Converting 30 day arrival Visa into non immigrant O visa

[Aussie17]

Is it possible to convert a visa on arrival 30 days into non immigrsnt O visa based on marriage in phuket? Im from Australia married to a Thai.

 

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[ubonjoe]

I think you mean a 30 day visa exempt entry. A visa on arrival is only for 15 days after applying for it and paying a 2000 baht fee for it.

They should be able to accept the application for one now. It will be sent to division 6 in Hat Yai for approval. You will need at least 15 days remaining on your entry or the 30 day extension of it.

You will have supply the same financial proof and supporting documents needed for an extension of stay based upon marriage. Your wife will need to be with you when you apply.

 

[jeab1980]

If you want a non o then extension based on marriage as UJ says.

If you want a Non O multi entry visa based on marriage no you have to leave tbe country to get one. Savannakhet is the easiest for that.

[el jefe]

Now that the US Consulate in New York has finally stopped issuing one-year Non-Imm O visas, I have a similar question.

I'm a US citizen.

I would like to convert a 30 day visa exempt stamp into a one-year extension based on retirement.

I will be entering Thailand on October 3, leaving on October 12, and re-entering on Oct 28.

Can I enter on 30 day exempt stamps both times and then convert to a 90 DAY Non-Imm-O visa?

Or, do I have to get a 60 day SETV now, get a re-entry permit when I leave on Oct 12, and then apply 15 days before that expires on Dec 1?

 

And a related question re the 800,000 baht:

I currently have about 500,000 baht in a fixed account that I have have had for about 2 years. the funds came from another fixed account opened a year before that. initially, those funds came from a savings account but I can no longer prove their source. is that going to be a problem? I'm going to transfer the remaining 300k now from a US bank account so that won't be a problem.

Or, will I have to transfer in the full 800k baht to be able to prove its source?

[ubonjoe]

6 hours ago, el jefe said:

Now that the US Consulate in New York has finally stopped issuing one-year Non-Imm O visas, I have a similar question.

I'm a US citizen.

I would like to convert a 30 day visa exempt stamp into a one-year extension based on retirement.

I will be entering Thailand on October 3, leaving on October 12, and re-entering on Oct 28.

Can I enter on 30 day exempt stamps both times and then convert to a 90 DAY Non-Imm-O visa?

Or, do I have to get a 60 day SETV now, get a re-entry permit when I leave on Oct 12, and then apply 15 days before that expires on Dec 1?

 

And a related question re the 800,000 baht:

I currently have about 500,000 baht in a fixed account that I have have had for about 2 years. the funds came from another fixed account opened a year before that. initially, those funds came from a savings account but I can no longer prove their source. is that going to be a problem? I'm going to transfer the remaining 300k now from a US bank account so that won't be a problem.

Or, will I have to transfer in the full 800k baht to be able to prove its source?

You should try getting a single entry non-o from one of the honorary consulates in the states. List of them is here: http://thaiembdc.org/royal-thai-honorary-consulates-general-in-the-u-s/  It has been reported the Portland consulate will accept applciations by mail.

You could do the 2 visa exempts and then apply for a 90 day non immigrant visa entry. You need at least 15 days remaining on you apply.

You would have to check with immigration to find out if they will accept your account that has had the funds in it for some time already. The requirements for the visa application is that you present present proof the funds came from abroad.

Proof that the funds came from abroad is not required for the one year extension application. 

 

 

[JackThompson]

The difficulty of a conversion depends on the local-immigration office that serves where you live.  Some are helpful - others will make every effort to prevent a successful application. 

 

As a general rule, come in with a Non-O Visa obtained abroad if at all possible, to avoid potential complications.  Otherwise, you might find yourself needing to do a "visa run" to Laos or Malaysia to work around the problem.

[el jefe]

10 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You should try getting a single entry non-o from one of the honorary consulates in the states. List of them is here: http://thaiembdc.org/royal-thai-honorary-consulates-general-in-the-u-s/  It has been reported the Portland consulate will accept applciations by mail.

You could do the 2 visa exempts and then apply for a 90 day non immigrant visa entry. You need at least 15 days remaining on you apply.

You would have to check with immigration to find out if they will accept your account that has had the funds in it for some time already. The requirements for the visa application is that you present present proof the funds came from abroad.

Proof that the funds came from abroad is not required for the one year extension application. 

 

 

According to Portland's website they cannot do ME visas and they will only do an "O" visa as follows:

 

O (Other) - Marriage certificate and proof of spouse's Thai citizenship, Letter of invitation from volunteer organization in Thailand, proof of condo or home ownership.

 

I meet none of those requirements. My wife is a US citizen and I have a long term lease. They suggest (on their website) contacting the Washington DC embassy or the Los Angeles consulate. The DC website says it takes a minimum of 3 weeks and LA says it might be even longer. That is too late.

 

I can move new money into a Thai bank account, but I'm back to my original question -- am I better off trying to convert a single-entry Tourist Visa to a non-Imm -O or will it be just as difficult as converting a visa-exempt stamp? I will be dealing with Chiang Mai Immigration.

[ubonjoe]

10 minutes ago, el jefe said:

According to Portland's website they cannot do ME visas and they will only do an "O" visa as follows:

 

O (Other) - Marriage certificate and proof of spouse's Thai citizenship, Letter of invitation from volunteer organization in Thailand, proof of condo or home ownership.

I was not writing about getting a multiple entry visa. Those were stopped in August of last year for all the honorary consulates.

The will do a single entry non-o for being 50 or over. Many reports about them doing them. They just don't have it on their website. You need to contact them about getting one.

The official consulates in LA, Chicago and New york will not issue a non-o visa for being 50 or over. They like the embassy in DC will only issue a OA long stay visa.

[el jefe]

15 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I was not writing about getting a multiple entry visa. Those were stopped in August of last year for all the honorary consulates.

The will do a single entry non-o for being 50 or over. Many reports about them doing them. They just don't have it on their website. You need to contact them about getting one.

The official consulates in LA, Chicago and New york will not issue a non-o visa for being 50 or over. They like the embassy in DC will only issue a OA long stay visa.

Yes, I knew you specifically wrote "Single entry".

I'll contact Portland later today to see if they will issue the SE Non-O as a 50 year old.

Thanks.

Unrelated to this and totally immaterial, they were still issuing ME Non-O's in NY beyond last August. My wife got one less than a year ago. I'm 100% sure because she'll be using it to enter Thailand next month.

[el jefe]

Here's the followup:

Portland does not return emails and their phone only gives a recorded message. There is no way to even leave a message to get a call back. I tried for 3 days.

The NYC Consulate will issue a SE Non-O with a 24 hour turnaround but it is only valid for 60 days and requires a police report and a medical form. If I was willing to to go thru the time and cost that entails I might as well get the one year visa.

I also contacted two visa agents in Chiang Mai. Both said they could convert a 30 day exempt stamp into a Non-Imm-O visa and then into an Extension of Stay based on Retirement. Only one of them quoted a price and it was 15,000 baht just for the first part, plus another 7700 for the second part. Based on that price, it's probably impossible to do this yourself. I'm sure that fee is shared by many people.

Based on all of this I'll just have to get a $200 six-month ME tourist visa which can be stretched to 8-9 months. That's not nearly as effective as the old visas which could easily be stretched to 15 months but this will have to do.

We'll see what the new rules are 9-10 months from now.

[pearciderman]

On 9/11/2017 at 4:39 PM, ubonjoe said:

You will have supply the same financial proof

 

I thought the money did not need to be seasoned, just in the bank on the date of application?

[ubonjoe]

9 minutes ago, pearciderman said:

I thought the money did not need to be seasoned, just in the bank on the date of application?

I was just writing the general requirements instead of going into to detail.

For the visa application the 400k baht only has to be in the bank on the date of application.