Guest RichLB Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 i didn't know this so figured it might save someone some grief. My Retirement Visa needs to be rewed in April, 2009. But, my passport expires later this year. Luckily, I have now applied for a new passport and it will arrive before the time to renew my Retirement Visa. However, if I had failed to do so, I was told I would not have been allowed to renew my Retirement Visa as the passport must be valid for the entire year for which the visa is granted. So, make sure your passport is up to date and good for a year after you get your Retirement Visa. Quote
Gaybutton Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 Thank you RichLB. This is quite important information for people living in Thailand on the retirement visa and may not have been aware of this. I'll leave this post pinned for a while. Quote
Guest lvdkeyes Posted December 30, 2008 Posted December 30, 2008 I don't know how I did it, but I passed the time I was supposed to report my address by a month. I went to immigration expecting to pay 2000 baht fine. They were very busy and it was nearly lunchtime when it was my turn. I just handed the woman my passport and form and said nothing. She tore off the past receipt from my passport and stapled it to the new form and proceeded with the processing. When she handed me my passport I said "kop khun MAK krap" and walked out. Whew!!!! Quote
2lz2p Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 I am presuming that "expires later this year." means sometime in 2009 after your April renewal date. Otherwise, later this year, message being posted on December 30, would mean it expires today, the 31st. Thailand requires that holders of US passports (and probably most others) to have at least 6 months validity for entry into Thailand (visa waiver or holder of a visa) - see Thai Tourist Visa Requirements and Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It appears that only 6 or more months validity is necessary for renewal of a retirement extension. The Thai Embassy in Washington DC notes that to qualify for an O-A (retirement or long stay) visa, the applicants passport must have 18 months validity (one year granted upon entry plus 6 months) - see: Thai O A Visa requirements. Before you say I got it wrong, I did in fact renew my retirement visa with less than one year of validity remaining on my US passport (I had about 9 months remaining). Pattaya Immigration renewed my retirement visa on my regular anniversary date, BUT put its expiration date as the same date my passport expired. They told me when I had my new passport, to bring it in to change everything over and they would extend the stay to the normal expiration date (which date they had written adjacent to my extension stamp). A couple of months later, I applied for and received my new passport through the US Embassy in Bangkok - they also gave me a letter addressed to Thai Immigration noting the issuance of the new passport. I took my new passport, old passport, and the Embassy letter to Pattaya Immigration. They entered information in my new passport about my original non-immigrant visa and subsequent annual extensions. They then put in another extension stamp with my normal annual expiration date. There was no fee charged for the changeover. Quote
Guest travelerjim Posted December 31, 2008 Posted December 31, 2008 I also experienced this same scenario with my retirement visa in my passport at Pattaya Immigration. However...DO NOT buy the multiple entry visa (3,800baht) ...as it dies with the passport and is NOT transferred into your new passport! YES, my retirement visa was transferred into the new passport...but sadly I had to buy another multiple entry visa...(for another 3,800 baht) or buy a single re-entry stamp each time (1,000 baht) until my one year was up for the retirement visa. tj Quote
