BritTim

While it would be logical, I have never heard of a case where that happened. Do you have evidence that someone was given seven days that did not start at the end of the current permission to stay? Where did this occur?

The qualification requirements are summarised on the page https://ltr.boi.go.th/

Yes, the 60-day extension to visit your Thai spouse will be possible. Your spouse must accompany you when you apply for the extension. If you decided to do a border bounce for a visa exempt entry, that can also be extended at immigration in the same manner as an entry with a tourist visa, but it does not seem that will be necessary.

The only really significant service is provision of emergency passports to return to the UK if your regular passport is lost or stolen. Of course, there is a charge for that service, as for pretty much everything else. If you want to marry a Thai, the embassy will witness the required affirmation of your marital status. If you are arrested, they will give you a list of English speaking lawyers, stressing that the list is not a recommendation. Other than that, they will tell you they cannot help further. Mostly, other claimed assistance consists of letting family and friends know if you are in trouble in case they want to help. Maybe, in the event of a major disaster in Thailand, they might coordinate some kind of rescue effort, but hopefully the average UK citizen will never need such assistance. They will notarise certain kinds of documents. Mostly, it is unclear how much advantage the expensive notarisation service they provide has over cheaper notarisation services.

He has 17 or 18 monthly 65k+ international deposits and counting. I agree that 12 should be enough.

The whole "under consideration" process is extremely annoying, but I can explain why it takes so long. Once every few days to a week, your immigration office sends all applications (visas and some extensions) to Division headquarters for scrutiny by the staff there, and eventually by a senior responsible official. When that official gets around to it, he checks everything out and approves the application. It goes into his out tray. Once every few days to a week, approved applications are returned to your immigration office. This whole merry-go-round with the paperwork, and delays waiting for movement between offices is time consuming. Should there be a better process (ideally, just abolishing the under consideration thing altogether)? Yes, but do not hold your breath.

I believe the current procedure is to have the British marriage license notarised by the Thai embassy in London, and subsequently have the notarisation validated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Thailand. Naturally, it is best to ensure you have the notarisation by the Thai embassy done before departing the UK.

If you have proof of 65k+ transferred into your account from overseas every month since Jan 2022, your Immigration office is being unreasonable. You should only need to show transfers for the 12 months prior to the extension (and possibly 800k in the account for three months after the last extension). Did the official misunderstand, and think the transfers only started in Jan 2023? If this is not a misunderstanding, it is very aggravating for you. You could ask to talk to the boss to try to sort it out.

When applying for a Non O visa at Immigration, proof of an overseas source is required. However, the requirement will usually be waived if the money has been undisturbed in your account for a few months. Foe an extension of stay, proof of an overseas source is not necessary.

Yes, you must generally attend in person (and this is prudent anyway, as it provides reassurance that the extension is being processed locally, not in some far flung office up country). That said, Immigration can waive personal attendance for a good enough reason (such as being in hospital). Since waiving attendance is at the discretion of the senior official, agent assisted extensions can often include there being no need to go to Immigration. The extension is still valid.

Do you know what the letter consisted of? The British Embassy does not do residence letters.

I think it is more accurate to say that, historically, there have been no repercussions. It is possible that this could change. I think any crackdown would likely only occur after an announcement that enforcement was going to start (but no guarantees). As long as the account does have the 800k baht, enforcement would surely just be a small fine. If the account balance had dropped below the required threshold, it could be serious.

They might decide to deny under Section 12 [7]:

It is obviously in the rules as set by the head of the Immigration Bureau under the direction of the Minister of the Interior. It applies to all Immigration divisions. It is true that how applications for extensions are to be handled is not specified in the Immigration Act (except for generalities) or even in the Police Order that lists the various extension categories and their requirements. However, it is clear that the "under consideration" process has been decreed from above, and must be followed by all immigration offices until the instructions they are under changes.

With a visa, there ought not to be a problem flying in. However, at both Bangkok airports, there were some cases pre Covid of denied entry of long stay tourists with actual tourist visas. I do not recall any recent reports of this and, according to the Immigration Act, it should not happen (unless there are genuine grounds under Section 12 of the Act for denying entry). Nevertheless, those of a nervous disposition would be well advised to cross the Friendship Bridge and return via domestic flights from Udon Thani airport.

As I understand the requirement, you need the translation to be notarised by the Thai embassy in your country, and subsequently have the notarisation validated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Thailand. If I am mistaken, someone will no doubt correct me.

I think more important that your location could be the key difference between being married to a Thai, and having a non-Thai wife piggy backing as your dependant off your permission to stay based on working in Thailand. I am not saying the dependant would not be given a work permit, but I do not think it can be assumed based on your experience.

As others have posted, while many immigration offices do not seem to care, it is prudent to leave the money untouched until you have the final approved extension in your passport. One reasonable rational for that is that you should meet the requirements at the time your extension is approved, not just when you hand your application to the immigration office.

Malaysians have unlimited entries when crossing the border from Malaysia. That is an exception to the general rule for standard visa exemptions. All the countries that allow visa exemption under bilateral agreement will have different restrictions. I am not familiar with all the individual agreements.

Most language schools that advertise visas are, at least partially, visa mills that exist largely to facilitate one-year visas. Those schools are not going to help you for a normal three month course. The short courses that will provide Non Ed visas are the intensive courses targeted at business people. They are often total immersion courses. They are great for improving your Thai quickly, but expensive. I have a feeling that this is not what you are looking for. Maybe, you will get lucky, and find an inexpensive language school that (perhaps for an extra fee) will agree to provide you with a visa for, say, a three month course The best I can find with a cursory search is Pro Language that offers a six month course with visa for 22,000 baht (https://prolanguage.co.th/student-visa-services/). I have a horrible feeling that this will start at beginners level, but you could chat with them online, and see if you can work something out.

In my opinion, what you write would be logical. However, experience has proven that you are given seven days to leave following the normal expiry of your permission to stay.

This is an uncommon scenario, and I am not certain how the labour office will react. It is possible that they will claim that someone who is a dependant (the type of Non O you have) cannot have a work permit. I suggest discussing it with the labour department. Worst case, there should be ways around it, perhaps by changing the reason for your permission to stay.

It is unwise. There are no immediate repercussions, and it probably will not prevent getting tourist visas. However, it is on your immigration record, and officials can easily use the overstays against you if you are slightly out of line later. Although it may be a hassle, go to immigration, apply for a (denied) extension and get given seven days to leave the country.

It is really annoying when that happens, especially as ameliorating that kind of accident is one of the main reasons a senior official was given discretion to waive seasoning requirements.

It is exactly true with only two exceptions: (i) if you enter with a multiple entry business visa, the law does not apply; and (ii) the law does not apply to those transiting through Phnom Penh airport.