Bangkok | Thailand

Journal | July August & September 2022

Latest Update | 11 September 2022

Hello to All

Wow, just like that and two and a half months have gone by! What have we been up to? Not too much. We’ve pretty much got settled into our condo now (a post will be coming on this soon). We love it here at Magnolias Waterfront Residences at ICONSIAM.

Sunrise View from Our Condo

Our plan through the end of this year was to take it easy and get settled back into the Thailand way of things. The first big hurdle was getting my Thai retirement visa reestablished (which is now done).

Completed Last Step of Getting My Retirement Visa

It took multiple visits to Bangkok Immigration Office, but I was able to complete the last of many steps required to get my Thailand Retirement Visa (July 2022). Here is the basic process I followed to get my retirement visa:

  • Entered Thailand on 30-Day Visa Exempt Entry Stamp (on arrival).

RECENT CHANGE: Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has extended the period of stay to 45 days for tourists from countries/territories entitled to visa exemption, and to 30 days for those eligible for a Visa on Arrival (VOA). This will be in effect from 1 October 2022, until 31 March 2023.

U.S. citizens carrying a tourist passport and in possession of an onward or return airline ticket do not require a visa to enter Thailand. The passport must have at least six months of validity remaining to be allowed entry. Upon entry, Thai immigration officials will place an immigration stamp on the passport, permitting a 30-day stay in Thailand if arriving by air or land. This time limit may subsequently be extended for an additional 30 days by paying a 1,900 baht fee to the Thai Immigration Bureau office. The headquarters of the Thai Immigration Bureau is located at Government Center Chaengwattana Building B, No. 120, Moo 3, Chaengwattana Road, Tungsonghong Sub-District, Laksi District, Bangkok 10210, 66-2-287-3101 through 66-2-287-3110. For more information or additional Thai Immigration Bureau locations, please consult the Thai Immigration Bureau website.

– from Website U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Thailand

NOTE: Thailand also offers a 60-day Tourist Visa (TR) that can be applied for (in your home country) before entering Thailand.

  • After arriving in Bangkok, we immediately started looking for a condo (hoping to find one within my 30-day visa exempt period)
  • We quickly found a condo and were able to sign a lease – only 11-days after arriving in Bangkok
  • The following day, I applied for a “90-Day, Non-Immigration Type “O” – Retirement Visa” at Bangkok Immigration Office (Chaengwattana). This requires quite a bit of paperwork – an application for a retirement visa, copies of important passport pages, passport photos, Thailand bank information, and copies of the condo lease agreement. It also usually requires a lot of waiting while at the Chaengwattana Bangkok Immigration Office.
  • After a 14-day “Under Consideration Period“, we went back to the Chaengwattana Bangkok Immigration Office to pick up my 90-day retirement visa (passport stamp).
  • The last part of the process requires waiting out the 90-day period of the visa. During the last 30 days of my 90-day visa, I applied and received a 12-month extension (of my retirement visa) at Chaengwattana Bangkok Immigration Office.
  • After 12 months, I will only have to apply for another 12-month extension (and for each following year).
  • Even though I was technically done (getting my Thai retirement visa), I had to return to Chaengwattana Immigration Office one last time to get my “Multiple Re-Entry Permit”. There are two options, Single and Multiple Re-Entry Permits. These are very important as if one (with a retirement visa, etc.) does not get a Re-Entry Permit before leaving Thailand, their visa will be canceled, and they will not be permitted to enter the country on their return.

For most people, dealing with Thai Immigration is a scary thought, however, if one is patient, remains calm, and is properly prepared with all the required forms and documents, the process is quite easy.

Doctor & Dental Visits

When we were back in the US, we thought we had taken care of all of our doctor and dental visits. However, since being back in Thailand, I’ve (Dean) had an issue with recurring golfers elbow (exercise/pull-up bar injury during COVID) and Kanchana’s recent crown (back in the US) took a turn for the worse and developed infection. So we’ve been taking care of these issues along the way.

Updating Our Website

I (Dean) have been busy updating all the old posts on our TimeToMosey website. I hope to have it all completed over the next couple of months. Just in time for us to start traveling again!

With my new webpage design, I wanted to do something different from all the rest of travel bloggers. Over the last few years, I’ve looked at hundreds of websites to get ideas. Many people just copy what everyone else is doing, so this is why most travel websites all look the same. I’ve had this idea for a while where I wanted to lay out and show our travels in the form of a trip. So I came up with a “Trip Travelogue” format that lists each of our trips in chronological order – the entire trip from start to finish. You can find links to these on our “Destinations” page.

Planning Next Trip

We are also in the planning stages of another family tour to Thailand (end of December 2022 through January 2023). This time we will be visiting the region around Pattaya and new areas around Kanchanaburi. Here’s the Travelogue from our 2020 Thailand Family Tour.

What’s Next?

For the remaining portion of the year, we plan to take it easy and complete all of our doctor and dental visits. If all continues to go well, we are hoping to get back into the traveling mode for 2023!

2 thoughts on “Journal | July August & September 2022”

  1. Hi Dean,
    Hadn’t looked in on your site for awhile. Sounds like things are going well for both of you save for some minor medical things. Getting the Visa set sounded complicated, but apparently you figured it all out! Linda and I have traveled a little this past year. We took a cruise trip to the Panama Canal in late March (what they call a partial where we went in and then came back out). Then we attended a Navy Seabee military reunion in San Antonio early May, where we both acquired COVID (BA.5). We’d had all our shots and boosters, so only minor symptoms. In early fall we went to Savannah and Charleston to visit. Recently we attended another Seabee military reunion in Pigeon Forge, TN. And visited Stone Mountain State Park on way home. We’ve been doing some day or overnight trips to places in NC. Places visited included a couple of covered bridges (none in use), a couple of local tourist places in and around Raleigh/Durham. And a college classmate and his wife visited us earlier this year and that was great to catch up with them.

    Here’s wishing you well and safe travels.

    Reply

    • Hello Ron. Sorry for the delay getting back to you. I normally get notified by email with all my comments, but I think it was turned off. Anyway, it’s always good to hear from you. Thanks for the updates. Sounds like you’ve been busy and taken some great trips this year. We also did the same Panama Canal cruise back in 2018 – which was a great experience. Sorry to hear about you guys getting COVID, but very glad to hear it wasn’t too bad.

      After being back in the US for 11 months, it’s good to get back to Thailand/Bangkok (May 2022). Kanchana has family coming to visit in a few weeks – which we’re looking forward to. We’ll be visiting Ayutthaya, Pattaya, Phuket, and Kanchanaburi (the location of the Bridge Over River Kwai). We are hoping to get back into the travel groove again in 2023, but we’re not sure which destinations yet (maybe Japan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Australia).

      Keep in touch when you can. Also wishing you well and safe travels.

      Reply

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