OJAS

Has it not occurred to you that, just as 80% of people on this forum might be lacking in the common sense department, so might 80% of immigration officers? You may well have got your extension without a TM6 as, indeed, did I a few months ago. But is it not possible that we were both extremely fortunate in dealing with immigration officers who might have formed part of the 20% of their number who are the proud possessors of that particular commodity called common sense? In these circumstances the OP's concerns strike me as being perfectly legitimate.

Completely agree with you here. IMHO it's always best to remember that they just do the bidding of those bungling clowns in HMPO back in the UK, who are the real villains of the piece when it comes to the responsibility for the nonsensical procedures we Brits here are subject to at passport renewal time. Anyway, after nearly 9 years of complaining on here about the dreaded With-It Tower Passport Renewal Experience, today provided me with my initial experience of being able to "savour" it first-hand. Thankfully a friend of my wife's, who knows Bangkok like the back of his hand, was prepared to chauffeur me for the 3-hour one-way trip directly to and from that ridiculously-named building in which the VFS office is housed, without the need for me to endure the rigours of the Bangkok public transport system. And I do have to hold my hands up to the VFS staff for the professional manner in which they handled my application - although I do still question the need for me to have to travel to Bangkok in person in order to watch them perform the task of stuffing various docs into an envelope and sending them on their merry way to the UK courtesy of DHL - when anyone with a modicum of intelligence should be more than capable of undertaking this "monumental" feat themselves without the need for a potentially time-consuming diversion via Bangkok. The impression which I have now got is that the current cumbersome passport renewal procedures which we have to endure have been designed purely with the administrative convenience of VFS and their HMPO masters in mind and with zero regard for the personal convenience of those whom they are meant to serve. I did, however, encounter a couple of particular irritations which may be of interest to those with weak bladders and/or coming by car:- (1) As far as I could tell, there were no loos on either the 5th floor where we had parked the car or the 8th floor where the VFS office was located - or even in the VFS office itself. IMHO this is an absolutely disgraceful and unacceptable state of affairs, particularly for those of us who are obliged to travel a considerable distance under our own steam. Thankfully I was able to hang on until the motorway service area on the return leg - but only just! (2) Upon leaving the VFS office at the conclusion of the process we observed someone who appeared to be stamping car parking tickets, presumably with the aim of obtaining parking charge discounts. However we had left our ticket in the car and could not face another lengthy return trip to the 8th floor (only 1 of the 2 lifts serving the 5th and 8th floors was in service, with consequential lengthy waits), so we were hit with a charge of 150 THB as a result. Now why on earth could not VFS have specifically mentioned in their appointment confirmation letter the need to keep parking tickets on us in person rather than leave them in the car????? Finally, the official waiting time for new passports is still 11 weeks minimum as of now.........

The following PDF should hopefully assist you in getting to grips with the initial non-O conversion process:- https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/9.FOR-RETIREMENT-PURPOSES-50-YEARS-OLD-NON-O.pdf

If the OP has entered Thailand by air since 1 July he won't have been issued with a departure card. But he will also need to include a completed TM30 form unless he has already provided one to CW.

And not just this disclaimer but also the fact that the Embassy, in common with a fair few both on Asean Now and even in Immigration themselves, appear to be in some terminological difficulty in distinguishing between a visa and an extension of stay!

Well, it would be nice if the Savannakhet website could make it crystal clear that only Laotian nationals and residents can apply for METV's at that particular consulate, I think!

Instead of returning from Laos with another visa exemption why not instead return with a multi-entry tourist visa obtained from the consulate at Savannakhet - assuming, of course, that you can meet their requirements (see link below)? That should give you more than sufficient headroom to stay in Thailand (with border runs every 60 days) until your child is born. https://savannakhet.thaiembassy.org/th/publicservice/104412-tourist-visa?page=5d84a44c15e39c26b400453e&menu=5d84a44c15e39c26b4004540

Queen Elizabeth II's coronation took place on a Tuesday which was declared a bank holiday:- https://elhg.org.uk/discovery/village-events/coronation-1953/ https://alondoninheritance.com/eventsandceremonies/2nd-june-1953-coronation-day-in-london/ So does the fact that King Charles III's coronation will take place on a Saturday mean that no special bank holiday will be declared to commemorate this auspicious occasion? 6 May 2023 strikes me as an odd choice of date for this very reason!

I was able to reset my 90-day reporting clock when applying for my latest retirement extension at Rayong 3 months ago. However, this was the first year I had been invited to do this, so it might have had something to do with the particular immigration officer (and maybe which side of the bed she had got out of that morning?) I dealt with. Personally I shall only know for certain if this is now a consistent arrangement there when applying for my next retirement extension in July 2023. @flexomike and @Eff1n2ret - as fellow users of Rayong have either of you also experienced this in recent times?

Or preferably open a separate account dedicated exclusively to the 400k in question, with no cards nor internet access linked to it (to minimise the risk of similar "accidents" in future).

Is there not some charitable organisation in Australia which the OP's neighbour could turn to for assistance if he needed it, similar to Heathrow Travel Care which Brits returning to the UK in dire circumstances can turn to? http://heathrowtravelcare.co.uk/who-we-are/about-heathrowtravelcare/

Agreed. The OP's experience sounds similar to the treatment frequently meted out to Thais and other aliens wishing to enter our home countries by local immigration officers there. But in the eyes of some on here it would appear that it is only Thai immigration officers who are to be demonised for doing their job, whereas our home country immigration officers, on the other hand, are, in their view, worthy of fulsome praise in identical circumstances.

Looks like first cups of coffee have now been consumed at Wise!????

So does not having to make 2 enforced trips to Bangkok at passport renewal time for us Brits for "absolutely no bloody reason" except to please some archaic British system at least equally (if not considerably more as it should IMHO) get your back up?

Assuming that you are planning on making the transfer from a home country bank account, I would have thought that it will be for whoever is your home country bank's Thai partner bank (which may not necessarily be the same as the Thai bank with whom you hold the account to which the transfer is ultimately destined) to issue you with the necessary certificate after they have processed the transfer - although I do stand to be corrected on this. However, before processing the transfer, the Thai partner bank may require you to complete a Foreign Exchange Transaction Form (see link below), just as I had to a few years ago in the case of a particularly large transfer from my UK to Thai accounts:- https://pic.bankofchina.com/bocappd/thailand/201705/P020170525615529265916.pdf

And a rather more rapid decrease in the number of seats in banks and immigration offices within existing totals with X plonked on them, hopefully.

Assuming you're still waiting, have you tried sending an e-enquiry to HMPO? https://eforms.homeoffice.gov.uk/outreach/Passport_Enquiries.ofml?_ga=2.171280867.2124134922.1626837669-1983836778.1623461427

In which case we are, I think, talking about another example of blatant roguery on the part of CW - coming as it does on top of a recent report on here stating that they are not prepared to transfer stamps from old to new passports in the absence of an updated bank passbook! CW's pristine reputation among some on here has taken a bit of a knock, I think!!

IMHO you should only use 3 as a stop-gap measure until you have got 2 sorted - and most definitely not with the sole view of remarrying! Embassies and consulates in adjoining countries might get rather sniffy about issuing you with tourist visas on a back-to-back basis over the long term. In which case I would strongly advise you to take a read of this thread:-

Another point has just occurred to me: do you and your wife have children from your marriage? If so then all you should need to do is to switch from marriage to parent of a Thai child as the reason for future annual extensions of stay, but still on the basis of your original non-O visa - at least until said child(ren) reach(es) the age of 20 which, according to a Google search I've just conducted, is the age of majority in Thailand.

..which in your case will likely have to be one of the non-B variety:- https://www.mfa.go.th/en/page/non-immigrant-visa-b?menu=5e1ff6f857b01e00a84023d4 But maybe no need to travel to a nearby embassy or consulate for this visa but instead do a border run (but without a re-entry permit to preserve your existing permission to stay, though) and apply for a non-B conversion at your local immigration office upon your return with a 30-day visa exemption:- https://www.immigration.go.th/en/?page_id=2537 (in particular item 1)

Maybe at that time it was still required (in theory) to submit a fresh TM30 after each and every time you had spent at least 1 night away from the address at which the previous TM30 was registered. But, as alluded to by @ubonjoe and @DrJack54, this requirement was eased in June 2020, as announced at that time by a Police Regulation which you can download from the pinned "Laws, regulations, Police Orders, etc. related to visas, immigration matters, and work permits" thread (items 30 (English) and 31 (Thai) under the Visa heading).

But at least it was presumably possible for your pal to get to Newport from Paddington by train in just under 2 hours if the current GWR timetable is to be believed (assuming that rail was, of course, his mode of transport)! The distance between London and Newport is, I think, roughly the same as that between Rayong (where I live) and Bangkok, a journey which I'll be forced to make much against my will on 18 October in order to set the ball rolling on my passport renewal. And definitely no luxury of a high-speed rail link between Rayong and Bangkok, unfortunately.☹️ Instead an uncomfortable road trip taking at least 5 hours each way will be the strict order of the day. ???? That all said, though, I quite take your point about the omnipresence of HMPO's bungling incompetence and ineptitude!

I actually did this when I applied for my latest retirement extension at Rayong last July. Having arrived early enough to plonk my rearside on an "authorised" seat until my ticket number was called, needless to say it had been taken by the time I had subsequently completed my dealings with the immigration officer at their window. So I just plonked my rearside on a seat marked X in order to await the return of my passport duly stamped with the new extension, and dared to be challenged for doing so. However, apart from a few disapproving tut-tuts being muttered by my wife who was with me, nothing in the event happened. The irony of the whole situation was that, by the time I left the office, there were many others waiting their turn who were stood on their feet and obediently avoiding all the seats marked X. They were all in close proximity to each other thanks to the limited floor space at Rayong - and, hence, weren't socially distanced from each other by any stretch of the imagination!

And you will doubtless also be forced to stand for ages waiting for some ticket number to be called at some stage as the amount of available seating is, I assume, extremely limited at CW these days if the practice followed at my local office (Rayong) is also being followed there. If I were in your shoes I would be far more irritated by being forced to comply with this bloody social distancing nonsense much against my will than any requirement to wear masks. Why is it that those who complain bitterly on Asean Now threads about having to wear masks always choose to remain completely silent on the issue of continued mandatory compliance with totally ridiculous and increasingly irrelevant social distancing requirements these days? Slavish adherence to these particular requirements can result in considerable discomfort to - and, indeed, suffering by - those who, like myself, are unable to stand on their feet for any length of time in overcrowded immigration offices (and, for that matter, banks as well) as a result of some physical disability - in ways which the wearing of masks IMHO does not.