would not fly at the large majority of Thai immigration offices.

Note: When applying for the 1-year extension of an original Non Imm O Visa, or when applying for any other reason than retirement, the health-insurance is NOT required.  Are you sure that you are not in one of those cases?

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On 1/18/2021 at 6:50 PM, comfortablynumb54 said:

yes its based on marriage...so if i change then i have to use the Thai insurance....is that correct...

Yes correct. A compelling reason to keep extending based on marriage.

 

The financial requirement is also much higher if based on retirement (800k vs 400k)

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On 1/27/2021 at 8:17 AM, Peter Denis said:

Are you sure that you are not in one of those cases?

Absolutely sure. Else I would not have made this ridiculous OPD Insurance ???? 
 

But if you are saying foreign insurance may not be legit how do you explain reference to foreign insurance made in the above link from Thai Embassy stating:

The new rule specifies that the applicant or visa holder must have health insurance not be less than 40,000 baht for outpatient and 400,000 baht for inpatient medical fees. Policies can either be purchased from domestic or foreign insurers, but the sum of foreign policies must not be less than the amount stipulated for Thai policies.

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6 minutes ago, Taccos said:

Absolutely sure. Else I would not have made this ridiculous OPD Insurance ???? 
 

But if you are saying foreign insurance may not be legit how do you explain reference to foreign insurance made in the above link from Thai Embassy stating:

The new rule specifies that the applicant or visa holder must have health insurance not be less than 40,000 baht for outpatient and 400,000 baht for inpatient medical fees. Policies can either be purchased from domestic or foreign insurers, but the sum of foreign policies must not be less than the amount stipulated for Thai policies.

ThaiEmbassy is not an official Immigration website, but the website from a commercial Thai lawyer organisation.  They are notorious for posting incorrect/incomplete information.

Your second link was to the Thai Embassy in Los Angeles, and when applying for the Non Imm O-A in your home-country (or country of permanent residence) then you have the option to make use of foreign international insurance when the insurance policy meets the IO requirements and when that foreign insurer is able/willing to fill in and sign the Foreign Insurance Certificate.

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