OJAS

The following link sets out the detailed official requirements for seeking a non-O visa conversion for marriage: https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/6.FOR-PROVIDING-SUPPORT-TO-OR-BEING-A-DEPENDANT-OF-A-THAI-CITIZEN-SPOUSE-VISA-NON-O.pdf

Savannakhet appear to be alone among Thai embassies and consulates worldwide in issuing MENO's for marriage. Furthermore, they were, until recently, prepared to issue such MENO's without requiring any proof of funds (latest reports on here indicate that they now require evidence of at least 400k deposited in a Thai bank account).

I can only think that the OP obtains multi-entry non-O visas for marriage at Savannakhet and extends each 90-day permission to stay granted within the lifetime of a particular visa by 60 days for the purposes of visiting his wife.

Certainly not difficult when compared to the passport renewal minefield we Brits here in LOS are required to pick our way through every now and then - and for which the use of an agent is IMHO thoroughly justified!

It will certainly be possible for him to be admitted back into his home country on the basis of an expired passport. But whether his chosen airline will allow him to fly there on 1 of their flights in the absence of suitable alternative ID in the form of an emergency travel document could, I think, be another matter altogether.

Only if he doesn't have 20,000 THB on his person in crisp 1,000 THB notes to hand over to them at Departures. He would be at considerably greater risk of detention if he were stopped at a police check-point en route from Surin to BKK, I think.

Or maybe just for those lucky retirees seeking retirement extensions at Roi-Et whose embassies still provide a monthly income confirmation service as an alternative to 800k in the bank? But a bit strange that Roi-Et seem more interested in where transfers end up in Thailand as opposed to their sources in the form of pension statements, etc.

Incidentally, whilst most of us Brits in receipt of the State Pension will probably not have to pay any tax here in Thailand on our perpetually-frozen pensions, this may not be the case for anyone in receipt of the New State Pension who might be contemplating a move to Thailand after next April and their weekly pension rate has increased to £221.20 (before being then frozen in perpetuity): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proposed-benefit-and-pension-rates-2024-to-2025/proposed-benefit-and-pension-rates-2024-to-2025#state-pension This amounts to £11,502.40 per annum which, in turn, converts to a shade above 500,000 THB on the basis of yesterday's Bank of Thailand GBP/THB exchange rate of 43.5078 (which, I gather, is the one upon which the RD would require conversions from GBP to THB to be calculated): https://www.bot.or.th/en/home.html

So, when the 60k in question is added to the initial 150k tax-free provision, this presumably means that everyone is, in practice, entitled to a personal allowance of 210k?

But presumably most working Thais would, in practice, only be entitled to the initial 150k tax-free allowance? And upon what basis is entitlement to the Personal Care Allowance assessed, please?

So no complete escape from the brazen incompetence and ineptitude of His Majesty's Passport Office even when renewing your passport in the UK, then!

Plus Chiang Mai require applications to be submitted no later than 21 days (officially 15 days) before the current permission to stay granted under a tourist visa or 30-day visa exemption expires.

Click on the following link for all relevant info: https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/6.FOR-PROVIDING-SUPPORT-TO-OR-BEING-A-DEPENDANT-OF-A-THAI-CITIZEN-SPOUSE-VISA-NON-O.pdf

OP - sorry if my previous comment sounded a tad harsh. It strikes me from what @proton has said that you might be in a similar situation to the OP of the following recent thread, which could be worth a read (provided you're prepared to spend some time sorting out the wheat from the chaff!): https://aseannow.com/topic/1312545-death-of-spouse-effect-on-my-marriage-visa/ However, if you're unable to rustle up 800k in a bank account for a future retirement extension, would it not be possible for you to prove finances on the basis of 65k monthly income instead? Or, if this is not possible and assuming that you already have 400k safely stashed in a Thai bank account for your marriage extensions, supplement this with monthly transfers of around 35k under the combination method which is available for retirement extensions (12 monthly transfers + 400k in bank must = at least 800k)? While a further marriage extension should still be valid for a full year regardless of what might happen in your wife's case in the meantime (as advised in the linked thread above), you need to start planning NOW for a possible switch to retirement this time next year. Specifically this means initiating appropriate monthly transfers ASAP to provide a run of 12 such transfers by end-2024 - and, equally importantly if you are intending to go down the combination route, discuss your plans with your local immigration office (who might have their own particular "take" on how the combination method operates, regardless of what the official rules might say). If I were in your shoes I would be seeking to accomplish all this myself without having to shell out 20k for the services of an agent - which IMHO only need to be sought for the truly difficult things in life, like renewing your passport from Thailand if you're a Brit!

If this is true, then it is a pity that he chose not to make this clear in his initial post, I think.

A pity that you chose not to be clear about this from the outset, I think.

Strikes me as using a sledgehammer to crack a nut in order to comply with a requirement which VFS appear to have dreamt up entirely off their own bat, though.

Mine certainly does!

Could depend on the particular immigration office one has to deal with, I suppose. That said, my experience of the stamps transfer at my local office (Rayong), again within the last 12 months, mirrors yours. In other words a doddle when compared to the bureaucratic complexities of the passport renewal process we Brits in LOS are required to endure thanks to those clueless clowns in HMPO!

But wouldn't you require a re-entry permit from them in any event before travelling abroad? Obtaining one at the airport instead could prove easier said than done on the basis of 2 passports!

In view of the reports upthread about Thai bank account statements printed in English being deemed acceptable, definitely no problem with a UK bank statement being used, I would have thought. He should, however, take particular care to ensure that sort code and account number details are redacted from the copy given to VFS for security reasons.

As in the case of face-to-face dealings with IMM, the success (or otherwise) of an online 90-day report seems to depend on: (1) which officer processes said report at the relevant office, and, more importantly, (2) which side of the bed they got out of that morning.

Your home country being the USA, by any chance? If so, then what have you got to say about American immigration officers who appear to take great delight in subjecting Americans and non-Americans alike who have, in their eyes. the temerity to want to set foot on their hallowed turf to a Spanish Inquisition-style interrogation in a particularly aggressive and overbearing manner? Or are only Thai immigration officers to be demonised for indulging in such practices in your view, whereas we should all, on the other hand, be skipping up and down our sois in a state of unbridled ecstasy, fulsomely singing the praises of their American counteparts to the very highest heavens as being the best thing since sliced bread?

Whilst that may well be true for most Western embassies in Bangkok, it, unfortunately, isn't so in the case of the British Embassy who, I strongly suspect, are acting under strict orders from their FCDO bosses back in Whitehall not to do anything which would make the lives of local resident British expats any easier - quite the reverse, in fact. And, in developing these political, cultural and social relationships, this appears to include - at least in the eyes of the UK's FCDO - seeking assistance from host governments aimed solely at making the lives of local expats just as difficult as they humanly can be - assistance which, in the case of the Thai government, has proved more than eagerly forthcoming in recent years.

Something you may need to be aware of is that your initial marriage extension of stay will be dated from when your current permission to stay expires rather than from when you apply for the extension up to 30 days beforehand at your local immigration office (as has presumably hitherto been the case with your retirement extensions). Assuming that you stick with marriage, though. subsequent extensions will be dated from when you apply for them.