Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing O Retirement Visa processing in 2022. I sometimes try to do these roundup videos where I just discuss a general visa topic and what things may look like going into the New Year. 

Some things to bear in mind. We are talking about O Retirement Visas here, not O-A; there is a distinction there. Now with respect to extension I have had a lot of people wanting to know: "Do I think that they may make the insurance requirement mandatory on an O Retirement Visa in 2022 or at any point for that matter?" My response on that is we haven't seen anything to that effect and I haven't even heard of anything to that effect.

Now, one thing to keep in mind in 2022, so long as we have the Thailand Pass System which is sort of the legacy system to the Certificate of Entry, as long as that is still there, there is an insurance requirement associated with that. So those who leave Thailand on an O Retirement for example extension, they may have their re-entry permit in order and they may spend for example a month back home. Go home to see family; go home for the holidays; get financial matters in order, whatever, and then they turn around and they decide to come back to Thailand. As a result of the Thailand Pass System being a component of being able to re-enter, there are insurance requirements associated with that. So as a practical matter, even an O retiree if they want to leave and come back in, they may end up in a situation in 2022 where notwithstanding the fact that for extension purposes they don't need insurance, but for re-entry purposes they do.