TB Immigration Info Letter No. 069/21: Thai Embassy Brussels – Financial requirements Non-immigrant OA increased
Reporter: RonnyLatYa
I just saw that the financial requirements for a NON-IMMIGRANT OA in Brussels have been increased to a bank amount of 27 000 Euro (1 000 000 Baht) or an income of 2700 Euro (100 000 Baht?) per month. The combination method seems to be no longer possible.
“Financial Proof
An original attestation (scanned/electronic version is not accepted) from the bank with at least 1,000,000 baht or equivalent to 27,000 € (bank in Thailand or in Belgium) + 1 copy, + 2 copies of the bank statements from the last 6 months of this bank account
OR An attestation (original version) which mentions that you receive at least 2,7000 € (two-thousand-seven-hundred euros) per month as well as bank statements of the last 6 months which prove that you receive that amount. The communication on the bank statement must indicate that concerning monthly pension.”
Non-immigrant Visa “OA” (Long Stay) Visa for Long Stay (retirement) – Royal Thai Embassy Brussels
I don't know if this is a personal initiative of the Thai Embassy in Brussels, or if it will apply everywhere in the future. At the time of writing this I have not seen any announcement of this on any official media in Thailand.
So you should not ask me whether this will be the case for your extensions, or also for the Non-immigrant O visa, because I am just as surprised as you.
At least not surprised that people would ever change this. After all, it has been 25 years since those amounts were adjusted, but I am surprised that I had not read anything about this. Not even in the newspapers.
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Then this must have been decided very recently, because on all websites known to me an amount of 65000 Baht per month is still required and all other amounts that have been valid for a long time.
That is why I mention that I do not know whether this is a personal initiative of the Thai Embassy in Brussels and that I have not yet seen any communication of this on other official media in Thailand.
There are more embassies that follow their own course in terms of requirements.
The fact is that this is on it and it is an official website of the embassy….
If that's true, it means some people will never get around to it.
Perhaps Thailand only wants to bring in the rich Tsjakka figures and Jan with the lesser income / assets better stay away. He will therefore have to follow a different route to a long-term stay in Thailand.
Thailand was going to focus on the "quality tourist" with the broader fair, wasn't it? With these kinds of income requirements, the message is “low to middle income plebs had better stay away”. It wouldn't be my strategy but the TAT and related will have figured this all out...
To me this comes across as “the TAT advises you as a regular Thailand visitor to take a look at Spain or a nice neighboring country such as Cambodia, Laos or Vietnam 🙂”.
For Belgians who apply for an OA, it is already true, otherwise it would not be on the embassy's website.
And so they keep fumbling on in Thailand, and then they are surprised that everyone goes to better and easier countries.
A pension of 2700 euros per month seems to me to be the exception rather than the rule. People with sky-high incomes and/or pensions seem to me to wear out before their old age, yet rather opt for other places than Thailand.
Who actually lives permanently in Thailand as a retiree? I think that in large numbers these are mainly people who have a partner or family here. Retired Western or other couples are really a minority here.
Fred, 2.700 e per month and then also net! No, that must be a misunderstanding and someone needs to be called back.
And with the artificial boosting of the baht, there are not many options left.
Ls.
If it is indeed true that you need 2700 euros in income for a Non-immigrant O visa, even more people will drop out who want to go to Thailand for a longer period of time.
But if you go for 3 months, it is best to apply for a Non-immigrant O visa for 2 months {60 days] and book another 30 days at the immigration office in Thailand.
Then you also have a border run as an option to book another 30 days
If that is possible again.
3 months in Thailand is enough for me personally
I'm still unsure, I'll see if I'm still going next year.
GR Rob
Rob, you are confusing the O visa and the OA visa, moreover you cannot apply for a 2 month O visa, you probably mean the 60 day Tourist visa.
This in combination with the increased insurance requirement mentioned on the same webpage - 3 million baht instead of 40.000/400.000 baht - applying for an OA only becomes more unattractive........
You probably mean a two month tourist visa,
that you can extend for 30 days, Rob.
That income requirement seems to me if it is not a mistake to be something very strange because on the website I do not see 2700 euros or 27000.
OR An attestation (original version) which mentions that you receive at least 2,7000 € (two-thousand-seven-hundred euros) per month
Original text is also included in the article.
And it does not say 27000 euros per month as income, but 2,7000 euros
Maybe you make something else out of it but to me it seems most obvious that there is a 0 too much after the decimal point and it should be 2,700 Euro…
But you can of course make something different out of it
Otherwise it is also stated at the end of the text for clarity
“…..you receive at least 2,7000 € (two-thousand-seven-hundred euros) per month…”
I'm just suggesting something, but maybe the supplement "per month" is a mistake and was actually meant the annual income.
27000/year would then become 2250/month.
Calculated at 36 exchange rate (currently 37+, I know, but in decreasing trend) that would amount to 81000 baht/month. Or an increase of roughly 20% from the old lower limit of 65000 baht per month.
Considering that inflation in Thailand has been 2 to 3,5% per year for the past decade and that the minimum amounts for extensions of residence have not been adjusted for more than 15 years, that actually seems reasonable to me.
And certainly plausible.
Color
Plausible?? It says crystal clear 'two thousand seven hundred' and not 'twenty thousand seven hundred'. I don't see what wouldn't be obvious about that....
An increase from 65000THB to 81000 would mean a 25% increase.
Increasing to 97200THB (always assuming exchange rate 1/36) would mean a 50% increase.
Everyone is free to decide for themselves whether they find an increase of 25% in one go more plausible than 50% in one go.
An important criterion for governments is plausibility (support) and reasonableness.
Personally, I think that the 25% increase will meet with a lot of resistance.
A 50% increase therefore seems to me personally much less plausible than 25%.
But that is my personal opinion and the fact that I have been active in various positions in Belgium for 32 years as a politically elected representative at various policy levels is indeed irrelevant.
Color
With all due respect Cor: I fear that the logic and reasoning of the degree of reasonableness of measures in Thailand follow different paths than we are used to in our Low Countries. What I meant to say is that the amount quoted is not only stated in figures but is also written out in full, so there is no question of an error. But I'd like to be proven wrong in this case...
I think the last adjustment happened on October 21, 1998. 23 years ago and not 15 years ago.
They then went from a bank amount of 200 to 000 and from an income of 800 to 000 monthly. They were kind enough to allow those who had already had an extension to continue to renew under the same conditions.
There was a transitional arrangement for 55 to 60 years and older. Those conditions still apply, although those persons will now be 80 years and older, and a condition was also that you continuously requested that extension. Otherwise you ended up in the new scheme. You can still see the results in an immigration memorandum that is still current today.
“'An alien who entered the Kingdom before October 21, 1998 and has been
consecutively permitted to stay in the Kingdom for retirement shall be subject to the following criteria:
(a) Must be 60 years of age or over and have an annual fixed income with fluids
maintained in a bank account for the past three months of no less than Baht 200,000 or have a monthly income of no less than Baht 20,000
(b) If less than 60 years of age but not less than 55 years of age, must have an annual
fixed income with funds maintained in a bank account for the past three months of no less than Baht 500,000 or have a monthly income of no less than Baht 50,000
This is just for your information and the fact that I was never active in a political position is irrelevant here. 😉
good evening ,
i hear from a french group (Pattaya ensemble ) that this would only be for the new visas and new extensions, so we who keep extending our old visas , nothing would change at the moment- In jomtien they would be difficult about the combi method ( even refuse, but every visa office can easily arrange that for a small fee.
On the website of the embassy in The Hague, the amounts are still 800.000 thb and 65.000 thb.
So would be an idea of the Thai embassy in Brussels? To follow.
Dear bloggers. When I posted here on the forum about 2 months ago that the Consul in Antwerp had told me that they would have to obtain the 800.000 Thb in a Thai bank, which was needed for a one-year extension and a non-immi OA visa in the future. was going to be increased, which is now becoming reality! I received a lot of negative reactions in response to the forum, telling me that I should not stir up unrest with statements that no one had read anywhere yet.! Now the time has come, do you believe me now!! Have a nice night everyone!
Dear Winlicious, the problem is that Thailand is champion in announcing test balloons and not implementing it, but implementing it but withdrawing or adjusting it, announcing in serious problems that it was a "misunderstanding". On top of that, it sometimes differs per location and civil servant, and so on. If every fart from a civil servant or other official would be widely announced here, ThailandBlog would be filled every day with multiple updates, reversals, additions and many reading questions about it. Throw in the confusion of people who have heard the bell ringing but can't find the clapper and you just have complete chaos and chaos. That's why TB's readers and writers are like 1) waiting for an official announcement 2) citations with details. 3) do not follow every rumor, even if there is sometimes truth in the fanfare stories, better wait quietly for more clarity.
Don't cry before you get hit.
2 months ago nothing happened.
Now the Belgians have the right to cry, although they may be able to apply for a visa in the Netherlands.
Incidentally, it will not apply to most holidaymakers, because they usually do not go on holiday long enough to suffer from it.
Whether this measure will be rolled out generally remains to be seen.
Belgium may be a test for the increase in requirements.
So does this also apply to the annual extensions?
Everyone is doing everything they can or has done everything they can to get rid of the visa OA (which was not easy given the measures that apply to the corona vicissitudes.
The "disadvantages" of an OA compared to an O are now such that one can ask oneself what is the reason to (still) apply for a visa OA?
One still has “compulsory” insurance (the coverage of which has recently tripled, therefore in proportion to the price one has to pay to the company for insurance). This is not the case for a non-O
The financial requirements are increased to obtain the visa, this is also not the case for a non-O
To obtain a grant, the requirements are higher than a non-O (health insurance - bank deposit)
Why make it difficult when it can be done easily?
In my humble opinion, they should just abolish the NON OA visa and just keep the Non O visa in its current form. This would make things a lot easier for everyone. It is very likely that this change will become general.
If you look closely, the NON OA visa offers very few, if any, advantages compared to the NON O visa.
The only advantages are:
– upon arrival you will receive a year's stay and therefore do not have to apply for an annual extension on site. Which is actually a bit of a hassle.
– you automatically have a MULTIPLE ENTRANCE, which is only a small advantage for long-stayers.
– you prove when applying in your own country, because there is no other way, the financial side in your own country.
The big advantage IN THE PREVIOUS was that, with every new entry into the country, as long as the visa was valid, you always got an extra year. So in practice you could stay with the visa for 2 years. That too has already disappeared as with each entry you only get the remaining residence time that you received after the first entry, so 1 year.
Possibly it is a trial period to see how many people will still apply for a NON OA visa and could this mean a run-up to an extinction policy of the NON OA visa???
Who knows?
I have the impression that the Brussels embassy is confusing the requirements for 'O-A' and 'O-X'.
And if you look at https://thaievisa.go.th en https://thaievisa.go.th/long-stay-visa in particular, I think this change is due to their post-meal mustard.
You have to take everything into account, but I think the chance is rather small that they have been mixed up because the OX requirements are still a lot higher.
“Certificate of bank deposit stating bank contact information, copy of bank book and bank statement which shows fixed deposit with the amount of not less than 3 million Baht deposited in Thai bank located in Thailand or certificate of bank deposit stating bank contact information, copy of bank book and bank statement which shows fixed deposit with the amount of not less than 1.8 million Baht deposited in Thai bank located in Thailand and certificate of annual income with the amount of not less than 1.2 million Baht (local currency equivalent) per year. (Once the applicants enter Thailand, they must have accumulated money deposited in Thai bank located in Thailand not less than 3 million Baht within 1 year.)”
It is also funny that this OX visa is not possible for Belgians. Is only for “passport holders of Japan, Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America”
Although some time after the introduction of this visa there was a proposal to adjust it to include Belgium and some other countries. Never actually seen confirmation of that.
https://www.thaiembassy.be/2021/09/21/non-immigrant-visa-o-x/?lang=en
At the moment you still have to be careful with the https://thaievisa.go.th/ website because it has not been modified yet.
It also says so
“Attention : Due to system upgrade, Thai e-Visa service will be temporarily unavailable from 10 December 2021 at 11.00:12 AM to 2021 December 11.00 at XNUMX:XNUMX PM (UTC). Should there be any inquiries, please contact Thai Embassy/Consulate at your country of residence.”