007 RED

8 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Police order  777/2551 was replaced by Police Order 327/2557  basis for extension of stay in August of 2014.

It is an extension of stay not a visa.

Joe… Thanks for updating me on the latest version number of the Police Order… as it happens 2.12 remains the same… as I said, I stand to be corrected.

I stand to be corrected, but my understanding is that there is in fact a visa specifically for studying Buddhism or practicing religious activities within Thailand, namely Non-Immigration R.

According to the Royal Thai Police Regulations 777/2551 Section 2.13, the requirements are as follows:

1.... Must have been granted a Non-Immigration visa.

2.... Must have been confirmed and requested by the National Office of Buddhism, or office of the Prime Minister, or  Mahachulaongkrongnarajavidyalaya University, or Mahamakut Buddhist University.

3.... Must be confirmed by the Abbott of the temple where applicant is studying Buddhisum or practicing religious activities.

The visa (if granted) will be valid for a maximum of 1 year.

On ‎05‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 6:51 AM, DavetheGreek said:

I am confused as to which office in Bangkok I need to go to to have my UK pension income letter authorised. Can you please confirm.

The office that you will need to go to to get your embassy letter confirming income/pension authenticated is The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) – Consular Division – Legalisation Department which is based on the Chang Wattana Road, Bangkok 10210.

On ‎05‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 7:45 AM, DavetheGreek said:

Does the letter from the British Embassy have to be translated into Thai?

 If the embassy letter is in English, then it doesn’t need to be translated into Thai.

FYI - I was informed by my local IO that they require the embassy letter to be authenticated because they have encountered a number of forgeries.  They want MFA to validate that the document and signature is genuine.

I have attached the stamp which was endorsed on the back of my embassy letter a couple of weeks ago at the MFA – Consular Division.  You will see that it states “Certified Genuine Signature(s) of XXXXXXXXXXXX”.  Where Xs = name of person who signed the letter at the embassy.

19 hours ago, jenifer d said:

possibly not, unless other country's immigration officers  can read Thai

but maybe so nonetheless...

Passport stamps tend to follow a fairly predictable format, so a deportation stamp is going to stick out like a ‘sore thumb’ should an IO flick through the passport.  OK, the IO may not be able to read/speak Thai, but they do have access to online/phone interpreter services.  All the IO needs to do is scan/photo the stamp, send it off to the interpreter service, and fairly quickly the bad news for the passport holder will come back.

6 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Would 'other countries' be able to understand a stamp in Thai language?

Yes is a simple answer.... any IO flicking through the OPs passport will see the deportation stamp and that will trigger questions... also the individual IO may not speak/read Thai but they will have access to interpreters via phone/online.

You were deported for having Ganja in your possession.  Provided that there is not another stamp in your passport indicating that you are banned from future entry you should be OK.  That said, if you return to Thailand at some time in the future the moment that you present your passport to the immigration officer expect to be pulled to one side and questioned/searched.

You should also be aware that with that stamp in your passport you may also encounter problems when entering other countries.

6 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Well, going to the Provincial Tesaban didn't work but it did give me some more info.
The provincial tesaban is only for residents of the city, as I'm on the outskirts I have to go to my district ( Amphur ), and I indeed do need to show my Decree Nisi as the fella explained by showing me some other poor farangs file with translated copies of passport, birth certificate and decree nisi.

So, I'll arrange for my Decree to be posted to me and then, via a phone call, find out if a translation is good enough or if they require the Embassy, translation, MFA certification version .
If the former, I'll be happy to oblige, if the latter, then I'll probably spit my dummy out, have a little tantrum and think about it

Oh B++++r... Sorry to hear that you had an aborted trip today.

I'm not sure why they would want a copy of your Decree Nisi as it has no particular bearing on you being registered at an address.

May I suggest that before getting the Decree sent to you, you contact the District Office and confirm with them what documents they actually require.... You would be rightly Pd Off if you get the Decree sent, then possibly translated and authenticated etc., to find that the local office don't require it.

Good luck.

I know IOs can be heartless at times... so thanks Joe for that reassurance should we decide at some time in the future to go down the marriage extension route.

Hi folks

Many thanks for all those who gave me some input to my question it is much appreciated.  It’s just a shame that a couple of members keep taking the opportunity to have a go at each other no matter what the topic.

Some feedback.

As mentioned in my original post, Miss MoneyBaht and I have been married for nearly 10 years and I have been living here on a retirement extension for the past 6 years, and I was wondering what the benefits/downsides are regarding retirement v marriage extensions.

I am well aware of the additional paperwork, photos, witnesses and visits required to secure a marriage extension.  I appreciate that this can be a hassle for some, but personally it does not worry me.  Just another hurdle to jump over.

Call me old fashion, but I have to agree with the posters comment regarding that it displays a commitment given the fact that his wife went to a lot of trouble to change her name and all that that involved (ID; passport; blue book; health records etc.).

Regarding the differences in financial requirements between the 2 types of extensions that doesn’t really enter into the equation so far as I’m concerned.

I wasn’t aware that if you have a marriage extension you are able to work, which you cannot if you hold a retirement extension.  As I’ve worked for over 50 years of my life and hung up my Walther PKK over 6 years ago, there’s no way that I want to start working again.  I enjoy the ability to do what I want, when I want to without having to fill out ‘time sheets’ and ‘expenses forms’ any more.

The comments given by a couple of contributors regarding what happens if your wife dies before you raised some concerns in my mind.  If I have a marriage extension and my wife passes away, I’m effectively left without permission to stay as the marriage extension then becomes instantly void.  I really don’t relish the thought of an IO could telling me to leave within 5 days.

After discussing the pros and cons with Miss MoneyBaht, we have come to the conclusion that I will stick with the retirement extension, which I will renew next week.

Once again, many thanks for your input, its been much appreciated.

6 hours ago, Moonlover said:

If this issue of payment had not been raised by the OP, I would not have been aware of this these changes, so I'm very thankful that he did. One of my criticisms of the FCO is that they do not publish a local newsletter that we can subscribe to, to keep us informed of these enhancements. Is it a case of ''when in Rome''?

 

I have just used the email service and I'm pleased witht result. I  sent the application last Wednesday, payment was taken on the the Thursday and I received my letter yesterday (Wednesday). That's 5 working days, including 1 day in transit.

 

I can also confirm that, if you use a UK bank card, payment is taken directly in Sterling. I read in an earlier post that the embassy use Barclay's for their card transactions. This is probably how they are able to bypass the usual THB/GBP exchanges. It may also explain why they are unable to accept Thai debit cards.

 

And I do not begrudge them the 63 Baht handling charge!

I agree with your comment regarding the embassy providing decent update information on their website.  It appears that the British Embassy in BKK no longer has control over the content on the website.  The FCO as recently adopted a policy of standardisation across the world, so that one embassy site looks very much the same as all the others.

Unfortunately, the downside being that there is little/no scope for relevant local input by embassy staff.  May be this is something that TV members could raise with the embassy via email.

Glad to hear that everything went well with your request by email….. and you saved yourself the EMS postage fee (37 Baht)

14 hours ago, OJAS said:

Hmm, not so sure that I would be particularly happy about sending a completed credit card authorisation form by email, though.

Life as a whole is not without risks of one form or another. 

If you send your CC details by EMS post there is no guarantee that your letter will not get ‘lost’ on route, or delivered to the wrong address.  If that happens someone is able to easily read your CC information without any problems.

If you attach photos (or scanned documents) to an email it is encrypted on route between you and the recipient….. If you look at the internet address bar at the top of your screen you will see a small black padlock… that indicates that the communication is encrypted using SSL… if you click on the padlock you will get more details.

If your email is intercepted, then some fairly sophisticated software is required to decrypt the attachment and then a good optical character recognition software to be to read the data held on the photo/scanned document.

Yes it’s possible to intercept and read the contents of your email, but I personally would put the risk as very, very low.

6 hours ago, Lamkyong said:

thanks for that   out of interest  is this a new addition    ??  i can quite believe my  inattentiveness  could be at fault  anyway thanks again   

I think that for most regulars its a case of printing out the form that we used last year, so this 'enhancement' is easy to overlook.

A good facility for those that live a distance away from a post office.  It will be interesting to get some feedback on how this works out.... good/bad/indifferent.

OP…. I appreciate your frustration… the Thai system can be overpowering at times.

I was very lucky when I applied for my yellow book, a good few years back.  Mrs MoneyBaht and I went to our local Amphor, completed the application form, submitted a copy of our Thai marriage certificate (which had my name translated into Thai on it), a copy of my passport page and a copy Mrs MoneyBaht’s Blue book.

We were informed that it would take about a week and they would call us when it was ready.  True to their word, in less than a week we were back at the office, paid a small fee and I was presented with the yellow book.  As a bonus the officer took us to the ID card section and a few minutes later I also had a pink ID card.

That said, a friend of ours who lives in another province experienced similar problems to you when he applied.  Mrs MoneyBaht and I accompanied him and his wife to their local Amphor and we were met with a stonewall of negatives and demands for various additional documents which also had to be translated into Thai and certified by MFA Consular Section. 

I could see that my friend was about to blow his top, which would have been the worst thing he could have done (loss of face etc).  So at that point I asked the officer to put in writing the reason for refusing the application based upon the documents supplied and requested that it be signed by the principle officer…. This is a process which all Government offices must comply with when refusing a service.

I thought that may shake them into action, but I was wrong.  About 30 minutes later the officer appeared with a typed letter stating the reasons for refusing the issue of a yellow book on the basis of the documents provided and listing the requirements for additional documents to support the application.  The letter was signed by the principal officer.

Within an hour of receiving that letter, a copy was faxed to the Ombudsman.  A member of the Ombudsman’s staff contacted my friend by phone shortly afterwards and said that they would contact the Amphor the next morning.

About 10am the following day my friend received a phone call from the principle officer at the Amphor who very politely requested that my friend return to the office to collect his yellow book.  Upon returning to the Amphor office my friend and his wife were shown to the principal’s office.  Apparently there were a few weak apologies for the inconvenience caused and lot of smiles.  They also had some photos taken of the yellow book being handed over (possibly to show the Ombudsman that they had complied with his instruction).

To be honest, I was a little concerned that there may be some repercussions at a later stage when the ‘smoke’ died down… Thankfully I was wrong.

Keep at it,… be polite and if need be ask them to put their reasons for refusing in writing.... What's that old saying about don't let the B+++++s grind you down.

Good luck

6 hours ago, Lamkyong said:

It can now be done by email. ?????since when  ??

I think they introduced this 'enhancement about a month ago... The info was not on the instruction sheet when I downloaded the form last month in preparation for getting my letter.

7 hours ago, Moonlover said:

The 37 Baht that you refer to is the postal charge. There is an additional charge for the EMS. The last time I sent a letter to Bangkok by EMS it cost me around 90 Baht.

 

So I'm afraid your calculations are completely null and void.

 

BTW, you no longer have to make supreme effort to drive 6km to post your letter. It can now be done by email. More time to relax huh!

 

 

Sorry, but you are the one who has got their calculations wrong.... The first doc is a copy of the embassy envelope with my letter and docs returned to me by EMS = 37 Baht...... The second doc is a copy of my receipt for sending my docs to the embassy by EMS = 37 Baht .

IMG_20170802_0004.pdf

The member Ubonjoe was referring to above was me.

I went to MFA Consular Division last week to get my embassy letter confirming income authenticated - additional enhancement required by my local IO.

I can confirm that the express (same day) service is available at 400 Baht per page (100 word per page).  Normal service is collect in 2 day at 200 Baht per page.

If you want same day service you must present the documents before 09:30.  Collect after 14:30.

They can also post documents back to you by EMS at extra small fee..

I arrived at 07:00 and left at 14:45. A long day.  Next time l will do as Ubonjoe suggested and get  them to post the documents back to me.

10 hours ago, lkv said:

Right OK.

 

I just went through the previous 15 page thread again:

 

 

To summarize:

 

- You were picked up by Immigration at 6 am on Feb 6 or Feb 7, 2012, along with another group of foreigners when the building you were staying in was raided. You were then taken to IDC, where you stayed until you were deported on March 2, 2012.

 

If you go back to the OPs original post on page 6 (dated 2 March), he states:

“I was  in my room sleeping.  The Immigration  raided us very early morning,,.it was around 6:30am, they raided all areas ,all soundings, so many people living that area, they raided almost 4 complex apartment.  Majority of people  living here are overstayers, if my number is correct,, almost 70 people  r overstayers for long time in thailand..but I never play with visa,very careful  person..it was thrusday  feb20,2012”.

If you look at the date on the deportation notice (TM35) which he posted on page 12 (dated 7 March) it is dated 2 February 2012... some 18 days before he claims that he was arrested.

Based upon the limited information that the OP has given, I have a feeling that there is a lot more to this than we are being told.  As has already been pointed out, bans for overstay were only introduced last year, and for someone to get a 'life time ban' he must have done something seriously wrong.  IOs don't give that sort of ban for no reason.

7 hours ago, cauldlad said:

As the UK embassy are allowing you to apply for the letter by email I assume they are now happy with scanned copies?

 

When applying by post they always insisted on sending them original documents which they would return.

 

Seems a bit of a turnaround.

 

 

My pension’s providers stopped sending ‘payslips’ out about 5 years ago.  Everything is now available online.  So for the past 5 years I’ve taken screen prints of payments that they have made for the previous 2 months and sent copies to the embassy.  Never been a problem, so scanned copies sent via email should be OK.

7 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Your link is bad it is only a thumbnail of the form. Go to this webpage to download the form and the credit card payment form. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-obtain-a-pensionincome-letter-for-thai-immigration

Thanks Joe for correcting my mistake.... problem is that you cannot check until you post.

I’ve been using the embassy income letter for the past 6 years for my retirement extension with no problems.  A couple of points worth mentioning though:

1..... A few (3 or 4) immigration offices around the BKK area are now asking for the embassy letter confirming income to be authenticated by the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  They say the reason is that they have been getting fake letters.  So worth checking with your local IO before turning up to have the goal posts moved.

2....The British Embassy in BKK has recently changed the application procedure for letters confirming income.  The service enhancement is that you can now apply for your letter by email    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/631665/thumbnail_Attachment_2.pdf.png

They will send your confirmation letter back by SMS at an additional cost (100BHT).

I concur with Ubonjoe… the British Embassy will certify a copy of your passport whilst you wait. 

You mentioned that you already have a copy of your passport translated… Does that include the notation which the Embassy will endorse on the copy?   If it doesn’t, then that needs to be included within the translation that you hand in at the Legalisation Department of the Consular Section of MFA. 

FYI…. There is a translation ‘shop’ on the 2nd floor of the Consular Section right in front of you as you go up the escalator… cost about 400BHt per page (100 words) and done in a about 30 minutes – the people who work in the shop also work in the MFA, so it’s very unlikely that there will be any problem with the certified translation.

FYI – The Legalisation Department is on the 3rd floor.  From the entrance foyer take the escalator up to the first 2nd floor.  As you get off the escalator, slightly to your left you will see a stair case which you take to the 3rd floor.  As you reach the top of these stairs to your left you will see a desk which has a basket of application forms.  You will need to complete a form. The link below is to the form if you want to fill it in before going to save timehttps://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.co.th&sl=th&sp=nmt4&u=http://www.consular.go.th/main/th/form/1405/21210-%25E0%25B8%2584%25E0%25B8%25B3%25E0%25B8%25A3%25E0%25B9%2589%25E0%25B8%25AD%25E0%25B8%2587%25E0%25B8%2582%25E0%25B8%25AD%25E0%25B8%25A3%25E0%25B8%25B1%25E0%25B8%259A%25E0%25B8%25A3%25E0%25B8%25AD%25E0%25B8%2587%25E0%25B9%2580%25E0%25B8%25AD%25E0%25B8%2581%25E0%25B8%25AA%25E0%25B8%25B2%25E0%25B8%25A3.html&usg=ALkJrhj1phK-zSkgT5eCO2bP5yhAWN1ueA

 Then follow the FlowChart which Ubonjoe provided earlier.

Cost of legalisation is 200BHT per page.  You can collect in 2 days or get them to EMS the docs back to you at a small extra fee.  If you want it back the same day you must submit the documents before 09:30am (to collect after 2:30pm) and it will cost 400Baht per page.

When you hand your documents over at the initial checking counter, they will ask you for a copy of your passport (photo page) and a copy of your visa stamp extra to the documents that you are submitting… so I suggest that you take extra copies with you otherwise you will find yourself going back down to the 2nd floor to the photocopying shop.

FYI – The Consular Section of MFA is open at 07:30am and closes at 4:00pm…. The Legalisation Section which you need opens for business at 08:30am and closes at 4:00pm (lunch is 12:00 – 1:00pm).

There is a large car park around the building, but be advised that you need to be there early to get a space as it’s used by staff and visitors otherwise you may find yourself going around several time trying to find a space.  You may be luckier if you are on a motorbike.

Personally if I was going to the British Embassy in the morning I would walk back to Phloen Chit and get the BTS to Mo Chit, then get a taxi to the Consular Section – cost about 120/140 Baht depending upon traffic.

Hope that helps – based upon my experience last week.

Sorry if this topic has been raised before, but a search didn’t reveal anything.

Miss MoneyBaht and I have been married for nearly ten years.  Since retiring some 6 years ago I have been living here on annual retirement extensions.

I am fully aware of the different immigration requirements between retirement and marriage extensions, but what I would like to know is… what are pros and cons of one against the other.

I'm up for renewal at the beginning of September and wondering if I should stay with retirement or swap to marriage.

1 hour ago, Lamkyong said:

uk acc card ?or Thai based bank

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

 

Can you tell us which countries credit card you used please? Whether UK  or Thai bank.

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

I think it was a UK bank since he wrote it was done in pounds. If a Thai bank it would be shown in baht.

HSBC HKK - Premier A/C .... Used Visa debit card.... As indicated in previous post, the amount deducted was £52 and no transaction fees.

As a side issue.... The Embassy charge 100Baht for EMS return of letter & documents.... The letter quite literally has just arrived and the postage was 37Baht.  I know we've got to pay from Brexit somehow .

Off to the MFA to get the letter authenticated as now required by my local immigration Office.