Red Phoenix

If the Non Imm O Visa was provided for reason of marriage, the first 1-year extension has to be based on the same reason, i.e. marriage. According to immigration regulations you can only change the reason for your 1-year extension application when you are already on a 1-year extension.

The CW Immigration info they provided you is incorrect. When married to a Thai national, you can apply one time per Visa for a 60-day extension for reason of visiting your wife. This is applicable for ANY Visa, and as you are Permission to stay is based on an original Non Imm O marriage Visa, you obviously meet the criterion. So when your current Permission to stay is valid till December 21st, you can apply for that 60-day extension from early December (or earlier if your Imm Office allows it) and the 60 days will be added to your current Permission to stay expiry date of Dec 21st, bringing the date to 19 February. Note: If your current Dec 21st date is the result of having done such 60-day extension already some years ago, there is indeed no way of changing that date.

I confirm what drJack54 wrote. When you re-entered Thailand with a Re-Entry Permit or when you had a MultipleEntry-type Visa on which you returned, there is NO need to provide your local Imm Office with a new TM-30 that you returned to your address. Note: The exception being when you reside in Chiang Mai province, where the Imm Office does not follow the official regulations re TM-30 and insist that you do it on return from both a domestic or international trip. When you re-entered Thailand your 90-day report clock was reset to 0. So when you re-entered say July 29, your 90-day report due date would be 27 October. When you do your 90-day reports on-line, you might get an automated e-mail message from your local Imm Office referring to the ' old' due date. You can simply ignore that message, as the system is not aware of you having re-entered Thailand. And you should be able to do your 90-day report on-line, in the 2 weeks preceding the due date when you change the entry-date to the date you re-entered Thailand.

At my SiSaKet Office they do the 90-day report automatically when applying for the 1-year extension. And when you do your 90-day report on-line when your 1-year extension is due in less than 90 days, your 90-day report is approved but the due date is capped till your Permission to stay expiry date. That makes perfect sense as you need to do the 1-year extension of stay in person anyway, and in SiSaKet they will provide you with your next 90-day report notification due date stapled in your passport at same time when you receive the 1-year Permission to stay.

Do check your passport whether your Imm Office stapled a Notification note in it with your next 90-day reporting due date. Some Imm Offices automatically do this when you apply for your 1-year extension of stay, thereby resetting the date to 90 days after the application date for that 1-year extension. But if you did not receive any Notification note with your next 90-day reporting due date, the previous due date will be still applicable.

Good advice from @DrJack54 In your case if you did not yet use the one-time 60 days extension for visiting your wife, you could apply for such extension somewhere early July 2024 and the 60 days will be added to your end of July Permission to stay expiry date, making it end of September 2024. And that would allow you to take your envisioned 6-weeks holiday from August to mid September 2024. On your return you could then apply for the 1-year extension of stay. Note: Do not forget to buy a Re-Entry Permit after having applied for the 60-day permission to stay and prior to leaving Thailand, this in order to protect that end of Sept 2024 Permission to stay.

https://savannakhet.thaiembassy.org/th/publicservice/non-immigrant-visa-o-visiting-family-member-of-a-thai-nationality-a-sp?page=5d84a44c15e39c26b400453e&menu=5d84a44c15e39c26b400453f The link to the Savannakhet Thai consulate website provides the following info for family Visa: Non - Immigrant Visa "O" (Visiting family member of a Thai nationality, a spouse of Thai national) Non-Immigrant Visa "O" is issued to applicants who wish to enter Thailand for the purpose of visiting family member of a Thai nationality, a spouse of Thai national. The validity of visa is 3 months. The permitted length of stay is up to 90 days from the date of arrival in Thailand. Required documents Visa application form [Download] which is completely filled out and signed by the applicant Original and a copy of passport or travel document (must not expire within 180 days and contain at least two complete empty visa pages) Two (2) photos of the applicant (3.5 x 4.5 cm, taken within 6 months) Original and a copy of marriage certificate (for spouse/parent) or birth certificate (for child). A copy of Thai identification card (for spouse/parent) A copy of passport (for spouse/parent) A copy of Thai House registration Visa Fee: 2,000 Baht (Single Entry) Questions: #1 - The web-page does not mention the 1-year MultipleEntry Non Imm O Visa, which is definitely also available there and costs 5.000,- THB. > Are there any additional requirements for such 1-year ME Non Imm O Visa? #2 - For a marriage to Thai national Non Imm O Visa, the webpage only mentions (#4) the original and a copy of marriage certificate. > Is there no need to also provide evidence that you are STILL married to your Thai wife? > Do they accept any official marriage certificate as evidence e.g. from marriage outside Thailand, or is there Embassy notification/translation required from a foreign marriage certificate with a Thai national?

Yes, you are right and that would probably solve any issues he might encounter. Thanks!

There are several reports of people with a non-Thai Health-insurance policy (that meets the financial tressholds) applying successfully for the 1-year Non Imm O-A Visa in their home-country using the Foreign Insurance form. The problem arises when you apply for the 1-year extension of that original Non Imm O-A Visa. Local Thai Immigration then requires a statement from a THAI insurer that your Health-Insurance policy is compliant with the Non Imm O-A regulations for the coming period. And on top of that they require that the policy is registered in the TGIA-database. So they are effectively blocking the use of foreign insurers to apply for 1-year extensions from such Non Imm O-A Visa, as only TGIA-assocatiated insurers have access to that database. When subscribing to a HI-policy from a Thai insurer in order to meet the requirement, you also need to make sure that the Thai insurer is TGIA-associated (not all of them are, and people that had HI-policies issued by non-TGIA associated Thai insurers have been refused their extension). Note: The Health-insurance requirement is only applicable when applying for the 1-year extension of your original Non Imm O-A policy for reason of retirement. So when you are married to a Thai national, you have the option to apply for that reason and get rid of that HI-policy requirement. However, that is not possible for your very first 1-year extension as you can only 'switch' the reason for application from retirement to marriage, when you are already on a 'retirement' extension. So there is no escaping the need for a Thai Non Imm O-A compliant HI-policy (at least for the first 1-year extension) when wanting to extend the Permission to stay of your original Non Imm O-A Visa. > Needless to say that the Immigration mandated TGIA-associated Thai Insurer HI-policies, pushed by the Thai insurers lobby, have not resulted in the Goldmine these insurers envisioned, but instead resulted in long-term residents fleeing to the Non Imm O Visa (retirement) and 1-year extensions of such that do NOT require any HI-policy.

What is Q9? If that is the application date as featured on the eVisa then there is indeed no issue at all.

Thanks, and indeed he should be checking the website on a regular basis and not wait for an e-mail to arrive as that could end up in a junk-folder.

He is a Belgian citizen and applied for the 90-day Non Imm O (marriage) Visa more than 4 weeks ago. After more than 3 weeks he received a request for additional documentation that he was still married to his Thai wife, to which he responded immediately. Needless to say that he is getting a bit nervous as his departure flight to Thailand is now Friday and he did not receive the eVisa yet. Note that your suggestion to retain the boarding card for that departure flight when leaving Belgium, is not really needed as he would already receive a Thailand entry stamp by border-immigration on arrival. If the eVisa is only issued after his arrival in Thailand, he will be confronted with the issue to prove that he APPLIED for the eVisa while still in Belgium when dong a border-run and the Border Official noticing that the eVisa was issued on a date when he was already in Thailand.

The point is that he applied for the eVisa weeks ago while in his home-country, but the issue date of the eVisa - which he didn't receive yet - might be after his flight to Thailand. That would force him to do a border-run to do a border-run when he wants to regularize that late-arrived eVisa. But then he will be confronted with the - rather senseless - rule that the eVisa has to be applied for from your home-country. Border-immigration would not not able to determine from his Passport-stamps and eVisa alone WHEN it was applied for. And the only way border-immigration would be able to check that, is when they have access to the eVisa-system which would contain the application date. Note: But discussing this issue, it did dawn on me that he might bring a screen-shot of his eVisa application request featuring the application date, which might be accepted by border-immigration. I agree that the eVisa has not been thought through as I am pretty sure my friend's situation is not uncommon considering the slow response on his eVisa application.

Yes, it's not clear whether he would be allowed to use his too-late-delivered Non Imm O (marriage Visa) to re-enter Thailand from the neighboring country where he would do a border-bounce. The eVisa rules stipulate that you need to apply for the eVisa while still in your home-country. And that's what he did, but the eVisa was not delivered till after his departure. His Passport will of course show his entry date in Thailand, but it is probably not possible for border-immigration to check WHEN that eVisa was actually delivered. Or do border-immigration officials have access to a database containing all data of eVisa applied for abroad?

Yes it would be very useful when there would be an easy Thailand in-country option to regularize the eVisa when it is delivered late and applicant has already departed for Thailand. My friend applied more than 4 weeks ago and his flight is scheduled end of this week. So, unless it is sent to him last-minute, he would have to do either - a border-bounce when it arrives when he already is in Thailand or - apply at his regional Imm Office for a new 90-day Non Imm O Visa (and could have spared himself the trouble of having applied for that eVisa).

Thanks for response. Indeed, I explained the Savannakhet ME Non Imm O (marriage) Visa option to him, but he would be residing in Central Thailand, making border-runs inconvenient for him hence his preference to apply for 1-year extensions of his Non Imm O (marriage) Visa. However, the Savannakhet option would be a good alternative for him, if it turns out that he has to do a border-run anyway to regularize his late-arrived eVisa.

Already four weeks ago a friend of mine applied for the 90-day Non Imm O eVisa (marriage). His application is in process as he received 3 days ago a request from the Embassy for additional evidence that he is STILL married with his Thai wife, to which he responded immediately. His flight to Thailand is scheduled one week from today, and if he did not receive his eVisa by that time, he is considering flying to Thailand Visa Exempt and regularizing his Visa status once he receives it. However, it is not clear which options he has to do that. Should he have his VisaExempt stamp updated by Suvarnabhumi border-immigration once he receives it? Or could this be done at his local Imm Office? Or would he have to do a border-run and re-enter with that late-arrived Non Imm O Visa (although it was issued in another country than from where he would re-enter Thailand) Note: He is aware that entering Thailand VisaExempt requires an onward-flight booking reservation to an international destination on a date prior to expiry date of the 30-day Permission to stay he would receive from Thai border-immigration at Suvarnabhumi airport. Thanks for any advise on how to proceed from AN-members having experienced similar issue.

That's an interesting point! So when you risk being refused entry, it might be useful to show the Immigration Officer the bundle of cash you have with you. When you detect hesitance in the Imm Officers behavior to stamp you in, showing the cash non-asked (pretending to do it because you want to show him that you meet the requirements) should then already take away one bogus reason for denying you entry.

In your case being already on your 2nd Non Imm O Visa for reason of having a Thai dependant child, there is little benefit in going to Savannakhet and applying for the ME Non Imm O Visa for that reason there (and according to drJack such Visa is not even available there). The easiest way for you to continue staying long-term in Thailand is to apply again for the 1-year extension at your local Imm Office when your current Permission to stay is due to expire. In case of dependant Thai children the financial requirement is that you can show +400K on your personal Thai bank-account at moment of application (so no need for any seasoning of the funds, and after the under consideration period when your application is approved, you can use those +400K as your please). Some Imm Offices have different financial requirements for such case, but as you already applied succesfully 2 times before, you will know the rules as applied by your local Imm Office. NOTE that I do not see any benefit for you to apply first for a 60-day extension of stay for reason of dependant child. The cost for such application (1.900,- THB) is same as for the 1-year extension application, and you can only do one 60-day extension per entry in Thailand that provided you with a new Permission to stay, so better keep that 60-day extension option up your sleeve, in case your 1-year extension application would be denied.

Hi Stix, were you unable to register the address on the IO TM-30 website? You can do this as tenant by submitting the lease rental agreement (also a copy of the house-book and a signed front/back cover of the landlady's Thai ID-card could be added although that's not mandatory but it will certainly ease the confirmation process). Once the address is registered on the IO TM-30 website, you can use the username:password you received and it will allow you to issue a TM-30 on-line (and follow-up the status of that notification). If you have done it once it is a matter of minutes to issue an update, and it looks like that would be helpful for you when your local Imm Office requires to re-issue such notification each time you return from domestic or international travel (normally not required but at CM they require this is defiance of the TM-30 regulations).

That instruction is fully correct, but the information can only be accessed by the person that issued the notification on the IO TM-30 website (in the OP's case his landlord) as it requires logging in with username:password.

So you already have the confirmation that the notification was received by your local Imm Office, but it is now pending and still needs their approval. So ask your landlord to check whether it was approved. If you did not receive the approval by now, Imm Office will be closed till August 3rd, so no need to check before that time.

Hi Dave, I presume that your current Permission to stay is based on a Non Imm O Visa for reason of marriage. This because for retirement extensions, the 1-year extension of stay is provided on the spot at your SiSaKet Imm office. But when your 1-year extension is done for reason of marriage, you will have an 'under consideration' period (usually 10 to 14 days) with a fixed date on which you have to return to the Imm Office to have the approved 1-year extension stamped in your Passport. > The expiry date of your current Permission to stay will determine whether you should already apply for the 1-year extension of stay before leaving for UK or whether it would be better to do so after you have returned. This is important because you will need a Re-Entry Permit prior to exiting Thailand to keep your Permission to stay valid, as without such Re-Entry Permit your Permission to stay will be invalidated the moment you leave Thailand which will force you to apply from scratch when re-entering Thailand. And that Re-Entry Permit will be based on the latest Permission to stay as featured in your passport, so it can be somewhat messy when having already applied for the 1-year extension of stay and then exiting Thailand during the 'under consideration' period. > So do provide the exact date that your your current Non Imm O Visa based Permission to stay will expire (as well as whether it is based on marriage or on retirement). That will allow to provide you with a clear answer on your options.

It is only in PHUKET that local Immigration made some 'grandfathering' arrangements, which allow some long-staying residents there not having to comply with the mandatory Non Imm O-A compliant Health Insurance requirement. Afaik, at all other Imm Offices in Thailand, when applying for a 1-year extension of that original Non Imm O-A Visa for reason of retirement that Health-Insurance requirement is mandatory. There are two options to 'escape' from that mandatory Health Insurance requirement (which also has to be with a THAI insurer that is mentioned on the TGIA list kept by Immigration). #1 - When married to a Thai national or with Thai dependent children, you could apply for the 1-year extension of stay for such reason. On top of the much lower financial requirements (+400K that only need to be on your personal Thai bank-account in the 2 months preceding your application), applying for the 1-year extension of that original Non Imm O-A Visa for a different reason than retirement, does NOT require any Health Insurance. NOTE that you can only 'switch' from retirement to marriage, after you have done your first 1-year extension for reason of retirement. And that you would have to show that you met the financial requirements under which your 1-year extension for reason of retirement was issued. #2 - When exiting Thailand without a Re-Entry Permit will 'kill' the Non Imm O-A based Permission to stay. So doing a border-run and returning same day (or combining it with a trip in the neighboring country) will provide you with a 30-day VisaExempt Permit to stay. And in the 15 days before expiry of that VisaExempt based Permission to stay (some offices - e.g. Chiang Mai and Phuket - do require a longer period) you could then apply for a NEW Non Imm O Visa at your local Imm Office. NOTE that there are some rogue offices (e.g. Chiang Rai) that refuse to do that 'change of Visa' process and want you to apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa at a Thai Embassy/Consulate abroad (e.g. at the Vientiane Thai Embassy in Laos). Also note that when re-entering Thailand with a NEW Permission to stay having 'killed' your previous one, that you are required to notify your local Imm Office within 24 hours of your arrival at your address, that you are staying there again by providing Immigration with a TM-30.

Hi @BritTim > Thanks for quick answere on my query, it's as I presumed but good to have it confirmed by your response. So my local Immigration Office will do the stamp transfers when I go there in person for doing my first 90-day report on the new Passport (and obviously I also need to bring both the new and old passport). Thanks again.