The visa routes to Thailand: O-A, O-X and the Non-O side by side

There is no "emigration visa" for Thailand. What there is, is a handful of routes that make long-term stay possible — and the choice between them determines where your money has to be, how often you stand at a counter and how much paperwork you have to arrange in advance.

The three routes that matter

Non-Immigrant O-A — one year, applied for from the Netherlands. The classic retirement route from age fifty. You apply for it at the Thai representation via the e-visa portal, with the full paperwork: financial proof, insurance, medical certificate and a certificate of conduct (VOG). Advantage: you arrive with a valid long-stay visa. Disadvantage: the paperwork is the heaviest of the three.

Non-Immigrant O-X — ten years. Available to a limited number of nationalities, including the Netherlands. You don't have to extend every year, and that is the whole attraction. Against that stands a much heavier money requirement: within a year of arrival there must be 3 million baht in a Thai account, and the insurance must be a Thai policy. The ninety-day report continues to apply here too.

Non-O with annual extension — the route most people take. You enter on a Non-O and apply for the extension every year at the immigration office of your province. Less paperwork in advance, but then Thai conditions apply and your office decides — and those offices differ noticeably in what they ask.

If you are still working, the picture is different: then you need an employer who applies for a work permit, or you look at the LTR visa for whoever meets the income or investment thresholds.

The requirements, side by side

	O-A (1 year)	O-X (10 years)	Non-O + extension
Apply	from the Netherlands	from the Netherlands	in Thailand
Age	from 50	from 50	from 50
Money	800,000 baht, or 65,000/month income, or a combination up to 800,000	3 million baht in a Thai account within a year	800,000 baht in a Thai account, with time conditions
Insurance	400,000 baht inpatient / 40,000 outpatient — foreign policy allowed	same, but a Thai policy	differs per office
Medical certificate	yes	yes	usually not
Certificate of conduct	yes	yes	usually not
Extend	every year	no	every year

The medical certificate concerns five specific diseases from Ministerial Regulation No. 14 (B.E. 2535): leprosy, tuberculosis, drug addiction, elephantiasis and third-stage syphilis. It is not a general medical examination.

The mistake everyone makes once

This is the most important paragraph of this article.

The validity of your visa and your permitted length of stay are two different things. An O-A gives you a year of visa validity — that is the period in which you may enter Thailand. But on entry the border officer puts a stamp in your passport, and on that stamp is the date your permitted stay ends. That date counts from your arrival.

Everything that comes afterwards hangs on the stamp date and not on the visa: your extension application, your re-entry permit, your whole planning. So look at it on arrival, and photograph it.

Where the 800,000 baht has to be

For the application from the Netherlands the financial proof may concern a Dutch account. For the annual extension in Thailand it may not: then the money has to be in a Thai account in your name, and not just on the day of your application — as a rule two months before and three months after.

That turns those 800,000 baht into semi-permanently locked capital. It remains your money, but you can't get at it and it earns no return. Count it in your liquidity and not in your costs — see the cost indication for Thailand.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 2 of 5 of the journey: the same steps, but applied to your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines monitored. See the whole journey to Thailand.