IsaanAndy

On 6/22/2017 at 10:40 AM, Tanoshi said:

Unusual notice as many Thai addresses only consist of the house number and village (Moo) number.

Only the larger streets (Sois) are named.

I live in a small Isan village and the addressing goes like this,

21 (house number) /6 (village soi number)

followed by the name of the village, tambon, amphur, province and postcode

only in local towns  and cities have I seen sois with names.

Good on yer mate!

Another UXB safely detonated under the rear ends of the so called infoperts on this forum.

Just goes to show when you have the correct paper work what can be achieved.

BTW, I can confirm that Ba Ba has the visa as I saw it in his passport yesterday over a cold beer or 3.

I have been getting a proof of income letter from the UK embassy for the last 9 years for my 1 year extn to my marriage Non O so you should have no problems unless there has been a change of policy since Jan 2017.

The letter only states that the embassy has confirmed your income as stated on the form you filled in and sent them with supporting document(s) e.g annual pension staement, it does not say it is for any particular status you may be applying for e.g  extn of stay, retirement visa as that is a matter for the Thai authorities.

I know of both retirement and marriage applications taking place using an 'agent'  because the farang applying hasn't the income or able to prove income but for alot less than 45k, the people I know are typically paying 20-25k THB

I recommend the Avalon hotel in Savan, about 500 THB per night. 3 minute walk from the bus terminal upon arrival from the bridge and 10 minutes walk to the Thai consulate.

They have small cafe where you can get a decent breakfast.

If you like walking it's only 15 minutes to the riverside or 25 to downtown, there are plenty of samlors parked up by the bus terminal if it's raining or you don' like to walk.

The free open air parking open on the left just before Immigration, I've never had any issues with when staying in Savan for 3 or 4 days.

From BKK I  go Hwy 1 then onto Hwy 2, turn right onto the 207 and then 202 upto Yasothorn, you'll see the signs to Muk' from there, about 8-9 hours depending on conditions ,  number of stops and traffic.

Since my local office went computerized I never download and hand in pre-filled forms as they just take my passport and key in the info and print the form for you to fill in there and then.

I applied for mine in late Dec'16 and got it in Jan'17 with the same paperwork as the previous years application.

I have used Key Visa before and haven't encountered any problems with their service.

If you are a UK citizen go to gov.uk/government/world/thailand

It clearly states on the info pdf page for pension/income letters that you should call them to discuss alternative payment methods.

16 hours ago, jadee said:

Do you mean that people lie to their embassies about their monthly income? What makes you think so many people do this? Do they just forge documents about how much their pensions are?

If you are a UK citizen then you have to send the original yearly statement of your pension from the pension fund trustees, or who ever administers your pension, which is returned to you with the letter from the embassy saying that your have provided them with evidence of your monthly/yearly pension income.

Other countries might employ a more lax approach but if they do I would be surprised if the Thais allow that to continue indefinitely.

On 12/2/2016 at 3:35 PM, steve187 said:

get a fresh non imm 'o' multi entry and bypass the extension process for a while.

 

married extensions are approved by Bangkok

It depends where you live who approves marriage extensions, I live in Roi Et and marriage extns are sent to and approved by Khorat.

I have done this for the last 7 years with the UK Embassy in BKK.

I just send the original of my annual pension statement which I get in April every year and they return it with your covering letter for Immigration.

I normally apply for the letter 3-4 weeks before my visa extension is due.

I use the Thai Post EMS service, I am 500kms from BKK, enclosing the money order and it has always worked seemlessly.

The letter is usually returned within 7 working days.

I have lived in Thailand now for 8 years, I have been back to the UK twice for a total of 24 days in that time.

I have done 7 back to back extensions using marriage in that time.

Won't ever go back to the UK to live as my life here is much better in terms of quality.

The only down side, at the moment, is watching the southward spiral of the exchange rate as I am sure other UK ex-pats would agree.

Its obviously depends on your circumstances but doing these applications in person is often much better.

In the past when I have been away on holiday to Pattaya, from Isan where I live, I have been able to do mine at Jomtien Imm' office by showing them the business card of the hotel where I am staying without any problems.

My extn of stay expires on the 28th Dec and I applied for the next extn of stay on the 9th with no problems.

I've supplied 6 proof of income letters to get my 1 year extn of stay and have always had the English version accpeted, never been asked for it to be written in Thai.

I've flown back to Thailand on a Non O based on marriage with only a one way ticket to Bangkok, never had a problem.

If you get legally married in Thailand and it all goes **** up, then what do you actually own here? In most cases nothing and 50% of nothing is ...

If your wife to be understands that she can divorce you in the future and go to court in the UK and claim whatever % of your estate is deemed by the court to be the compensation due, then that is another matter ... providing of course she has the funds/knowledge to do it.

Good to know they are keeping up the standard, I had a 2 week turn round back in November last year.

I actually thought that 2 hours sounded like a long time with only one person before him.

i do the same extension at Amnat and it's always taken me around 2 hours to complete, quickest ever was 1 hour 30.

I too have never had to provide proof of money in a Thai bank account for my Non-O, marriage extension and the UK embassy letter has always been accepeted without question for 7 years.

My pension is paid into a UK bank account from where I withdraw funds via a Thai ATM on a needs basis, I only keep a small amount (around 100k) of rainy day money in a Thai bank account.

If there was any change to the rules the UK embassy would post on their website that these POI letters would be no longer issued, as of 2 minutes ago they still are.

You can generally get photocopies in many places along Suk'.

As for the cost of translation, I used the services at one of the ground floor offices in the Trendy bldg and although it cost a 1000 THB for 1 A4 sheet it was completed within the hour.

To all the doubting Tom's out there.

I can confirm that "ba ba' did in fact get a 12 month, multi entry based on retirement as I was with him throughout the entire process and have seen the visa in his passport..

Whilst I don't doubt your word, I think the Immigration officer may have made an error.

Perhaps with the extra documents and the presence of his g/f he mistakenly thought they were married.

I live in Roi Et and I know a few who have tried and failed to get a multi entry Non Imm O from Suvannakhet, unless they were married.

I don't think this is a change in policy..............Buddha must have been favourable to ba ba.

A correction to the above. Ba ba's TGF was not with him, he merely had a copy of her house book and ID card and at no time was he asked for any marriage proof.

As you say, perhaps the Lord Buddha was moving favourably with the 'ba ba' and his Karma was high.

To all the doubting Tom's out there.

I can confirm that "ba ba' did in fact get a 12 month, multi entry based on retirement as I was with him throughout the entire process and have seen the visa in his passport..