Leelas

Thank you all for the information. I stand corrected regarding the salary calculation. 

As a follow-up question, say I have the following documents:

- A work permit (valid in this case until the end of September)

- A letter from my current employer (a government university) saying that I earn more than 40,000 THB per month (they have offered to provide this letter, and it would be valid).

And, on the off chance that I might have it ready by the time I plan to apply, 

- A copy of a newly signed contract for the coming year, again showing that my job pays me more than 40,000 THB per month.  

Would these documents count as sufficient proof of income? 

Also, would it be possible to apply for another type of extension, rather than the marriage extension? I am after all, employed (on paper at least) by a government university, and that seems like a valid reason to be here.

17 hours ago, fishtank said:

Your Wife's income has nothing to do with it.

It your income or bank balance alone.

Unless they've changed something in the last two years, that's not the case. The income for the marriage extension can come from either the Thai partner or the foreign partner. Last time my wife and I extended it this way, I wan't making any money in Thailand at all, and they basically tossed out the evidence of my foreign income, none of which was actually in Thailand, and only used my wife's local income.

Like, my question here isn't about the financial requirements at all, unless they've changed something regarding the requirements themselves or acceptable proof that you meet the requirements. As I said in the OP, we meet the requirements as written. My question is about whether or not I can get the extension with a visa in amnesty, and having already used the 60 day extension.

33 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You can still use your income from working but your work permit would have to be valid to apply for the extension.

You would also need proof you income by way of proof of tax payments. Did you file a tax return for last year?

I don't think I've ever filed Thai income taxes myself. Either I've never made enough, my employer removed it automatically, or I have been breaking the law all this time without being aware of it. I'm asking my wife about this one, as she currently makes more than me, and she works for the government.

I did file in the US this year (didn't pay anything, but did file), but I don't think that would count.

19 minutes ago, jackdd said:

In your first post you wrote that you don't meet the financial requirements.

If you meet them you should get your documents arranged and apply for an extension.

Yeah, it's a very irregular situation. Basically, I'm on payroll at her university, but I really only do overtime work. They have one account in my name that I don't have access to (although I have the bank book for it and can probably submit it as evidence), and they pay into my personal account for work I've done for them at the end of every semester. 

The lucky part is that I happen to have received large payments every month between May and July.

My wife is theoretically supposed to get paid monthly, but due to COVID, her university has been paying somewhat irregularly this year. I don't know if this will cause problems or not. 

Which documents should we prepare for this? I'm thinking the contract and bank books would be good. Will showing them the (now-expired) work permit cause more trouble than it's worth? 

Just to be clear, my wife and I both make 40k+ per month. For me, the salary is inconsistent, for her it's quite consistent, but I have been paid about 70k per month for the last two months and 20k before that. All payments are from the same university, which my wife also works for. I have a work permit for that university, but it expired this month, and I need to get the visa extension in order to renew the work permit. 

Is the monthly salary no longer valid for the extension of stay? I've used it in the past, with no problems. I don't think I've ever had the equivalent of 400k in a bank account at one time.

Here's my situation in full: 

- I am on a Non-Imm O visa that is valid until december.

- My current stay expired in April. I foolishly got a 60-day extension, mere hours before they announced the first visa amnesty. As such, the extension expired in June.

- My wife (a Thai citizen) and I both receive irregular salary from a Thai university. Fortunately, we have both been paid each month within the last few months, and meet the financial requirements collectively, though not individually.

- I am currently waiting on a Chinese visa application to be approved for a new job. This may take months, and I need to have a valid Thai visa when it finally comes time to get the visa, or I'll have to start the Chinese visa application process all over again from scratch.

My questions:

- Would I be able to apply for a full, one-year extension of stay based on marriage, even though I already applied for the 60 day extension? I plan to apply this Thursday, as I will be very busy next month.

- If not, what are my other options? I'm a US citizen, and am here on a long-term visa, so I can't get a letter from the embassy.

Thanks! Seeing as I've passed the physical year after year as a completely unmedicated basketcase, I shouldn't have a problem this time around. I'll bring a copy of the medical certificate from my psych as well to avoid any false positives on the drug test. 

Hi all,

I've been living in Thailand for many years now, and just last month got diagnosed with adult ADHD and prescribed Ritalin. Today I'm heading to the hospital to get my medical screening to renew my work permit. 

I noticed that "mental illness" (vaguely defined) is on the list of conditions that bar foreigners from getting a work permit. Will ADHD fall under that category, as it is, technically, a mental illness? Also, my psychiatrist warned me that ritalin tests positive as an amphetamine. Will that cause a problem as well?

Any advice you can offer is much appreciated.

We haven't changed address, no, so no home visit I guess. And, will we need new pictures? We can take pictures at our house for the purpose of the visa extension, and we have our vacation photos from this previous year, but aside from that we don't have any new candid photos of us at home.

A couple more quick followup question - what's the last day we can go? Do we need, say, a week or so before the visa expires?

And, if we do decide to extend in Bangkok, I've heard we need our landlord's ID card - what other documents will we need from her?

Thanks, as usual, for the help!

Hi all,

My 1-year extension of stay based on marriage expires on August 3rd, and I'm currently gearing up to extend yet again. A few questions -

- Will we need the exact same documents? And, will we have to make new copies, or will they have our old documents on file?

- Will we need new photos of our house and family? 

- We've been living in Bangkok for much of the year, but do not have any up-to-date legal proof that we're living here, as our landlord has not formally extended our lease. Our landlord is also very-low-contact and we can only contact her through intermediaries - it's highly unlikely we'll be able to get the necessary paperwork by the time the deadline arrives, and I would bet money that she'd flat-out refuse to send a copy of her ID card to immigration with us. As such, we'll probably need to extend where we did last year, in my wife's hometown where we have property. However, my current departure card lists the Bangkok address. Will this present issues?

- Will my wife need to be present?

- Anything other differences between the first and second extensions that I haven't asked about? 

Thanks!

Hi all, I've decided to try my luck with the online reporting. However, I cannot for the life of me get the website to work. I'm running Windows 10 with the latest edition of Internet Explorer. I've tried every other browser and have tried simulating IE 6-9, one at a time, on Safari on my wife's macbook. In every case, the website works exactly the same way. 50% of the time the captcha won't load, thus not allowing me to go past the first page. I can enter 1-4 digits or so, then the website freezes for anywhere between 1 and 5 minutes. If I copy-paste an entire line it freezes a proportionately long period of time. It literally takes an entire hour to get through by which point the capcha is expired and I need to wait another 5 or so minutes for it to reload. For the record, my internet connection works fine elsewhere - it's clearly a problem with the website. At which point I can just click and pray that it doesn't freeze halfway through loading the second page. 

I've literally lost 4 hours on this website today, and have yet to get past the first page of the form.

For those who have had success with this system, what system specs did you use? Which browser and OS? And for those who (like me) only have access to OSX, Linux, and Windows 10, have you found any means of replicating conditions under which the website is supposed to work?

I'm wondering if it's possible to do my 90 days reporting at a different immigration office than the one where I regularly live. I ask, because I got my non-Imm O visa in my wife's home province. We wanted to do it in Bangkok, but were unable to, due to the fact that the owner of the condo we rent has never reported us to the police (apparently), and as such, neither of us legally live here. Anyway, we are now both registered at living in my wife's house in her hometown, and my 90 days is almost up. I'm wondering if it would be possible to do the report here in Bangkok, or if I'd have to go to my wife's hometown to do it. And, if I do decide to do it in Bangkok, and I put our condo address here in Bangkok as my address, could it jeopardize my immigration status or get my visa revoked? 

Thanks!

Hi all,

I'm currently on a non-imm O visa, and living with my wife in Bangkok. I'm here to be with family and to do fieldwork for my PhD, as I'm studying Thai history. I make about 2000 dollars a month from the university where I study / research in the United States. It's not officially a "salary" except in the odd months that I work as a TA, and I get a lump sum of 5000 dollars (sometimes more) without a monthly stipend during the summer months. I do not have a Thai bank account, as my wife and I prefer to keep our money in the United States.

My question is as follows, and has as much to do with the US embassy as with Thai immigration:

A. Will the US embassy accept the 2000 dollars a month figure (~70,000 THB), should I average out the amount I get annually, or should I just forget about it entirely?

and,

B. Will Thai immigration accept the US embassy letter? I noticed in an old topic that some US citizens have had trouble with this in the past.

Two words: Money. Laundering.

It's well known among thais that khun tai jai dum, literal translation is people of the south aka southern thais have black hearts. Not thais from other regions. The southern thais are one of the most impolite people around and somehow it can be seen in the way they speak and act.

It isn't racist or anything i mean some of you here probably wouldn't mind calling chinese from china as loud noisy, rude due to the way they behave on tours to thailand for example and that doesn't represent all chinese.

My wife's Southern Thai, as in from the South of Thailand, not from the provinces in the deep south. I mention her because she's mentioned the criticism of Southern Thai's being 'impolite' to me before - she felt that the reason behind this was that Southerners don't tend to use flowery words or default to 'deferential' to the same degree as people from further North, and that the regional dialect is more... staccato perhaps (if I had to pick a word).

I don't think Southern people are impolite at all, to me they seem easier to 'read' from tone and body language, coming from a Western (well, North of Watford, English) culture. Often they tell it how it is, no messing around.

The animosity toward Northerners is of course widely returned by Southerners - same regional rivalry can be seen in many countries, lots of Northern Brits and Southern Brits take every opportunity to criticise each other, for example.

Yeah, my SO's a northerner, but she has lots of southern friends. She says the reason that northern Thais don't like them is basically because they don't kiss ass in the same way. But, she appreciates this (as do I, and, it would seem, you), because they're honest, and you always know exactly where you stand with them.

Incidentally, there's a significant ethnic difference between the southern Thais (not from the deep south) and the northerners. I'm sure you've realized this by now, though.

"It's the same for the other regions of thailand right?"

Wrong!

Its exactly the same for other regions, in particular Issan, so its you thats wrong.

The process of Thaification - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaification - was directed at various regions of Thailand, not just the south. It still amazes me how the people of Issan never revolted against this, being left with the ludicrous situation of not being able to use the Lao script for their language and having to speak a different language in government posts.

The reason the South is different is almost certainly because of religion as mentioned above.

Yes. Thaification was directed at the northeast, but it was directed at the Khmer populations of the northeast. The Tai-speaking populations of the north and the northeast are considered to be Thai. Thus, we say they speak "Northern Thai" and "Thai Isaan" rather than speaking "Lanna" and "Lao". On the contrary, the Khmer population of the northeast have had their language banned. So, too, have the Khmer population of the center - Bangkok and Ayutthaya included - which is and always has been a largely Khmer region. The predominantly Tai-speaking population in the northeast, as well as the fact that the Khmer population has been largely assimilated, is the reason it's stable, for now.

And incidentally, it hasn't always been stable. The fighting in Laos from the 1950s until the 1970s frequently spilled over into northeastern Thailand.

Note that "because they're Muslims" also isn't an entirely accurate answer. There's a difference between "Thai Malay" and "Thai Muslim". "Thai Muslim" = ethnically Thai, religiously Muslim. The separatists in the south are entirely ethnic Malay separatists, and they generally want nothing to do with Thai Muslims, and vice versa. It's an ethnic insurgency, 100%, not religious.

Awesome! That's exactly the sort of stuff I was looking for. Thanks!

For personal reasons relating to academic requirements, I have found myself in a position in which it is both necessary and urgent for me to begin studying the Lan Na language and script as soon as possible. I am located in Bangkok, not in Chiang Mai. I understand that there might not be any schools at all that offer formal Lan Na training, but I'm wondering if anyone knows of any tutors who are proficient in Lan Na. I would need to focus more on reading than speaking, and would need to study very quickly. My ultimate goal here is being able to read historical manuscripts.

For the record, I am intermediate in spoken Thai but can read at an advanced level with the help of a dictionary.

Any advice?

You actually stated in the OP that you dream of becoming a Thai,don't you think you should live in that country first for a considerable amount of time to understand your "dream" better?

Only then can you make sound judgments instead of asking people who really don't know you,how to do something that is extremely difficult to do even if you wanted to!

Realism is sometimes hurtful.

Ever heard of the child visiting a firefighter station and dreamed to be a firefighter ? Or the other one that went in the plane for the first time and wanted to be a pilot ?

Follow your heart

Yes, as they got older they researched what they would need to do to become a Firefighter/Pilot. They then educated themselves to a standard where they could apply to train as a Firefighter/Pilot. When they completed their training successfully they were then able to achieve their dream.

The guy that turns up at the Airport aged 30 and says can someone tell me how I get to fly one of those planes, rarely achieves his dream.

Yeah, because deciding to become a pilot at 30 and deciding to move to Thailand at 30 are totally the same thing.

Jean, I'm in your general age range, and I've lived in Thailand for several years now. Although this forum is generally good for advice regarding moving to Thailand, there's a lot of washed up former sex tourists who've been scammed into lifelong commitments to bar girls here. Many of them post to this forum. You can safely ignore their advice (they don't usually like young folks such as us, and will try to scare you away), but don't ignore their existence, and absolutely do not become one of them, if you have any choice in the matter.

If you don't have a degree, and you're having trouble finding a job, I'd recommend obtaining your degree in Thailand. Most Thai universities have very affordable international programs. If you're worried about the competitiveness of the degree, keep in mind that it'll be very competitive within Thailand, and should you wish to keep studying, it can serve as a potential stepping stone to a more competitive degree from a foreign school.

You may not need that, though. I have several friends who have successfully started their own businesses here in Bangkok (in graphic design and photography). If you're not doing typical farang work (teaching English), then being able to speak Thai will greatly increase your competitiveness. It will also greatly increase your enjoyment of your time in Thailand, and will make having a social life considerably easier.

Regarding 'becoming Thai' - well, as people have said before, it's possible but very difficult. Personally, I have no desire to become Thai. Sure, I'd like to live here (or at least keep returning) my entire life, but I would not exchange my US passport for a Thai passport. I'm fine with any inconveniences that may be thrown at non-citizens who live here... they're very minor compared to what foreigners in western countries are forced to deal with anyway. If you truly wish to become a citizen, go for it, and don't let anyone stop you... but do keep in mind that you can involve yourself with the culture and community here in Thailand without becoming a citizen.

Medical Examiner sez test results within two weeks on this prominent Thai personality.

How long would it be for results to be known if the deceased where to be a foreign national and had mysteriously died in say, .... Koh Phi Phi or Chiang Mai???

Considerably quicker than if the deceased were a Thai who was not a prominent personality.

Comparing foreigners in Thailand (and their critics) to new immigrants to the US / UK / EU (and their critics) is inherently fallacious.

Immigrants to the developed western nations are, most often, not there by choice. They're there out of pressing necessity, be it economic necessity (they can't make enough money to live in their home country) or something more pressing still (refugees).

By contrast, western foreigners in Thailand are almost universally here by choice, unless you consider that Pirate Bay guy they arrested last week in Cambodia a refugee.

An Iraqi immigrant in the US or UK has no home to return to, so it's in very bad taste to tell them to go home... especially seeing that it was the US and the UK that got them into the mess they're in in the first place. By contrast, a Brit or American in Thailand can go home any time they want... but then they'd have to say goodbye to Soi Cowboy.

Get the difference?

I don't know why this is so difficult to understand...

There is no double pricing in Thailand based on nationality. There is double pricing based on residence.

For the personal example, I have held three types of visas to Thailand - a tourist visa, a non-B, and a non-ED visa. With my non-B visa I would show my tax ID card and pay the Thai rate at any national park, or other government-run attraction (museums, the Grand Palace, and such). With the non-ED visa, I can show my student ID card, and it's the same. I've gone to museums and parks all over the country and have never had a single problem.

The only problem you may have is if you're here long term and are still on a tourist visa. In which case, the solution for those who hate the double pricing is simple - get off the tourist visa. Surely you have a legitimate reason to be here. Get a non-O, non-B, non-ED, whatever you qualify for... then you'll have a means of not paying the farang price. Until then, som nam na.

Doesn't work. i have a non-O and even a stamp in my passport that my residence is Bangkok.

Always have to pay farang price.

Show a Thai drivers license, work permit, or tax card and it will work nearly 100% of the time at national parks, the aquarium at Siam Paragon, and most other places. It will NOT work at the Grand Palace, Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, etc.

For the record, my student ID (from a major Thai university) gets me into the Grand Palace for free every time I have family and friends in town.

Maybe this is an issue of the student price, though, not the taxpayer price.