chris5346

from what i gather they are making it harder for people to stay here long term if your a false tourist, they just want to see you have some money and are not going to be working etc,<br>you'll put the application in one morning and then they process it the next day for you to collect in the afternoon, there's no interview or questions etc - well there never used to be.<br>they have been putting red warning stamps on people going to vientiene too many times so you should be fine.<br>yours just looks like you came here on holiday and want to stay longer.<br>i wouldn't put the photography on visa application because they may think your working i would say staying in a hotel in a touristy area etc.<br>you can get a sample of the application form and fill it in well before you go.<br>i haven't been recently so i'm not 100% sure .<br>on the application form it says purpose for visit i think and duration of stay, maybe you didn't fill in the extension application form fully and they wanted to see what type of tourist you were ?<br>they may put a red stamp in your passport but no worries.<br>also with the laos currency you can't use it in thailand so spend it all there, you can also use baht in laos.<br>if you take photos and have all information etc needed you wont need the services of the agents outside the embassy, <br>many people go through the land border and then get  a taxi etc str8 to the embassy before 11:30 to put the application in before it closes at 12 or 12:30 ? then can find a hotel, but as mentioned they may want to know where your staying in vientiene so find a hotel address etc online for the application form. many hotels in the city close to the river 10 min. taxi from the embassy, <br>takes 30-40 mins to get from border to city/embassy should be maximum of 200Baht even if your on your own.<br>there are 2 embassy type buildings so just say one for passport or visa and show to taxi driver they will understand.<br><br>

is this your first tourist visa ?

you need a visa for laos i think it's 35$ and you get it at the land border, you can also pay in baht maybe 1500 ?<br>sometimes in the past they ask for a single photo,<br>also they charge extra dollar if after 4 pm .<br>you could scan your ticket and ammend the date for 5 months later maximising your chances of getting a double, very doubtful they will check and you do have a ticket . i don't know ? i think they want to stop people staying here for years with no plans.<br>maybe best to fly to udon at the moment or can fly direct to vientiene from bkk ( if you fly to vientiene i think the visa is included in some tickets but flights are much more expensive than the udon ones).<br><br>

where are you travelling from ?

you could fly to udon thani (nok air are good) and get a transfer to the border from the airport.

or get a public bus to udon or maybe there's a private company that will take you direct to the border ?

there's 2 bus stations at udon , if your coming from bkk probably will goto the city center bus station and there's a vientiene express coach that saves a lot of faffing at the border with taxis etc.

maybe you could print off the ticket but change the date on it .

last time i went i had to provide the name of hotel staying in vientiene also so find address of hotel on the internet

2 photos for thai visa - i have just done my own b4 on a printer,

maybe will need a smaller photo for the visa on arrival for laos ?

take some dollars for laos visa if you can and one extra dollar incase it's after 4pm.

there's loads of options ,

i have been many times but not recently,

you maybe better off using your nationwide flex card as before at 2% plus one pound .

i think nationwide actually charge 25 pounds for a swift transfer so that's 2.5 % on 1000 pounds.

advantage of using a card here is you can choose a good time to use it , the rate has been going up and down 1 % recently.

are you in a hurry to send the money ?

you could try santander zero or halifax clarity and post the card to thailand.

you could try moneycorp or HiFX but their rates wont be as good as the TT in a thai bank but you'll save on the fees, you can get a live rate with HiFX if you register.

does the person your sending money to live in ciang mai by any chance ?

you have to be careful with credit cards offering zero fees they usually charge approx. 20% interest for cash,

luckely they structure the debt putting the cash at the top so if you make a manual payment as soon as possible interest can be avoided.

i have a santander zero credit card but i notice they have just stopped doing those unless your an existing customer ?

maybe worth opening a current account with them ?

i think halifax also have a clarity card which looks similar.

i do cash advances using my passport as mentioned above and with online banking you can pay off asap to avoid any extras.

with cash advances i think that the conversion is done using the thai bank TT rate ? rates vary but i find scb usually the best.

maybe people are struggling to pay with there cards because they have made a slight mistake with their bill paying address information ?

here's scb link :

http://www.scb.co.th/en/home

i opened one last week but i haven't used it for buying an AA ticket yet.

once you get the debit card you can easily register for online banking which i believe you need when paying for AA.

can register here :

https://www.scbeasy.com/v1.4/site/presignon/index_en.asp

cost was 300 Baht to open account.

yes because a visa double or triple is only valid for 3 months you can only stay maximum of 180 days .

3 months validity (can enter and leave thailand 3 times if u wish with a triple) + 60 days + 30 day extension

or if you want to stay longer on the application form ask for 6 months not the minimum 3 month validity.

if you get 6 months then can stay 6 months + 60 days + 30 day extension.

on the visa application form i think it says things like proposed length of stay in thailand etc so fill in form correctly and they may give you a 6 month one, maybe show some flight information too.

how did the mother and child travel to the u.k ? and there visas etc ?

on the mothers visa for uk did you tick the travelling with child box ? if not surely she can't leave with a child officially ?

do they have the same family name ? maybe doesn't make much difference because she could just show birth certificate.

you could put a hold on the u.k passport i'm sure if that helps.

did you bring the child into the u.k ?

hope it all works out for the best

if your finding it difficult to open a bank account then showing a thai driving licence will help (that's what i did when opening my second account and no questions were asked).

i'd recommend getting a few different accounts and sharing out the money, could also buy some gold and wear it !

other choice is maybe you could convert the cash into safer travellers cheques ? but maybe too late for that.

hi,

if you enter on just the 30 day one then you can't do much with that in the future except for maybe extend it 7 days maybe ?

if you can goto the thai embassy in the philipines if convenient then get a tourist visa which is valid for 3 months (60 days free and can extend extra 30 days if you want for 1900 baht), some embassies give out double entries which mean you could potentially stay for 6 months.

you can also pop accross to laos or cambodia in the future and get visas from there if that suits ?

there's many options but even if you were to get married whilst on your 30 day entry you would still have to get a new visa.

you definately don't need to go all the way back home.

how long do you think you'll be in thailand ? i was in the philipinnes and planned to come to thailand for a short time before going back to the u.k, i have been here ever since ! wish i had got a visa from philli.

hi,

as a tourist i managed to open a bangkok bank savings account and i get free atm withdraws in the city where account was opened, also got internet banking but that took a while to process through the post sending passwords etc.

i have recently opened an scb account which was even simpler and getting online banking took 10 mins registerring online.

the reason i opened an scb is because there TT rate is usually one of the best rates if i want to transfer money from overseas, also scb can be used to pay for airasia flights so save some fees.

if your using u.k cards here the atm's charge 150 baht per transaction and also most cards charge fees and commisions with some exceptions, what i do is avoid the atm's and go inside the bank with my passport and ask for a cash advance saving the 150 baht each time, different banks have different rates , here's a link where you can check the rates :

http://bankexchangerates.daytodaydata.net/default.aspx

here's another link if you want to follow the baht /pound :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/currency/11/11678/default.stm

if your in the u.k currently i would recommend getting a santander zero credit card and registerring for online banking , you can withdraw 300 pounds worth of baht a day in thailand and no fees (just have to pay balance off asap to avoid interest).

i think halifax also have a clarity card which looks good.

all the best,

chris

thanks mario that makes sense.

i'm from the u.k but could i get a 1 year visa from australia ?

hi mario,

i'm just wondering what's the difference between going to court and getting a petition or marrying the mother ? or going to the ampur at age 5 ?

our daughter is less than 2 years old .

if i was to marry the mother and then get divorced would i be back at square one ? also what happens when the mother dies ?

i'm thinking of buying a property and settling here but i want to make sure i can stay here for all possible outcomes.

i would prefer not to goto court if possible , if we goto an ampur in a couple of years time to add me could that be used to extend my type - o visa ? even if i have seperated from the mother ?

regards,

chris

yes can get singles from laos or KL etc.

quiet an expensive and disruptive method of staying .

you may as well get a double entry tourist visa instead.

it's the same type - O visa just a different reason for qualifying,

multi - entry 1 year cost me approx. 100 pounds.

sent through the post and was back in a few days.

i wouldn't recommend sending original birth certificate , the ppl in hull said a copy is fine .

i applied for a one year visa from hull through the post and all i did was attach a copy of the thai birth certificate.

that was in march 2011.

from what i gather you can only get a 1 year type O from the uk and yes you can keep going back every 15 or extend upto 17 months to get one.

you can't get any visa whilst in thailand because you can't have 2 visas at the same time.

you could goto a neighbouring country and post your passport back to the u.k .

or you goto an embassy in a neighbouring country and just get a single entry upto 3 month visa.

sounds like if you seperate from the mother your not able to stay in thailand long term so getting a court petition maybe the best option ?

what happens if forbid the mother dies , where does that leave myself and child ? sounds like we need that petion done asap ?

hi mario,

thanks for info.

if i get married do i then get the extentions because i'm married or because i'm legal father ?

when i do the 90 day reports do i need to show that i live with my wife or child ?

what happens if we get divorced or seperated ? am i still legal father ?

regards.

hi,

i'm in a very similar situation so here's what i know :

you can easily extend your current visa at an immigration office just before it runs out if your the legal father and can show 400k baht in a thai bank. (to be legal father you must get married or goto court to get a document made).

or like you said is to send your passport to hull and get another year (1 year can actually goto 15 months plus can add an extra 60 days for 1900 baht ),

if you send passport back you will need to leave thailand and send from a different country.

i have just read that KL issue type-O ,1 year visas if your married - maybe they do if your a father ? (legal or not).

i have booked a cheap flight to KL anyway incase i don't get married and i'll either get a visa from there or post passport home, all else fails i can get a cheap flight to u.k.

congrats,

chris

I think I can just tack onto this thread instead of starting a new one.

So here's my situation: I've been getting Non Imm O visas for the last couple of years so I can spend all year in Thailand and return back to the UK at Xmas to apply for a new one. My current Non Imm O visa runs out at the end of December. I recently found out that I can no longer get this Visa using the "visiting my Thai gf" reason because the rules changed in Jan'11..

We now have a baby together (born this summer) which I believe can be used as a reason to get a Non Imm O visa, however I have no plans to return to the UK for a while, so what are my options to get a renewed Non Imm O visa, assuming this is the Visa I need and can get? Is there another/better Visa I can get?

Somebody suggested sending my passport to someone in the UK who then forwards it to Hull and then send it back to me in Thailand when the Visa is processed. I really do not want to do this for obvious reasons.

Also, (just hypothetically mind), if we were to marry what Visa could I get and how?

Thanks for any help.

hi,

yes your right 3000 is too much .

i got muddled up with prices.

dypers are approx. 9.5 baht each and milk cartons are approx. 14 baht each.

3000 would mean 10 dypers a day ! but it's more like 5 a day .

so each month for size M assume 1500 - 2000 baht a month .

,

we spend approx. 3000 baht a month on mamy poko pull ups size M for our 15 month old.

and 2500 on milk

wipes also cost quite a lot 130 baht per pack.

our daughter doesn't drink that much compared to others.

wow 3000 on nappies we use 2 packs per month 1400 for nappies and 1800 for milk.

hi,

i'm not sure what would be the cheapest especially if your flying .

KL you don't pay to enter and can fly direct from CM with air asia.

if you get a double entry here's some options :

60 days

or 60 days + extend extra 30 days (1900Baht)

or 60 days + 60 days (have to do a border run to activate second visa - 500 baht to enter burma)

or 60 days + 60 days + extend extra 30 (have to do a border run and pay 1900 to extend it)

or 90 days + 90 days (have to extend twice 3800 baht plus do 1 border run)

if your doing the last option to get the most out of the double entry keep an eye on the expiry dates of the first visa (3 months from issue not 3 months from entering thailand).

if your already in chiang mai it's very easy to get a bus to mai sai (about 4 hrs) and do a visa run or there's private minibuses etc.

you can pay 500 baht or 10$ to enter burma for just the day only ( if you want to do some shopping in the market of tachilek the burmese immigration keep hold of your passport and you get a receipt, if your just going to do your visa run then say no shopping thank you walk straight back into thailand).

when you re-enter thailand you get a free 15 day stamp (unless they have changed to 7 days like you said but i doubt it).

there's 3 buses leave the arcade bus station 7, 8 and 9 am (i think) and 3 or 4 that leave mai sai to return to CM.

i recommend you buy both tickets the day before you want to go (recommend the first class or VIP seats 300 baht each way or something, some buses are second class so ask when buying the tickets).

if you get the last bus from chiang mai 9 am ish and you want to get a bus back to chiang mai on the same day you haven't got much time for shopping etc .

the bus station in mai sai is a 10 min red taxi or tuk-tuk trip to the border.

also takes about 20 mins at the border filling forms etc.

how long are you plannimg to stay in thaiand ?

i used to get double entry tourist visas from laos (vientiene) - can stay in thailand upto 6 months if used properly).

or there's KL or back to cambodia like you said.

loads of options depends what you like doing.

any questions please ask,

chris

hi,

that's a good idea, i'll take her too if i extend.

not sure what i'm going to do yet, least i know my options now.

cheers guys,

chris