gemguy

If you showed up with a Tourist Visa issued by a Thai Embassy or Consulate the Thai embassies or consulates really does not care what the Immigration authorities have to say when you show up with a valid Visa.

The Embassies and Consulates want the revenues from issuing visas to near anyone.

Whether the immigration authorities accept the visa issued by any Thai Embassy or Consulate is another matter while the Thai Embassy or Consulate will say your problems with immigration are not their concern, while they did their part to accommodate you and granted you a visa.

Cheers   

6 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Not all of us want or need a re-entry stamp however.  My last entry was in 2003 and not planning any travel.

Of course ..up to you ..but when you do want or need to travel you need a re-entry stamp

Some people forget or not even aware of this.

Cheers

Remember to get your multiple entry stamp also.

If you do not have a multiple entry stamp or purchase a re-entry stamp before you leave and to be used within an estimated date then your 1 year extension becomes null and void when you re-enter Thailand.....and then you have to start all over again with a

(new) 1 year extension.

Cheers

Well.......I am not a half empty glass type of person...but when I think about the subject matter I also include the liabilities of marrying a Government official because if and when the marriage goes south, you may very well find yourself in a vulnerable position.

At the old Suan Plue immigration office there was a pretty / cute  immigration officer that was sweet on me ( looked great in that deliberately tight fitting provocative uniform and always wearing high heel shoes )  and I thought many times about asking her for a date and starting something with her but every time I thought about it I also thought about what would happen if I pissed her off somehow, some way in our relationship and certainly if we were married, if that was the case.

The negative possibilities were more persuasive than the possible benefits so I did not pursue her interest in me any further.

Cheers

When asking at the immigration department, I have always been told there is a 7 day grace period granted after the reporting date , but after that 7 days it is 1500 baht fine for the first period missed and another 1500 baht for the second period missed and another 1500 baht for the 3 period missed within the one year period and maximum 5000 baht fine for the whole year while you can just miss it for the whole year and pay that maximum fine.

Some miss it without any worry.... but most do not and make arrangements to accommodate the rule.

Meantime, the immigration officials like it when you miss the reporting dates as they get some more "Pay the Fine" money out of the Farang...lol  

Cheers

Welcome to Thailand....

Not what you thought....but the illusion remains attractive in some ways.

Give it time ..you will find your comfort zone.....  but learn to not expect too much and learn to tolerate all too many disappointments.

Cheers 

Very simple : Access and Availability to ALL their feminine charms.

Seriously,  If you live jn a place like Saudi Araba or Pakistan or any country where there is no or very little access or availability to female companionship then you may not want to live there in that respect.

Meantime the women here, over all, are very charming and very friendly and very feminine and a good percent of them are attractive.

There is an air of femininity and charm about them that any man would like while a lot of foreign women like them also.

The usual bureaucracy

On one hand, the tourism sector is still promoting Thailand as the place to be ...while on the other hand, another sector of the government is making it continually MORE DIFFICULT to leisurely  come and go.

Both sectors will argue their agenda supersedes the importance of the other but they will never coordinate anything of any significance or substance as both sectors are thinking about the profits they can make.

The embassies and or consulates make significant sums of money by way of their services while the tourism board of Thailand???....well, if you think they do not make a lot of money, somehow, someway....then you would be naïve.

Cheers  

Hmmm...."Uber"...

Just the name sounds devious to me.

I will let others find out the hard way...lol

I surmise they are told to somewhat step up their questioning of the tourist arrivals some times ..sort of done on a on and off basis.

Just an inconvenience....no worry really.

However....When they are throwing fire crackers at your feet and shouting: Dance Little Sister Dance ....then you may want to be concerned...lol

The fools...they are missing out on Billons of baht revenues....lol

I think they should start overcharging the Chinese ...seeing as they have overcharged the Farangs  for the last 40 years.

I believe in sharing....lol

Cheers

Never leave Thailand ......Just stay here forever and keep on renewing your retirement Visa...lol

Problem solved.

As others have said, the child and or the father will not have any problems if the child overstays on whatever visa the child is on or uses to enter the country.

They do not enforce the overstay rules on children under 15.

However, the immigration authorities and the Thai embassies and the Thai consulates and any Immigration lawyer familiar with Thai immigration laws will ALWAYS advise you to arrange for the child to have proper immigration status.

If it is long term and involves the 1 year extensions then the dates should be the same dates as the fathers so in effect the beginning of your 1 year extension is the beginning of your child's one year extension and ending at the same time and needing to renewed at the same time your extension is needing to be renewed.

So in effect you are both time coordinated and your child's immigration status is attached to yours

That is the terminology the immigration officials used when they explained to me everything that I would have to do if I wanted to arrange my born in Thailand child to have the proper long term immigration status.

I my case it was recommend that the child be "attached" , so to speak to the mothers current long term immigration status  

In your case, more than likely obtaining a Thai passport for your son would be the easier route, in the long run.....but make sure you do not ever present the child's British passport to the Thai immigration authorities or then the Immigrations officials get all bureaucratic silly and treat him like a foreign citizen and most likely will ignore his Thai passport ...as that has happened before.

Cheers

Any immigration lawyer here in Thailand will ask for the money upfront while there is far more chance that you will get nothing for the money you paid than there is chance at resolving the case for the money you would pay.

Your contacts and people you know here in Thailand have to resolve it from inside Thailand and go to the immigration authorities and resolve the problem and keep on trying as long as it takes.

Geez...do they need Mr. Spock and his use of obvious logic to intervene.

If the problem is NOT in your room / condo itself or what is designated as in your Condo or on your property and its boundaries while the problem is down on the ground floor level and therefore outside the boundaries of your individual condo / residence and considered property of the owners of the development then why should you have to pay to fix it .

I'm tellen Yah...some of the Thai condo owners that lease their units or apartment owners or the managers of apartments and condo affairs can really be small minded A-Holes if ever there was about such matters.

As an example, It would be no different if the water to your apartment stopped or was dribbling out insufficiently and they tell you the main line coming into the property is leaking and the pressure is not sufficient to push water up to your apartment.

So, they tell you if you want water to your apartment then you have to pay for the water main coming into the property to be fixed...So,  it is your responsibility at your expense  ...Mr. Farang .....Kow Jai My....

9 hours ago, thaihome said:

I think it's important to distinguish between the agencies that do charge 20k baht, possibly providing assistance of a somewhat illegal nature with the financial requirements and those agencies that provide a ethical, convenient service in dealing with immigration at a reasonable price.

 

Personally,  I am happy to to pay the equivalent of a couple hundred dollars to an agent that completes all the paperwork with me providing an income letter from my embassy when we meet at Immigration once a year. She arrives early,  gets in the queue, gets the number, and calls me at the coffee shop downstairs when our number is called. I then sit there for some 10 minutes while stamps are put into my passport and I leave. She then goes and gets the reentry permit and a courier returns my passport later that day. 

 

I guess it comes down to, as these things often do, to how much is your time worth. The last thing I want to be doing is filling out government forms, making copies, and standing in line at Chang Wattana immigration waiting for door to open and the mad rush to get a number. I will sit downstairs in the coffee shop and I'm happy to pay somebody to do all that. My choice and I certainly wouldn't criticize some one that does all at themselves. 

 

If you go my route, you do need to use a reputable agent that is not going to overcharge you. 15k or 20k is way over.

TH 

15000 is for: He or she or they pick up your passport today and 2 or 3 days later give your passport back to you and you are good for 1 more year.

I do the retirement Visa myself now and save some money while all said and done is about 7000  plus baht ...with one day of getting an affidavit from my embassy stating that I can financially support myself instead of submitting bank statements and then get a health check up document for certain health control issues and then next day out to immigration and go through all the motions of applying for the one year extension from the same ladies as the last year and the year before....while they do not even check the documents and papers I give to them...rather just sign them while we chit chat  and then ask me to wait awhile and then go over to the next desk in the same room and then more chit chat and more signatures and no questions and then finally over to the Multiple entry sector and  give them the passport and the filled in forms in triplicate and photos and submit and wait and then come collect your passport and pay the price for the multiple entry stamp and off you go...good for another year...lol 

It many respects it comes down to just how much patience you have or do not have

Of course the money part is a big factor for some people ....but if you want the whole affair to be far less hassle and less frustration and eventually less of all the more loathing of the bureaucracy and all too often some of the officials you would deal with then have a visa agent arrange everything for you.

On the other hand, if you are the more adventurous type and do not mind the various challenges involved while you want to learn about the ways and means of obtaining the sought after immigration status while having to go over there and come back over here and obtain this document and that document and photo copied in triplicate and several photos needed and this signature and that signature and stamped and approved and having to conform with all the details and all the while testing your patience ...and more ...then do it yourself and save some money...lol

Cheers

I agree with the other poster who suggested they set up a meeting and record everything as incriminating proof and evidence of their heinous intentions.

I  further suggest they get themselves several guns and carry them around with them and having them concealed on their person and always have a big baseball bat and or a large machete and a few large knives....on hand

Then go to the police with an affidavit informing the police they are being relentlessly threatened to be killed if they do not relinquish their land to the family member thugs with photos and the videos included of exactly who the family members are and or associates are and let it be known and for the record that they will protect themselves and by any means and at all cost, if need be.

Basically let the thugs know that they will go to war with them if need be and tell it to their scum bag faces and in their faces  and turn the tables on them...or at least try rather than get run over and or killed by a bunch of greedy A-Hole family members and their thug associates....

Might as well go down fighting as the police are not going to be there when it happens and the police are going to be indifferent to what is going on even after the family members do steal the land by force or kill them to get the land.

Best to be fully prepared and ready to fight.

Cheers

6 hours ago, darrendsd said:

 

You should read what the OP has said, he has been warned that his child MUST get a Visa as the child is using the Visa Exempt method to many times

 

And NO Immigration Officers at the Airport DO NOT have to offer a visa possibility for a child or anybody for that matter, it is not in their power to do so, Immigration at the Airport do not issue visas so stop talking rubbish

Yes...the next time I enter with my child and he does not have a Visa then they MAY ..if they want, not grant him a 30 day stay upon arrival and this is always the precarious part of not having the child arranged on a visa or extension if you are coming and going occasionally or many times per year.

The immigration officers at the airport or port of entry can do as they please....

Fortunately they have always been gracious and simply stamp the child's passport with a 30 day entry stamp....but next time...I do not know either.

Cheers 

I went thought this sort of thing before......several times now ..before exiting the country with my Child.

They do not fine the child for overstay.

When the child enters Thailand, each and every time they will give the Child 30 days at the Airport ( maybe some nationalities more or less, as I do not know but my child is given 30 days each time) and then, in effect, overstays after the 30 days ends.

When you go to the airport to exit Thailand they take you and child off to the side and remove the TM card and write some notes in a book and then they stamp the child's passport and write some notes and dates within the stamp and hand back the passport with a smile ...and nothing else.

In theory the immigration will tell you it is best to have the child issued a visa and then apply for an extension that would be time coordinated with either parents long term immigration status.

So, if the father is working, for example, and has or had a Non "B" visa and then the yearly extension already granted and all that is entailed then the child could be coordinated with the fathers immigrations status and issued, I believe, a Non "O" Visa first, for 90 days and then the 1 year extension applied for and the child's immigration status is extended every time at the same time as the fathers extension ...or the child can be coordinated with the Mothers long term immigration status and the child's immigration status extended every time the mother has to extend her stay.

So, if you do arrange for a 90 day Visa for the child and then the 1 year extension for the child, they say ( they told me)  the child's Visa or the extension will end when the parents immigration status ends and is due to be renewed ..so, if the child is in the country and born here but has not left the country yet then the first time period for the child could be a shorter extension period than 1 year, having been coordinated with the expiry date of the parents extension   

Confusing ..Yes...No??

In theory you are supposed to exit with the child and obtain a visa for the child and then apply for the childs (1st ) extension while the extension ends when the parents extension ends and needs to be renewed....then the next time you coordinate both extensions for the child and the parent at the same time.

More confusing ..Yes......No?

So, that being the case most parents do not exit or want to exit the country and do all of what is required or necessary to be done to have your child's immigration status coordinated with one of the parents immigration status if the child is already in the country for a long time and in effect overstayed. 

Of course if you are coming here for say the "first time" and the child has never stayed a long time and in effect overstayed, you can apply for the child's Visa at a Thai  Embassy or Thai Consulate and receive the visa for the child when the visa application is also applied for the first time for the Mother and or the Father then the child has the same amount of time given for the Visa and then when the extension for the Mother or Father is applied for then the child is given an extension also and "coordinated"  with one of the chosen parents

Now, to make matters all the more challenging.... I was told....by the Changwattana immigration officers ....If the child has been here for some time and in and out of the country several times already and having no proper ( Long Term ) immigration status and NOW you want to obtain for the child the correct long term immigration status then you are required to go over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and explain to them that you want to obtain the proper immigration status for the child and have the child's long term immigration status coordinated with one of the parents already existing long term immigration status.....( or extension)

The officer used the word "attached" , so to speak, and have the child attached ,so to speak, to one of the parents ..and which ever parents long term immigration status is more appropriate....is what I was told. 

I was told that they will require you to fill out forms and verify the child is your child and require the original birth certificate as to when and where he was born in Thailand and the citizenship papers of the child and relevant to the child's issued passport and the passport details and a marriage certificate ( if you are married )  and a whole load of documentation that, in effect, is like a dozier of  pre-prepared documentation, in triplicate form, and all signed and stamped by the Ministry of Foreign affairs and to be taken with you when you exit the country with the child and go to any Thai Embassy or Thai Consulate and apply for the 90 day "O" visa and then enter back into the country on the 90 day Visa and then apply for the child's 1 year extension to be coordinated with the parents 1 year extension and ends when the parents extension ends.

That is what I was told.

When asked:  Can this be done in the country?  ..The answer is: NO ...NO from everyone you ask...as in NO ......as there is a procedure to be followed....of course.....

OK, a procedure to be followed .... And what happens if I just show up at an embassy with the child and apply for the child to receive a 90 day "O" visa with the intent to apply for the 1 year extension for the child....WITHOUT the Ministry of Foreign Affairs documentation and Pre-Approval?????

The answer was: You may be turned down, probably turned down???.....if you do not have the documentation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the child has already been in the country without the proper or approved immigration status and in effect overstayed  ...but...as you already know,  they do not fine you or the child for over stay...BUT whatever Thai Embassy or Thai Consulate that you choose to apply at for the child's 90 day "O" visa is not our concern so, Maybe Yes they will issue a 90 Day "O" visa or Maybe Not....... but we recommend you should first go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and get all the proper documentation so you will not be turned down...but.... They may still turn you down.......We do not know......So sorry about that......Is what I was told.

"Can this all be arranged  here inside Thailand ...for a price....??? I asked"

The Answer was NO....

The answer was : NEVER MIND just come and go as you have been doing as they Do Not fine a child under 15 for overstay and they will not arrest the child or arrest the parents or fine the parent(s) for the child's improper immigration status...and in effect overstay.

Do not worry.......I was told ..repeatedly.

I was told: Meantime, You decide what you want to do but what we explained to you is what has to be done if you want your child to have the proper long term immigration status  ...or do nothing and carry on as before.

The exact details and the type of visa and or extension the child would be issued can be explained by the immigration as they explained to me .....BUT......here is the thing...no matter who you talk to, including lawyers, and or immigration officials they will tell you the same thing....No problem and no need to have a child ( under 15 years old ) on a Visa or Extension as the immigration authorities DO NOT enforce the overstay rules and or laws on a child under 15 if accompanied by the parents and it is clear the child is exiting with the parents.

Once, My wife and I were asked if the child was ours...just to ask I guess and make certain while I think the officer was just curious more so than asking for any legal matters.

Meantime when you talk to immigration officials or lawyers at a  law firm that has knowledge of the rules and regulations and laws pertaining to children entering and exiting the Kingdom and their long term status they all tell you, in theory, you should get the child arranged to be on long term immigration status...just in case  ....but if you do not then never mind because they do not enforce the overstay aspect of what ever immigration status your child is currently on or has at present.

*** I am only telling you what I was told when I asked about this 2 times now and the same answers each time.

Cheers

1800 US dollar a month would be more than enough if you live like you point out in your OP and stick to that agenda and live a simple lifestyle existence.

Mind you though ...while that sounds about correct ...there are many ways to entertain yourself and many distractions..so to speak..... that begin to create more and more expenditures and before you know it you are spending more than you had anticipated.

You will find out sooner or later what I mean...but if you were to choose to live in any number of smaller cities in the Esarn region of the country then 1800 US dollars a month would be more than enough and you could save money if you lived only half of the way the Thais live.

A room per month can be very cheap and on the order of only 2000 to 3000 baht a month If your comfortable with that ) and after that ....your need food ...which is also cheap in those regions while you could get yourself a good bike and peddle around everywhere you want to go and be healthy at the same time.

If Thai people knew you have 1800 dollars per month ( 60,000 plus baht a month ) most of them would be envious as they would consider themselves rich as compared to others if they had that much income per month.

So yeah...pick a nice and sceneic city in the Esarn area and live their for cheap and maybe you will not be the type of person who gets restless easily or bored too quickly and just putter around making new friends and become part of the community at large.

They can make everything legal...

Arrange the work permit, Arrange the business license, Arrange the correct visa.

They can facilitate the man or arrest them......up to the officials.

Just saying that it can be either way.

Not condoning the fact that the man operated illegally but here in Thailand...usually things are negotiable and everyone can be appeased.

Cheers

4 minutes ago, sanemax said:

 

   Paying bribes to evade the law is quite a risky thing to do under the present Government

No.... No........no bribes, rather the officials make everything legal.

They do it all the time.

Well..think of it this way.

The alternative thing for the officials to do would be to ask for a share in the profits of the company while the officials grant the man immunity and become best of business buddies.

All friendly like and smooth things over while allowing a long established  profit making venture continue to generate profits that can be shared with the newly acquired "silent partners"

That is how it usually works anyhow....or certainly often enough.

Cheers