Dogberry

I've recently asked the same question here. I was hoping you might have an update on what you found out.  

I've recently posted a similar question here. Not seeing any replies to your question I was wondering  what you were able to find out.

Hi folks. First off, it seems I rarely visit ThaiVisa unless I need something but I promise to make a few contributions to the dialog during my current stint here. Just saying I appreciate and will try to give some back...

Ok here's the story:

I am married to a Thai national and she has a current B1/B2 with 5 trips to the USA in good standing.

We have a 5 year old (her daughters daughter) that we are raising.

My wife and I want to make a another trip and take grandchild with us.

My wife and I were actually persuing adoption of said child but it was getting very complicated with me being a foreigner. We've semi given up on the process but it may be in fact the only way to get this to happen. If this is the case then I'll be back on a new topic ????

The US visa application website is pretty clear: 

• One of the child’s parent(s) or legal guardian(s) must have a valid B1/B2 (Business/Tourism) visa at the time of the child’s application. 

So what IS legal guardianship in Thailand? Is it a letter from parents giving permission? Adoption, or some other process I'm not aware of? 

On 7/5/2022 at 5:35 PM, ubonjoe said:

If you have proof of 40k baht going into a Thai bank from abroad you can use it. The account would have to be in in your name only.

Yes, In my name only.

20 hours ago, BritTim said:

I assume Lamphun is your local immigration office, and you intend it remain so for years to come. Under those circumstances, and given that you seem able to meet all the requirements for, not only the 60-day extension to visit your wife, but also the one-year extension based on income, do not cave in to pressure to pay facilitation fees. Once they know you can be pressured, you will never escape their clutches. Calmly, in a quiet, pleasant voice and without accusing them of anything, make clear that you know you are entitled to an extension of stay based on marriage, and that is what you intend doing. They may not like it, because it involves them in a lot of work they want to avoid, but they will have to comply.

I want so much for this to be as you described. I have everything needed to apply for the extension. It'll just come down to any nit-picking that may be brought into play. I would rather leave the country than be forced into using an agent. In my 9 years in Thailand I've not encountered a problem like this and in my stupid naivety it's gotton away from me. But I'm on a rally starting about an hour from now. Thanks for the reply, the encouragement and... wish me luck!

21 hours ago, worgeordie said:

OK , it will cost you but easiest way out of your problem.

if that's what you mean ????

regards Worgeordie

Yeah. It sucks and I'll do my best to avoid up till the last moment. Thank you and regards. Dogberry

On 7/5/2022 at 8:29 PM, RedArmy said:

@Dogberry My sincere condolences to you & your family, may your sister RIP ????

Much appriciated. Thank you.

Joe, I didn't have the confidence that I was correct doing what you just suggested at immigration today. I believed when I went in there today that the outcome would be an extension. I was told No. No time, Thai Holiday, Something Something, and offered an alternative I'm not happy to accept. Also, while I was gone to the USA I continued to support my Thai spouse with less than the 65,000 THB monthly requirement for a non OA retirement but more than the 40,000 THB required for marriage. In otherwords I have a full year of deposites into my Thai band account of 40,000+ monthly. Unless the monthly method has been eliminated shouldn't this meet immigrations own requirement of sufficient income?

I am working at this on my own of course as being spoon feed information is not my style. But it's so easy to get behind on what's what isn't it.

Anyway, It was "interesting" to say the least what I was told at immigartion today. And no I won't say outside private conversation.

I returned to Thailand on July 4th after seeing my sister pass and then settling her affairs. I was gone for 4 months, weeks longer than I intended, and I believe I made a mistake about my permission to stay. I obtained a re-entry permit before leaving and utilized that on my return. My current permission to stay is the second year of a non OA and it expires on July 14.  Ladies, Gents, I just have no recollection of what my options are or even if they would be correct if I did under the current rules. I should have tried to enter on a regular tourist visa but then again I don't know if the immigration official would stamp me in that way seeing as I still had a current non O-A and re-entry stamp. In all my years here I've used the monthly income method and really don't want to get involved with the whole 800,000 THB on deposit thing. I am married to a Thai national. I live in Lamphun northern Thailand. Are land borders open? Are land crossing under different rule than air travel ? Sheech. Does Vientiane still require appointments? Suggestions are appreciated! Regards, Dogberry 

I’m expletive deleted. Just now took a call from my daughter in Oregon. Emergency situation and I need to get there, NOW.

I can find a ticket… Qatar through DOH. United through Narita… They’re available.

I’m located in Chiang Mai.

I working through the anxiety and will find the answers but ANY short cuts to information would a blessing to me right now as I’m totally flummoxed and this is so far off my radar I don’t even know where to begin. Go I must and ASAP.

I'm working through the following questions:

Say I need to use Air Asia to BKK. Do I need Covid test to fly domestically?

I remember some background noise on different kinds of Covid tests. What test do I need?

Surely that test available in Chaing Mai… gawd I hope… where? Never mind cost.

What else is there that I’m NOT thinking of? Don’t need reentry permit as my permission to stay will expire soon. I’ll get a Retirement Visa through the Thai consulate (LA) when I’m allowed to return. 

????

Jeeze… I’d say why now but it’s just the way (stuff) happens, right?

23 hours ago, Dogberry said:

Very specific question here. And sorry if I can't find this discussion...

     

Parameters: 

 

      1- If you are married, AND if your spouse has an ITIN, AND if you filed jointly on your 2019 tax return you were disqualified from receiving the first round ($1200) stimulus check.

 

      2- The law was amended and this first round stimulus stimulus money was to be issued via tax refund for the 2020 tax season.

 

Has ANYONE received their 2020 tax refund given the specific circumstances as above? IE $1200 included. 

 

I filed my 2020 taxes electronically via TurboTax on the first day the IRS started accepting them.  I check the IRS refund status website daily and it indicates my return is still processing. 

 

I need to know if this is the common situation or if I'm alone in this.

 

Thanks in advance.

... got my answer... which is... WAIT! 

Very specific question here. And sorry if I can't find this discussion...

Parameters: 

      1- If you are married, AND if your spouse has an ITIN, AND if you filed jointly on your 2019 tax return you were disqualified from receiving the first round ($1200) stimulus check.

      2- The law was amended and this first round stimulus stimulus money was to be issued via tax refund for the 2020 tax season.

Has ANYONE received their 2020 tax refund given the specific circumstances as above? IE $1200 included. 

I filed my 2020 taxes electronically via TurboTax on the first day the IRS started accepting them.  I check the IRS refund status website daily and it indicates my return is still processing. 

I need to know if this is the common situation or if I'm alone in this.

Thanks in advance.

Is this being discussed elsewhere? 

OK, along with many others I did not qualify for the 1st $1,200 stimulus check as my wife has and ITIN. 

I did receive the second $600 check via direct deposit to my US bank account right around the same time (most?) everyone else did..

I filed my 2020 tax return (married/jointly) on the first day IRS was accepting them, utilizing TurboTax. Anyway, TurboTax indicated I'd get a refund of $1200 plus the regular refund I was owed on or before March 5th. 

Hey, it's not a big deal, just curious. If other folks in my same situation HAVE received their refunds I'd like to know that. Get me working on what I what I might'a done wrong or at least find a place to hide if the the IRS is coming to take me away. haha.

PS. I've been checking the IRS "refund status" web page. It's indicated they have my return, but still processing.

Not sure if this is meaningful for you. If you use public transportation then nevermind. There is onsite parking at GMC and although it's been a bit crowded at times I've always gotten a space. A 20 meter walk to the door beats the heck out of parking a Suandok, and it's free. Another thing... It's all CMU (GMC/Sriphat) And although I did not avail myself of this offer I was told I could "check-in" at GMC and they'd wisk me to Sriphat in the ambulance, leaving my car a GMC for the duration. For what it's worth LOL. YMMV

13 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

 

It depends on your IO.฿

If it is Phuket or Phang Nga, it is useful to know that these IOs since a couple of months already do not enforce the thai IO-approved health-insurance requirement anymore.  Phuket IO officially announced that they will evaluate their non-enforcement practice in October, so when applying there before that date no need for Health-Insurance.

It is possible that they do this because of the present border-situation which prevents Non Imm O-A Visa holders to switch to a Non Imm O Visa, as that requires a border-run to kill the permission to stay based on the Non Imm O-A Visa (an advice often given by Phuket IO when O-A extension applicants did not meet the HI-requirement).฿

 

Also worth mentioning is a recent case of a Non Imm O-A retirement extension applicant in an Isaan IO.  As he was married to a thai national, he wanted to apply for the 1-year extension of stay of his Non Imm O-A Visa for reason of marriage (in which case no insurance is required).  However, when going t฿here in order to enquire for the specific IO requirements for a marriage extension, they simply extended his 1-year retirement extension of stay without requiring the HI-policy.  It is possible they did this because they knew he was married to a thai national, and applying for the marriage extension means a whole lot of additional pa฿perwork for the IO to process.  So they might have chosen the non-enforcement route to avoid the additional paperwork for them.  Or because like Phuket IO they knew that doing a border-run to avoid the health-insurance requirement is not possible at the moment.

 

>> CONCLUSION - It is recommended to enquire at your local IO how they would deal with the start-date of your health-insurance policy (differs per IO), and when doing so you would also know whether your IO enforces the HI-requirement during the amnesty. 

If YES, no problem > subscribe to the cheapest option.  That's the LMG Insurance Plan 1  with 200K deductible, for an annual premium of 6.000 to 11.400 THB in the age-bracket of 51 to 75 years, and without the need for an - expensive - medical to subscribe to that policy;

if NO, even better because then no need for any health-insurance (at least this year).

Immigration (Lamphun) was flexible with me. Yes they required insurance which I provided (LMG), BUT my income docs were not up to spec. I do not have ฿800,000 on deposit, and for one month (per bank statement) I had ฿0 and another month ฿5000 income. But with no fanfare or anything the IO added up my bank statement (฿800,000+) and issued a new O-A.

On 7/11/2020 at 5:44 PM, JimGant said:

What was the start date of your insurance, i.e., presumably in another 30 days or so your new one year extension will renew -- is that the date when your insurance begins?

Hey JimGant... I took a break from TV and just saw your question. If it's still relevant, LMG was very accommodating and took pains to make sure my start date was what I wanted. In my case my permission to stay expired July 9th so I was under amnesty. Applied to LMG on the 10th. Not knowing when the paper policy would arrive I set start date to the 16th. Policy arrived on the 17th, went to immigration (Lamphun) that afternoon and was done in short order. One year less one day (insurance expiry date) good to go.

For what it's worth, I processed my insurance application with LMG in about 6 hours yesterday. The agent I dealt with, a Ms. Kannika, was accomodating. My Linux computer which usually handles PDF files without issue refused to cooperate with LMGs PDF application form. So, I printed the form, filled it by hand and scanned it back to her. No problem.  She also accepted pics of my passport and entry documents so that was simple too. There was some nonsense about using the LINE app for payment but never mind I did a regular bank transfer and all is well. 

Of course, in my usual "nothing works as planned" life, I cannot get the fill-able PDF application to work...  Nothing seems to work. Anyone here has success filling out their application?

You know Joe that is excellent advise. Just another reason why you have my respect as well as so many others here. Yeah, amnesty till the 31st. 60 day extension. Then HOPEFULLY the borders will open and will go the HCMC route. If not open I'll play another hand. Thanks man.

Hello and well wishes to all in these unsettling times.

My NON O-A extension expires July 9.

First, I do not have the required Baht on deposit and have no intention of going that route.

I bring in more than ฿65,000 every month except when I don’t. Vagaries of when I needed money, holidays, etc. Sometimes I have more than ฿130,000 in a month and the next ฿0. Plus several months out of country and some transfers showing as interbank. Regardless I don’t meet the ฿65,000 per requirement.

I could return to the US and and come back here with a new O-A. But this year was supposed to be where I hosted my family and friends here and still hope to do so. Covid-19 depending of course.

I am married so the marriage route it is. ฿40,000 per/averaged no problem.

Savannakhet and HCMC are not available I believe… and it’s too close to my extension expiring to hope for a change. Opinions?

I’m pretty well versed on the marriage requirements in general but the details/whims of the local IO are unknown. I reside in Lamphun. Anyone here with a marriage extension from Lamphum office?

What I don’t know are details of when and how to start the application process. It’s 30 days+ until my O-A ext. expires. Do need to start now or am I already behind? Will I need to leave the country? CAN I leave the country (border run)??

Advise greatly appreciated, my memory for such things seems to go in one ear and out the other.

Lazada, search for DWC bucket.

Being at 16 pages and your numerous replies I'll answer your question at face value. I like at least one Thai person, my wife. Excuse me if I say I like her very much.

Her family? My 22 month step-grandchild is the cutest little Thai on the planet, My mother-in-law has no teeth and she's almost as cute as her great grand daughter.

My neighbors? Pee Law is absolutely grand. Yeah, I like her too. The (pejorative deleted) GENTLEMAN 3 doors down? May he rot in eternal hell. LOL. But hey, somebody must like him so we'll just put that one behind me.

In general? It's not Thai people I don't like it's actually all people "in general" 55. Seriously? People that are dicks is what I don't like. And people that like facebook...   

Like rooster says just relax.

Now the important thing? That Thai person whom I like ever so very much is cooking something smells  go-o-ood so I need to go check what's for dinner.