Tod Daniels

The "pinch" those hotels are feeling are not from the foreigners who aren't slogging there to get year-long, multi-entry Non-O visas based on marriage It's from the consulate going to limited online only appointments to get in the gate and cutting down the 300+ people a day standing out in front of the consulate to get visas 😮 The year-multi-Non-O's they issued to foreigners married to thaiz was just a tiny drop of the overall number of visas they cranked out (mostly to burmese and chinese)

I believe you are confusing two completely different things applying for a year extension based on marriage INSIDE the country at the immigration office where you live (which cost 1900baht) and which you get a 30 day under consideration stamp when you apply and then go back to get the year inked in when that runs down AND Applying for a year-long, multi-entry Non-O VISA based on marriage to a thai at a thai consulate in Savannakhet Lao where you pay 5000baht and get the visa sticker stuck in your passport

My apologies there @connda I wasn't singling out foreign males married to thai women OR foreign women married to thai men, and I wake up on the same side of the bed every day thanx for asking though.. I was using an overly broad brush (possibly a roller 😛 ) in reference to any person posting on the tiny part of the inter-web that is related to thailand and pointing out it is unlikely any of those people would have a clue about why the rule is the rule 🙂 I got no disdain for foreigners who wing their way here and marry thaiz, sheesh I know hundreds of foreign/thai couplez here. If that works for you good on you. Sorry, didn't mean to jerk your chain or wind you up. Believe me IF/WHEN I post 'hostile' you'll most definitely know. This was just an observational comment mixed with my normal cynicism, sarcasm and a touch of snark 😉

This isn't a Kamphaeng Phet office policy it's EVERYWHERE and it's been many years now that when you get a yearly extension with a passport NOT valid for the year you only get an extension valid until the passport expires. Sadly getting a new passport and transferring the stamps to it does NOT give you the rest of the year that you shorted yourself by applying with a passport not valid the year the extension would be 😕 You were lucky you hadn't burned that ONE visit thai family extension you're allowed for 60 days. That will buy you the time to fall back, re-group and apply for the year extension again. So just get your ducks in a row, get the documents and go apply for the new yearly extension of stay like normal when you have 30 days or less left on this current stamp and your funds are seasoned the 2 month required if you're using banked money method

Good question and you are certainly correct it will open up a GIANT "can 'o wormz" I am sure the powerz-that-b here haven't even contemplated how the changes in the marriage laws between sexes will work immigration visa/extension wise right now it's; foreign male/thai female, foreigner banks 400K foreign female/thai male, foreigner banks nothing How the other permutations will parse out I guess that remains to be seen 🙂

Well the good news is Indian passport holders are not on the list of countries that require special processing time. The thai consulate in K/L is a mandatory appt booked online consulate to get in the gate. You do that at this link Online Appt Booking Kuala Lumpur Also while they're not hard core, they are certainly no nonsense as far as meeting the requirements for the visa you're applying for. So definitely go to the website and read the tourist visa requirements carefully and meet those criteria Tourist Visa Kuala Lumpur 𝗠𝘆 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗜 𝗿𝗲-𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝟲𝟬 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗮, 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗕 (𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲) 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗢 (𝘄𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗸𝗶𝗱𝘀). That is gonna 100% be up to your employer and they should already know if you can or can't get that Non-B and then the Non-O's for the family issued in country before you even contemplate going Keep in mind, right now indian passport holders get stamped in free entry for 30 days AND they can get a 30 day extension on that as well. Now to be completely honest, I don't know whether you can convert those entry stamps in country to a Non-B/Non-O or not (some nationalities who are on promotions for extended entry stamps cannot do in country conversion to a Non-Immigrant visa on those entry stamps). .. Check with your new employer to see if you can just bounce out/back and do the switch from the free entry stamp. As a rule there's not problem going from a visa exempt 30 day or 60 day tourist visa entry to an in country Non-Immigrant type visa at the immigration office. Unless I'm mistaken if you're in Bangkok you, being a BOI company employee, would get your Non-B at Cham Churi Square One Stop Service Center but your wife and child would go to Chaengwattana to get the Non-O visa based on trailing spouse of a foreigner legally working here and child of a foreigner working here after you got your Non-B issued.

if you're filling the form out by hand you DO use blue ink 🙂 BUT you can also just fill in the blanks on the PDF, then print it out to use, and as long as you sign that form in blue ink you'll be ok

There are recent reports (just before that consulate went to mandatory online appt booking to get in the gate) that they were still asking for proof of 400K baht in a thai bank account in your name only for 2 months before they'll let you apply for a year-long, multi-entry Non-O visa based on marriage to a thai. I had a report of someone who showed the 400K baht only on the day they applied and were told they could get a 90 day single entry Non-O only . The BIG thing is that there are no openings in the online appt system. They only open up 14 days ahead and open an additional day when the system resets each night. Those appts are booked up in minutes, the agencies that take burmese there have teams that just sit on computers refreshing the screen until the appt bookings open up, then book them as fast as they can. In fact it's almost ONLY burmese that are using that consulate right now

Okay there are two ways to get "legal parental rights" granted as the father of a thai child born out of wedlock The first is if the child is old enough to go with both parents to the local Amphur <-City Hall and identify you as the father. usually that's when a child is 6 or 7 years old) so this option isn't viable for you The second option is to go thru family court, so get your thai child's mother to start googling around and find the nearest family court office to where ever you are in thailand. Then take everything you have documentation wise over there and see IF you can do an uncontested case (as you said you live with the mother and she's okay with you having parental rights) Some family court offices will let the parents do the petition themselves but some make you retain an attorney to do it, so that's gonna come down to the family court office you're dealing with The process is not fast, but most of the time is taken up by waiting, you file, wait for the initial hearing, then wait for interviews, get interviewed, wait for the next hearing and finally wait for the decision. Pre-covid it was not uncommon to see this whole thing take 6 months to wind it's way thru the family court system (although again, depending on the court it could be sooner) Unfortunately until you actually get granted legal parental rights of your child as the foreign father you cannot get a Non-O visa or long term extension issued for that reason inside the country at the immigration office. You can get the 90 day Non-O visa issued a most nearby thai consulates with just your name on the birth certificate along with the mother's and child's thai i/d, house book etc, AND You can get one 60 day visit thai family extension granted per entry at the immigration office based on being the father of a thai child without legal parental rights

They stopped it back toward the end of last year, all the multi-entry choices for Non-O based on retirement, Non-O based on marriage and Non-O based on raising thai children are just available as single entry now. AFAIK there is no consulate that will issue a year-long, multi-entry Non-O visa based on raising thai child whether you have the 400K baht banked and the legal parental rights decree or not. All the consulates will do is sell single entry

You're asking a question that can't be answered by any of the illusionary posers 😮 I mean illustrious posters 🙂 on this or any other inter-web group related to thailand and while you're certainly allowed to have an opinion on the matter neither your perspective nor opinion on the issue factors into it in the least. A foreign woman who marries a thai man does not have to show proof of funds to get a Non-O visa based on marriage or the yearly extension, If you want to know "how this rule is substantiated" slog on out to your local immigration office and talk to them about it. It's been the rule for many many many years now

If you have the 400K baht in a thai bank account you can apply for the Non-O visa at the immigration office where you live after you come back in on a 30 day free entry stamp. As Dr Jack said, take the 30 day extension and then take the one 60 day visit thai family extension you're allowed if you need time to get the funds

If you still have a TM6 you make a copy of it (although it was discontinued quite a while ago by air and recently at most land crossings too). I always use the "fill in the blank" PDF for the TM7 so that it's legible to the officer If you're going to fill it out online and print it, print it front to back on ONE piece of paper, some offices are known for turning you away if you have it printed on two pages

How about I don't do anything like that 🙂 and instead you take it for the honest first hand experience a friend had out at Chaengwattana? There are OVER 80 offices in the country, there are HUNDREDS of officers who issue extension. I'm relating what happened and you can take it at face value or you can post the b/s engrish translation over and over. I know how it reads believe me BUT I'm telling you how it CAN work. I'll leave it to you to tell the immigration officer they're wrong and see how far you get pushing that rope Now will the O/P have a problem in Chiang Mai NEXT year if they drop the balance below 800K baht 3 months after they applied for the extension this year, I guess that remains to be seen when they show up next year. I'd err on the side of caution, as I said they already pointed out we're talking 3 weeks difference between when they applied for and when the new extension took effect, it is NOT a significant amount of time in the grand scheme of things.

On this we will agree to disagree, 😕 Recently had someone AT Chaengwattana who had pulled the money out 3 months after he applied for the new extension (even though his year extension expiration date was just 2 days after that as he waited to the last minute to apply) When he went this year for his extension, with the year detail transaction print out the officer noticed he'd pulled the money out 3 months after he applied not 3 months after the extension took effect (doesn't matter WHEN you apply your next extension starts on the day your current one expires) and called him on the carpet for it. (Yep she called him out because he was 2 days short of the 3 months seasoning) She told him technically he was on overstay for 9 months <- since the day he failed to meet the seasoning requirements. He panicked, collected his paperwork and left, ended up using an agent to get those agent gotten hand your passport over and it comes back with the year extension from Nakhon Nowhere in it SO since that episode I've always stuck to the keep the funds in the account for 3 months after your new extension takes effect, then the balance can't go below 400K baht the rest of the year and you have to get it back to 800K baht 2 months before you apply for the next yearly extension. The O/P said it's a three week difference in timing, so I'd still suggest he wait it out

Phnom Penh is a walk up consulate no appointment needed. Just so you're clear about their processing time it's FIVE business days NOT including the day you apply, So if you applied on a Monday morning you could get your passport back the following Monday afternoon

Count three months from the date the new extension takes effect, NOT 3 months from the date you applied for the year extension, and realize it's 3 months date to date 😉

Just take BOTH passports with you when you exit the country. There is no need to transfer stamps when you're here on 30 day visa exempt or the 30 day extension from it. Just use both to exit the country They'll stamp you out on the new one and make a note that your entry/extension is in the old one No need to go to immigrations before you leave

Well he can only get TWO free visa exempt entries by land in a calendar year (Jan 1 - Dec 31) So once he burns those he's gonna hafta fly in AND run the risk of them thinking he's living here milking free stamps and possibly get denied entry and shipped back out on his dime. He's getting 60 day "visit thai family" extensions off those free entry stamps <- that's the only 60 day extension there is. He's allowed to get that once per entry. He had legal parental rights granted when the children were born, (because he was married to the mother) and as long as he didn't relinquish that in the divorce decree he's fine using the children to get first a 90 day Non-O visa and then a year extension. he'd have to bank 400K baht in a thai bank account in his name only to do either of those. He needs to go talk to the immigration office where he lives AND he needs to have enough time left on his current stamp to apply for the visa for 2000baht, wait the review period (usually 2 weeks) then go back to get the 90 day Non-O visa inked in. Then he'd wait 2 months and apply for the year extension for 1900baht

In theory you're supposed to file a TM30 (notification of foreigner in residence) form or online within 24 hours (actually I think the rule is 3 days though) but as long as you do it the first week you're back most offices won't fine you for not doing it on time. Keep in mind the max fine for late TM30 filing is 1600baht but most offices only charge people 800 (half the fine) if you file late

𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗸𝗼𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝟯𝟬 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗩𝗢𝗔 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗸𝗶𝗱. There is no 30 day VOA 😮 So we will go with the premise you showed up here without having bought a visa before you came and you got stamped in FREE for 30 days <- that's not a visa on arrival, that's not a visa at all, just a free 30 day entry stamp 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗜 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗕 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗮 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗸𝗼𝗸 That totally depends on your EMPLOYER and whether they can meet the requirements to get the in country Non-B visa for you at the immigration office where you work/live. AND if you have enough days left on your current entry stamp to allow time for the processing of the in country Non-Imm visa. Most offices require a minimum of 15 days left on your current stamp (chiang mai requires 21) to apply for any in country Non-Immigrant type visa. That's because it goes under review for 2 weeks and you need to have days left on your stamp to stay during that time so you can go back and get the visa inked in. 𝗠𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗸𝗶𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗼𝗻 𝗜𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗢 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗮. MANY offices make you get the Non-B 90 day visa, then the year extension BEFORE they allow dependents (spouse, children) to get their Non-O visa issued. BUT that is something you need to check with the employer (they should know) or the immigration office you deal with. 𝗜𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗮 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗮 𝗼𝗿 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝘆 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲/𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗯𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆. It might be possible, but the people you need to really talk to are the employer, AND the immigration office you use. You might not have to go back to your country to get the 90 day Non-B visa (although if you did that you could get Non-O visas for your spouse and children at the same time) but you might have to go to a nearby thai consulate and get it. It's down to the employer

As a rule no, you're confusing 90 day reporting <- which has nothing to do with TM30 other than the addresses cross check with a TM30 receipt.

Sadly, the TM30 system is NOT intuitive nor foreign user friendly. I cannot stress enough that people need to go thru the USER GUIDE (english version is available) Also there are you-tube videos out that walk you thru it step by step if you search for them. TM30 ENGLISH USER GUIDE

The people at passport control when you stamp out don't care if you ever filed a TM30 or did a 90 day report That's not their job, they just stamp you out and let you leave

Careful quoting things out of context IF a foreigner is arrested for something else and it comes out they didn't file a 90 day report they CAN be fined 5000baht BUT That's only if they run off the rails with some other thing. I know people who pay the 2000baht late filing fine, file ONE 90 day report just before their yearly extension is due, then never file another report the rest of the year, and the following year, pay the 2000baht, file, get their extension. I saw a passport with years worth of 2000baht fine stamps and year extensions, page after page. While I am not advocating people don't do the 90 day reporting the fine is static <-meaning it's 2000baht whether you're 8 days late or 8 months late