The Thai administration has recently updated the rules and conditions for obtaining and renewing the O-A Visa for pensioners. Two major changes should be noted: The financial conditions (I) as well as the obligation to underwrite health insurance approved by the Thai administration (II).
Visa OA is intended for retired people, aged over 50, wishing to settle in Thailand for a one-year period, renewable. The applicant must file his file with the embassy of his country of origin in order to obtain a non-immigrant (non-IM) visa. Once obtained, the visa may be extended for a renewable period of one year. This type of visa does not allow the bearer to work in Thailand.
I- From 1 March 2019, the financial conditions are as follows:
1) Two months before the filing of the application, and for three months after obtaining the extension, the applicant will be obliged to dispose on a Thai bank account of the sum of 800,000 THB. After the 3 month period, it will be required that the balance of the bank account is never less than THB 400,000.
2) The second option for the applicant is to justify a monthly income of 65,000 THB. These new measures were adopted by the Thai administration in order to combat fraud proposed by unscrupulous institutions proposing to lend the amount to the applicant so that he-This is an illegal and very expensive process. This type of visa, multi-entry, does not allow to work in Thailand and its beneficiary will have to report every 90 days to the immigration service which will carry out a verification of the conformity of the residence address provided.
II- From the 1st of July, 2019 onward, the applicant will have to provide a certification of their health insurance coverage. This new regulation takes place to avoid unpaid bills in Hospitals by foreign patients in Thailand, which had reached 300 million THB since 2016.
The Health Insurance, to be approved, shall cover a 40.000 THB coverage for outpatient and 400,000 THB for inpatient.
For the foreigner currently living in Thailand under the O-A Visa, the proof of their health insurance coverage will have to be produced for their visa renewal.