Red Phoenix

OP - in your case you have 3 options: #1 - Applying for the e Non Imm O Visa for reason of dependant child. The UK Thai Embassy can provide you with either the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for dependant child or the 1-year MultipleEntry Non Imm O Visa for dependant child. The requirements are different so you can opt for the Visa that best meets your needs. Note that the 1-year ME Non Imm O Visa requires you to exit Thaland after 90 days or alternatively apply for a 60-day extension at your local Imm Office for visting your dependant child (but after those 150 days you need to exit Thalland by doing a border-hop and obviously you can immediately return and repeat the above). #2 - Entering Thailand Visa Exempt (without Visa) or on a 60-day Tourist Visa, and at the end of the Permit to stay for either entry, head to the Savannakhet Consultate (across the Mekhong near Mukdahan) and apply there for a 90-day Non Imm O Visa for dependant child. It's a quick process with minimal bureaucracy and you will get the Visa day after application. #3 - Entering Thailand Visa Exempt (without Visa) or on a 60-day Tourist Visa, and at the end of the Permit to stay for either entry when still having at least 15 days left on your Permit to stay, apply at your local Imm Office for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for dependant child. Re the financial requirements > that application only requires you ,to provide evidence of 400K on a personal Thai bank-account at the moment of application, after which you are free to use the funds as you please (no seasoning requirements for a dependant Thai child application). And then at the end of those 90 days apply for a 1-year extension based on that Non Imm O dependant child Visa. Funds-wise once again evidence of 400K on your personal thai bank-account at moment of application and once again free to use those funds afterwards as you please without any seasoning requirements. >> Note that you should enquire at your local Imm Office for their requirements for a 90-day Non Imm O Visa for dependant Thai child and subsequent 1-year extension of such Visa, as the LOCAL requirements might be different than the general ones which I have outlined higher. Cheers and succes!

When having moved from BKK to HuaHin, you are expected to notify the local Imm Office within 24 hours of your change of address by providing them with a TM-30 (and the underlying documents). Most offices are not strict about the 'within 24 hours' but try to do it within the first week of your move. When you do this in person, that would also be the ideal moment to ask for a document with the requirements for a 1-year extension based on your Non Imm O Visa (marriage) as applicable at the HuaHin Imm office.

Thanks. That sounds indeed like a very plausible reason why your wife has to accompany you when you are applying for the 1-year extension of stay for a different reason than marriage. But if they really wanted to have proof that you did not breach the terms under which the marriage extension was provided, why don't they ask then for a recent Khor Ror 2 confirmation letter of the marriage, that any Amphur can deliver on the spot?

@24Catty > I did PM you a comprehensive Guideline document on how stay long-term in Thailand when +50 years of age, outlining both the process (and Health-Insurance related caveats) to apply for the 1-year Non Imm O-A Visa in your home-country, as well as the process to apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa (retirement). The document also addresses how to switch from the Non Imm O-A to the Non Imm O.

That's correct and to be taken into account when departing for Thailand VisaExempt. So if you have or plan to buy a return fight after the 30 days for which you will be stamped in on arrival, the airline at depature might and probably will ask for an outbound-flight ticket on a date prior to your 30 day Permit to stay. There are several options to meet that requirement: - Buy a cheap throw-away one-way flight from Bangkok to a neighboring country (e.g. one-way tickets BKK to HoChiMinh city only cost approx 2.000 THB) - Buy an on-line onward-flight reservation ticket (e.g. onwardticket.com). These are genuine and fully legit reservation tickets and cost approx 12-15 US $, the companies providing that service automatically cancel them 2-3 days after ordering the ticket, and the ticket is delivered on the spot (so you need to do this close to your departure date, e.g. night before departure). - Book a flexible return-ticket and after arrival in Thailand change the return date from prior to the 30-days to the actual date you want to return.

I never used an Agent and am not living in the Bangkok area, so I cannot speak from experience, but hopefully AN-members reading this thread might provide the contact-details of bona-fide Visa Agents serving customers dealing with the Samut Prakan Imm office.

I agree that your attitude often turns out to be a 'self-fulfilling prophecy' for what you encounter. But in this case John had already a history of unpleasant exchanges with that Imm Office lady and I can fully understand his anger and frustration with the 'service' they provide.

I did a quick Google search, and this Samut Prakan based Visa Agent turned up. https://thaivisacentre.com/ and also on Facebook > https://web.facebook.com/thaivisacentre/?_rdc=1&_rdr = = =

It's BS though, right? The reason Imm Offices often require that your wife is accompagning you when changing your Visa for reason of marriage to reason of retirement, is to ensure that your wife is aware of the change (as it might be the early forbode of you wanting to divorce her). Obviously one could always exit Thailand without a Re-Entry Permit, which would void the current Permit to stay, and then apply again for the reason of your choice.

The fine for not having done the 90-day report within due date (including the 6-day grace period when doing it in person), is 2.000,- THB. And that is irrespective of how long you are over the due date (which can range from 1 day to almost a year). There are also no further consequences when having paid the fine. So no need to make a trip to the Imm Office when you are already over due, just be prepared to pay the fine when you have to visit your Imm Office for a service you need (in your case - when picking up the Visa stamp for your 1-year marriage extension). Note: It's well possible that your Imm Office did your 90-day report automatically when you applied for the 1-year extension, but in that case they would normally have stapled the Notification form with next due date in your passport.

It looks like the experiences of long-term stayers with incompetent, lazy and corrupt Imm Officers are on the rise. In the last 2-3 weeks I came across 8 of such stories (3 from close friends so not even posted on the Forum), and several even more outrageous than John's experience. Lucky for John he now has his 1-year extension for reason of retirement. TIP: Next year that evil witch at the Samut Prakarn office will most probably try to deny your 1-year extension again, as it looks like it has become a personal feud against you. Two options for you: @1 - Don't wait till final days to apply for the extension, but do it 1-2 weeks before Permit to stay expiry. And in case it goes sideways, you could then exit Thailand which will 'kill' your current Permit to stay (make sure that you did NOT buy a Re-Entry Permit as that will complicate things). And apply at the Thai Consulate in Savannakhet, Laos (just across the Mekong river from Mukdahan) for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement. When you have an official pension statement (proof of pension for the equivalent of +65.000 THB per month), you can even apply for the 1-year MultipleEntry Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement. That Visa will allow you to NEVER have to visit that Office from Hell again, while still staying at your address in that province and no 90-day reports to be made. The drawback being that you would have to exit Thailand every 3 months, to apply for a new 90-day Non Imm O Visa in Savannakhet, or by doing a simple border-run at any crossing when you have a 1-year MultipleEntry Non Imm O Visa. Inconvenient as those 90-day exits are, that still looks a lot better than the stress of dealing with that Office from hell. #2 - An even easier alternative is making use of a Visa Agent. And since you meet the financial requirements, it would be a fully legal 'hand-holding' service the Agent would provide. Just provide all the requirement documents to the Agent (he will check whether they are correct and compete), and he will then do the application on your behalf. Possibly you won't even have to be there when he does the application.

Worst advice ever. Not only would he have to officially move his address to do that, but the 'dragon ladies' at the Jomtien and SriRacha Imm offices are probably even worse than this SamutPrakarn Immigration witch.

Brown,. white, red and purple

The Hotel that notifies the Imm Office that you are staying there, will do this by issuing a TM-30 on-line. And so they will make a print-out of the notification when a hotel-guest requests this (and it is required by the Imm Office when applying for the 30-day extension as proof of the address where you are staying).

1) Plan 1: 2 Months + 1 Month > Yes, applying for a 60-day Tourist Visa and extending for 30-days at at local Thai Imm Office is probably the easiest option to stay 90 days in Thailand without having to do a border-run. 2) Plan 2: Get 3 Months in 1 Stretch? You could also apply for a 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement (when over 50 years of age). You would have to balance the convenience of Plan 1 vs Plan 2 based on the requirements for the 60-day Tourist Visa vs the 90-day Non Imm O Visa. Note that applying for the 30-day extension can only be done for the Tourist Visa and not for the Non Imm O Visa, and such 30-day extension application is a quick and easy process which can be done at any Thai Imm Office (1.900,- THB and delivered on the spot). 3) Working in TH for EU customers: No problem doing on-line work for Non-Thai customers during those 90 days, but do keep low-profile. 4) Departure Ticket: Yes, unless the requirements to apply for a Tourist Visa explicitly require a return-flight, your plan to provide a cheap 'throw away' outward bound ticket on day 58 would be fully OK, when an outward bound flight is required. And you can indeed book the one-way return flight when in Thailand. But do check beforehand whether it would not be cheaper to buy the return-flight rather than buying 2 single one-way flights. You would also need to make a Hotel-booking for the first 1-2 days on arrival in Thailand. By using a site like booking.com you can search for Hotels that allow free cancellation up till day of arrival, when you have alternative plans for lodging.

As everybody already confirmed, when exiting Thailand without a Re-Entry Permit the Permit to stay of your Non Imm O Visa based 1-year extension will be automatically voided. But if you did buy a Re-Entry Permit that complicates things. So do check in your passport whether you have a Re-Entry Permit stamp (it will have same expiry date as your current Permit to stay). In that case there are 2 options: 1 - Do not return to Thailand before expiry of that Re-Entry Permit 2 - If that's not what you plan, try to have that Re-Entry Permit cancelled. You can try to get it cancelled at your local Imm Office, or ask a Visa Agent to do it for you. Alternatively when returning to Thailand you can request the border-immigration officer to ignore the Re-Entry Permit and stamp you in VisaExempt (but not sure whether he/she would do so).

Yes, indeed, the papers I have are all for my son. Why do you think that this will improve anything? You are under 50 years of age and not married to a Thai national. For sure entering Thailand VisaExempt or on a Tourist Visa would be no problem at all (unless you have a recent heavy history of staying long in the country on VEs or TVs). But to answer your question > If you want to stay long-term in Thailand, having a Thai dependant son will be of help. As it will allow you to apply for a 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of dependant Thai child. Some of the confusion in this thread is that the requirements for such application are different depending on where you apply (as you already found out). Here are the possibilities: 1- Applying for the eVisa in your home-country 2- Applying in Thailand at the Imm Office of the province where you are residing 3- Applying at a Thai Embassy/Consulate in a neighboring country For 1 and 2 it seems that the requirement of a signed front/back Thai ID-card, will make it difficult for you to take that route. But 3 might be an option - as confirmed by another poster you can get the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of dependant Thai child at the Savannakhet consulate. You would need the birth-certificate of your son and a copy of the house-book with his name on it (the latter might therefore also block that road). >> A possible scenario for you might be the following: Enter Thailand VisaExempt (easiest way and provides you with a 30-day permission to stay on entry), and then stay at or visit your son at his grand-parents. You can extend that stay easily to 6 months (by applying for a 30-day extension, and doing 2 border-runs allowing you to repeat that). During those 6 months you would probably have gained the trust of his grand-parents, and they might then provide you with a copy of the required documents (e.g. the house-book should be an easy one). And that would allow you then to apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of Thai dependant child at the Savannakhet consulate. Note that it's not clear whether the local Imm Office would be willing to provide a 1-year permission to stay based on that 90-day Non Imm O Visa (as you might not have the required documents for such in-country extension), but you could of course once again exit Thailand and apply for a new 90-day Non Imm O Visa at the Savannakhet consulate.

You wrote that you are under 50 years of age, so your only Non Imm O options are for reason of marriage or for reason of dependant children. With your official Marriage certificate you could apply for the Single 90-day or Multiple Entry 1-year Non Imm O Visa at the Savannakhet consulate (not sure whether they also want a recent 'still married' statement). With an official statement of your Thai dependant child you could also apply there for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa (but not for the Multiple Entry). But obviously the 1-year ME Non Imm O Visa (marriage) is preferable. In Thailand you would not be able to apply for the 90-day Non Imm O (marriage) without co-operation of your wife. But you might be able to do so for reason of dependant children. In both cases - when appling in Thailand - you also need to meet the financial requirements, while there are no financial requirements to be proven when applying in Savannakhet. NOTE: Applying in Savannekhet does not require an appointment, while that is required at the Vientianne Thai Embassy. The requirements to be met can be also slightly different in Savannakhet and Vientianne. So best do a search on the Forum on recent threads of members sharing their experience..

When applying in Thailand at an Imm Office for a 90-day Non Imm O for reason of marriage or dependant children, your wife or child has to be with you at moment of application (same for 60-day extensions). There is no need to prove any financials or be accompanied by wife/child when applying for the SingleEntry 90-day or 1-yearMultipleEntry Non Imm O Visa at the Savannakhet Consulate, but obviously you need the documents that provide evidence of your relationship when applying there.

https://aseannow.com/topic/1295738-report-non-o-family-member-visa-at-savannakhet/ In this recent report the OP, wanted to apply at the Savannakhet Consultate for the 1-year MultipleEntry Non Imm O Visa for reason of Thai dependant children . He wrote: I didn't required a copy of my Girlfriend's passport because I'm applying for a Non O because of my Son. Then after handing 5,000 Baht... I was told Multi-Entry Non O Visas can't be done for Family Members... only Married or Retirement. So he gave me 3,000 baht back. I'm not sure of the reason for this... it was a long line, people are waiting... I didn't care to ask... so Single Entry Non O Visa it is. So - although the 1 year ME - is not an option, it seems that you could get there a 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of dependant children (which is of course better than a Tourist Visa or Visa Exempt entries).

Emirates are located at the very last row of check-in counters. So when being checked in, your closest International Entry is Zone 1 - DO NOT take that one. Walk back and take Zone 2, as it is there that the Re-Entry Permit Immigration service is located.

The main benefits are: - that you would be able to free the +800K which you now need to keep semi-permanently on your personal Thai bank-account; - that you would NEVER have to visit your local Imm Office again (which for those that resort under a rogue Imm Office would be a Big Bonus).

A quest for truth, essentially boils down to 'Know Thyself'. In Ancient Greece, the philosopher Socrates famously declared that the unexamined life was not worth living. Asked to sum up what all philosophical commandments could be reduced to, he replied: ‘Know yourself.’ Sri Mooji beautifully explains what this self-awareness means and how it can be achieved.

The responses of @BritTim and @DrJack54 seem to indicate that applying for the 1-year ME Non Imm O Visa (retirement) at the Savannakhet consulate, only requires your passport (showing you are +50 years old) and proof of +800.000 THB or its equivalent on a Bank-account (not necessarily a Thai one). I thought that you ALSO needed proof of being retired and receiving pension, e.g. by showing a copy of your official Pension statement with pension equivalent to +65.000 THB on month basis. Has that 'pension' requirement - which definitely was applicable some years ago - been abandoned by the Savannakhet consulate? If so that would be great news as it would mean that EVERYBODY that currently has a Non Imm O (retirement) Visa or extension of such Visa, could apply for the 1-year ME Non Imm O (retirement) Visa at the Savannakhet consulate, with no need to keep the +800K semi-permanently on their Thai bank-account, no need to ever visit the local Imm Office anymore and no need for 90-day reports anymore.

In your case applying in UK for a 1-year Non Imm O-A Visa for yourself and your wife, might indeed be the best option. This because in your case: - You already have a Non Imm O-A compliant Health-Insurance policy - that you are happy with and covers your needs; - You plan to visit UK every 1-2 years, and would apply for a NEW Non Imm O-A Visa at that occasion. Under those circumstances the Non Imm O-A Visa is still an attractive option. However, be aware that: - The coverage requirements for a Non Imm O-A Health-Insurance policy have been raised to 3 Million THB, and policies meeting that requirement are not cheap (so I am doubtful that the interest of the 800K you won't need to park on a Thai personal bank-account, will actually cover for that); - That the expiry date of your Health-Insurance policy, will determine the Permit to stay you will be provided when entering Thailand (so you need to ensure that your H-I Insurance policy date is aligned with the 1-year period that the Non Imm O-A Visa will provide you).