Falconator

I've been reading visa run horror stories from BKK and DMK airports, as well as Poipet.

Has anyone on a marriage visa ever been harassed by immigration officers while re-entering Thailand?

Which school is this? Is it one of the combat schools in Chiang Mai, a Thai language school, or something else?

I have never been able to do this at the Chiang Mai airport. But the Chiang Mai immigration office is right next to the airport, so you can easily get a songthaew from the airport to there for not over 100 baht. Go to the 3rd floor of the Chiang Mai immigration office, and you can do it there. Wait time should be around 30 minutes on normal busy days.

My visa is a multiple-entry one that is valid until September 2020.

If I enter Thailand again in September 2020, I get another 90 days. Can I then extend it at my local immigration office for 60 more days and 1,900 baht? This means I can theoretically get 1 year + 3 months + 2 months = 17 months total using my current visa, right?

The Savannakhet consulate did not even want the original copies of my K.R. 2 and K.R. 3 marriage certificates, and they handed those back to me.

I turned in these signed photocopies, which were all taken.

• K.R. 2 marriage certificate (the detailed one with personal details listed), signed by both of us (extra document that was not necessary, but they still took it)
• K.R. 3 (the marriage certificate with rose borders), signed by both of us
• Wife's Thai passport (extra document that was not necessary, but they still took it)
• Wife's Thai ID card
• Tabien baan - only the one page that has my wife's name on it
• My US passport

Plus my original US passport and 5,000 Thai baht in cash.

My visa sticker is valid for one year. There is Thai handwriting on the top saying that this person registered his marriage at this specific amphoe on this specific date.

Highly recommended. One guy behind me had been doing annual marriage visas at Savannakhet for 4 years straight. He prefers traveling around rather than doing in-country extensions, which he says are a huge headache. He said, travel a bit more and save yourself a lot of bureaucratic headache, and you get to see the world too.

Trip report: just got my 1-year marriage visa at Savannakhet.

I arrived at 9:30 am on a Tuesday. There were only 10 people in front of me. A retired Japanese man trying to get a tourist visa (not his first tourist visa) got denied. The officer asked him, "We need documents showing that you are retired." The applicant didn't have any, so then the officer put his hand down and said, "You cannot apply. I will not say anything more. Please leave." The man tried to ask more questions, but the officer remained silent. However, another young British man applying for his first Thai tourist visa got accepted.

However, mine was accepted instantly without any questions. The officer didn't even say a single word to me. He checked all the documents and gave me a slip, and said "come back at 2 pm tomorrow to pick up your passport."

The next day, I arrived at 2:30 pm so that I could skip the 2 pm queue. There was absolutely no one in front of me, and they instantly gave me my passport.

I am here with my family. They really enjoyed Savannakhet. We tried great Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean food here and enjoyed walking around the markets.

My Thai family members had received their travel passes yesterday at the Mukdahan immigration checkpoint office. We arrived there at 6 am, but had to wait until 8 am because that's when the travel permit office opens. Thai immigration gave them both a 2-night, 3-day temporary visit pass for Laos (25 baht per person). The whole process took around 20 minutes. It is only valid for the Mukdahan-Savannakhet crossing, and not anywhere else.

Malaysia is extremely strict about visa runs, more so than Thailand.

So Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines are the only long-term stay choices left in Southeast Asia.

26 minutes ago, clorox said:

make no mistake HCMC thai consulate is very ruthless, its easy if you have all your paper work in order for mult non o, i have seen many get rejected because missing document, every time im in there's always someone getting reject either for tourist visa or whatever visa they going for.

going to VN you need a visa 2700baht not cheap, hotel are not cheap either, if you're on a budget don't bother going there.

I think I might try Savannakhet then.

My Thai lady is heaving a sigh of relief. She doesn't feel like letting me go to Vietnam because I'm fluent in Vietnamese and have chatted up a few Vietnamese girls in the past. You know, Viet women can be much more aggressive when hunting for boyfriends and husbands (at least that's how they're stereotyped in Cambodia and Laos).

1 minute ago, DrJack54 said:

She took you to Thai only pp line. Happens all the time.

Have any Farang (non-Asian) husbands been invited to join the Thai only line with their Thai wives?

I was wondering if my case is more of an anomaly, or if it's normal.

This was in May 2016, but chances are this may still be happening.

I flew from India into BKK Suvarnabhumi airport on a morning.

I am a young guy who looks kind of Southeast Asian, and I was with a Thai woman that I had befriended on my flight.

We were approached by a Thai immigration trainee who asked us in Thai, "Are you Thais?" (pen khon thai reu plao?)

I replied, I have an American passport, and she has a Thai passport.

The trainee said, "Come with me," and we were taken to the shortest queue.

Got stamped right away, no questions.

Meanwhile, all the Caucasians, Chinese and Indians were having a long wait.

Has anyone else seen preferential treatment for Thais happen at airports and immigration queues?

How many days processing time?

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

No appointment is needed.

It is only busy on Mondays and Thursdays when the visa run vans are there.

Any recent forum reports for non-imm O visas from Savannakhet though?

I'm only able to dig up reports from the start of this year and 2018.

11 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

Valid 1 year and unlimited 90 stamp on entry. Each stamp can be extended 60 days at immigration to visit wife/child if needed. 

So technically we can get 15 months + 2 months extension, a total of 17 months. Sweet deal!

Just as a side note, my immigration and visa run experiences tend to be different from those of most other ThaiVisa posters because I often pass as Southeast Asian and have light brown skin.

Last time I went to Savannakhet, a female Lao immigration officer at Savannakhet asked me if I was Lao-American and wanted to know which village I was going back to. ???? The tuk-tuk and motorcycle drivers waiting by the Friendship Bridge also asked me if I was Lao-American.

In Vietnam, I usually get asked if I'm Chinese or overseas Vietnamese.

Also got a comment from a Chiang Mai immigration officer that I look Thai while doing my 90-day check-in. Apparently he meant that as a compliment.

Are any online appointments needed for the Savannakhet consulate?

How busy is it nowadays?
 

I'm planning to apply for this visa next month.

Some useful links are here. But I can't download the visa application form.

http://www.thaiembassy.org/hochiminh/en/services/2886/46902-Non-Immigrant-Visa-"O"---Accompanying-Th.html

http://www.thaiembassy.org/hochiminh/en/services/7440

Thanks for this great report.

And any non-immigrant O spouse visa visa reports from Savannakhet lately? How does Savannakhet compare to HCMC for the marriage visa right now?

How long is the visa valid for (3 months, 1 year, or another duration)?

I just checked the options for marriage visas on the Savannakhet Thai consulate's website, since I do not have a 400,000 baht deposit ready yet.

http://www.thaiembassy.org/savannakhet/th/services/104406-Visa-Fee.html

But their web page lists only non-immigrant O visas (single entry) valid for 3 months, costing 2,000 baht.

Recently, has anyone been able to get a multiple-entry non-immigrant O visa from Savannakhet that is valid for 1 year, costing 5,000 baht? If not, maybe Ho Chi Minh City could be another option?

A visa agency I spoke to in Chiang Mai said that the multiple-entry 1-year option is only available if done through the agency, but I am thinking that is probably unnecessary?

6 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

I think you're being a bit optimistic.

 

But thanks for the videos they're lovely...I actually managed to pull myself away

from counting car number plates ending with even numbers.

I was thinking that this could be an inspiration for the complaining retirees on this forum to be like the meditative retirees in the Dull Men's Club.

Which countries in Asia DON'T treat foreign husbands like this?

In practice, many other countries also don't give permanent residency to foreign spouses.

Take Laos, Myanmar, and China for example.

I saw videos about the Dull Men's Club and immediately thought about the guys on this forum.

4 hours ago, bird dog said:

Does anyone know the latest on Hand to Hand Combat? My visa with the expires in 2 months so not sure if I should consider another year with them because of the problems they've had in Hanoi. 

They are considering trying out Kota Bharu (Malaysia) and Bali (Indonesia), but haven't actually gotten results yet.

I think I just realized how easy Europeans have it.

Americans love talking about how cheap healthcare and education costs in Thailand are, but Europeans all complain about them. Seriously, $1k-2k per semester for higher education is a steal that you can't get in America. $1k for a hospital visit? Good luck getting that in the US.

Tell me if any of you have to go through any of this nonsense annually in Thailand.

Thai immigration doesn't even come close.

DMV

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/us/dmv-california-wait-times.html

IRS

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/american-tax-returns-dont-need-be-painful/586369/