my benny rai

Thanks for the replies so far, (lopburi3, etc.) but does anyone know the specific documents needed now to extend a Non O based on marriage to a Thai wife? Sunbelt used to have a very detailed list.

I would really appreciate any help those with experience in extending a Non O visa might have. Last year when my wife and I went to immigration to extend my Non O they wanted pictures of our respective workplaces, but this was not listed on the sheet they gave us. We had to run, go take pics at her office, and then return to wait in a very long line.

What specific documents, pictures, etc. do we need to extend my Non O in the next month or so? I remember that Sunbelt used to have a detailed list but I have not been able to find it. Please, if you can, let me know what exactly I need to extend my Non O one more year. Does anyone have Sunbelt's list or an updated list of things needed that has been issued by immigration? Thanks for any help you can offer.

I can confirm this new requirement based on my own recent experience of EXTENDING my Non Immigrant O Visa. You need to have a picture of your wife or you standing in front of your respective company's door or whatever that has the logo of the company on it and snap a few pictures of the interior of the office. You must also provide a stamped and signed copy of the company or school registration/license. We also gave a few company brochures that clearly stated the company's address. They also required us to present THREE pictures of my wife and I in front of our house, a close up of the house number, and a single wide angle picture of the house itself.

I suggest you only go to extend your visa a few days before it expires because we were told that they calculate the year extension from your reapplication date. Do not go a month in advance to extend your Non Immigrant O Visa because you will essentially be losing a month of stay in Thailand.

Change is a fact of life here for long term residents of Thailand. As far as I can see from my own recent experience, it is now "harder" to get a one year extension of a Non O Visa. By "harder" I mean they are asking for more documents than they have in the past. When I extended last month, along with the regular batch of documents they also wanted to see THREE pictures (wife and hubby in front of the house, a picture of the house and then a close up picture of the house number with the house in the background), they wanted the company registration (stamped and signed by the owner or head of the company) and pictures of the company! They explained that too many people were providing fake documentation and, during spot inspections, it was found that certain companies did not really exist. "We have to be strict," one officer said, "because many people submit false documentation." My wife had to sign a declaration stating that I still lived with her, etc. We also had to resign all the documents that we handed in stating that the documents were copied from original documents that were shown to the officers. Apparently the new boss of Room 101 is quite strict about documentation now.

Thank you so much all who have answered in the past. I will soon go for my second full year extension on my Non Immigrant O Visa.

1. Can I use all the old pictures of house, etc. I used before or do I have to take new ones? Do I even need pics the second time around (apart from my pic for the application form)?

2. I do not yet have my work permit from my present employer but my wife makes enough money to satisfy the requirements. Therefore, do I still need a letter of guarantee from my employer or should I just keep mum about starting a new job and hope they don't ask?

3. Do I need to go through the whole process of retranslating my foreign marriage cert and sending it to Foreign Affairs like it says in #12 below or do I just give them the document I was given at the district office when we registered our marriage after we showed them our translated/stamped by Foreign Affairs sheet?

4. Is the list given by Sunbelt below up to date or do I need less / more stuff? I think this list may be just for the first time of extending an Non O on the basis of marriage.

You will need your wife to go with you and the following:

1. Copy of Household Registration of Thai Wife.

2. Copy of Identification Card of Thai Wife.

3. Copy of Marriage Certificate

4. Statement of guarantee of pension income from your Embassy that you have an income of at least Baht 40,000 per month or letter of guarantee from a foreign employer, that you are a employee, salary, position, years worked or proof of this Thai income by you or your wife with the last three months of Phor Ngor Dor.1 (Personal Income tax form filed on a monthly basis) and Phor Ngor Dor.91 ( Filed on a yearly basis in March)

5.Copy of birth certificates of children. (if any)

6.Photo of place of residence. (show house’s number)

7.Map and telephone’s number of place of residence.

8.If working, a letter of guarantee from your employer. A copy of work permit as well if working in Thailand.

9. Photos of your wife clothes and your clothes in the same closet, picture of your wife and you sitting on a living room sofa and pictures of the wedding. (This is not required if you have a birth certificate of children together.)

10. Application form TM 7 with 2x2 inch square photo’s attached.

11. A valid passport

12.If married overseas, the marriage certificate must be certified at the local Embassy of the country where the marriage took place, and it must be translated and certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This must then by certified by the District Office where the Thai spouse has their household registration.

13. If granted the extension of stay prior to 1st Oct 2006, the applicant can use the option of 400,000 Baht in the bank.

14. In the case of the foreigner who has entered Thailand and has been granted to stay temporarily before Oct 1st 2006, they may be eligible for an exemption to the new rule of 40K income per month but this is only on a case by case basis.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

Posted March 23, 2007

Thank you in advance for any questions you can answer.

When one already has a Non Immigrant O Visa and is applying for a work permit to teach on that O Visa, is the application process the same as if someone were applying on a Non Immigrant B? Are different documents needed such as a background check?

Is a criminal background check needed anytime in the process if the teacher applying for a work permit has a Non Immigrant O? Which government ministry, Labour, Education or Immigration, wants to see the criminal background check during the work permit process?

Has Sunbelt (or any teacher here) recently, since the new requirements for criminal background checks began, sucessfully got a NEW work permit for a teacher on a Non Immigrant O Visa? I called an embassy today, not near or on the borders of Thailand, and the person on the phone said that I could not get a work permit if I was on an Non Immigrant O Visa and that I would need to change my visa status by getting a criminal background check to get a Non Immigrant B Visa. "Have things changed?" I asked. "No," she replied, "you could never get a work permit on a Non Immigrant O Visa because you can only get a work permit if you have a Non Immigrant Visa." However, judging by her answer and her misunderstanding of what a reentry permit was, I think it was clear that she did not know what she was talking about. But I know I can get straight answers here on this forum.

Cheers!

These things are really not complicated if you follow the rules, and have a bit of patience.

I have also been doing it for years, but it is more an issue of just plain bored with doing it so I am trying to get feedback on a possible way of avoiding doing it yet again right before I am about to go so I can save time. For me, it costs almost 2000 baht to report my address: loss of time, taxi rides, lunch at a posh Western restaurant, etc. But people here have made a good point: it may take longer at the airport than I plan for. Best to get both done downtown to save the hassle before flying first class... minus all the extra leg room, nice meals, superior entertainment console. OK, fine, before flying economy.

Cheers all who replied. You have convinced me to try to make time to report AND get my reentry permit downtown.

DenThai you are lucky your employer does it for you. My past employers kept telling me I didn't need to do it, but would not agree to pay the fine if I was fined for not doing it.

I think I will consider mailing in my 90 day reporting stuff from now on.

Thanks again!

My employer does the 90 days for me but I'm 110% certain that you can delay up to 7 days or go up to 7 days early. Re-entry at airport. Know it can be done but no more than that.

A word of warning. I know a fella. Got stuck for over an hour because of pile up up on the tollway. Had found he had no time to apply. He had 2 choices. Abort the trip or start the visa process over again. He chose the former. Bad move. Couldn't get a refund as he had already checked in and he had to wait around 6 hours before they would return his baggage which customs had forced open.

Good point.

Why not just do the 90 day reporting?

Time constraints for reasons, let's just say, beyond my control.

And now I have Styx's "Mr. Roboto" playing in my head. "Beyond my controooOOOOl. I am the modern man..."

I am planning on leaving anywhere from one day to 7 days AFTER I am meant to report to immigration for my 90 day reporting of address. Will I get hit with a fine when I leave the new airport and how much will it be if I don't report?

Also, anyone have any directions to buying a reentry permit at the new airport? Are officers always there to issue them? Cost?

I am trying to weight time, effort and cost of going to immigration or just paying a fine at the airport and buying a reentry permit on the way out of the country.

Thanks!

I believe it if had included family extensions of stay Sunbelt would not have failed to mention it.

Spot on Lopburi3. still possible to get a work permit with an extension of stay based on marriage with a Thai national.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

But how does that work out now for teachers married to Thais who are on a Non O? How does this new criminal background check figure in to the application process on an Non O? In fact, how is the process so different on an O than applying on a regular B visa?

Cheers, Sunbelt, for all your help now and in the past!

Just picked this up from immigration at Suvanabhumi while waiting to for my entry permit.

Comments?

They have had brochures at Don Muang in the past. And, yes, since I have been here immigration has gotten more efficient.

My computer does not read the Thai quoted above. It must be some pesky font I have not yet downloaded even though I have gone through the whole process of changing the language features on XP and downloading fonts off the net. Could you please tell me which one the above font is so I can read this very interesting thread? If you can't, can someone please retype it or transliterate it. Cheers!

My parents saw this child being interviewed on the news and asked me to send a card. His Birthday is May 30th. Even Queen Elizabeth has sent him a card, but he is still far from breaking the record.

Shane Bernier is a courageous seven-year-old boy from Lancaster, Ontario who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when he was only five. On June 6th, 2006 Shane and his family received some unfortunate news: Shane experienced a relapse after completing 108 of 130 weeks of treatment.

However, despite the bad news, Shane has managed to keep a positive outlook on his situation and has made a heart-warming wish... He hasn’t asked for money or toys or anything of the sort. Instead, his birthday is on May 30th and he would like to break the world record for the most birthday cards ever received. His goal is 350 million cards. With every card, Shane’s courage grows. Something as simple as sending a birthday card could be enough to help Shane find peace and joy in his current circumstances.

Please take the time to send a card to Shane and make his dream become a reality. Share his story with your friends, family and co-workers. If at all possible, get your youth groups, church congregations, employees, neighbours or communities to set aside a few minutes to write a thoughtful note to Shane.

With every card, Shane’s smile grows...

http://www.shaneswish.com/

Shane Bernier

Box 484

Lancaster Ontario

CANADA

K0C 1N0

I clicked on your link and my heart sank. I have been writing a very similar book that deals with Thai in familiar contexts farang will face in Thailand. The Thai language and cultural lessons of my book project are wrapped around two stories. One of my characters is also called John. I can't believe how small a world this is! I am glad that Thai learners will have another study aid, but also sad that what I have been working on is no longer as unique as I had first thought.

Does Peter Faller’s Practical Situational Thai focus only on spoken Thai or does it also teach the learner how to read Thai?

From what I could gather from the review, the focus of the book was primarily spoken Thai. The book I have been working on places a heavy emphasis on teaching reading skills and then using the Thai learned in specific situations such as introducing yourself, ordering food, asking for directions, etc. If Peter's book is different, there may still be a market for my book that aims to give step-by-step instruction in learning the consonants, vowels, tones, etc.

I will have to buy this book to see if it is worthwhile to continue my writing project! This means a trip into Bangkok in the hot weather.

Has anyone seen this book sold in a Bangkok bookstore and what do they think of it?

Kris,

No, just prebought internet hours.

A new email from Glenn solved the mystery:

It’s possible that your IP address had been leased to someone else by your ISP company. The leases change (without interrupting your service) every few days. If this was the case, then it was a coincidence that someone who uses your same ISP was trying to rip thai-language.com

A computer savvy friend confirmed that ISP will have one IP address for more than one user. All this computer talk gives me a headache. What does "rip thai-language.com" mean?

Thanks again to Glenn for his swift help and replies.

Glenn took care of the problem really quickly. To my joy, I could access the site today! He replied:

Your IP address had been automatically added to a blocking list because of issuing too many hits far too quickly, which leaves little bandwidth for others. I’ve taken it off the list. If you were using any programs which could cause rapid-fire activity, please be considerate of others by reducing the rapid-fire usage.

Thank you for taking my IP address off the list. I do not use any rapid-fire programs as far as I know. I simply use the online dictionary. Is the number of hits consistant with that or does it appear like far more? I am asking because a friend of mine told me that a computer can get infected and be taken over to be used as a "clone" that surfs the net unbeknownst to the computer owner. I doubt this is the case, but if the hits from my account seemed too much, please let me know.

Thanks again!

BENNY

Farma,

Thank you for the email address. I sent off an email asking for help. (Posted below.) I will let everyone know how it goes.

I am not blaming anybody nor am I mad. It is probably just a computer glich or something like that. My only hope is that I gain access to this wonderful site soon because I miss it.

To whom it may concern at thai-language.com,

I was shocked to discover that my IP address has been denied access to your site. (The message is pasted below.) I love your site and use the online dictionary often. I do not know a lot about computers but the error message I got stated I needed to contact the site's administrator. I got your contact email from the chat board at thaivisa.com. Please help me get access to your wonderful site again. However, I do not know what my IP address is but I think you can check it from this email. I bought my internet hours from Loxinfo. Please help me. What should I do to get access to your site again?

Thank you for your help.

BENNY

You are not authorized to view this page

The Web server you are attempting to reach has a list of IP addresses that are not allowed to access the Web site, and the IP address of your browsing computer is on this list.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please try the following:

Contact the Web site administrator if you believe you should be able to view this directory or page.

HTTP Error 403.6 - Forbidden: IP address of the client has been rejected.

Internet Information Services (IIS)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Technical Information (for support personnel)

Go to Microsoft Product Support Services and perform a title search for the words HTTP and 403.

Open IIS Help, which is accessible in IIS Manager (inetmgr), and search for topics titled About Security, Limiting Access by IP Address, IP Address Access Restrictions, and About Custom Error Messages.

Tried to access www.thai-language.com and I got this weird message. Is anyone else experiencing this message or even heard of it? Apart from using their online dictionary, I don't know what I could have done to restrict my access to it. What should I do to be able to surf on www.thai-language.com? Help would be appreciated because I really love that site.

You are not authorized to view this page

The Web server you are attempting to reach has a list of IP addresses that are not allowed to access the Web site, and the IP address of your browsing computer is on this list.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please try the following:

Contact the Web site administrator if you believe you should be able to view this directory or page.

HTTP Error 403.6 - Forbidden: IP address of the client has been rejected.

Internet Information Services (IIS)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Technical Information (for support personnel)

Go to Microsoft Product Support Services and perform a title search for the words HTTP and 403.

Open IIS Help, which is accessible in IIS Manager (inetmgr), and search for topics titled About Security, Limiting Access by IP Address, IP Address Access Restrictions, and About Custom Error Messages.

Does anyone have any admin contact info for www.thai-language.com so I can ask them to allow me access to their site?

For Yqq and CSS's posts, the Thai symbols are unreadable, but for LonelyAmerican's the Thai symbols are clear.

Can anyone tell me why? Occasionally I encounter Thai script I cannot read even though I have enabled Thai on my Windows and download many fonts. Am I missing a certain kind of font perhaps? If so, please tell me where i can get the font Yqq and CSS used.

Cheers!

I agree, Meadish S, but he is stuck on learning from books. He takes what he reads as THE WAY IT IS. He often tells me, "Ya, but the book says that..." And I have to tell him that self-study is wonderful but it can't replace teacher-guided instruction from a Thai native speaker. I enjoy teaching him what I have learned over the years, but it has been so long that I just "know" how things are or should be pronounced. For example, I just say "water" with the "am" sound and "salad" with the "um" sound without having to think of it because I have been saying those words for almost 15 years now. But for a new learner of Thai, -ำ may be a bit confusing.

And yes, I have tried to tell him that books give hints in English that may not apply because of different English accents. For example, he thought อ was "or" (American pronunciation). So he was saying things like "Gor Guy" for ก.

Regardless, he tells me he is a visual learner and relies heavily on transliterations. He also claims he is tone deaf, musically and in terms of studying Thai. (If you are reading this ****, sorry for telling everyone about you but your questions have helped me look at Thai in a new way again so I feel compelled to share them with others who may find out chats interesting.)

For the sake of other readers of this thread, Meadish S, I am glad you pointed out that that แ- is not as short as the English "a" sound in the English word "fan." แ- is, after all, still considered a long vowel in Thai even though it is often shortened in the more commonly spoken words. I simply meant that แ- in "แฟน" is slightly shorter than the แ- voiced in แม่.

Any other comments? I don't know about anyone else, but I like finding exceptions to general rules

It is easy to explain that with -ำ it may be an "um" or "am" sound like for the Thai words for "salad" and "water" respectively, but try to explain the different pronunciations for แ- quickly to a foreign coworker who asks! he had two minutes before his next class.

For example, for แม่ (Mother in Thai)่ แ- sounds like "air" if pronounced with a British accent (say from in or around London?). But for แฟน (Boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/fiance) is a shorter "a" sound. With further thought, it seems that many of the commonly used words have the shorter "a" sound when spoken. Agree? Or is there a better way to write the "air" or "a" sounds for แ- in such words as "expensive," etc.?

Any generally rules you can state for when to say either "air" or "a" for แ- or is it simply a matter of Thais shortening their words? And for -ำ, which pronunciation do you think is more common: um or am?

What really messed up my coworker was the different English transliterations of แ-. He said the books he used all wrote the word แฟน differently. Fairn, faen, fan, etc. Being American, his pronunciation of the first word for แฟน was off.

My mistake... My Thai spelling is growing worse from lack of practice.

We all make mistakes so no big deal. Heck, I would guess quite a few people on this board would love to have the same level of Thai that you do.

I find that practicing to write Thai is valuable to the point where it helps me to remember how to say things. Yes, I usually can remember how to spell the words that I have practiced, but making mistakes are common, especially with the 4 different sounds for S, and the many different Ts, etc. Thankfully, when in doubt, there is always a dictionary close by.

I had a good laugh last night. I was out with Thai friends and they asked why sometimes it was hard for native English speakers to explain their language when Thai friends asked them grammatical questions about English. I said, "OK... Tell me the difference between the three words for want and when to use them: เอา, อยาก and ต้องการ." This kept the conversation going for the next ten minutes. At first they did not know where to begin and then started disagreeing about when and how to use these three words. After a while, I had to step in and clarify that เอา (ow) seemed to be the most common in casual conversation and that เอา should be followed by a noun, i.e., something you want. อยาก (yahk) is used in conjunction with other verbs to express a wish or desire for something. This is also commonly used in conversation. ต้องการ (Dtonggahn) seems to be more formal and is followed by either a noun or verb to express a stronger need or desire.

Many of them had very different ideas about how to use these three different words. Some felt เอา (ow) was too informal and that ต้องการ (Dtonggahn) was the best to say whereas others said if you used ต้องการ (Dtonggahn) in conversation too much you sounded too pretentious.

Any thoughts?