Red Phoenix

Hi, I know that the financial requirement for a 1-year EXTENSION of a Non Imm O Visa for reason of a dependant child, only requires you to provide proof of having +400K funds on a personal Thai bank-account at the moment of application. But what are the financial requirements when applying for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of dependant Thai child? Is it - like for the 1-year extension - sufficient to show evidence of the funds at the date of application. Or do you need to provide proof of seasoning of those funds for 2 months prior to the application? ALSO: Is there for the Visa application a requirement to provide evidence that the +400K originated from abroad? Thanks in advance for response - and also a link to the Thai Immigration document covering such case would be appreciated.

Hi Mike, you are correct that some Imm Offices require more time left on your permission to stay than the regular 15 days. So, those wanting to apply for a 90-day Non Imm O Visa need to check the number of days at the Imm Office of the province where they plan to reside. And it is also correct that when arriving on a 60-day Tourist Visa or having entered Thailand Visa Exempt (which currently provides you with a 45-day Permit to stay) that you can apply for a one-time 30 days extension of stay. This in case you need more time to get 'your ducks on a row' to meet the application criteria (the search for a Thai bank willing to open a bank-account for you, might take some time). Note 1: And for those married to a Thai national, they can on top of the above also apply for a one-time per entry 60-days extension for reason of visiting your spouse. Note 2: And every extension - irrespective whether it is for 30 or 60 days, or for a full year, costs 1.900 THB.

That is correct. So the Agent that fixes your Visa or extension in another province, has to use a fake address to do so. And then for immigration purposes you are residing at that fake address, unless you relocate by doing a change of address to the Province where you are really living.

You are right. but I do hope that their investigations are limited to Chinese hanky-panky with Visa/extensions only, and that farangs are not taken along in an attempt to avoid allegations of discrimination against only one ethnicity.

If the Agent applied for your initial 90-day Non Imm O Visa in another province than where you are residing, you ARE for Immigration purposes a resident there. Of course you can - once you have the Visa - relocate to the Province where you are actually living. To do so you need to visit the local Imm Office (and of course they will understand what you did, but it has always been tolerated). But some farangs never bother to relocate, and their Agent takes care of their 90-day reports and yearly extensions. FYI: I am fully legal in Thailand meeting all the requirements, and I applied for my initial Non Imm O Visa and yearly extensions without any Agent help or bribing of Imm Officers. But I feel for those that did fell for the 'fully legit Agent service with no funds required' story or did not have the necessary funds to meet the 800K/400K THB requirement and thus made use of an Agent.

Yes, Agents providing the extension service with no funds required, make use of an Imm Office where they have connections. So if your Pattaya agent got your Extension stamp at one of those 9 offices (Khon Kaen being a very popular one) you are 'technically' a resident of the province where that Imm Office is located.

Those who are living in those 9 Provinces and obtained their Visa or extension using an Agent because they did not have the required funds on a Thai bank-account, should probably consider doing a border-run to 'kill' their current Permission to stay (if they bought a Re-Entry Permit that option is unfortunately not possible). And then simply re-enter Visa-Exempt which will provide them with a 45-day Permission to stay, and then go through the legit 90-day Non Imm O Visa application process.

This is not about border immigration. It is a crackdown on the provincial Immigration Offices where foreigners apply for an initial Non Imm O Visa or an extension of it. Since such applications require to keep a considerable amount of funds on a Thai bank-account, there are many Agents that can help 'circumventing' that requirement. But of course although the Non Imm O Visa in your passport obtained via such an agent is legit, the method by which you got it is not. And although it has been some years ago, there have in the past been similar cases, where the farangs that had made use of that service to get their Visa or extension without the necessary funds on the Bank, were deported and access to Thailand prohibited for 5 to 10 years. Let's hope Big Joke is somewhat lenient to those that made use of such Agency services, and only brushes out the Immigration officers that got paid under the table by the Agents for overlooking non-compliance to the requirements.

Well, well, this was just posted today. When you got your Visa using an Agent to circumvent the Immigration requirements (e.g. the required funds on a Thai bank-account) in one of those 9 Provinces, you might be in for an unpleasant surprise...

I am not a native english speaker, so yes the word 'deport' is the right term. I only mentioned using an Agent to circumvent the required funds in bank requirement, as it is often represented on this Forum as a 'fully legit' option. It is NOT. But as I wrote, the risk of being deported when having made use of that financially attractive option is very small, but not non-existing. Let's keep it at that, and let everybody decide for themselves whether the reward is worth the small risk...

This is very interesting information. I always heard/read that you could only get an International Drivers Permit in your home-country. But if Thailand is your official country of residence, I guess that it is possible to apply for an IDP here (and surely if you have acquired Thai citizenship). = = = Normally the reason that you would want to apply for an IDP (using your home-country's drivers permit) is that in Thailand, when applying for a Thai Drivers Permit that you need either an IDP or a drivers permit in english language. Hence being from a non-english speaking country you would need such an IDP in order to apply for the Thai drivers permit. And if you do not have that, there is also the option of going through the 2 full-day training and pass the exam to get hold of such Thai drivers permit.

#1 - Yes, one example being some years ago in Roy-Et province, where several farangs were picked up and extradited because of an agent having used fraudulent evidence of them having the required 800K/400K on their bank-account. Note that also the complicit Immigration Officers were demoted, so it was most probably an internal strife, but with the extradited falangs as collateral damage. It's also worth mentioning that there are strong rumours that Big Joke will come back as head of Immigration, and considering his anti-corruption stance, it's not entirely excluded that he might launch a clean-up operation to set an example... #2 - Yes, I am well aware that you only need the +800K in the 2 months prior and 3 months after extension application, and that during the intermediate 7 months you can lower to +400K. But the large majority of those staying on a Non Imm O Visa-extension for reason of retirement, prefer keeping the +800K all year on their Thai bank-account, especially when they make use of a Fixed Deposit account.

If your financial situation does not allow to permanently keep +800.000 THB on a personal Thai bank-account, then there is indeed the 'agent solution'. Although the Non Imm O Visa stamp that they can get for you is legit, the method by which they get hold of it is not. Although the risk is very small, there have in the past been crack-downs on Immigration Officers and agencies involved in such hanky-panky, and with them the farangs that made use of such 'agency service' being extradited from Thailand with a 5 to 10 year entry-ban. Note that it is fully legit to make use of an agent for dealing with Immigration when you meet all the application requirements, it's only when the agent has to circumvent the requirements because you cannot meet them, that you are getting in 'illegal' territory.

I like a full english breakfast in the morning (bacon, eggs, beans, tomatoes, et al). But always having to explain what I wanted when abroad was a nuisance, so now I just 'point at my head' and that works fine. And for after-hours I also have a tattoo in the southern region of a luke-warm no-foam english-style beer...

You wrote: I'm coming back into Phuket on a 60 day tourist visa and will be turning 50 when I'm here. DrJack54 gave the correct advice, and also mentioned that 'you need to have 15 days + remaining on your permission of stay when you apply'. So if you are only getting 50 at the end of that 60-day Tourist Visa, you would need to apply at an Immigration Office for a 1 one-time 30-day extension first (costs 1.900,- THB like any other extension), such that you have +15 days left on the Permission to stay when you apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa.

You are correct. My mistake: it's a 30 Mbps unlimited download dTAC SIM-card. I bought it for approx 1.500 THB approx 8 months ago, but price for that card is now 1.640,- THB.

My 35 Mbps unlimited download dTac SIM which I bought on Lazada, did cost 1.500 THB for a full year. People can call me on that SIM, but I do not have credit to make phone-calls myself (of course I can use WhatsApp or Skype on Messenger on the Internet which that SIM used as mobile hotspot provides me).

Unless you use your mobile-phone Internet connection as USB Hotspot, so that you have Internet on your laptop/PC.

As I live in the sticks I use my mobile phone as USB Hotspot for having Internet access on my laptop, which works perfectly. And I bought a dTac SIM from Lazada. I opted for the 35 Mbps one with unlimited download, and it costs only 1.500 THB for a whole YEAR. Using speed-test I can see that it actually delivers that speed, and I can stream movies in full HD without any glitches. So what is the catch for that ridiculously cheap performance solution? 1. You can ONLY buy such 1-year SIMs on-line from Lazada, Shopee or other e-merchant, as they do not have them in the shops. Note that apart from dTac, also AIS has similar options so you can take one from a provider with high coverage in your area. 2. The main disadvantage is that you cannot prolonge the service. So after 1 year it simply stops, and you need to buy a new SIM-card which has a different mobile number. If you only use that SIM-card occasionally for telephone-calls, and the main purpose you use it for is Internet access, that's a small inconvenience for the low price/high performance of that SIM. Note that the SIM does allow you to receive phone-calls, but there is no credit for making phone-calls. However, you can buy credit for doing exactly that. On some of those cards you can buy a service-package for a small monthly amount, allowing you to call for free to mobile-users of same provider and using the credit for calling to others. 3. If it would be possible to keep the mobile phone number at the end of the 1-year period, such a SIM would be the ideal solution and everybody would make use of those. But if you have another phone (or available other slot in your mobile) and SIM for telephone calls, it's by far the best price/value solution available.

Yes, getting the 90-day Non Imm O Visa in Pnom Penh and once in Thailand applying for the extension using an agent is an option. Be aware, that when not taking the Agent option, and applying in person for the 1-year extension, that you then would have to provide evidence of +800K on a Thai bank-account being seasoned for at least TWO months on the date of your application for the extension.

QUESTION: When applying for the 1-year extension of a 90-day Non Imm O Visa acquired outside Thailand, would Immigration then still check for evidence that the required funds originated from abroad? They don't do this when extending your 90-day Non Imm O Visa if you applied for the original Visa in Thailand (as they then checked already that the funds originated from abroad).

Providing evidence that the required funds (400K - marriage / 800K - retirement) originated from abroad IS a requirement when you apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa in Thailand at the Imm Office of the province where you intend to reside. Obviously it is not required when you apply for the Non Imm O Visa at the Thai Embassy in your home-country, because then you simply have to provide evidence that you have the required funds on a bank-account. Note that it can be required to show that the funds are on a THAI bank-account when applying for the Non Imm O Visa in a neighboring country.

You write that 'you know that you can apply for a 90-day Non Imm O Visa in Thailand' which has to be done at the provincial Imm Office where you plan to reside. Taking that route is actually the EASIEST way to do it. You simply have to enter Thailand Visa Exempt (i.e. without a Visa) and Thai border immigration will provide you with a 45 day Permit to stay stamp in your passport. And then it is simply a matter of applying at your local Imm Office for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement. You need to be +50 years of age and would need proof at date of application of +800.000 THB on a Thai Bank-Account with evidence that the funds originated from abroad. And this has to be done when you still have at least 15 days left on the Permit to stay your received on entry. Success!

That 'body of knowledge' which he just seems to have discovered, was always there but deliberately ignored and even censored. This clown has been wrong from the very start on everything, and now that the larger public is slowly discovering how they have been conned, he is backtracking.

It happened Feb 3 - almost two weeks ago, but only after some local and alternative news-channels started reporting on this probably largest US environmental disaster ever, the mainstream media are now slowly and reluctantly 'breaking' the news. Key words when looking for news about it: East Palestine, Ohio Norfolk Southern (the derailed train owner) Vinyl chloride spill