billd766

I will need to do a 30 day visa run on or before the 26th of this month. I've only done visas outside Thailand at embassies before (took 2-4 days each) but due some time limitations, i am unable to do so within the coming two weeks, so this is the only option for me this time. I plan on going with one of those tour buses from Bangkok - but i really have no idea which ones are recommended and which not? If anyone could give some suggestions, that would be appreciated. Also, what border (somewhat civilized, if possible) do you recommend?

Note: Showing funds in Thailand or cash is not a problem for me at the border, i'm already aware and prepared for that.

Rainman

I have done a couple of quick tourist visa runs in the last 3 months to Poipet.

Both times I went with Jack's Golf tours from Sukhumvit Soi 12 at 0630.

I have no connection with them at all other than using the service which was reccommended by a friend.

The trip was a good one and the bus almost new (not a minibus). It cost me 2,000 each time and that included the visa fee, bus trip, free luch at one of the casinos etc. We stopped for a break once each way after an hour or so.

You give them your passport and sign the odd bit of paper and they do all the rest. The last time we just walked through as a group, had lunch and waited about an hour, walked back through the border, got on the bus and went back to Bangkok.

It may have changed in the last few days with the cash requirement but Jack's Golf can update you on that.

You can contact them at 0 2251 1946-7 or http://JackGolf.com

I wasn't so impressed by the lunch but it was free (sort of).

Hello ,

Billd766 says: 

I just came back from a visa run to Penang yesterday for a 3 month Non Imm O visa to restart my Thai wife Visa and I had no problems at all.

Do you know how is it to have a one year Non  Imm O visa multiple entry?

I am french 45 y. not married but with 2 thai children. Two years ago I get this visas only showing the  birthcertificate  of my two sons and the tabien ban of my girlfriend. without showing bank account or anything else.

thanks to help me , I have to go to Penang in a few weaks.

Jacques

Hi Jacot 22

My case is a little different than yours as I am married (in England) with my Thai wife and I have the certified translation etc to prove it. I also have a copy of my sons birth certificate.

I suggest that you get the Thai consulate in Penang information, see below and email them to see what they can do for you.

PENANG

Royal Thai Consulate-General

No. 1, Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman

10350 Penang

Tel. (60-4) 2268029, 2269484

Fax:(60-4) 2263121

E-mail : [email protected]

I spoke to them before I went and they told me what I needed to show and everything went off very well.

I hope that it works for you as well.

billd766

hello thai lovers

My name is erg and this is my first post on this page.

I am living in thai now 13 mounths, going to stamp every mounth.

I am "married" to an Akha girl, two years now, 25 years old, without a thai ID card, she has a blue card. Altough she is born in thai, and has proof of that.

Because of her blue card i can not register my marriage at a thai Ampheur, therefore i can not apply for a marriage document, i do have all the other requirements as a thai bankaccount, a tapiaanbaan, motobike on my name, house rent, telephone, drivinglicence, motobikelicence, all on my own name,a letter from my (holland) embassy wich says i can marry her, etc. etc. etc.

But in my case it is not posible to apply for a non O, hope somebody, knows something more about this, any tip is welcome, because i would love to have this one year stamp, or help her with her thai citicenship.

Erg

Hi Erg

I suspect that you have a major problem on your hands.

If she can get a Thai ID card then it would be possible for her to get a passport and you could get her back to your own country, assuming that she could get a visa (not so easy through the UK Embassy) and you could legally marry her there. Then you could apply at the Thai Embassy in that country for a Non Imm "O" visa and start to get a Thai wife visa.

However first she would need a Thai ID card and I don't think that she would be able to get one unless she could prove everything to the local authorities satisfaction.

That may be impossible though maybe if you could find the right persons with the right connections and a brown envelope full of $$$ that may help.

Otherwise you have a big problem.

Perhaps the Dutch Embassy could help in practical terms.

Maybe some other posters on the forum will know more than me and can make helpful suggestions.

I wish you the best of luck whichever way it turns out.

billd766

I dont understand very well the problem of some folks on the site...

If you are married with a Thai national ( spouse ) you just need to get 400.000 bahts to get a 1 year visa extension in Thailand. Obviously, you dont must work in the country...

They dont want to have poor peoples, they have enough with their poor Thais...

If you want to work in Asia, you must go to the Philippines. Overthere, when you are married with a citizen you can legally work in the country...

I understand what you say about needing 400,000 baht to get a 1 year visa extension, however you have to get a Non Imm "O" visa from outside Thailand before you can apply for the Thai Wife Visa.

Also the 400,000 baht is a combination of income and money in the bank.

Also as far as I can understand if you have a Thai Wife Visa you can also work in Thailand as long as you have a work permit.

I did check this out with a friend from the Immigration Dept but he does not work in Suan Plu but out at the airport.

As with a lot of things in Thailand it is sometimes a case of one official differing from another and both believing that they are correct in their own views.

Thanks - as per usual your info is to the point and quite useful.

You got this stuff down cold.

Phormio

A small piece of advice.

Go to the Immigration Dept at Suan Plu at some stage before you go out of the country and make sure you get a re-entry visa.

I forgot to get one before I went to the UK and blew my Thai wife visa out of the window.

Had to start all over again.

Ask the staff there if you need one just to be on the safe side.

True true, however, I got my visa the following day as well! Handed it in Wed morning and got it back Thurs 2pm - costed me 220MYR. Think I got a bargain here.

Mark

I think you did get a bargain but I arrived on the Wednesday afternoon and saw the agent around 3pm and got my passport back on Thursday afternoon. I assume the extra cash was for "overtime".

At the end of the day you pays your money and takes your choice.

There are a lot of "agents" about and I was happy with the service I got. It was my first time there and with the information that has come about since I think that I would still go back to the guy I went with this time as I was happy with the service I got.

I could probably have walked around and found someone else but I was there on a visa run and to relax for a couple of days.

The story may sell newspapers, but the experiences detailed in this forum do not suggest that it has credence..

Married to a Thai, but only got a Tourist Visa..............???

Perhaps you should also read the thoughts of Stephen Hawking, posted in another area of the forum, about the way rumour becomes truth.

Astral

If you read the post again carefully on line one I said that I went for a Non Imm "O" visa and taht is what I got.

I was refering to the 3rd paragraph of the original post.

Reports reaching Pattaya Today’s office suggest that the consulate general in Penang is having one of its periodic crackdowns on farang folk seeking a new Thai visa. One guy, who is married to a Thai and does voluntary work for a well known charity in Pattaya, ended up with a single entry tourist visa although he is used to a multiple entry non immigrant ‘B’ or ‘O’.

Astral

My apologies.

Billd766

billd766: I'm not sure if you mean "visa agent" (in Penang that is) when you mention visa agency. Anyway, there are so many of them so why just mention this one?

You can even have it before noon, you don't have to pay an agent to get it quick (the price for this is 60 ringit, I suppose the actual visa fee isn't included in that price). And it IS possible to catch the flight back to Bkk with Air Asia.

But, as I mention in the Trip to Penang thread, it's better to do it yourself. Even if you have to pay for the taxi. But, why not take the bus? It's not that difficult. Everyone around you are fluent in English and will gladly help you. After the bus trip it's a pleasant walk in a residential neighbourhood. (Ok, I just mentioned this for the guys not willing to pay for the taxi.)

For more information regarding visa trips to Penang, see this splendid thread:

Trip to Penang

Regarding the Bartender's reply, I suppose you mean "Pattaya Today", because that's what you wrote in the first place. Emailing Pattaya Mail won't do any good.

Regards,

Mike

Micke

Thank you for the information that perhaps I could have used, but basically I am a bit lazy and I spent a lot of my time there just walking around and sightseeing etc.

The only reason I used the agent That I did was that I met a guy on the flight down and later in a bar having a beer and he took me there.

I have had 2 emails since asking for the information which I replied to and I hope that together with your and my information other people may have an easier time.

Thanks a lot.

I see from Bartender 100 that it is possible to obtain a triple entry tourist visa but as I wasn't looking for one I had no concrete information about them.

Billd766

The story may sell newspapers, but the experiences detailed in this forum do not suggest that it has credence..

Married to a Thai, but only got a Tourist Visa..............???

Perhaps you should also read the thoughts of Stephen Hawking, posted in another area of the forum, about the way rumour becomes truth.

Astral

If you read the post again carefully on line one I said that I went for a Non Imm "O" visa and taht is what I got.

I also said that I had been told about the tousist visa but as I did not go for one I have no experience and cannot say if it is correct or not.

However if you feel that I am not correct in what I said you could always try it for yourself or speak to the Thai Embassy there.

Regards

Billd766

I just came back from a visa run to Penang yesterday for a 3 month Non Imm O visa to restart my Thai wife Visa and I had no problems at all.

Can the moderator of this thread tell me if I am allowed to mention the agency which helped me, together with phone numbers, email and photo etc.

I have no connection with them at all other than arriving in Penang on Wednesday and getting my visa done.

The agent I went to took my passport in the afternoon rather than the Thursday morning and returned it to me on Thursday afternoon with the completed visa in 2 days rather than 3 as I went on Air Asia which gets in too late for the first day and leaves too early on the second day.

My visa cost me 200 MYR and I paid another 90 MYR for the service. If I had done it myself it would have taken the correct amount of time and I would have had to take a taxi on a return journey for 2 days and have had to do all the work myself.

There are just over 100 Baht for 10 MYR so it is a reasonable rate.

I stayed in a good hotel at 98 MYR inc breakfast.

If I allowed to post this information I will do so but if not and anybody needs it just PM me and I will give it all for free as it were.

Also this agent can get 3 month tourist visas as well I am told.

I was 60 3 months ago.

Now I am on the rundown of my life with about 25 years to go if I am lucky.

I was offered a contract in Iraq at the beginning of January for around $US 100,000 a year and I didn't take it. Last month I was offered a job again and I was told to name a price (but not a silly one), it included accommodation and flights etc. I thought seriously about that until I was told about another guy who works through the same agency. He was supplied with armed guards, driver and vehicle etc, hotels and flights supplied. He was being driven to work when a roadside bomb took out the vehicle and everybody with it. He earned a lot of money but left behind a girlfriend and a 2 week old baby he never saw. The death benefits for his family, g/f, baby etc. USD$ 0.

The worst thing to happen to you there would not be to die but to become a paraplegic or a quadraplegic and not be able to do anything and then have to be looked after for 20 or 30 years.

Is it worth it to me?

Not a chance, but if you want it enough, it will be your choice and your life on the line.

If you go then may all the gods be with you as you may well need them.

Zoning. Now here is a concept no Thai can comprehend. I live in a residential mooban. Down the street are !) Bottled water factory 2) Squid factory &3) Bakery. My Soi - 101/1 is covered in clay balls which no one gives a flying ###### about. Let them breathe that crap. They deserve it. Reminds me of the song "Paradise" by The Eagles.

Dot com

I live in a residential Soi off Sukhumvit 93 which is a dead end soi.

Just opposite my (rented) house someone is building a 5 storey 80 room apartment block. Nowhere else along Sukhumvit 93 that I can think of apart from 93 Building is there any thing higher than 3 storey shop houses. There will be parking for about 10 cars, The water pressure is so low now that I have to use a water pump and it only took me 4 months to get a phone line. The only good thing about living here is that the trash man calls 3 times a week and even they have to back up the Soi to get to the end, and they cannot always do that if there are badly parked cars.

Fortunately for me I am moving anyway to a rented house about 5 km away off Udom Suk but I will miss the local friends I have made here.

At the weekends I go up country where my wife has a house and apart from the next door neighbour the nearest other neighbour is 1/2 a kilometre away. She has a place which backs onto the forest near Mae Won national park where most of the pollution in the air is coming from the charcoal fires that people cook on.

I went to Poipet on Thursday for my first trip on Jacks bus and we were not stopped or checked anywhere.

There were no problems (apart from getting up early) and the bus and staff were very good.

I hope that I do not have to use it again but if I have to I would not hesitate.

Hi Lopburi3

Thanks for the info.

I will try that in the next week or two.

My apologies as this was originally posted elsewhere in the forum in the wrong place.

Is it possible to get a 90 day Non-Imm "O" visa from Penang.

I screwed up my Thai wife visa by forgetting to go to Suan Plu and get a re-entry permit before I went to the UK a month ago.

When I came back through Don Muang last month the would only give me 30 days and I went to Suan Plu on Tuesday and they (gently) that I had to start again.

I went to Poipet today to get another 30 days to give me time to start again.

Which would be the best (and nearest) country to go to?

I am 60 and married to a Thai lady but no children.

I had the Thai wife visa but screwed it up (see above). i ahd not been out of the country for over 18 months and forgot about the re-entry visa before you go.

can anybody help on this?

Is it possible to get a 90 day Non-Imm "O" visa from Penang.

I screwed up my Thai wife visa by forgetting to go to Suan Plu and get a re-entry permit before I went to the UK a month ago.

When I came back through Don Muang last month the would only give me 30 days and I went to Suan Plu on Tuesday and they (gently) that i had to start again.

I went to Poipet today to get another 30 days to give me time to start again.

Which would be the best (and nearest) country to go to?

Pepsi

I bought my pick up a couple of years ago on finance and the original offer was 25% down and the rest over 2 to 5 years.

Eventually i had to put down 50% and i chose to pay over 2 years.

I was also asked for my work permit which i did not have at the time (it came a little later).

After I paid it off I changed the registration to my wifes name and was again asked about a work permit.

By then my job was finished and I was on a Thai Wife visa and I told the car registration people that. The answer was mai pen rai and they completed the paperwork no problem.

The finance company wanted 1300 baht to register the car in my name and 6200 baht to change it to my wifes name (at the same time).

I had to take the car to the Land Registration authority (I think) on Sukhumvit road near Sukhumvit 62. Took about 10 minutes and the paperwork was ready in 4 days.

I had no real problems.

What has happened to the grandfathering option for those people who already have a visa, in my case a Thai Wife support visa?

I went down to Suan Plu last week after a change of passport to get my visa transferred.

No problem there but I asked an immigration officer ( a captain I think ) and she said next year it would be 400,000 or 40,000 baht income per month.

Can anybody clarify this?

I had to provide photos etc when I first applied and I had to take my wife for the initial application. I was glad that I did because she talked with a friendly lady at Suan Pluand we had no problems. We also had a visit as well.

When I renewed this year my wife came for the first interview only and no other problems after that.

I will be going again tomorrow as I had to get another passport and the same lady at Suan Plu said that my current visa would be extended to complete the full year instead of the 8 months I was given. She also told me that my wife does not need to come this time.

I have had no problems (touch wood) and find that all the people are helpful and friendly at Suan Plu.

I had the whole rigmarole nearly 2 years ago at Sukhumvit 62 to get my licence, but I renewed it last year easily.

I went with my wife yesterday and was told that I was 2 months early (I cant read Thai and forgot to ask the wife) and the lady said come back at the right time and you then get a 5 year licence.

The cost was about 120 Baht I think.

If yoy go with a friend or wife etc whoo can speak Thai and English it is easy there, provided you live at that end of the city.

The first time I went to Mor Chit and they sent my to Sukhumvit near 62 as I live at Sukhumvit 93.

Moral always ask first.

I have followed this thread with interest as my wife has about 13 to 15 rai in the North / Central region about 50 km from Kamphaeng Phet and she is slowly planting it for farming. This is the first year and we got caught by the lack of rain and no reliable water storage system. That will change later as we will build a decent storage tank and also drill a well.

We actually had no water from the main supply from the road for nearly 2 months and had to rely on what we could store and what we could obtain from the stream and could buy.

She is not in this for money as I have a pension and we can survive on that.

We have a couple of local people working for us on low wages but they stay in a house we built for them and have only to buy some of the food they need as we give them rice etc.

We are not rich or "showing off" our wealth and we only have a pick up truck that is 2 years old and my wifes 10 year old Nissan Sunny.

If we need a tractor then we rent from the locals and a good friend helps out when we need it and we return the favour when they ask.

If there are any "farang farmers" in the area I would like to know of their experiences.

i have seen about farangs in the local village in the past couple of months so at least I know that I am not the only one.

I live in Bangkok during the week and go home at the weekends, and yes it is nice to smell the fresh air and hear the local noises from up to a km away.

The farm is on a tarmac road not far from Mae Wong national park and we are surrounded by hills.

Unfortunately the telephone line stops about 4 km away so we have to use mobiles to keep in contact and that is not so good when it rains.

Other than that I love it up there as it is peaceful, clean and quiet.

Even the locals in the village seem to know me now.

I also noticed that just about everybody in Thailand has a cell phone. It seems to me that most of the people really don 't need them, it's probably a status symbol for them. I guess you could call that materialistic.

No that is called PRACTICAL if you are on the move a lot.

Also installing a phone at home was / is not very easy.

Now looking at the models that some people have may verge on materialistic:-)) but .........

My wife is Thai and I have known her for 11 years and we have been married for the last 4 years.

She lives up country and needs a mobile phone as we have been on the waiting list for a land line for over a year.

Also she does her best to control my urges to spend what i have in my pocket just in case money goes out of fashion.

I love her dearly and marrying her was probably the best decision that I ever made.

I don't know about the visibility but a good site for the weather can be found at: -

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/48380.html

I used a company called Hong Kong Transpack to ship my goods and chattels from the UK to BKK and shared the container with a friend.

HK Transpack did all the paperwork with 2 separate companies in the UK, cleared everything at Customs and were very reasonably priced.

I paid only once at this end.

I assume that that it will work the same the other way.

The contact I used was Kerry Matisin and he is on 0 2661 4368.

I hope that this may help you.