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.

 

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.

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.

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.

 

 

 

 

Just curious OP but was it easy getting a yellow book with only a rental agreement and no previous long term visa?

photocopies of my yellow book and rental agreement

PS - and at which office may I ask?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/852805-yellow-book-for-a-single-guy-at-banglamung-any-recent-experiences/#entry9805284

All the gritty details are in that thread, but the TLDR version is that I live in Nongprue, so I went to the Nongprue office, my landlord and the lady from the bottleshop in the corner unit of my building were the two Thai people who went with me to do the witnessing for the yellow book.

I was expecting to see a 30 day under consideration stamp but the ladies at the counter said that it was correct, but realized they had not given me a 90 reporting reminder slip.

For extension based on retirement there is no under consideration period (except for two (?) offices which Jomtien is not among).

Not giving a 90 day slip? That means it has not been done (probably as you were too early for that, not sure).

less than 30 days left on the 90 day permission

You have to do a report when the 90 day period of your last entry is reached,

Sounds like Jan 4 your report is due (is that the date of your "ADMITTED UNTIL"?).

Grace period for report in person: two weeks before due date and 6 days after.

The date for 90 day reporting that they put on the slip stapled into my passport is March 12. 90 days from when i turned in the papers for the extension.

In addition to the application for extension, did your downloaded forms and eventual submission include a TM30 form? That's the form that reports your address and would typically be done by the home owner/landlord but applicants have been asked to complete them as 'possessor' of a rented property when filing their extensions.

No, I did not, but I know my landlord did those forms long ago. I also had my yellow house book, that may have made a difference.

OP please read last post. Case closed

Except it's not 'case closed'.

But go ahead and perpetrate the myth that somehow the visa that granted you your original permission to stay, the same visa that determines what rules for extensions to permission to stay that you must abide by, the same visa that immigration wants to see a copy of every time you apply for an extension, somehow vanishes, ceases to exist, ceases to matter.

I get that this myth is the accepted wisdom here, but the accepted wisdom is wrong sometimes. This is one of those instances.

The EXPERTS are Correct ... As an example there is a Multi-Entry Non Immigrant 'O' Visas ... that is issued for a number of purposes - one is just to Enter Thailand and have the ability to exit and enter as many times as you wish over a period of a year - extendable to a total of about 15 months.

This same Multi-Entry Non Immigrant 'O' Visa can also be used to provide status to apply for an Extension of Stay Based on Retirement - at any time during the one year to 15 month term of that 'O' Visa.... Once granted this type of 'O' Visa does not really exist anymore - but the Extension of the Permission to Stay - based on Retirement does ...

In fact -- Once a person gains entry into Thailand on any Visa - they are then inside the country on a Permission to Stay ... The Visa technically stopped at the point of entry ...

Future references to the 'O' Visa are Just That - a Reference - a Reference Point ... not really the Visa itself.

Yes. When you use an entry that a visa entitles you to, you are granted permission to stay based on what sort of visa you have. On a single entry visa, the visa will be stamped USED, because the entry has been used.

The rules about what extensions to the permission to stay you are eligible for are also based on the type of visa you entered on. You are stuck with the rules for that visa type until you leave and go get a different visa, or you get the original visa converted. It does not just go away.

Sounds like a bunch of old women arguing about the terminology the Op used.

I think most of us understood what he was talking about.

No comments about the actual post..maybe spelling errors will be the next important issue??

I thought it was a very good and informative post.

The entire process seems reasonable and not very difficult to me.

Not as easy as it was for me year ago when I paid a nice Lao fellow to take care of everything for me, but it sounds convenient and pretty easy.

Yes, years ago I got my Non O visa, based on marriage and have had my "stay", not my "Non O visa", extended every year since.

I sincerely hope I phrased that correctly for all of you ladies!

Thanks to the Op for an informative post.

Thanks for the kind words, I'm really just trying to help out, I have learned a lot of good info here, juggling different visas over the last 4 years, but part of what makes that work is people reporting what they experienced at different offices.

Another question. Why, if the original O visa ceases to exist, is one of the paperwork requirements to provide

b. Page showing the original Non-Immigrant Visa “O-A” or “O” (if you renewed your passport since then, the page in new passport where Immigration transferred information from your previous passport will suffice)

?

OP you franky are all over the shop. The members posting are EXPERTS . My self excluded . Your last post stated you are here on 90 day non imm O. That visa is USED. You have 90 day permission to stay in the kingdom. Befor that expires you need to apply for 12 month permission to stay. There are requirements for that. From then on you do not have a visa. You have an extension of stay. Stamp on my passport states Retirement. I do NOT have a retirement visa because there is no such thing. In fact I no longer have a visa.

I have 12 month permission to stay "based on retirement"

Got it?

I've 'got it' for a long time. Only there is this movement of posters who are nitpicking on an incredibly minor point upon which they are wrong. Your permission to stay is linked to your visa, the visa does not cease to exist, nor does your visa type cease to matter as to which sorts of extensions you are eligible to get.

You can't get a 30 day tourist extension when you are on an O visa or extension...

.

@OP... thanks for posting a detailed account of how the system works in Vientiane. Much appreciated.

Thanks, just trying to pass on my observations.

Furryman

Here is a picture of a "conversion"

For what reason was it issued?

ovisaextensiontostay.jpg

I have no idea. I'm sure the Thai immigration computers know however.

I got a non immigrant O (for Other) visa. The specific type of 'Other' is retirement. If my 'Other' had been marriage, or having a Thai kid, I would have had different paperwork requirements. Therefore the name Non-immigrant O-retirement visa is an accurate description.

Here is a picture of a single entry Non Immigrant "O" visa.

Ovisa.jpg

For what reason was it issued and for what reason was an "extension of stay" subsequently obtained.

Please explain

It says right on the visa that it is a single entry visa. The one entry is used. The entry granted you a 90 day stay, later you could do an extension of that stay, the original stay granted by the visa.

Ok

I understand that you do not know why it was issued and have no idea as to why an "extension of stay" was granted !

The extension of stay was NOT "granted" by the visa or the 90 day entry it allowed.

End of discussion.

I don't have an extension, I am currently on the 90 days that comes with the O visa, the visa which was granted because I met the requirements for "Other-Retirement", not "Other-Marriage" or any of the other "Other" types that each have different requirements. Just because the visa does not display that one O visa is different from another O visa, does not mean the distinction is not real, or that Thai Immigration is not keeping track of that.

Take for example, Franky Falang, who gets a 3 entry tourist visa in his home country. He comes to Thailand, gets extensions and uses his 3 entries and stays close to 9 months. Say Franky wants to get a retirement extension now. Well, he cannot, so long as he is on a Tourist visa. Despite using all the entries and getting all the extensions, his permission to stay is still under the rules for a Tourist visa. Tourist visa holders cannot get retirement or marriage extensions.

Franky can, however, CONVERT his Tourist visa to an O retirement visa, so long as he can turn up with the right papers for an O retirement visa. Or an O-Marriage visa if he has the right papers for that. Then AFTER the conversion, he can apply for the extension based on retirement,

The visa does not magically stop existing when all the entries are used. Why would they call it a conversion if they are not converting one thing into a different thing?

Interesting. The first time I got a single entry O visa I wasn't required to provide any evidence or qualifications that I was actually going to retire in Thailand with extensions. A long time ago, yes. At my first application for my first retirement extension, I simply has an O VISA in my passport. Nothing about retirement indicated whatsoever. It was EXACTLY THE SAME as any O visa would have looked for ANY of the reasons people get them.

OP -- Is there anything written on your O visa that has the word RETIREMENT on it?

Cheers.

No, but it was on the forms I turned in, it affected what papers I needed for my type of Other application. I have no doubt it is in the computer system.

Tell me does your one year extension based on retirement stamp state it is for retirement on the stamp?

You didn't get a retirement visa.

You got an O visa with intention to apply retirement extensions in Thailand.

The only visa that can really be called a retirement visa are O-A visas obtained from your home country.

I got a non immigrant O (for Other) visa. The specific type of 'Other' is retirement. If my 'Other' had been marriage, or having a Thai kid, I would have had different paperwork requirements. Therefore the name Non-immigrant O-retirement visa is an accurate description.

Here is a picture of a single entry Non Immigrant "O" visa.

Ovisa.jpg

For what reason was it issued and for what reason was an "extension of stay" subsequently obtained.

Please explain

It says right on the visa that it is a single entry visa. The one entry is used. The entry granted you a 90 day stay, later you could do an extension of that stay, the original stay granted by the visa.

In simple terms as already pointed out. Your visa is stamped used. You have an extension of stay in the kingdom. Welcome

The entry is used, I'm in country on permission to stay based on my visa. Talk about nitpicking...

Wrong!

Your extension is based on a Reason other than that you once had a visa.

"

Could be your "Extension of stay" is based on marriage,working, education, retirement ect. it is not based on a "visa"!

But you cannot get a retirement extension on a tourist visa, or an ED visa, or a visa exempt entry. You would have to get your visa converted to an O visa first.

The kinds of extension you can get is based on what kind of visa you have.

You didn't get a retirement visa.

You got an O visa with intention to apply retirement extensions in Thailand.

The only visa that can really be called a retirement visa are O-A visas obtained from your home country.

I got a non immigrant O (for Other) visa. The specific type of 'Other' is retirement. If my 'Other' had been marriage, or having a Thai kid, I would have had different paperwork requirements. Therefore the name Non-immigrant O-retirement visa is an accurate description.

In simple terms as already pointed out. Your visa is stamped used. You have an extension of stay in the kingdom. Welcome

The entry is used, I'm in country on permission to stay based on my visa. Talk about nitpicking...