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O-A Long-Stay Visa Guide: Benefits, Requirements, Reporting

The O-A visa is issued to those over 50 years old and provides a long-stay option in Thailand. It's often referred to as a “retirement visa”.

This visa is applied for in your home country, at a local Thai embassy or consulate. The application can usually be done by mail and takes a minimum of 15 days to process.

In this post, I'll run through the benefits of the visa and the requirements you need to meet to be approved.

O-A-visa-thailand

Beautiful Koh Lanta. Image credit: Wojciech Portnicki

O-A Visa Benefits

The visa is active from the date of issue. You are granted a 1-year stay from the date of entry to Thailand.

This is a multiple entry visa. What that means is: you can leave Thailand and re-enter as and when you please, within the validity of the visa.

The great thing about the O-A visa is that the multiple entry aspect allows a further one year stay on any entry, so if you exit and re-enter just before the visa expires you get another one year's stay.

When your visa has expired and your permitted stay inside the country is coming to an end, you can extend the visa inside Thailand, at an immigration office. A little more about that later on.

O-A Visa Required Documents

There's a fair bit of documentation to get together. Here's what you will need to submit to your local Thai embassy or consulate.

  1. Your passport and a copy of your passport. Your passport must have validity of at least 18 months and have at least one empty page.
  2. The visa completed application form (in black or blue ink).
  3. A medical certificate (notarized) showing no prohibitive diseases in accordance with the Ministerial Regulation No.14(B.E. 2535).
  4. Three passport-size photographs (2″x2″). Photographs must have a lightly color background with a full-face view of the person with no hat or dark glasses. Photos must be no more than 6 months old.
  5. Bank statement showing a deposit of the amount equal to and not less than 800,000 Baht, or an income certificate (original not a copy) with a monthly income of not less than
    65,000 Baht, or a deposit account plus a monthly income totaling not less than 800,000 Baht. Submitting a bank statement requires a letter of guarantee from the bank (original not a copy).
  6. A letter of verification from the relevant authority in your country to show that you have no criminal record. Internet documents are not accepted.
  7. A copy of your airline tickets.
  8. The required health insurance (as discussed below)

O-A Health Insurance Requirement

The O-A visa has a mandatory health insurance requirement. The policy must cover a minimum 440,000 Baht, or the equivalent if the policy is issued outside of Thailand.

The total must cover inpatient services.

The policy can be obtained from a Thai or foreign insurance company, and must state that you are medically insured for the period, with the aforementioned coverage.

If you use a foreign insurance company, you will need to provide the original policy and two copies. You will also need to get the insurance company to fill out and stamp a form, which can be seen here.

If you use a Thai company, you will only have to provide the two copies.

The easiest option is to take out your insurance with a reputable Thai company, although one with English-speaking customer service is highly preferable.

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O-A for Your Spouse

If you have a spouse over the age of 50, she/he can apply for an O-A visa too.

If your spouse is younger than 50, he or she can apply for temporary stay under the Category ‘O’ visa. He or she will need to provide your marriage certificate as evidence.

90-Day Reporting

All long stay visas come with a 90-day reporting requirement, which involves producing a number of documents for immigration.

You can report in person, by mail and online. In person is easiest, but when working, the online system is convenient, particularly if you live far from an immigration office.

The reporting requires the following documents:

  • Passport
  • Notification form (TM47)
  • Copy of passport info page (with photo, name, passport number, etc.)
  • Copy of current visa
  • Copy of latest entry stamp
  • Copy of latest visa extension
  • Copy of departure card (TM6)
  • Copy of previous 90-day slip (if any)

Extending Your Stay Inside Thailand

As mentioned previously, you can extend your stay in Thailand beyond the validity of your visa. But don't wait for your visa to run out to do this. Instead, start the process 30 days beforehand.

This extension requires you to prove an income of 65k Baht per month income by way of a confirmation of income letter from your embassy, or 800k in a local Thai bank account 3 months prior to the application. The latter requires a confirmation letter from the bank and a copy of your bank passbook.

You will also need to fill out a TM7 (extension of stay form).

At this point it is worth noting that you can avoid applying for an O-A visa in your home country and instead obtain a long stay by doing this exact extension process in Thailand.

So instead of applying for an O-A Visa, you would apply for a Non Immigrant O Visa at your local Thai embassy or consulate instead.

The Non Immigrant O Visa gives you a 90-day stay on arrival. Before this expires inside Thailand (up to 30 days), you can do the one year extension at an immigration office.

So if you'd rather avoid applying for the O-A visa in your home country and having to provide the medical certificate, criminal record check, and the insurance requirement, you can take this alternative route.

I've written about this type of “retirement visa” extension here.

In Summary

The route a person takes to obtaining a long stay usually depends on the timeframe they are working with and how quickly they want to get to Thailand.

Applying for an O-A visa in your home country does have its benefits: You get stamped in for a year as soon as you enter, and you can exit and re-enter just before your visa expires and get stamped in for another year.

Some people would rather just have everything sorted before they leave and not have to think about doing an extension of stay in Thailand, whereas others may want to avoid that criminal record check (ahem).

I appreciate that if you're applying for a visa for the first time there may be some confusion and questions. So feel free to ask away in the comments section below.

———–

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  1. Thomas mckay says

    Hi thanks for an interesting post , I’m a bit confused about the spouse part , we are from the uk and will both be over 50 when we come over , I will apply for a o a 12 month multiple entry visa in the uk but according to embassy website my wife would only get an o visa , does that mean she would have to leave at some point , does she have to apply for her own o a visa and would a joint account showing the required funds of 800,000 baht be sufficient for both applications
    Reply

  3. Tony Lawson says

    Hi, From what Im seeing on Visa application forms (O visa , Tourist Visa) you have to have a Return ticket. Im trying to get to Thailand with the view of Retiring there. I just went to Travel Agency here in Australia and they said I must have an onward flight.
    I just want to travel over there and apply for retirement visa there. I was going to apply for a 90 day tourist visa here and extend it to a O visa in Chiang Mai.
    I don't want to arrive there and refuse entry cos I don't have onward flight
    Reply

  4. Mark Cotgrove says

    Hi there, incredibly useful and clear advice, thanks!

    Do you know whether marriage cert is a requirement for a couple to be able to get a dependent O-A visa or whether civil partnership is adequate?

    I'll buy you a beer when we arrive 👍🏻
    Reply

  5. Alex Sparrow says

    Great information, thanks for sharing it. I am planning on heading to Thailand for 6 months or more in December. If the OA visa has to be applied for prior to entering Thailand, how do you open a bank account to deposit the 800K please?
    Many Thanks,
    Alex
    Reply

  7. Ken F says

    I am now in Thailand (Phuket) on a Non immigrant O visa but due to some rather nightmarish circumstances, which I will not get into here, I am now two days past my 90 days. Can I still extend it or change it to a Non-OA even though I have overstayed by two days, or am I SOL? I talked to a place today that offers visa services and they said they could take care of everything but the price was pretty steep at 22,000 baht. Also, since I still do not have a Thai bank account they say they can get me a Non-O-A without needing to bring over the 800,000 but that sounds a bit shady to me. Any suggestions on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.
    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      Hi Ken, the 0-A is obtained from your home country not from inside Thailand. You could have done a retirement extension but you need a Thai bank account with the 800k in the bank 60 days before applying. If you go to immigration and explain they will most likely let you pay a fine and extend for 30 days, possible less because you have overstayed. It depends which officer you get. Agent sounds shady. I assume it would be an extension based on retirement, not an O-A - but who knows what tricks they can pull?!
      Reply

      • Ken F says

        So with only a possible 30 days it sounds like my only option other tyhan the shady agent is going to be going to a nearby country and coming back in at some point in the future (hopefully not too long because I dont want to pay for an apartment in Phuket that I will not be able to use) but that may not be possible due to covid. And I cannot go all the way back to California, not only due to the expense involved but also because in my current condition (health problem) it will be very hard for me to travel about 30 hours both ways.
        Reply

        • JamesE says

          Yeah, stay away from the shady-agents. It's not worth the lifetime ban you'd get hit with (at a minimum). I suggested Singapore as their VTL entry allows no quarantine entry. If you decided to come back into Thailand on a visa waiver with T&G I think you'd be able to bounce down and back in less than a week. The key bit is going to be getting immigration on your side and walking in and reporting your overstay will help that happen.

          If it were me (and TTL is probably going to delete *this* suggestion :) ) I'd get all my return flights and T&G hotel sorted out before leaving Thailand. If I got any extension at all I'd even get my new Thailand Pass (making sure to use my VPN's Singapore server...) in hand. That way you could literally just get stamped into Singapore, walk over to the check-in counter and catch the next flight back to Phuket. (Although, it might be fun to spend a few days on the island, too.)
          Reply

          • Ken F says

            Well, I had a very interesting and unnerving day at the Phuket immigration office today. I first went to the room that is supposed to do extensions but they sent me upstairs to a different room after telling me I could get a 7 day extension there. After waiting in line upstairs I was then sent back down to the first place where I was told once again that I had to go back to the room I just came from. And of course after waiting inline again there they told me to go back to the first room again. At this point I decided that it was pointless going back and forth all day and that it would be better to either just book a ticket and pay my fine at the airport, or go ahead and take my chances with the visa services guy to do everything for me. There was one good thing that came from the experience though. Apparently they now have a few westerners working at immigration and one of them was able to talk to me when I was about to leave and give me some advice. First he agreed that it might be better to just book a flight and pay the overstay fees at the airport – although he also said that doing so could hang me up for several extra hours at the airport. His suggested country to go to was Cambodia as, according to him, they just reopened to regular travel on the 1st of the month. He first suggested just the visa on arrival thing and then changing my visa once back in Thailand. Then when I mentioned that I guess I could not get another 90-day Non-Immigrant O visa from Cambodia he had me wait while he went to talk to the head honcho in the office and when he cam back he told me that she said that I could now do that as well. I guess things are changing so often that even the immigration employees are not up on things half the time. Anyway, when I asked him about the visa services guy he said it could be perfectly legitimate but if I don’t want to take any chances its best just to exit the country and do what we had discussed.
            Reply

    • JamesE says

      Ouch. The circumstances must have been nightmarish, indeed. I think TTL's got the start of a plan. Go pay the fine and see if you can get the extension. If you get it use the 30 days to get your bank account started. If not, go to Singapore on one of their VTL flights (assuming you're vaxxed... I'd use Scoot as you'd save a bit). The Singapore part will be needed regardless of the outcome of the extension just a bit later if you get the 30 days. Once in Singapore, set up your return flight details and apply for a new Thailand Pass. You could try and get another O - Retirement or come back in on a Tourist Visa or visa exempt and convert that to a Non-O (Retirement) and extend that for a year. Either way you are SOL but how you play it depends on what happens at immigration. The good news is that being just a few days in overstay won't get you in real trouble so you shouldn't have to worry about a ban. Good luck!
      Reply

      • Ken F says

        That’s interesting because the last time I checked, the Singapore travel restrictions seemed overly complicated. But if that is now the best or only option I will have to look into it again. I have actually not been there in ages but I do know that’s its extremely expensive and even a few days in a hotel there would cost a small fortune. I might actually be living in Singapore now if I made ten times my current retirement income, but I am not rich so that will never be an option. Anyway, even if I get there, for it to do me any good I would have to either apply for another Non-Immigrant O visa (and get it) or an Non O-A from there and that still leaves me with the issue of having to have the 800,000 in a Thai bank account for two months prior. So, as you already stated, whatever I do I still need to set up that bank account and get the money over here ASAP.

        In any case, this move has just been one disaster after another, including sustaining serious and difficult to heal back injuries from a motorbike accident. As you may know there are these leaky water trucks all over Phuket that sometimes leave a narrow trail of water on the roads and because this steep uphill section of road was painted red, and because just the wet strip was in a shaded area, the water was impossible to see until it was too late and the rear wheel just slid out from underneath me. If I had come through 5 minutes earlier or later it would not have happened. And if I had been on my current brand new Honda Wave rather than that ill handling tail heavy motor scooter rental with a bald rear tire it also likely would not have happened. But it did happen and it put me out of commission for a very long time. In fact I’ve actually only been to the beach a few times in 3 months due to all the various issues I’ve had to deal with.
        Reply

        • JamesE says

          Ouch. I think I know the road section you're talking about. A couple of things about your plan. First, you can't get an O-A in Singapore. Those are only available in your home country (plus they require all that background check information, medical report, and the dreaded health insurance). Second, Singapore has established what they're calling Vaccinated Travel Lanes to/from certain countries (Thailand is on the list) that allow you to just clear right in. Flights are regionally inexpensive, especially on Scoot. I understand your cost concerns, that's why my suggestion would be to re-enter on a 30-day visa waiver and convert that to a Non-O (retirement) once back in TLOS. That should give you the time you need to get your finance requirements met. Good luck!
          Reply

          • Ken F says

            Thanks for all the helpful info. By the way, that section of road may not be the one you are thinking of. I'm talking about the road to Paradise Beach (and also to my hotel at the time). Right after the construction site you have to accelerate to get your speed back up on a steep hill. And even though there is a slight bend there to the left the wheel slip likely would have occurred under full power even with no bend in the road.
            Reply

    • James K says

      Good information, thanks. My O-A long stay visa was issued June 20, 2021 and I was stamped into Thailand on July 31, 2021 (with a 12 month stamp). If I fly out of Thailand and back in prior to June 20, 2022, I will get another 12 month stamp? In this case, would I still need to do the extension on my O-A visa by June 20, 2022 or would I push that out to the updated permitted stay date (June 2023) I will get by leaving and re-entering ?
      Reply

      • JamesE says

        So, yes - If you return to Thailand before your visa's expiration you'll be stamped in for a full year. BUT, the visa extension is a whole 'nother thing. Once your visa has expired, it's done, you no longer have permission to enter the country despite having permission to stay in the country. The decision as to whether to extend is dependent on your plans. If you just want the one-year additional then you'll be good. However, if you want to be able to travel and return under that visa, then you have to extend it before it expires. Once expired an O-A has to be re-issued and that can only take place in your home country.
        Reply

  8. ken chao says

    i am not too sure if the first year OA visa include the benefit of multiple entry. Why? it is because not aware of this benefit, i did apply and pay for the multiple entry permit in my first year of OA visa before expiry, so i wonder why i was not told by the immigration that it is NOT necessary at all. isn't it amazing?
    Reply

  9. Nick Y says

    Hi. Many thanks for all the great work you do on the Thai posts!

    I have one question on your O-A visa page re applying for the visa at a local (in my case London) Embassy.

    Point 5) states:
    Bank statement showing a deposit of the amount equal to and not less than 800,000 Baht, or an income certificate (original not a copy) with a monthly income of not less than
    65,000 Baht, or a deposit account plus a monthly income totaling not less than 800,000 Baht. Submitting a bank statement requires a letter of guarantee from the bank (original not a copy).

    Q. Can the 800,000 Baht be an equivalent sum in a UK account ?

    Also, once I have the visa ( which I understand gets renewed for 12 months on each re-entry) are there no further checks on funds ?

    Thanks
    Reply

    • JamesE says

      For your initial application, yes, the funds can be in a home-country bank. When you're in Thailand and look to extend your visa at the end of your first year the funds will need to be in a Thai account. I'm not sure if there's a funds check on an O-A issued based on a foreign account when you do your 90-day report. Hopefully, Max can weigh in on that. When you go to extend your O-A the ฿800K funds have to have been in a Thai bank for two months prior to the extension and for three months after the extension and never drop below ฿400K. That will be checked.

      You have to wrap your head around the difference between your visa's valid dates - 12 months - from the date it was issued and your permission to stay - 12 months from your date of entry. Your permission to stay - also 12 months - from your date of entry. It is perfectly possible, and legal, to be in the country on an expired visa if you entered before the expiration but your visa only gets extended if you visit immigration before it expires.

      But you really don't want an O-A (unless your plan is to only stay a year or two). Look through the comments about the O (Retirement) visa. You can get one in the UK based on UK funds, you come to Thailand, you move your money, then you get a 1-year extension on your permission to stay. It does away with the excess health coverage cost and all the criminal background and health checks.
      Reply

  10. Ken F says

    Okay guys, you are not going to believe this but my visa was just approved with a mere 15 minutes to spare (assuming they close at 5pm). This after they told me 3-days ago, in no uncertain terms, that the system would be down until the 18th, and basically implying that I was SOL. I’m honestly starting to believe that they do this on purpose and that they get some kind of sadistic thrill out of making people sweat it out until the last possible moment. Either way, at least I have it now- even if getting it did take ten years off of my life.
    Reply

      • Ken F says

        Yes. That was a huge sigh of relief. In any case I’m in BKK now waiting for test results. And despite all the hassles getting the paperwork together the actual trip itself was a breeze. First of all I got though security at LAX in about 5 minutes (last time it took an hour). And since both my flights were only at about 20% of capacity it made boarding and deplaning a breeze. In fact, had I known this ahead of time I might not have sprang for the premium economy seat. I could have just laid across all five middle seats in economy. Anyway tomorrow its off to Phuket.
        Reply

          • Ken F says

            Thanks Peter. By the way, I wonder if you could answer a question for me that is unrelated to visas. Since I ended up coming here in November instead of October as originally planned the place I wanted to rent, as well as my two back ups have already been rented. And because I am so picky I have not come across any other online listings that I find even remotely suitable. The hotel suite I’m in is actually exactly my style however and is in the perfect location so I am trying to negotiate a deal on a long-term stay with them and then start apartment hunting again after the high season has ended. The problem with that however is that I don’t see how I can get a residency certificate if I am staying in a hotel and I need that certificate to buy a motorbike or car. Normally I would not mind renting a bike for a while, despite the added expense, but unfortunately nobody rents anything like a Honda Wave anymore. They only have either automatic scooters, which I hate, or large cc motorcycles, which are overly expensive to rent. There are a lot of windy roads here and the scooters simply do not handle as well as a proper motorcycle (yes the Honda Wave is a motorcycle and not a scooter) nor can you downshift to a lower gear in order to engine brake on steep hills. Its also much harder to stand up on the pegs (platform in this case) to use your legs as shock absorbers when going over big bumps in the road. The bottom line is I hate those things so I was wondering what my options are. Even if I buy a used motorbike I will still not be able to register it without the certificate or residency. Any suggestions? Also I would appreciate any suggestion on apartment hunting. The last time I lived here I drove around looking for rental signs but back then I also had a Thai girlfriend who could actually read the signs and contact the rental owners. I do not have that now and there is nothing available online that I like.
            Reply

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