faranglaowai

On 1/27/2024 at 11:12 AM, bamnutsak said:

 

Thanks for this update. 

 

Did you see the sign that the OP mentioned seeing?

 

"Per a sign at the airport, if you hold a re-entry permit, but exit the country through the automated gates, your re-entry permit will be cancelled."

 

 

No, I did not see the sign

After you have your insurance, go to https://uav.caat.or.th/ to register.  There are some items that are only in Thai but if you use Google Translate in your browser, very easy to follow the requirements.  They say it will take 15 days but expect it to be longer.

One final thing to remember is that it's the value registered at the Land Office that counts to the 10m, not what you pay.

Very often, if you pay a developer directly, say 10m then the actual registration at the Land Office may be only 8m (they can reduce their costs of transfer this way), leaving you with another 2m to hold in a bank to make up the 10m for the Investment Extension.

Since you will be paying a 'flipper', they will be making some money (likely) and thus the declared value at the Land Office may be much lower than 10m, leaving you with a bigger problem.

Personal experience speaking here.  Been there and done that.

On 11/4/2018 at 4:08 AM, hrrecruiter said:

 

Good to know, there is hope then. I will chase this opportunity. 

 

From what I understood in your earlier post, the condo will only be completed in 2021.  You will not be the owner of the condo unit until after completion and thus would not satisfy the requirements for the Investment extension until you are the actual registered owner.

You can however hold the 10m cash in a bank account, awaiting the payment of the condo in 2021 (if the developer will allow that) and that will satisfy the requirements of the Investment Extension.

Australia

It seems there are some new requirements since this time last year.

Last year I had a torrid time getting my Non-B and associated extension of stay based on Investment.  I can happily report that I was in and out of immigration in 30 minutes after producing the same papers as last year and have my next 1 year extension.

Then ... my wife took her passport to get her extension of stay as my spouse and was told that she now has to get a certified copy of the marriage certificate by the embassy and then an authorisation letter from the MFA here.  She pointed out that none of this was required last year (when she got her extension of stay in 30 minutes) and was told that these are new requirements.

Anyone have any other experience?  This was in Jomtien.

Thanks

-FL

This from the Bangkok immigration website for doing a change of visa for investment. You need to be using IE or a browser with an extension to view them here: http://bangkok.immigration.go.th/en/base.php?page=service#

6.1 Condominium title deed, which is in the Applicant’s name, and, in the particulars of registration, the Applicant must be the first purchaser;

6.2 A copy of the sale and purchase agreement of the condominium unit made by the Applicant and the project owner/company and a copy of the registration showing that the Applicant is the owner of the condominium unit, which is issued by the relevant agency or government authority;

This is correct. You need to be the first registered sale on the back of the title deed of the condo. If you buy a resale condo before that sale is registered on the back of the title deed then that would qualify. You would also need a contract between yourself and the entity that is registered as selling the condo to you, according to what is recorded on the rear of the title deed. In my case, they did not check any details beyond that: Company that sold me the condo was in fact the registered owner/developer

-FL

I am very pleased to say that after months of back-and-forth, I have received my 1 year extension of stay (based on investment of not less than 10M baht). To say that it was a mission would be an understatement but certainly, for me, worth persisting and even pestering the immigration officers on a daily basis.

As @Globalist says, there are a number of things that appear to be in force that are not written anywhere. I can confirm that if you have a condo involved, you have to process the request in the same province.

Many of the additional requests for supporting documents were attempts to "not lose face" and were completely unreasonable but once I decided to give them everything they asked for and made sure they knew I was not going away, things got easier.

Thanks very much for those that provided support, especially @ubonjoe, without which I may have given up.

If this is a route that you wish to follow, I strongly suggest applying for the visa when you have the money in the bank ... and making the request in Bangkok

-FL

Unfortunately the Thai consulate in Vientiane has told me that they require an instruction from the Board of Investment in Thailand to issue a Non-O visa if the reason for extension will be investment of 10m baht.

The only visa they will issue to me now is Tourist.

That would be to get a Non-IB visa. You need a non-b visa not a non-o.

You can change from the tourist visa to a non immigrant visa based upon qualifying for a investment extension at Bangkok immigration. You will need to have your proof of investment whey you apply. You can do it at any time during the 60 day entry from the tourist visa up to the last 15 days.

Went to immigration at Chaengwattana and spoke to the officer at the front counter who said that the rules/law had changed and that I could no longer change my TR visa to Non-x in Bangkok but rather had to do it at the Immigration office closest to where I live. She checked the documents though and said that all looked OK.

Then I went to Immigration in Jomtien with all the same information and was told that they will not send it to "head office" because it will likely be rejected and if it is rejected then they will have a black mark on their name because they were not doing their job correctly in vetting the applications.

They said it would be rejected because neither the condo nor the fixed account is 10m. Said it was not acceptable to have say 5m condo + 5m in fixed account.

Since they are not willing to even send my application I am stuck.

The officer that does the extensions of stay had previously confirmed that all my documents were in order and that all I needed was a Non-Immigrant visa. She consulted 2 other officers to confirm that all was OK at the time (before heading to Laos for a visa)

The officer that changes the visa types is not willing to process the application. She did consult another person in the same office who agreed that it would not be accepted.

Thoughts are that I try again in Bangkok telling them that I live in Bangkok but that could be fraught with issues ... unless I actually rent a condo in Bangkok for the duration of the process.

They are starting to wear me down ...

Thoughts? Ideas?

Unfortunately the Thai consulate in Vientiane has told me that they require an instruction from the Board of Investment in Thailand to issue a Non-O visa if the reason for extension will be investment of 10m baht.

The only visa they will issue to me now is Tourist.

Thanks for the help and advice. I think it will be easiest for both my wife and I to exit just before her current permission to stay expires, both apply for Non-O single entry and then get the 1 year extension based on investment close to the 90 days.

I will report back on progress at each step.

So, took my latest trip back to Immigration in Jomtien today together with all my documents for confirmation that all is in order:

1. Condo ownership details

2. Fixed deposit in Thai bank (with total including condo in excess of 10 million baht)

They confirmed that all was in order but that I would need to get a Non-O visa before I could apply for the extension based on investment.

I also presented my wife's passport (she has Non-O) visa with current stay ending 30 Nov, explaining that I would like her to be able to get extension of stay based on my investment. They confirmed that was fine after checking marriage certificate.

The issue that I now have is as follows:

If I go out and apply for a Non-O visa, it will be for 90 days and I can only get an extension of stay after 60 of those days which will take the date past my wife's extension of stay date.

Is there a way to get my Non-O to be for only 30 or 60 days?

@ubonjoe, I hope there is an easier answer than both of us having to exit and get a Non-O ... and by the way, what would the reason for my Non-O be?

Thanks ubonjoe for the advice. I hope that the term of the deposits is as you say.

It might be worth a trip to Bangkok immigration to see if they consider the Non-Immigrant ED visa an acceptable starting point for the extension of stay based on Investment.

I will also try to get further clarification on which banks are acceptable.

Our business here owns a home worth about 10 MTB. With othere fixed term deposits, insurance annuities, land etc, etc.

Can the house and property figure into the equation?

And what about land that my wife and I have invested in?

All together about 30 MTB worth of assets.

It has to be a condo in your name. No house or property can be used.

A fixed term deposit can be used but it has to be proved the money came from abroad.

See clause 2.5 of Police Order 327/2557 basis for extension of stay which states what can be used.

This is all very interesting to me at the moment. I have had a couple of years of benefit on the ED-visa and learned the language to a level that I am getting comfortable in basic conversation and considering a change next time when my ED-visa will require renewal early in the new year.

I have visited Jomtien immigration and they confirmed that the extension of stay based on having invested 10MM baht is possible and can be done same-day with all the paperwork in order.

I was however told that I cannot use my existing ED visa as the basis for the extension and would need to get another Non-Immigrant visa by leaving and applying abroad. Since I though that the ED visa was a Non-Imm visa, am looking for feedback from anyone who has experience with this.

Also, it seems that all Thai banks are not suitable to hold the money in fixed account - Krungsri for example is majority foreign owned and therefore does not meet the qualification criteria for this.

The other item that is completely unclear is how long the term of the fixed deposit needs to be. The immigration officer was unable to confirm exactly what was acceptable.

Hope someone has the direct experience or knowledge. In any event, I will likely move down this route and will be happy to report back on my findings.

Thank you