BritTim

Yes, I am sure. In spite of what previous versions of the Thai nationality act stated, Thailand did not then (and still does not) recognise Thai nationality on the basis of jus soli. On the birth of my own daughter in 1989, I engaged a well connected lawyer to appeal the failure to recognise my daughter as Thai on the Thai birth certificate. This was to no avail. My daughter did later acquire Thai citizenship through jus sanguinis, based on her Thai mother, following the later change in the law.

I sincerely hope that no airline is going to decide that my UK passport might not be valid for travel. What supporting evidence would you say I should have available in case the airline questions the validity of my passport?

I do not think so. They could enter visa exempt and then, either overstay with no consequences, or apply for one-year extensions as returning Thai citizens. It would be better to exit and enter Thailand with Thai passports, but choosing to use their UK passports should be allowed.

Probably not, as I now understand the current regulations. To quote Mr Bumble "The law is a ass". Dual nationals should be able to travel using the passport of their choice.

A trafficker would have arranged Thai passports, and is unlikely to have bothered getting UK passports, which is more difficult.

If you are currently still on the BOI Smart Visa, then you are on a Non Immigrant entry. You do not apply for the 90-day on O visa. You go direct to extensions. If you have 400k baht already in a Thai bank account for two months, apply for a one-year extension. If not, apply for the 60-day extension to visit your wife (recognising that you will not have the option of doing so again, and it is a useful option to have in reserve for possible future emergencies).

The trouble is, how do you know which of the valid visa types/extensions your local office will provide? It is not unreasonable to choose the easiest option to which you are entitled, and hope your office will follow the national rules. I do know the reality of Thailand, where officials will abuse their discretion in refusing applications (or, even sometimes, assigning themselves discretion that the law does not give them). If you want to live here, official misconduct is one of those aggravations you just need to accept. However, I have a lot of sympathy for those who want to use this forum to vent their frustration when things like this happen.

Very true, but it would be somewhat unusual for children with UK passports to be denied entry into the UK.

That makes perfect sense if you assume that the person the children call "mother" was able to get three forged Thai birth certificates, and get the children entered in her house book, but would not have been able to extend this to falsified passports. I accept that the regulations may be inflexible, but this was a classic case of rules hurting children rather than helping them.

If it was in the 1980s, your daughter would not yet have had Thai nationality. At that time, children only received Thai nationality through a Thai father.

... unless, presumably, they can prove they are foreign nationals (without Thai nationality) who were born in Thailand.

The mother travelling with the children you would have thought would be acceptable. What are the ages of the children? If they are old enough to confirm that your wife is, indeed, their mother, that ought to be an end of it. My sympathy on a very unnecessary crisis.

Just do what was suggested earlier. Submit an application without the erroneously requested insurance. Those who actually process visas know what the real requirements are. Errors on embassy websites and (to a lesser extent) in applications are common.

If it is convenient to visit Chaengwattana in person, that is probably best. I would treat it as mainly a scouting expedition, rather than expecting a smooth extension on the spot (though you might get lucky). Other than an in-person visit, I am not sure what to suggest. Phone enquiries are dodgy. You are quite likely to get inaccurate answers. You could talk to an agent to see what they want to charge to sort everything out for you, but I would not offer more than 5,000 baht on top of the 1,900 baht extension fee.

If you do not even arrive in Thailand until July 15, you will not even be eligible for the routine 30-day extension until September. For a Covid extension to be available to you, they would need to remain available into October. That might happen, but in all likelihood will not. In the event that Covid extensions are available in October, you will need to see what the requirements are at that time.

Talk to your local immigration office, and ask what they will require. This is likely to vary greatly between offices: everything from the rules as they existed a year ago to just a copy of your passport data page and visa page.

An SETV (single entry tourist visa which is what I assume you mean) cannot be converted into another tourist visa. If you want another tourist visa, it is a new application. What is your nationality? If you are from a country that has transitioned to the eVisa system, you can apply for a new SETV while still in Thailand, and use it on your return from Japan.

I assume your post is meant sarcastically. It is, of course, not strange at all that an official getting special compensation for signing off on an application should be more available than when no such inducement is offered.

It is simple enough. A Covid extension must be signed off by a high ranking officer. If there is an official of a high enough rank at the office who agrees to be continually available to sign off on the extensions, then they will be issued directly. If not, the applications are placed in a heap for signing off at either that office, or elsewhere, when there is an official who decides to do the sign offs.

If you want to make an emergency trip outside Thailand, your only viable option is an emergency travel document from the embassy of the country that issued your visa. Most embassies have an emergency contact number that can be used when you need to travel in an emergency. I suggest you use it and explain the situation.

The Jomtien desk for retirement extensions is usually quite reasonable, but the rules as written must be followed (unless using an agent). Simplest, assuming it is possible which I think it is, would be to get an income letter from the Belgian embassy. Someone else, I note, has already suggested this.

Correct. Immigration effectively ignore overstays by minors. At worst, there would be an inconsequential stamp in the baby's passport.

Did you get an official receipt?

My understanding is that, for most nationalities, the embassy in Wellington and honorary consulate in Auckland are both good for tourist visa applications. However, New Zealand is a hell of a trek from Bangkok. Rather than using it for a visa run from Thailand, you might be better off going there before or after Thailand. What is your nationality? If you are from a country that has introduced the eVisa system, you can apply for a new tourist visa while still in Thailand, and just do a border bounce anywhere convenient to use your new visa and get the fresh 60-day entry.

You probably mean visa exempt entry but, just in case, be aware that extensions and conversions to Non Immigrant entries are not allowed if you enter with a visa on arrival. Assuming you do mean visa exempt, the first step is to convert to a Non Immigrant entry for purposes of retirement (this gives an initial 90 days). The application fee for this "conversion" visa is 2,000 baht. Following this, you can get one-year extensions for 1,900 baht a time. The only additional official fee is for re-entry permits (1,000 a time for single re-entry permits and 3,800 for each multiple re-entry permit valid until your next extension). If you use an agent, the cost will depend on where you are applying. Typical is about 22,000 baht for the initial conversion plus first one-year extension, and about 14,000 a year subsequently. If trying to figure out whether retirement extensions with an agent or an Elite visa works out cheaper, there are several considerations. Frequent travellers (who make the optimistic assumption that agent fees will never increase) should budget an initial 25,800 then 17,800 a year for extensions plus re-entry permit which implies a 20-year cost of just 358,600 baht for 20 years (obviously less than the 1,000,000 baht for the Elite). However, there are long term risks with relying on agent extensions that are difficult to evaluate.