[M & M]

Well us over 50's aren't getting away unscathed either regarding the Visa changes.

Mike and I went over to Phuket Town last Friday to apply for our extension of our Type "O" to the Type "O-R" Visa...

As of the 1st of October (we arrived here on the 28th September) a retiree has to show that a sum of 800K Baht has to be in the bank for 3 months before the Visa is granted...prior to that one just had to show the money in the bank for the day that one was applying for the Visa...but apparently some people were taking out loans and repaying them immediately the visa was granted thus not having the funds in the Bank at all...this new law is to stop those people.

With how busy we were finding our feet, somewhere to live and transport along with getting Robert to school and my health problems we didn't get the money in the bank 'till the 20th October (at this time we weren't aware of the changes which occurred on the 1st of October) which posed a problem as three months after this is 20th January which is 4 months after we got here and we thought we would have to do a visa run...however, there must be a clause in the Visa rules that says if you show a receipt from the bank of the money being transferred from another country...in our case Australia...then the Visa can be granted after two months...Not good enough just to show your Bankbook with the 800K Baht and a letter from the Bank stating that the money has been transferred from Australia...have to show a receipt of it being transferred from another country...we were told by the head shonky at Immigration to come back on or after the 20th of December with a copy of the receipt of the transfer of the money from Australia and they would grant the Visa...I sure hope that the same guy is there and is true to his word...or it will be a bit of a problem.

However, we had no problem with Robert's Education Visa...there have been no changes to this one...thank heavens.

Just thought I would post this as it may be of interest to anyone over 50 wanting to do what we have done.

Marcia