Jump to content

QuantumQuandry

Member
  • Posts

    352
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by QuantumQuandry

  1. I understand that it turned out to be a complication, due to the circumstances. As is, potentially, getting my wife an education visa in the first place (more frowned on now than when I actually got one for her, I think). On the other hand, I was new to Thailand, didn't have a bank account set up and if I had tried to figure it out myself, with the short time I had, I may not have ended up being here for the last wonderful year in the first place. So...it is what it is. Just have to do the best I can with the options I have ???? My plan was to do the next renewal myself which is why I have had income going in, via Wise, for the last 6 months. On the upside, this time around I have gotten lots of great info. Thank you, and the others who posted here, for that. I understand the process a lot better, now. Which seems ironic, to me, as it's the one that seems the most legitimate out of all my options lol Like it's the only one that a visa agent can't really help me with and requires the most work (on the proof of marriage side). The bad news is the agent for my retirement extension can't (or won't) do anything with it. They want me to leave, come back and do the 6 months ED thing. Which seems to be the standard, and proper, way to do it. It does run a small risk of being rejected re-entry, though, from what I gather. Though the agent may be able to mitigate that issue, as well, from what I understand. I talked to the school where she is at (different than my agent) and they said they don't have anything to do with converting, they just do the ED visa (which I suspected because they are just a school, not a visa agent). Went to immigration today and immigration said that normally they only allow 1 or 2 extensions for conversion to dependent/follow visa (she has 3, making it one year total, almost) but they might be able to work with us as a special case. So we have to go back after getting some paperwork together and see how that goes.
  2. To clarify, it was the embassy in Penang that said 400k to demonstrate my financial support for my wife's dependent visa. But they did not provide any details on the income alternative. I have only been making deposits since April, sadly.
  3. Ok. It occurred to me that the agent might just be trying to get me to sign up for one of their expensive ED visas ???? Guess they were giving reliable information after all. Thank you. This is a clear answer with the sources to back it up. Fantastic. Part of my confusion was with the immigration website the second document came from mentioned having residency and I wasn't clear whether my one year retirement extension qualified as "A PERSON WHO HAVING RESIDENCY IN THAILAND (NON-O)". I am clear now. Thank you. That actually is my situation. I am in the process of doing the monthly income so that I don't have to do the agent for my next renewal but as I was new to living in Thailand with no bank account, I used an agent for the funding, initially. I only have about 6 months of bank records to show the income aspect, though. I wasn't clear what financial requirements they would require as proof, if it was the exact same as the retirement visa or not. I emailed them and they said: "You can provide a bank statement (last 6 months in Thailand) with recommended balance of 400,000 baht.". However, they did not mention the option for the monthly income alternative. It's a good idea but I likely don't have enough time left on her visa to do so. The 'getting married' part of this process took a lot longer than expected (but that's another story). I will ask the, just in case, though. Thank you for trying to think of options, outside of just telling me "no, can't be done". Some really great answers on the forum, today.
  4. So I was thinking about this some more and doing more research... Is there any reason we can't go to another country and get her a tourist visa or even just come back in on a visa exemption and then apply for a dependent visa inside the country? This if for a girl from the Philippines, married to an American. At least one legal website said you could do that with the tourist visa but they didn't mention the visa exemption.
  5. You are *probably* right. There is one possible reason you are wrong, though. And that is..."because Thailand". ????
  6. Lot of foreigners in Thailand have retirement extensions for which they are required to put money into Thai banks.
  7. A lot of people are saying you can't be taxed in Thailand if you paid taxes back home and there is a tax treaty. Some thoughts on that: 1. Thailand doesn't know if you paid tax on the money, they only know you are transferring money into a Thai bank account. You might be able to prove that you paid taxes in your home country but the onus could now be on you. 2. Not all retirement money is taxed in home countries. Disability or tax-exempt bonds, for example. Other money is taxed but not in a normal manner (Roth IRAs, for example). Will Thailand be up on the tax rules of other countries? Will they even try to honor them? Can't see that ending well. 3. Getting knickers in a twist...yeah, it probably won't happen. But if it does, it has a massive impact. It's smart to at least be aware of low probability, high impact events. Not saying you should freak out about them but worth being aware of them before tax time cometh.
  8. Whether it affects me directly or not, the more 'new laws' that affect retirees they came out with, the less I want to invest (or even keep) any money in Thailand, at all. Even if this one doesn't affect me...or I can live with the new retiree rules being proposed...who knows what they will come up with next.
  9. The problem with guys that have a job, a car and money is that they usually want to actually...like...talk about...their job, their car and their money. Give me a loser with an interesting life story, any day.
  10. I used to think that, when I had never been with a bargirl. Then I started barfining bargirls (in the Philippines), just for the sex and the partying and fun. And I probably still thought that, to some degree, though I was starting to see the girls as real people, not just service providers, *sometimes* with real wants and needs beyond money. And then, as I got to know them better and started to treat them like friends or dates, some of them started to come over when they weren't working, for free. Now some of those girls would end up asking for money later, in terms of loans (which weren't loans). Some of them had lots of supporters and would never ask for money. And I also dated girls from outside the P4P scene. College girls, cashiers, girls I met online. And some of those girls would eventually end up asking for money, for books, for exams, for family emergencies, what have you. So if some of the prostitutes hang out with me for free...and some of the non-prostitutes sometimes want money... I have to think...not only is there a grey area...but maybe it's even bigger than people think.
  11. Hmm, let me make sure I understand your meaning. What I got, originally, as I understand it, was a 3 month non-O visa that I then extended for another 12 months, for purposes of retirement. I think the confusion comes because, for me, it's all kind of the same non-O Visa. But maybe that's not how they think about it. So you are saying I should be fine now, because I am on the one year extension? And that if I was still in the first 3 months of my non-O visa, before extending it, that would likely be a problem? If so, that might clear up why some embassies are reported to not give non-O on non-O but others have not reported the issue.
  12. Sounds like a reasonable plan. Do you have reason to suggest Vientiane over Penang? Had someone recently tell me that Vientiane will only issue non-O dependent for non-OA visas whereas Penang might do it for non-O visas. No idea if that's true or how up to date the info is.
  13. Very interesting. This applies even if the entry was a visa exemption, converted into a non-ED?
  14. Another interesting option has come to light. An agent has offered that if we go out of the country and come back on a standard visa exemption, they can do a 6 month education visa and then convert that to a dependent non-O without having to leave again. It is one of the most reputable agents in the area but I have never heard of that option. Would prefer to do it myself but might be left without an option if the embassy demands a year's worth of Thai bank account statements when I only have 7-8. Agent swears that after the ED visa ends and it's converted to a non-O, it's entirely legit after that. Anyone heard of such a thing?
  15. Correct. Also obtained a translator and witness and visited the Amphoe to verify what they require. Let's not focus on that part, though ???? I only mention it in case there's any restriction on getting her visa if you are married too recently. Has to be Thai bank records, similar to your non-O, and not a western bank account, is that right? If so, that's going to pose a problem for me. Was hoping one of the embassies wouldn't require anything too extensive. Do you recall if you had a non-o or non-oa visa that she was riding on? Have been hearing some talk that some embassies don't give a dependent visa for non-O and only non-OA.
  16. My non-O was issued in Thailand. But as I understand it, we have to leave the country to get her non-O dependent. We will be married in Thailand in a couple days.
  17. I am an American, married to a Filipina. I have a retirement visa (non-O, retirement extension). She has an ED visa that is running out at the end of the month. My understanding is that we have to leave and get her a non-O dependent visa, based on my retirement visa (I am over 50, she is not). However, I am having a hard time figuring out what country to apply for the visa in as each countries Thai embassy website has different information that doesn't entirely make sense. In Penang, the dependent visa application mentions Malaysian employment. In Vientiane, they mention the dependent visa is for dependents of people working or studying in Thailand (I am retired, not working or studying). So... 1. Does anyone know of an embassy where I can achieve a dependent visa for my wife, based on my retirement visa (not working anywhere)? 2. Embassies mention vague things like "proof of funds" but don't get into details. Does anyone have any experiences with this? I don't have a year's worth of Thai bank statements, maybe like 7-8 months worth. I used an agent for the initial 800k deposit but was planning to switch over to the monthly requirement for my next extension. Thanks, in advance.
×
×
  • Create New...