Renewing the Retiree OA Visa in Thailand: What Documents Are Required?

hi everyone

We’ll be applying for a retiree OA visa by September. For our part, we’ll head back to France for a bit and return a month BEFORE our current OA visa expires to renew it at immigration. We’ve emailed several immigration offices but haven’t gotten any responses. We’ve searched online for info but haven’t found anything. What we’re really interested in is knowing which documents they’ll ask for at the immigration office in Phang Nga, for example, for our renewal. We’ve seen all the paperwork needed for the initial OA visa on the official online visa application site... but for the renewal, do we need to provide ALL the same documents? Thanks in advance

You should check (or maybe ask the question) on expat.com. They specialize in this topic, and there are some really knowledgeable people who can answer you.

Hi there,

The best thing to do is go directly to an immigration office—it’ll make things clear for you.

List of main immigration offices in Thailand

True, each immigration office has a lot of leeway to decide what they require. Not to mention the difference in interpretation depending on the staff or their mood that day.

You really only know what an office requires once you show up in person.

Hi, As mentioned earlier, go in person with your passport to the immigration office where you’re registered. The paperwork required can vary from one office to another.

Hi

For the OA visa extension, here are the required documents: *Passport *Photocopies of the passport: Main page Page with the initial visa Pages with other visas Page of the last entry *ID photos (1) or 2, depending on the immigration office *Proof from a Thai bank for 800,000 baht on the day of the extension request (photocopy of the bank book) OR Proof of income (65,000 baht monthly) signed by an embassy or consulate in Thailand *Hospitalization insurance certificate covering 3,000,000 baht *Rental contract or proof of property ownership in Thailand *Photocopy of the TM 30 *1,900 baht in cash The extension request can be made one month before the visa expires

Hi Gilbert, Thanks so much for your very clear response. Just one more question!! Is it true that when you want to leave Thailand to travel around Malaysia, Vietnam (we plan to visit surrounding countries during the year), etc., you have to notify immigration? Someone told us that!!! We find it strange since, as we’ll be traveling by plane, we’ll automatically go through immigration to catch our flight!!!

Good to know we need proof of residence—among the documents, we’ll have a year-long lease for a small house rented in a little resort.

I also want to thank the other members who responded.

Hello Gilbert, Thank you so much for your very clear response. Just one more question!! Is it true that when we want to leave Thailand to travel around Malaysia, Vietnam (we plan to visit surrounding countries during the year), etc., we have to inform immigration?? Someone told us that!!! We find it strange since, as we’ll be traveling by plane, we’ll automatically go through immigration to catch our flight!!!

Good to know that we need proof of residence—among the documents, we’ll have a year-long lease for a small house rented in a little resort.

I also thank the other members who responded.

If it’s a renewal of an O or OA visa and you intend to leave once or several times, once the visa renewal is obtained, you’ll need to request a re-entry permit that allows you to leave the country as you wish. Single re-entry permit: one exit Multiple re-entry permit: unlimited exits

hi again Gilbert, and thanks again!

For our first time, we’re going to apply for the 1-year Retirement OA visa (for those over 50). We saw that it’s a multiple-entry visa for 175 € (we did a simulation by progressing through the official eVisa site’s application). Will this visa allow us, in the first year, to leave Thailand whenever we want and then come back, leave again, etc.? For example, if we take a flight ticket to KUALA or Denpasar to stay a while and then return to our little rental in Khao Lak, will we be able to come back if we have the multiple-entry visa?

Okay, so if we renew for another year on-site in 2026 (around November), do we request the multiple-entry one? Because they might only give us a single-entry one? So, do we need to explain clearly what we want?

We’ve seen a lot of conflicting opinions online, and it’s not explained on the official sites—like if we want to leave the country to visit family in France for a bit during the summer or travel around ASEAN countries. Thanks again!

Hello, Let’s start from scratch, because you’re mixing up quite a few things. I’ll explain from experience—I’ve had an OA visa since 2018, and every year I do a visa extension and a multiple re-entry so I can leave and come back as I please.

Using the Multiple-Entry OA Visa is pretty straightforward. Once you get it from the Thai embassy in Paris: - Valid for one year. The first time you go through immigration in Thailand and hand over your passport and visa, the immigration officer will stamp your passport with your arrival date and the date you’re allowed to stay (one year).

If you plan to leave and re-enter during the validity of your initial visa, no problem. When you come back through immigration, you’ll get a new arrival stamp with the current date and another one-year stay authorization. This means that with exits and re-entries during the initial visa period, you can extend your stay in Thailand beyond one year. And every time you go through immigration, you get another year of authorization in Thailand.

Then, before your initial visa expires, go to immigration and request a re-entry (single or multiple), and you’ll be allowed to stay until the date on the stamp from your last entry, which shows your stay authorization. Personally, I’ve stayed for 18 months this way.

A month before your re-entry expires, apply for a visa extension at immigration. After getting your one-year extension, you can get a single or multiple re-entry if you plan to leave the country.

HELLO GILBERT Thank you so much for your very detailed explanation. It really helps us out big time.

So we’ll follow your advice (fingers crossed the rules don’t change before then). We should be eligible to get our one-year visa through the official visa site without an intermediary, even though many recommend one. We found EUROPE ASSISTANCE insurance (which now has a branch in Bangkok) to take out the year-long policy. The catch is it requires us to be in France near the end of the validity period to renew the contract. We don’t plan to stay the entire year in Thailand like you. We’re taking the year-long rental because the offer is too good to pass up. We’ll be in France during the summer months—I hope that’s allowed. Since we have the year-long lease starting November 24, 2025, we’ll obviously open a Kasikorn Bank account with the required 800,000 baht per person well before the visa expires, to ensure we can renew it on the spot. How much does the renewal with re-entry cost, please? Thanks again for all your advice

Hello

Great initiative! When you mention a website for the visa, you’re referring to the Thai embassy in Paris, right?

Just a small note—I’m not in Thailand all year. I make two or three round trips between CDG/BKK annually, which is why I need multiple re-entries.

The cost of a one-year visa extension is 1,900 baht per application. A single re-entry costs 1,000 baht. A multiple re-entry costs 3,800 baht.

If you’re in Thailand and only planning one round trip in the year with no other exits, a single re-entry is enough.

However, if—on top of your round trip to France—you want to visit neighboring countries, a multiple re-entry is necessary and essential.

Don’t forget to do a re-entry after your visa extension, especially if you leave the country, because you’ll lose the annual visa permanently otherwise.

RE Gilbert Thanks so much again!!! for your quick and clear answers

1) Yes, as usual, we’ll apply through the official visa application website in Paris—yes, we got the 3-month visa in 10 days last year, 0 problems!!! So we’ll do our best to prepare our documents to apply for the Retirement OA visa in early September, just like you explained!!! I’ll recap to make sure I’m not messing up:

2) Starting November 24, 2025, we’ll arrive in Phuket and stay for at least 5 and a half months, then leave the country to visit Bali, Malaysia, etc., for example... then come back to our rental for a bit before heading back to France for the summer. We’ll book a one-way ticket to return to Thailand 1 month BEFORE our 1-year visa expires to prepare all the documents for immigration (Phang Nga, here we come!) for the renewal!!

3) Thanks for clarifying the re-entry visa fees—we’ll definitely go for the multi-entry visa since we’ll be moving around a lot.

4) Let’s hope we can handle it ALONE!!! Apparently, Phang Nga immigration is sometimes "white" and sometimes "black" when it comes to the documents they ask for (like double-sided photocopies being okay for some but not others, etc.). Several people from the little resort went to extend their 3rd month, and none of them had to provide the same documents!!!! Anyway, we’ll be careful.

We can contact you in a PM later if needed? Thanks again, Gilbert, for your patience and for helping members so much!

Hi there, Your French home insurance likely provides the same assistance benefits (notably 80,000 €), as well as accident coverage for all means of transport as long as you're not the driver, and certificates in English at no extra cost since they're included. Be sure to check... Best regards.

Hello, Your French home insurance likely provides the same assistance benefits (notably 80,000 €), and accident coverage for all means of transport as long as you're not the driver, along with certificates in English at no extra cost since they're included. Check with them... Best regards.

Hello, you need insurance with a headquarters in Thailand. 3,000,000 baht is over 83,000 €.