Visa: What visa I have in Thailand

Visa: What visa do you have in Thailand?

My visa is the non-immigrant “O” guardian visa.  It is a long-term visa that allows me to stay in Thailand for one year, as long as my child attends international school here.  Hence, the “guardian” role that I play, parenting my child.  

Technically, the visa allows me (and my child) to stay in Thailand for 90 days, at which point I applied for a visa extension for one year.  Even with the one year extension, though, I have to report to Immigration every 90 days (but I circumvent this by traveling every quarter; more on this below).

This post covers the benefits of a long-term visa, benefits of the non-immigrant “O” guardian visa, and some lessons learned on how I obtained the visa.

Benefits of a Long-term Visa

A long-term visa was important for me for three reasons: 1) I don’t need to leave the country every 90 days, 2) I can open a Thai bank account, and 3) peace of mind when I discuss with immigration.

Leaving the country every 90 days adds unnecessary time/costs to one’s mini-retirement in Thailand.  I end up traveling in/out of the country anyways, but it’s one thing to do that out of my own volition (i.e., to want to visit Vietnam or Laos or Malaysia) versus being forced to do so.  I have many friends who are on short-term visas and do their border runs into Laos or Cambodia – which takes the whole day on a bus to go across the border then return into Thailand.  A long-term visa, once renewed for a year, only requires that you report into Immigration every 90 days.  This can be done in Chiang Mai in a few hours by visiting one of two offices in the city.  But because my family and I leave Thailand every quarter (for planned family vacations), I circumvent this need to report into Immigration. 

The key benefit to opening a Thai bank account is to enable Scanpay.  More on this benefit can be found on my Payments post.

Is the peace of mind really a perk?  I hear stories about how Thai immigration give my friends grief for over-staying their short-term 90-day window or how many times they are going in/out of Thailand.  And many of my friends on short-term visa reinforce their (surprise, surprise) short-term commitment to Thailand with their visa – meaning, they want to travel across Asia and don’t want to commit to staying too long in Thailand, but then the lack of a long-term visa reinforces this short-term thinking.  I was certain of making Thailand my family’s home (and my home base), so getting a long-term visa supports this decision to commit – and provides me and my family some peace of mind.

Benefits of a Guardian Visa

There are only so many options for a long-term visa in Thailand.  I knew I didn’t want to work, which took the “B” visa (Work permit) off the table.  I also wasn’t at a point to commit to five years in Thailand (minimum time window for the Elite visa) given the uncertainty of my children’s plans (e.g., where my son would go for college), nor was I going to invest 10 million THB (~$275,000) in Thai real estate or government bonds.

This left the “ED” and the “Guardian” visas.  If it weren’t for the Guardian visa, I would likely be on the “ED” visa.  It requires me to enroll in a school to learn Thai, which I ended up doing anyways to learn the language.  It’s not a very long time commitment – just a few hours to attend class few times a week – but the downside for me was the need to attend class in person or virtually, which may conflict with my travel plans.

The Guardian visa for me offers a long-term visa with minimal time or dollar investment.  Yes, it requires a 500,000 THB (~$14,000) deposited in your Thai bank account, but I needed to do this anyways to pay for my child’s international school.  The obvious benefit to the Guardian visa is that once I’m able to get approved, there’s virtually no time I need to spend (e.g., no classes I need to take) and no money at risk (e.g., not having to spend 900,000 THB for the 5-year elite visa or put 10 million THB at risk).  

Note: while I obtained the Guardian visa, my child technically obtained the ED visa.  And only one Guardian is allowed for every child with an ED visa. 

Take-away: if you want to mini retire or early retire in Thailand, and intend to give your child the opportunity to attend international school, then definitely consider getting a Guardian visa.

Lessons Learned on Obtaining the Guardian Visa

I made some mistakes obtaining the Guardian visa that cost me some additional trips (headaches included) to Immigration.  If you are seriously considering the Guardian Visa, here’s some tips on how you could avoid the mistakes I made:

1) In Chiang Mai, bring you and your child to the Central Festival location (and arrive early!) – you and your child need to wait in line, for potentially hours, so better to do this in the nicer location, which in my opinion is the Central Festival mall branch of Thai Immigration.  In my opinion, it’s brighter, has better air conditioning, and usually less crowded / stuffy than at the main branch near the airport.  I had to pull my child out of school to obtain the visa, so time is essential (to ensure my child doesn’t miss too much of class).  The Central Festival location opens at 9am, but it definitely pays to wait outside in the parking lot as early as 8am.  Every person you are ahead of in line saves you 20-30 minutes (easily) so best to be one of the first to enter the queue when the office opens.  Yes, waiting in the parking lot requires you to be outside without air-conditioning, so if you easily suffer from the heat like I do, bring a portable fan with you.  You can thank me later!

2) Update your bank book the day of renewal + obtain a stamped bank statement – argh!  The frustrated look on my face when the Immigration official said that my bank book needed to be updated to the date of my visa renewal.  I had updated my bank book the day prior, but the official said I had to show the balance for the day of renewal.  Yes, every major Thai bank has an ATM at Central Festival, but the mall doesn’t open until 11am and the security guard didn’t allow me to enter the mall before then.  I wasted some precious time having to drive to an ATM outside of Central Festival, update the bank book, then return to the immigration official.  Please make sure you stop by the ATM before you wait in queue at Immigration.  Also, I made the mistake of obtaining a printed bank statement, which showed a balance of 500,000 THB for three months, but it didn’t have an official stamp on the statement.  Please make sure you ask your Thai bank for a stamped copy of your three-month transactions (and for obvious reasons, the bank branch at Central Festival will know exactly which statement you’ll need).

3) Obtain a notarized sworn statement from the U.S. consulate officiating your child’s birth certificate – bureaucracy at its finest.  Thai immigration needs to verify that you are indeed the parent of your child, and do not accept the original copy of your child’s birth certificate as proof of your parental status.  They ask you to notarize this with your consulate.  But then the U.S. consulate cannot verify that the birth certificate is official; all they can do is have you pledge a written statement that your child is indeed your child – and then notarize that statement (not the birth certificate).  Yes, this requires you to go to the U.S. consulate in Chiang Mai, wait a little while, prepare a written statement, swear under oath that the statement you prepared is the truth, and then pay the Consulate $50 for this notarization.  Ouch.  But it’s accepted by the Thai government as sufficient proof linking you and your child.  I haven’t explored whether I could have notarized the birth certificate in the U.S. prior to arrival, or investigated whether this service could be done online; but there’s always the risk that Thai Immigration won’t accept your sworn statement unless it’s done here in Thailand by the U.S. consulate.   

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In summary, I chose the Guardian visa because it offers a long-term visa stay in Thailand at the minimum time/cost required.  If you are seriously considering the Guardian visa for you and your child, then please conduct your own research, verify the requirements with the official Thai immigration bureau website (as they are subject to change), and leverage careful planning to avoid the mistakes I made – saving you some precious time and peace of mind. 

~Lester T