Extending Your Burmese Meditation Visa in Myanmar

As recently as a couple of decades ago, dedicated foreign Dhamma practitioners could not stay in Myanmar longer than a single week! Now, as the government wishes to allow and encourage foreign meditators and and Buddhists to have extended periods in the Golden Land to grow in Dhamma, one can get a "Religious Visa" (commonly called a "meditation visa") for a period of 70 days, which is then renewable indefinitely, and all without having to leave the country. A German yogi recently went through this process and shares his experience with others wishing to do the same:

Introduction

- at first note that you should get the extension process started LATEST 3 weeks before your visa expires. because the process includes several institutions and only the last one is the immigration office which gives you a new visa in your passport. however you are unlikely to get an extension if your present visa is already expired and the result will be an unfortunate overstay stamp!
If you are sure you want to extend your visa I would recommend to start the extension process soon after your arrival to myanmar, as the process has been reported to sometimes have taken as long as 10 weeks!

- next thing it depends on is at which monastery or meditation center you are staying. many monasteries will get the extension process done for you! however some monasteries which have never done it before, may not be able to do so, which means some effort and adventure for you! but it is good to know that with the following guide it is still possible to do it on your own, even without a burmese translator! 

The Extension Process- you must find a monastery or meditation center which is officially registered and recognized by the government and which will be your warrantor/sponsor for the extension. Request them to write a request/sponsorship letter (in burmese) to the "Department of the promotion and propagation of the sasana" (let's call it "religious office") and to the Immigration office.
- this letter should contain your personal data such as full name, country of origin, passport number, date of birth, and the dates for the requested extension, as well as the contact data of the monastery.
- get two letters, one addressed to the religious office and one to the immigration office.
- with the respective letter you go to the religious office near Kabar Aye Pagoda (it is a building near the inner circle road around the Chatta Sanghayana Cave next to Kabar Aye Pagoda) and apply for the visa extension. you will need: passport (just for showing), sponsorship letter, copy of your passport and visa, 1 passport size picture, any other supportive papers (such as a "meditation letter" from your meditation center back home, which explains you are coming to burma for dhamma reasons. this can also be helpful for motivating your burmese monastery to sponsor your extension) (also note that you can easily get passport size photographs within 15 minutes from one of the photo shops at the main entrance gate opposite to the main road's bus stop at Kabar Aye pagoda)
- then they will send your application to Naypyidaw for processing, which takes at least 2 weeks.
- then they are supposed to call you once they got it back and you can pick up the approval letter from the religious office. in my case it took 3 weeks and they didn't call me, I had to call them a few times to check the status.
- then you have to go to the Immigration office in Yangon Downtown, Pansoedan Road. here you'll have to pay fees in US Dollar. and the cash counter is open only from 10am-2pm. to be sure you get it all done in 1 day, better arrive before 11am!
- here it is where the whole procedure becomes a little more complicated and you need to plan almost half a day from ~10am to ~3:30pm! but it is doable and definitely worth the experience and waiting time! :-) Be patient and always remember the motto of this day will be: "please wait!"
- you need to bring: passport, letter from the religious office, sponsorship letter from your monastery, 1 passport&visa copy, 7 passport size photographs. and money: small money for making copies of documents and: seperately 9 USD for the FRC (Foreign Registration Card) and 36 USD for extending 3 months or 90$ for extending more than 3 months. please note again: you can pay only in USD! for this you can change money at one of the nearby banks (bank opening hours are usually from 9am-3pm) (if you are short in passport photographs, you can see if you can make some in one of the copy shops next door, otherwise there are plenty of photo shops at sule pagoda which is just around the corner)
- first you need to go to the Immigration office. coming in you'll see many people sitting and waiting in a room and behind some glass walls, you see many officers. There is no reception anywhere so don't be confused, just be courageous, approach an officer and make her understand what you want by telling you want a "visa extension" and showing your visa and the letter from the religious office. they will search through a heap of papers to find another letter from the religious office in their archive and then give you a big bunch of papers which contains your letter and ask you to take several copies of both these letters in a nearby copy shop. you find copy shops down the road in both directions. once you have your copies, bring back the bunch of papers and then go to the upper office for the FRC. for this you step out from the Immigration office and take a left and just enter the next door again where you find signs with arrows leading you to "FRC".
you will step up the stairs to the first floor and end up in another chaotic place with lots of people and lots of officers without any understandable order. therefore be courageous and take your privilege as a foreigner to directly approach an officer with your issue. she will take some of the copies of the 2 letters from the religious office, and 5 passport size pictures. also give her your letter from the monastery as she can retrieve your personal data from that. also she may ask you to write down more details such as your present adress at which you should be registered for the FRC, (here you may use the address of your sponsoring monastery) or other details such as name of your father and your marital status. Wait for some time and they will give you an invoice of 9 dollars with which you have to go back down to the cash counter in the Immigration office. give them the 9 dollars and the invoice, then sit down and wait until they call you. you'll get back your stamped invoice which you bring up to the FRC office. give it to them and wait. finally you'll get your FRC letter, which is a long piece of paper. go out to make 1 copy of it and then with all the remaining documents (several letters from religious office; letter from your monastery; passport copy; 2 passport size photographs; copy of the FRC and your passport) go to the Immigration office in the basement. Again, here just go directly and approach on of the officers with your issue. she'll go through all your papers and give you an invoice of 36 dollars with which you go to the cash counter. after paying and waiting again, you'll get back your stamped invoice and bring it to the officer. she'll again go through all the papers and ask you to come back at 3pm. Come back at 3 and make yourself visible to your respective officer. she'll probably ask you one last time: "please wait." so sit down in the waiting area and wait until the smiling officer approaches you - hopefully with a new visa extension in your passport! :-)
(make sure to check all the dates of the visa, to avoid any mistakes or misunderstandings).

Result

Practice diligently and attain nibbana for the benefit of all beings. 

"How Do I Extend My Meditation Visa?"

One yogi recently sent us a question asking about the Meditation Visa Following is our answer. For more questions about Dhamma in Burma to be answered on this blog, shoot us an email at burmadhamma(at)gmail.

"Mingalabar, dear ShweLanGaLay,
I am currently in Mandalay with a meditation visa. I would like to extend it. Could you help me and tell me what I need and how I have to proceed? Your help would be very valuable as nor the Minister of Immigration and Population no the embassy could provide any information about that. What kind of letter do I need from the monastery? Do I need to go out of Myanmar? Do I need to go to Yangon or is it possible to do it in Mandalay. Many thanks in advance for your help. Julie"

Religious Visa (also known as Meditation Visa)
** Note that if one is planning to stay overnight at monasteries or meditation centers, it is ideal to procure a Religious or Meditation Visa. Some monasteries and centers do not allow foreigners to stay even one night with unless they come with this specific visa. **

The Religious Visa is also commonly referred to as a “Meditation Visa,” although the visa covers not only those wishing to engage in formal meditation practice but also those interested in studying other aspects of Burmese Buddhism (the stamp one receives in the passport is actually an “R” for “Religious”). Provided by the Department of Promotion and Propagation of the Sāsana, these are often initially valid for up to 90 days. Those who are considering applying for a meditation visa should first consider these important points:

- This visa is only for those with a genuine interest in learning about Burmese Buddhism.
- To apply, one must have a letter from a government-recognized meditation center or monastery that states one is coming to Myanmar for Buddhist reasons, and will be studying or practicing at their site.
- A Tourist or Business visa can not be converted into a meditation visa; if already in the country, you must leave and apply from abroad.

Theoretically, a meditation visa allows the holder to visit Buddhist sites, pagodas, and monasteries throughout the country. However, this is entirely up to the discretion and policy of the sponsoring agency (i.e. the meditation center or monastery that has issued your welcome letter), as they are officially responsible for you for the duration of your visit in the country. Some sites may be more relaxed in their policy and others stricter.

The meditation visa can be extended indefinitely—sometimes for even several decades, in the case of some long-term yogis—and can be done so without having to leave the country, because government servants are mindful that this would interrupt one’s Dhamma practice. The renewal process is done through the Department of Religious Affairs, and must either be completed by going to the office in person (with a Burmese translator if one is not fluent), or by having one’s sponsoring agency complete the procedure on one’s behalf. Extensions for lay people are six months and those in robes can get a full one year. Both presently cost $90 USD, and must be processed at the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

As the renewal process can take up to ten weeks, yogis planning to stay longer than three months are advised to begin the renewal procedure soon after they enter the country. It is each yogi’s responsibility to get this done in time or face whatever consequence may come as a result, such as getting the dreaded “overstay” stamp socked into one’s passport. Finally, anyone who plans to extend their Meditation Visa past the initial three months will need to get a Foreign Registration Card (FRC), which must be shown upon leaving the country.

No matter how long one remains in the country, the Meditation Visa is almost always single-entry, meaning that once one leaves the country a new one must be applied for at a Burmese Embassy. In limited cases and for long-term foreign monastics, re-entry and multiple-entry meditation visas may also be available for a higher fee.

Past yogis have reported that the Burmese Embassies in Asia, in particular New Delhi, Bangkok, Sri Lanka, and especially Kuala Lumpur have been said to be slightly faster at granting meditation visas. Meditation visas applied for outside Asia tend to take much longer.

The Meditation Visa itself dates back to 1979, before which only a handful of diplomats and scholars were allowed in on specialized visas. Tourist visas at that time were hard to come by, and even if they were granted, the maximum period was only for seven days! This prompted the great Sayagyi U Ba Khin to lament that he couldn’t impart his Dhamma knowledge in such a short window of time.

Many yogis today swoon over the thought that a meditation visa exists in Myanmar, and hope that this will open the gates for months of Dhamma practice in the Golden Land. The fact that the government provides this opportunity for dedicated meditators is indeed a sign of the nation’s commitment to Dhamma practice at the highest levels. And this is not a new phenomenon—Prime Minister U Nu once offered state funds during the 1950s to any foreigners who wished to come to the country to learn meditation.

However, the process of applying and receiving a Buddhist study visa entails more than simply listing the number of courses you have sat or describing how you follow the Precepts. For this reason, attention to protocol and procedure is important. The expression “once burned, twice shy” is applicable here, as some meditation centers and monasteries have had experiences in the past of sponsoring a visa application or welcoming a foreign yogi to stay on their grounds, only to find he or she was really a backpacker or English teacher in disguise looking for an easy way to remain in the country. Unfortunately, such behavior has led some monasteries to be more hesitant when considering requests for sponsor letters, as past incidents have weakened their trust. The reality is that each yogi’s actions—if they are in line with expectations and acting responsibly and honestly, or not—will impact the decisions that monasteries, lay people, and even government officials make about the Dhamma hopes of countless future yogis.

A Western monk in Myanmar has seen concerning signs of this already. He writes, “This situation has taken place over the past several years in Thailand to the point where a number of monasteries, previously supportive of foreign yogis and the ordination of foreigners, no longer allow such opportunity, and meditation centers have had to impose accommodation and meal fees as many backpackers abused the hospitality and support of the locals. Now, the early signs of this same unfortunate turn of events are beginning to take place in some of the better known meditation centers in Myanmar.”

Concerning visa extensions, he adds that a “Sayadaw may wish to give the yogi the opportunity to continue practice for a long time with the impression that the yogi is sincere in his/her practice, but in some cases once extensions are received, the yogis leave the monastery for travel or use the monastic accommodations simply as free lodging. Some meditation centers now only allow a stay of three months maximum as a result and will not sponsor visa extensions beyond the initial meditation entry visa.”

** It cannot be overstated that those who receive a Meditation Visa should be especially mindful to follow the rules and conditions of the sponsoring monastery, and use it with the right intention, otherwise future yogis may be not able to similarly enjoy the benefits of a meditation visa! **

In the past, some visitors chose to deliberately overstay their 28-day visa period and upon leaving, pay a nominal fine of $3 to $5 USD per day. While this was permitted in the past, it is discouraged nowadays. Having an invalid visa will cause one problems at hotels and monasteries, when booking travel tickets, and when asked to show one’s passport at other times. Additionally, a Burmese souvenir one should not wish for if one has any desire to return to the Golden Land in the future, is an “overstay” stamp in one’s passport!

"How I Got To Myanmar"

The following story is the beginning of a tale by a Mexican yogi who has been in Burma for many years. This tells how she first arrived in the country. The next post in the series can be found here.

"I came to Myanmar as a tourist with my parents. Before my arrival I was doing retreats in Nepal and Thailand and I was looking for a suitable meditation centre where I could keep practicing. However I knew almost nothing about Myanmar. I just went there because my family wanted to travel.

One of the first places we visit in Yangon was the pagoda next to the Theravada Buddhist University. In the pagoda they had some relics from the Buddha and Sariputta. I was very excited to have access to these relics because in Mexico, every time that some relics come, there are long lines of people that want to see them. In this pagoda, there were very few people.

The tourist guide asked me if I was Buddhist and I told him that I was interested in meditation. He took us to his Spanish teacher who happens to study in the Theravada Buddhist University (ITBMU) and told us about Shwe Oo Min Meditation Centre. He told us that it was a suitable meditation centre for foreigners. That evening we went to visit the meditation centre and we met Sayadaw U Tejaniya, who explained us how the monastery function and gave me a sponsor letter.

I left Myanmar and went to Cambodia. Before my visit to Myanmar I had planned to ask for an Indian visa to look for a meditation centre in Dharamsala. Suddenly, I heard about an Indian girl who was raped by six Indian men in a public transport. That news made me not to go to India and chose Myanmar instead. Even though I did not have any information about the teacher Sayadaw U Tejaniya, my experience in Myanmar was very pleasant. The city was very safe and people were extremely gentle and kind, so the conditions for the practice seemed to be ok. So I decided to move to Myanmar.

In my arrival to Myanmar, local people helped me a lot. The tourist guide who had introduced me to U Tejaniya picked me up and brought me to a monastery outside of Yangon where I could rest a little bit before going to Shew Oo Min Monastery. I was the first foreigner who was visiting that monastery. People were very curious about me and they wanted to talk with me. I found it very charming. A local nun was looking after me and gave me a shelter, food and company. Now this monastery is my home in Yangon. Every time I need to go to a new monastery in other district, I stop with this Sayalay (the Burmese word for nun) to say hello, spend some time, gain some energy and love to start a new retreat."

Diary of a Yogi Bear #1

The The Phyu Taw Ya Pagoda at night

Australian yogi Nobuko Nakano has spent an extended period living a dhammic life in Burma, and now takes a moment to reflect on her experiences and share the inspiration with a larger audience:

“Dearest brothers and sisters,

I write the following journal diary/blog style, completely from my personal perspective, from my own experience, describing the stay I have had here at The Phyu Tawya Monastery in the Hmawbi during December 2012- November 2013

The idea came up after a dhamma brother requested to me in December 2012 who came to The Phyu, to write him an email to describe my experiences during my stay, after I announced to him, my intention was to stay here for at least one year. So I share with you all, the experiences I have had and some things which you may be made aware of should you choose to come here to do vipassana meditation.

Please excuse any grammatical, spelling, typos errors etc, and as I’m writing from an Android phone, which has been lent to me from a dhamma brother for the duration of my stay here in Burma.

If these entries appear choppy, thats because they are :)

I wrote entries at different times, and cut and paste them back into these emails, so the energy with which I have written them in is not really flowing, but anyhow, my main objective was to write to describe to you my experience and to inform you and also to get the yogi diaries completed.

The main reason why I chose to come to The Phyu Tawya is because I knew after sitting a 30 days course at Dhamma Nidhi finishing November 27th 2012, that I didn’t have anything planned, and after living in [Goenka] Vipassana Centres as a full time dhamma server for about 6 years, I knew I wanted to have a break from serving, but still meditate in a dhamma environment, preferably practising Goenkaji technique.

Sayalay Daw Pinyasara watering flowers in front of the nuns' residence

A few years prior, whilst I was living at Dhamma Aloka, Melbourne, Australia, a fellow dhamma brother brought a copy of the vipassana meditators guide to Burma, and told me about The Phyu Tawya, and that the Sayadaw here is an ex-Goenka AT, and still teaches a similar vipassana technique as SN Goenka.

I had a strong feeling as the 30 days course finished at Dhamma Nidhi, this would be the path ahead of me.

So several days later after the 30 days course finished, after spending some time a few days stay at Dhamma Joti, and a few days at a friends apartment in central downtown, I trekked to The Phyu Tawya.

Something I’ve noticed time and time again travelling in Burma, is that I’ve found people will help you so openly, that the flow of the journey to where ever you wish to go happens effortlessly. True viriya- effort… as one AT said whom i served with at Dhamma Sikhara, Dharamsala India said, “true viriya is one that consists of very little effort and yields great results."

Somehow, the almost two hour journey from downtown Yangon, via local bus then a 20 minute ride via motorcycle did seem rather easy even though I had very little idea how to get here, through the help of the warm Burmese people, and this true viriya came into effect.

When I got to The Phyu Tawya, first I met the head nun Daw Ponya, whom in the beginning, I thought was very stern, very strictly living adhering the rules and regulations, and I thought she perhaps had thought of me as a very wild horse (I’m born the Year of the Horse:)… with my long black hair streaming, wearing colourful hippy/foreigners clothes, loud as a banchee monkey, and energy like wildfire.

Well actually, as I live in my third different accommodation,.. it’s a two storey older house, it looks like the addams family mansion, I now share living this house with the head nun, Daw Ponya. She lives downstairs, and I live on the second floor.

The size is the biggest of all residences I’ve stayed at here, with polished wooden floorboards, and open space, it reminds me of the ware houses, turned into apartments in Melbourne city.

There is a kool large Buddhist alter with a bronze Buddha in my room… I think it’s meant to be Ananda, as the Buddha in the main meditation hall is Gautama Buddha. I get to look after the alter, and change the water cups every few days, give it goodies, cookies, fruit etc. whatever I receive at breakfast time, every morning, and take it off before midday. Yes, even statues of Buddhas observe the Eight silas, no eating after 12 noon :)

…and go hunting for flowers and leaves to put in its three vases every several days.

The great Buddha statue at The Phyu Taw Ya

The moment I started sitting here at The Phyu Tawya, I knew I was in the right place my body, where the dhamma wanted me to be. It felt like an unbelievable opportunity, after serving for what felt like so long, to finally be sitting, sitting, quietly, for as long as I wanted, and to be looked after, all my meals prepared, accommodation offered, and such strong metta everywhere.

I truly felt blessed to be here, and wanted to be nowhere else. To me, it was better than having the best chocolate gateau with freshly whipped cream and strawberries sitting there on my lap, ready to be eaten. This was sweeter than any honey in the world, and richer than any gem could offer.

I first came during the 'winter months' (December through February) and in the mornings it is quite crisp, and you need to wear a shawl or a long sleeve top, probably both, at 4 am in the mornings. The timetable is almost exactly the same as at Goenkaji centres, except meditation begins at 4 am, breakfast at 6 am, and lunch is at 10.30 am. The evening after last meditation finishes at 9 pm also.

I remember during those mornings where the air was crisp, fresh, kool and foggy,
as I sat down on my cushion, in the dimly lit meditation hall, I watched the monks, in their deep red, maroon robes slowly enter the main meditation hall in the mornings at 4 am, one by one, in their own time, with part of their robes, wearing as hoods, to provide warmth for their bare heads, the ambience was so dhammified and felt so mysterious.

I thought to myself, "I am in another realm, galaxy, far, far away... very similar to that foggy mysterious swampy place Luke Skywalker in Star Wars lands after he crashes his plane thing, and this is where he meets the Yoda for the first time.

I watched the monks sitting, and thought, “these guys, wow!! They're dhamma warriors.”

For me, it was the first time to be residing and meditating along the Sangha. I had stayed in a monastery in Thailand, Wat Boonyawad before in 2011, though you meditate in your own kuti, and interaction of monks with lay is very strict, well, the monks with females, is not allowed, so I only saw monks from a distance, watching them eat their one meal a day in their dining hall.

To be here, and really be amongst living with the sangha, and meditating with them for me has been an experience like non other.

Back to the monks being like dhamma warriors, actually I have heard that George Lucas, who created Star Wars based the Jedi Knight's persona and beliefs on Buddhist Sangha, after he was influenced reading "the hero with a thousand faces" by Joseph Campbell. It is a book which explores the notion of gods, or archetype figures, that present as heroes in different mythologies and cultural traditions, and also explores the Buddha.

During the first three months December 2012- February 2013, which was winter, I saw quite a few snakes, a towards a water area, near the manmade lakes in the monastery grounds. Most were fairy small, though one evening I did see a large, fat boa constrictor, black and silver striped, it was at least 1.5 meters long, coiled in the grass, slinking away into deeper vegetation, between two kutis one evening, very fat indeed! I had only seen a similar boa constrictor behind glass windows in the reptile area of the Melbourne zoo, where I grew up.

The writer and friends at The Phyu Taw Ya

If you ever get into the situation you wish to stay and apply for a yogi visa extension, through this or any other monastery, please ensure you do have a the correct papers from the local village immigration, and that also you process with the ministry of religious affairs, (in Kaba Aye, Yangon) to get approval, and then the Burmese immigration downtown, and make certain the actual visa extension sticker is stuck into your passport, which you can see, with the valid until to date.

My first experience of a visa extension, through The Phyu Tawya ended up in paying a hefty overstay fee, as I realized it had not been processed correctly, almost three months after I had started the visa application process.

A monk who could speak English came with me to Hmwabi local immigration, the main big town closest to The Phyu Tawya to begin the process, and there I received an official form stamped and signed by the immigration. It was known as (The Registration of Foreigners Rules 1948) Report of Arrival- Form C. After this was completed, the old monk who came with me, said oh yes, this is it, indicating this was my visa, completed and finished.

Of course I was delighted, to think a visa extension was so easy, and having no idea, this was not the finished visa extension. Two months afterwards, I went to Dhamma Joti and sat a 10 days course, after this 10 days course, and I went to the Japanese embassy to ask and show this letter from Hmwabi immigration, they informed me this wasn’t a complete yogi visa. It is simply a form which foreigners receive after going to the local immigration, to say they are residents in that district.

A complete visa ends as a sticker in your passport. This is something I learned in a big way. It was my first time to have a visa extension of any sort, and taking the monk's word that this was enough, I had thought I was carrying a valid visa extension.

Yogi Bear has decided to waddle back into the forest to reconnect with nature...tune in for the next episode, diary entry for Yogi Bear..."

To see the next entry, read here.