Furryman

3 minutes ago, Ohyesuare said:

DeeMoney.

OK, thanks. I'll check them out.

So what's a good alternative for sending Baht to the US? From what I can see, Wise does not offer this service.

On 1/21/2021 at 10:05 AM, Tanoshi said:

Don't worry, I'd bet on you getting a call from the girl in the back office, tomorrow or Monday.

They called mid-morning today, Friday 22nd. Picked up stamp in the afternoon. Wife brought the office ladies some massive papayas. all is well.

1 minute ago, Tanoshi said:

Depends how far your travelling,

 

Conveniently for me, I'm only a handful of Kilometers outside the ring road.

19 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

Roi Et tend to ring you the day before your UC stamp expires, to advise your application is approved and you can return for the stamp - not unusual.

This is only my second marriage stamp with them, last time I showed up the day before the UC stamp date and they stamped me and I went home.

Never waited on a call for a stamp before, this is new territory for me.

Back in December it was time to do my second annual marriage extension, last year was my first time doing an extension for marriage, previously I had been doing the retirement extensions. I live in Roi Et and go the the office in Roi Et city.

We had all our paperwork in line, except for a couple small things (forgot the map, but that was easily remedied). After getting the front desk officer to arrange all our papers in their preferred order, and stamping all the copies for our signatures, we hung out while the office ladies looked over my bank statements and transfer receipts. Everything seemed fine. They said there was no need for them to come do an inspection like the first year, since we were in the same place, my wife's house.

I did notice that at the end my 'Under Consideration' stamp was for 60 days instead of 30, as had the couple in line ahead of us. I figured it was probably due to them working thru the surge of paperwork due to the pause on applications having ended not all that long before.

My 60 day UC stamp expires on the 24th, which is this Sunday, so I figured this week would be a good time to go in and check up, before my stamp expired. The regular front desk officer took my passport and handed it to the ladies in the back. A couple minutes later she brought my passport back out and gave it to the front desk guy. The front desk guy hands it back to me and says "Not approved". HuH? I asked him what he meant and he just said "Not approved" again. Just then his phone rang and he turned around walked away to take the call.

I'll admit I was a little stressed out over this, not knowing exactly what he meant, I looked in my passport, there was no denied stamp or anything like that. Just the same UC stamp from before. He got off the phone and I asked him what I should do next. He said come back next week or wait for the office to call. I asked him if that meant I was just still waiting for the approval to come back, and he sort of made a sound that sounded somewhat affirmative.

I went out to where my wife was waiting and asked her to come ask him in Thai what the story is. She bypassed him and caught one of the inner office ladies, and from what I understand, they are just waiting for my paperwork to come back and I should come back next week, or call next week, or wait for them to call.

I've always been super careful with my visas and extensions, and this is the first time I'll be here with an expired stamp, UC stamp expires Sunday, just before "next week", so I'm a little nervous.

Has anyone else had their extension paperwork coming back slowly recently? Is this something I should be actually worried about, or not?

Thanks.

Looking at doing a run to Savannakhet for a new visa, hoping my Thai wife can go with me, but she's never gotten herself a passport.

I know that in the past Thais could get a 3 or 5 day pass into Laos just with an ID card, but the info I'm googling up is old.

Anyone have any recent experience with this?

I am thinking about killing my Non-Imm O visa (retirement), in order to start a new visa, Non-Imm O (Marriage) and I am hoping for a little advice.

I’ll just jump straight to the core question:

Assuming I have all the documents I need, can I get a one year marriage extension from my local immigration office on the Non-Imm O (Marriage) visa issued at Savannakhet?

It seems like I should be able to, but TiT and things are not always as they seem.

Some brief background: I’m living in Roi-Et, I’m a US citizen, got my first Non-Imm O (retirement) several years ago and have previously been using the US embassy affidavits for the financial documentation.

Since my last extension, there are no more affidavits to be had, I renewed my passport so my current one has a new number, I got married (using the new passport number), and we have almost built a house. We have a house number and house book already, and are hoping to move in this month.

I don’t really relish the idea of digging out my old passport and getting copies (original visa, old extensions) from it every year, on into the future. It just seems like getting a fresh new visa to go with the new passport and the new marriage and the new house would be the thing to do.

Plus, Savannakhet is close, a nice days ride away on the motorcycle, and it seems like it is a lot mellower than Vientiane.

Finally, I hate having my renew by date so close to the new year, (Jan 4), and shifting it to February or March would be a nice change.

I think I have picked up all the details I need to know as far as doing the actual visa run from the great reports here. I’m just wondering about this one critical aspect, or any other complications I have missed.

On 11/19/2019 at 9:13 AM, Furryman said:

That's a good idea. I will contact the USPS.

 

Second lady I spoke with at SS was much more proficient. She advised that when the return envelope eventually turns up they consider the postmarked date as the date you returned it, not the date it arrives.

 

If I don't see any movement before the 60 day clock is about to run out, I'll go ahead and pony up the 800 baht to evensend another copy of it ems express.

I got an email from USPS telling me that mail going to SS gets batched differently, so the tracking can display oddly, but that it should show up as delivered eventually.

It actually did just jump to delivered status just a few days later, so I'm guessing all is well.

I have to call to change my mailing address in the next few weeks, so I'll double check when I call then.

9 hours ago, wayned said:

I'd send an email to the USPS explaining your problem.  I once had a package of equipment sent from Minnesota that was tracking fine until it ended up in Taiwan rather than Thailand.  I thought that was the end of it but sent an email to USPS explaining the problem and they retrieved the package and sent it to Thailand.  Worth a try.

That's a good idea. I will contact the USPS.

Second lady I spoke with at SS was much more proficient. She advised that when the return envelope eventually turns up they consider the postmarked date as the date you returned it, not the date it arrives.

If I don't see any movement before the 60 day clock is about to run out, I'll go ahead and pony up the 800 baht to send another copy of it ems express.

Every year I have gotten this form, I have sent it back regular mail, no problem. 8 years or so now.

This year, I guess the first one never turned up, as I got another dated Oct 3. Second notice.

Second one I sent with tracking and USPS has it in limbo since Oct 29. Says it cleared customs but no activity after that at all. Wondering what can be done besides sending in another copy.

On hold with SS phone assistance to ask them as I write this. Second call tonight. First lady accidentally hung up when she tried to put me on hold, only waited 20 minutes to get her, but now waits are estimated at an hour  ????

I don't even try to talk to Manila, they have never once answered an email or picked up the phone when I have tried to contact them.

Still, somehow, I can hardly ever go out to eat without someone polluting the local air with their tobacco stench.

17 hours ago, Tayaout said:

I can understand you do enjoy visiting immigration but for me that's 1.5h drive. Not that it affect me since the online system works fine for me. However it doesn't seems so straight forward for everyone. 

IIRC you can turn the TM30 in at local police station, it's not limited to immigration offices only. has that changed?

I don't get why the landlords would shy off from renting to Falangs, they just need to do the form once, at the start of the rental. get some limited power of attorney forms for them to sign and you can turn the landlords papers in for them, they don't even have to go in.

17 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

A multiple entry non-o visa allows unlimited 90 day entries for one year from the date of issue.

Even better, thanks ubonjoe!

On 10/28/2018 at 4:39 PM, elviajero said:

The consulate in Savannakhet, Laos will issue a ME non 'O' without needing to provide any financial information. You will need the original/copy of your marriage certificate, and copies of your wife's ID and Tabian Baan (house registration book).

This visa gives how many entries? If it is 3 entries and 180 days validity, it's not too bad if you are not too far from the border.

5 minutes ago, topt said:

There were some reports on here last year or so that where people had been doing this the banks would only qualify the amount excluding what "secured" the credit card - so no. Not an option anymore. (If it ever was)

Thanks for the info!

3 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

I have never used my secured credit card accounts at immigration but...

     

I have both a Bangkok Bank Visa and Master Card credit card and a standard savings account.

 

They withdrew the money from savings to secure each card and created two new accounts. So now I have a savings, Visa and MC account. The balance of those CC accounts is the "secured money" minus your unpaid credit card balance. Every month they automatically withdraw from my savings account money to pay my credit cards off in full. So lets say you have 200,000 baht credit limit for each card (X2) and 300,000 in your savings. Your ONLINE statement shows a total of 700,000 less unpaid CC.  

 

I have two fixed savings accounts that I use for immigration. They don't generate statements each month. I need a letter from the bank simply stating that the money was there on a certain dates. Maybe they can do the same for CC accounts. Where it might be tricky is getting immigration to do the math and see clearly the money was there with the CC balance going up and down. 

 

I hope this helps with your question a little.  

Yeah, it does. That's not exactly how they explained the accounts would work, but TiT. It doesn't even seem to really even be a 'credit' card, just an over complicated debit card.

I bank in Thailand with Bangkok Bank, and when I was in there recently I asked them about the possibility of getting a VISA credit card, since the BKB ATM cards aren't in the VISA network.

The ladies conferred, and the answer they came up with was that if I had an account with money sitting in it, they could issue a VISA card with a limit up to what I kept in that deposit account. Sounds the same as what would be called a secured credit card back in the USA.

At the time I figured it wasn't worth the hassle, but with the changes coming regarding income verification for US and UK expats (so far, fingers crossed for the rest of you folks) it got me thinking, and I have a question for those with more experience in this area.

Could the account holding the lump sum for immigration also be used as the security for a VISA card? Or will the account securing the VISA card get flagged as ineligible for the immigration paperwork somehow?

As I understand it, the money would just sit there, no transfers in or out. The monthly VISA bill would be paid through my other accounts.

Currently, I have one account that my retirement gets transferred into from the USA. All that account does is act as a landing place for my monthly income. No ATM card.

Once a month I transfer what I need for day to day into a second account with an ATM. I'd be paying bills from that second account.

The lump sum/security deposit would sit in a new 3rd account I will probably be creating anyway for immigration paperwork.

It seems like it would be a way to make some use of the money just sitting there doing essentially nothing.

Anyone done this or have any info regarding this idea?

I have my retirement coming in monthly as a direct deposit to NYC Bangkok Bank, which then auto transfers to my local Bangkok Bank. Would not the bank statement from BKBank showing regular monthly transfers into the country be enough to document income?

4 minutes ago, ThaidDown said:

There is no combo method for marriage extension.

 

ok thanks

On 10/14/2018 at 2:20 PM, ubonjoe said:

If you pension is paid monthly (some are weekly or 4 weeks) you multiply your 30k baht income by 12. Then subtract the 360k bhat number from 800k baht which is 440k baht. I highly suggest you add some to the 440k baht to allow for exchange rate fluctuations since immigration will calculate the amount based upon the the rate for the day you apply.

Is that how they calculate the combo method for marriage visa as well?

Using the OP's posted numbers for illustration:

30k income * 12 months = 360k

400k minus 360k = 40k needed to be deposited and seasoned to meet the combo requirement.

Plus some extra for exchange rate cushion, of course.

Awesome idea. Gotta start somewhere with the trash problem and cigarette butts are disgusting. Great place to start.

Not too long ago I flew to Bangkok for a film because I really wanted to see it on the big screen in English. Most of the time though, for big films I just wait until I can download them.

It's cool that some Thai films have English subs, but most international films with dubbed thai soundtracks don't have English subs.

If OPS license is correct please answer how long have you been using international license in Thailand?

Thailand only allows you to use international for 90 days after arrival.

Not true British License and International Driving Permit is valid for one year.

With this you can apply for a Thai license without taking any Test.

Just letter from Doctor

And proof of residency.

IDP is valid for a year but officially Thailand only accepts it for your first 90 days, after that you are supposed to get a TDL, which is super easy if you have IDP.