Change retirement extension to Marriage extention

[Tofer]

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

 

Thank you for that information.

 

It looks as though I have not registered it at the amphur either.

 

I have been on a retirement extension since 2009, first at Mae Sot for 1 year, Nakhon Sawan for 6 years and now Khampaeng Phet for 2 years and nobody has said anything before, probably as I am on a retirement extension.

 

I have sent an email today to the UK asking what they need and what I needed to do,

 

I will update you on the reply.

 

Cheers

 

Bill

Hi Bill, the legalisation procedure is straight forward, just fill in the form and pay!

 

The Thai registration is a bit more complicated. I can't remember exactly, as my wife helped with this end, but I recall we had to get a Bangkok office to verify / acknowledge all our legalised / translated marriage documents, then a visit to the local  Amphur to get another document, presumably the Kor Ror 22 UJ refers to. N.B the visit to our local Amphur required the attendance of 2 local witnesses who would state they knew us and that we are married.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, Tofer said:

I can't speak for your (Pattaya) area, but I had problems because I had too much money in my account and the IO simply refused to consider a Marriage extension as it was unnecessary, in his opinion, stating "you have over 800k and only take 10 mins for retirement" was his attitude.

 

Although I had spent a lot of time and money obtaining the correct documentation, he proceeded to provide obstacles to the marriage option. Sadly I had not seen Ubon Joe's list and didn't know I needed a witness, and one that is a government employee by the way!

 

I am pleased to hear that PM and UJ have had no problems, but that does not mean every IO is so cooperative. It is not 'doom & gloom', simply a fact of life in Thailand.

 

Too much work and too lazy, or maybe they make more money sat at their office desk. In my working days I would relish a day out of the office, and in our case, to a beautiful island paradise for a pleasant day out!

 

Thanks for your information.

 

I use the income method and at this point I am well within the retirement income requirements. However with Brexit coming next year and the way that the Thai Baht is moving I am trying to get a belt and braces option.

 

My extension is due on 23rd August and this year should be no problem but sadly I cannot see a year ahead so this is more exploratory than must do.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, Tofer said:

Hi Bill, the legalisation procedure is straight forward, just fill in the form and pay!

 

The Thai registration is a bit more complicated. I can't remember exactly, as my wife helped with this end, but I recall we had to get a Bangkok office to verify / acknowledge all our legalised / translated marriage documents, then a visit to the local  Amphur to get another document, presumably the Kor Ror 22 UJ refers to. N.B the visit to our local Amphur required the attendance of 2 local witnesses who would state they knew us and that we are married.

 

Two local witnesses are not a problem but I was hoping that it could be done in Thailand as it would be more convenient.

 

The local amphur is 18 km away, BKK is about 350km plus probably 2 overnight stays, a bit inconvenient if my wife has to come with me as our son still has to go to school though it could be done in October during the school holidays.

 

If I have to do it through the UK it is not so easy as I have no bank account there (I finally left about 14 years ago). I can ask my son or a friend if I can use their CC as the UK government won't accept my KBank debit card, even though it clearly says VISA on the front.

[n210mp]

21 hours ago, ThaiWai said:

If you want to search Thaivisa in Google add what you are searching for to "Thaivisa" and you should see all the threads you need. 

Great idea and info and many thanks Thai Wai , now why didn't I think of that. 

 

Maybe it would be a good idea for the Mods or IT  folk who look after the "Search" facility on Thai Visa forums  to temporarily add a "Google" link to the Search section. definitely works as I found loads of links to my OP question that the inhouse search just wouldn't work or respond too.

Having said the, it maybe that the problem is not within Thai-Visa forums software!

 

Nevertheless and in the event ubonjoe was quicker than any Google  search (Joe must have responded immediately the question was posted)  and his answers much  more relevant to my particuloar question.

 

Thanks ubonjoe and to all the other poster for your help and information.

 

I will be applying for an extension based on Marriage as I see no reason to have to have 800K in a semi redundant bank account when I can have 400K in the same semi redundant account and will keep you updated on my application which will be mid August .

[ubonjoe]

11 hours ago, Tofer said:

I can't speak for your (Pattaya) area, but I had problems because I had too much money in my account and the IO simply refused to consider a Marriage extension as it was unnecessary, in his opinion, stating "you have over 800k and only take 10 mins for retirement" was his attitude.

That was a mistake on your part. My advice is never show enough financial proof for an extension based upon retirement if you want a extension of stay based upon marriage.

I can recall a member submitting all the paperwork for an extension based upon marriage and they did it for retirement without him knowing about it until they had done the extension stamp and of course they refused to change it. He wanted the one based upon marriage so he could work and ended up leaving to get a single entry non-o visa to so he could change it to marriage.

[ubonjoe]

9 hours ago, billd766 said:

The local amphur is 18 km away, BKK is about 350km plus probably 2 overnight stays, a bit inconvenient if my wife has to come with me as our son still has to go to school though it could be done in October during the school holidays.

 

If I have to do it through the UK it is not so easy as I have no bank account there (I finally left about 14 years ago). I can ask my son or a friend if I can use their CC as the UK government won't accept my KBank debit card, even though it clearly says VISA on the front.

She would not have to go to Bangkok for any reason. The foreign marriage registration can be done at the local Amphoe.

The legalized marriage certificate would have to be translated to Thai and then the translation would have to be certified by the Consular Affairs Department of the MFA in Bangkok. That can even be done by mail or you could go, pay the fee and have it sent to you by EMS.

The legalization can be done a lot easier and faster if you have somebody in the UK that can do it for you. The difficult part is getting the legalization done by the Thai embassy in London and then having them send it to you here.

[ubonjoe]

2 hours ago, n210mp said:

Maybe it would be a good idea for the Mods or IT  folk who look after the "Search" facility on Thai Visa forums  to temporarily add a "Google" link to the Search section. definitely works as I found loads of links to my OP question that the inhouse search just wouldn't work or respond too.

Not needed if you use advanced search. Just use this search at the top of the page.

 

[billd766]

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

She would not have to go to Bangkok for any reason. The foreign marriage registration can be done at the local Amphoe.

The legalized marriage certificate would have to be translated to Thai and then the translation would have to be certified by the Consular Affairs Department of the MFA in Bangkok. That can even be done by mail or you could go, pay the fee and have it sent to you by EMS.

The legalization can be done a lot easier and faster if you have somebody in the UK that can do it for you. The difficult part is getting the legalization done by the Thai embassy in London and then having them send it to you here.

 

Thanks Joe

 

Many years ago I got the certificate sealed in plastic to keep it clean and to save it from damage.

 

Do you think that this will be a problem?

[ubonjoe]

22 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Do you think that this will be a problem?

Not sure if it would be a problem. Best to contact them about it.

[Tofer]

16 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

Two local witnesses are not a problem but I was hoping that it could be done in Thailand as it would be more convenient.

 

The local amphur is 18 km away, BKK is about 350km plus probably 2 overnight stays, a bit inconvenient if my wife has to come with me as our son still has to go to school though it could be done in October during the school holidays.

 

If I have to do it through the UK it is not so easy as I have no bank account there (I finally left about 14 years ago). I can ask my son or a friend if I can use their CC as the UK government won't accept my KBank debit card, even though it clearly says VISA on the front.

 

6 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That was a mistake on your part. My advice is never show enough financial proof for an extension based upon retirement if you want a extension of stay based upon marriage.

I can recall a member submitting all the paperwork for an extension based upon marriage and they did it for retirement without him knowing about it until they had done the extension stamp and of course they refused to change it. He wanted the one based upon marriage so he could work and ended up leaving to get a single entry non-o visa to so he could change it to marriage.

Absolutely. I've learnt from my experience.

But the second year I needed to go down the proof of income route as I missed the 3 months seeding period thinking it was still 2 months, they got me again as I exceeded the requirement for retirement with income. Sod's law I suppose, one day I'll get it right....

[Tofer]

7 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

She would not have to go to Bangkok for any reason. The foreign marriage registration can be done at the local Amphoe.

The legalized marriage certificate would have to be translated to Thai and then the translation would have to be certified by the Consular Affairs Department of the MFA in Bangkok. That can even be done by mail or you could go, pay the fee and have it sent to you by EMS.

The legalization can be done a lot easier and faster if you have somebody in the UK that can do it for you. The difficult part is getting the legalization done by the Thai embassy in London and then having them send it to you here.

I seem to remember, vaguely, that the Legalisation Department in UK will forward it onto the UK Thai Embassy for their input and they in turn will then return it to you at your Thai address. (Sorry, just remembered, I think I heard / read this somewhere, not absolutely sure though. I now recall having checked my documents more closely that I got the Thai Embassy in KL to certify my legalised marriage certificate, following much of a runaround to the UK embassy, when I was there getting a new Non-O visa).

 

Billd766, we used a translation service in Bangkok for the MoFA requirements and they for, as I recall, a very reasonable fee made the translation and the trip to the MoFA to get the requisite stamps for us. Very reliable and efficient. I don't know if I'm allowed to give the company details here, but here goes, 'Master Piece Translation Ltd. Part., tel 02907-5533-36, www.masterpiecetranslation .com.

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, Tofer said:

I seem to remember, vaguely, that the Legalisation Department in UK will forward it onto the UK Thai Embassy for their input and they in turn will then return it to you at your Thai address.

That is correct but the difficult part is from the Thai embassy to here and paying the embassy fee.

[Tofer]

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

That is correct but the difficult part is from the Thai embassy to here and paying the embassy fee.

Yes, not sure of the logistics.

 

But don't try repeating my route in KL Billd766, as they really gave me the runaround and I virtually had to beg them in the end, but baffled them with a letter from the KL British Embassy saying they would not certify my legalised document, but it had an official stamp on the letter which I think confused them and I got away with it.

[billd766]

11 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That was a mistake on your part. My advice is never show enough financial proof for an extension based upon retirement if you want a extension of stay based upon marriage.

I can recall a member submitting all the paperwork for an extension based upon marriage and they did it for retirement without him knowing about it until they had done the extension stamp and of course they refused to change it. He wanted the one based upon marriage so he could work and ended up leaving to get a single entry non-o visa to so he could change it to marriage.

 

And now you know 2 members.

 

They did that to me at Mae Sot back in 2009. I failed to check what extension I got after asking for one based on marriage and when I went back 3 months later they pointed it out to me.

 

I didn't mind so much but it is about 180 km each way trip for me and the Tak to Mae Sot road was the worst road in Thailand. Only 2 or 3 narrow lanes of traffic, up and down hills with evil turns in them, tailgated by minibuses and being overtaken on blind corners. The smell of burning brakes even came into the car.

[billd766]

4 hours ago, Tofer said:

I seem to remember, vaguely, that the Legalisation Department in UK will forward it onto the UK Thai Embassy for their input and they in turn will then return it to you at your Thai address. (Sorry, just remembered, I think I heard / read this somewhere, not absolutely sure though. I now recall having checked my documents more closely that I got the Thai Embassy in KL to certify my legalised marriage certificate, following much of a runaround to the UK embassy, when I was there getting a new Non-O visa).

 

Billd766, we used a translation service in Bangkok for the MoFA requirements and they for, as I recall, a very reasonable fee made the translation and the trip to the MoFA to get the requisite stamps for us. Very reliable and efficient. I don't know if I'm allowed to give the company details here, but here goes, 'Master Piece Translation Ltd. Part., tel 02907-5533-36, www.masterpiecetranslation .com.

 

Thanks for that info.

[n210mp]

Just  few more  questions;

 

Do the photos of the house with  my wife and I on the inside and outside of the house need to be on  glossy photo paper or will plain paper copies suffice?

 

Do photocopies need to be in colour or black?

 

I have a "yellow book" and wondered if this would help in the application?

 

I will be getting a letter from the Bangkok bank in Pattaya for inclusion in my application.

 

Can I get this letter say a week before or what is the latest  time before the application date?

 

I ask this question because some of the posters on this thread seem to go to the bank for this letter on the same day they make their application.

 

Thank you once again for your help

 

regards

 

Harvey 

[ubonjoe]

Plain paper is OK.

Black and white copies are accepted.

The yellow book alone is not normally enough. If your wife's house book is for where your are living that will be your proof of residence.

Latest reports are that Jomtien will accept the letter from the bank up to 3 days old. But bank book may need to be updated on the day you apply.

 

 

[n210mp]

4 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Plain paper is OK.

Black and white copies are accepted.

The yellow book alone is not normally enough. If your wife's house book is for where your are living that will be your proof of residence.

Latest reports are that Jomtien will accept the letter from the bank up to 3 days old. But bank book may need to be updated on the day you apply.

 

 

Thanks Joe, just getting all the stuff together and didn't want to make any mistakes!

[Tanoshi]

55 minutes ago, n210mp said:

Thanks Joe, just getting all the stuff together and didn't want to make any mistakes!

Immigration offices may vary slightly on their requirements for a marriage extension.

 

As a comparison to the document list Joe provided for his extensions in Udon, this is a list I prepared  for the requirements at my local office.

It will give a general idea of what could be requested.

Extension of Stay based on Marriage.odt  

 

A very recent change at my office, is for the very first application for a marriage extension, the Village head is no longer required to attend, only the applicant and his wife. They now make a 'home visit' and 2 Thai witnesses (non family) must be in attendance.

 

[ubonjoe]

9 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

 

As a comparison to the document list Joe provided for his extensions in Udon,

I provided no list for Udon or anywhere else. Any list I have done is general in it that includes info that may be required at some offices and not others. I assume you mean this one I posted on the first page of this topic. Marriage Extension Requirements 2.pdf

[Tanoshi]

1 minute ago, ubonjoe said:

I provided no list for Udon or anywhere else. Any list I have done is general in it that includes info that may be required at some offices and not others.

Same, same, if you read the disclaimer at the bottom of my list.

Quote

The onus is on you to supply any document requested. The above is a comprehensive list although not every document listed may be requested.

 

[ubonjoe]

1 minute ago, Tanoshi said:

Same, same, if you read the disclaimer at the bottom of my list.

Not really the same. I produced mine based upon reports on this forum not my local office (Ubon).

Your list did not display very good. It opened with Wordpad.

Best to convert them to PDF so that just about anybody can open them without a problem and they are more secure than .doc and .odt files.

Here is a PDF of it. Extension of Stay based on Marriage.pdf 

 

[n210mp]

20 hours ago, Tanoshi said:

Immigration offices may vary slightly on their requirements for a marriage extension.

 

As a comparison to the document list Joe provided for his extensions in Udon, this is a list I prepared  for the requirements at my local office.

It will give a general idea of what could be requested.

Extension of Stay based on Marriage.odt  

 

A very recent change at my office, is for the very first application for a marriage extension, the Village head is no longer required to attend, only the applicant and his wife. They now make a 'home visit' and 2 Thai witnesses (non family) must be in attendance.

 

Thank you Tanoshi for your post.

 

I have been going to Pattaya immigration for some time now and think that they will know me  and my wife as she occasionally has accompanied me on my 90 day reports which were based on a "retirement extension" which I now wish to change to a "Spouse extension"  simply due to the need for less money in the Bank.

 

I also have a Pink Thai foreigners ID card  and also a Yellow book which seem to be worthless for this process, now in retrospect  I feel was a  complete waste of a lot of time in getting them in the first place .

 

After hearing so many different reports of different rules being applied throughout Thailand I am hoping that the Immigration at Pattaya  are a little  more practical on the basis that there must be a massive amount of applications for Visa extension of this nature. 

[n210mp]

I have Photocopied most of the stuff required for the application but have come up with a couple  questions  regarding the form TM 7 itself  and now I am looking at the form and cannot understand too clearly just what some of the  the questions are relating to , I hope that you can clarify please?

 

at the

"Point of arrival " part just under the halfway point on the first page of the  form there seems to be some ambiguity. 

I filled in that part and then it goes on to Arrival departure card ; that part ok as well .

 

The next bit I hereby apply for an extension of temporary  stay in the kingdom for ? I answered  365 days ?

 

Whilst researching the application through Thai-Visa and also Dr Google there was a mention of my Thai lady wife also having to fill in some forms, if this is so , is there anywhere I can download these forms in preparing for the Immigration office appointment?

 

Is there anywhere that has a "Filled in " in English template for the form becasue I am on my 3rd application now and am getting a bit frustrated 

 

Once again a Million thanks for the people who have contributed to my questions 

 

 

[ubonjoe]

See if this helps you to complete the TM7 form. sample TM7 form 2.pdf  For the reason it says retirement but you will put to stay with my Thai wife.

They will give you the statement your wife will complete and then both of you sign it. At my office they use it as a draft to do on their computer and the print it out for your wife to check before you both sign it.

[n210mp]

54 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

See if this helps you to complete the TM7 form. sample TM7 form 2.pdf  For the reason it says retirement but you will put to stay with my Thai wife.

They will give you the statement your wife will complete and then both of you sign it. At my office they use it as a draft to do on their computer and the print it out for your wife to check before you both sign it.

Thank you very very much Joe  for the great and pertinent information

As usual you have saved the day, I was getting a bit fed up after three attempts of completing the blasted form  but your  TM7 template had me downloading the form , completing it and printing it off in minutes .

 

Kind regards

 

Harvey 

[n210mp]

Went to  Chonburri Immi yesterday at Jomtien  to hand in my completed TM7 form x 2 for the issue of a Spouse extension to my non immi "o" class visa, if you have read all this thread you will know that I was changing to a spouse extension from a retirement extension. 

 

There were just a few little problems which I will outline  and this is just for information to help anyone else in my situation

 

1. Joe the PDF template you gave me has been changed to a new type of TM7 so I had to complete 2 of the new ones. I mention this only  so maybe you could update your template which was great for me to complete and print out in less than 10 minutes.

 

2. The Immigration officer required that I furnish 6 months of statements of the Bank account I was using as the basis for the application.

 

3.  The  photos of the house, the kitchen, the lounge and of you and your wife outside the house showing the numbers of the house, then these photos need to be on maybe an A4 sheet but the photos need to be postcard size so the Immi Officer can write on the space around  them.

If your house has no numbers visible then you can Use an A4 Sheet of paper with the numbers written on by hand and then attach this to your gate or wall and take your picture of you and your Mrs with this  A4 sheet in the background

 

4. They require a map of how to get from their office to your house, I provided them with a  google map with the directions on it. This was unsuitable for them and they had me do a "hand drawn A4 sheet" with the directions!  

 

 5 . All the Passport photocopies need to have your signature on them as well as any ID that you or  your wife is supplying .

 

6. The Bank letter is valid for 2 days at Jomtien immigration 

 

 

The job took 2 visits and at the end the Immigration office informed me that I had to report back in about a month for their decision on the application.

 

Onca agin thank you for all who helped and especially  Ubonjoe

[ubonjoe]

20 minutes ago, n210mp said:

1. Joe the PDF template you gave me has been changed to a new type of TM7 so I had to complete 2 of the new ones. I mention this only  so maybe you could update your template which was great for me to complete and print out in less than 10 minutes.

That is the newest form. I assume you printed it two sided. Maybe they had you complete a old form.

This is it immigration website. https://www.immigration.go.th/download/1486547929418.pdf

[n210mp]

6 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

That is the newest form. I assume you printed it two sided. Maybe they had you complete a old form.

This is it immigration website. https://www.immigration.go.th/download/1486547929418.pdf

Yes I did complete and print both sides  Joe all,  I remember her saying as she gave me two new  forms is that the forms I completed were not the correct ones. (Or more correctly  as she said to my Wife )  

[Tanoshi]

35 minutes ago, n210mp said:

1. Joe the PDF template you gave me has been changed to a new type of TM7 so I had to complete 2 of the new ones. I mention this only  so maybe you could update your template which was great for me to complete and print out in less than 10 minutes.

The pdf template Joe supplied is the latest version from Immigrations own website and used by most IO's.

Chonburi may be using the older version, or produce their own amended version.

Did you keep a blank copy for further use?

 

39 minutes ago, n210mp said:

2. The Immigration officer required that I furnish 6 months of statements of the Bank account I was using as the basis for the application.

Probably just a whim of the IO you were dealing with. Not the standard financial proof required.

 

41 minutes ago, n210mp said:

3.  The  photos of the house, the kitchen, the lounge and of you and your wife outside the house showing the numbers of the house, then these photos need to be on maybe an A4 sheet but the photos need to be postcard size so the Immi Officer can write on the space around  them.

Fairly standard. Two photos per A4 sheet of paper.

 

42 minutes ago, n210mp said:

4. They require a map of how to get from their office to your house, I provided them with a  google map with the directions on it. This was unsuitable for them and they had me do a "hand drawn A4 sheet" with the directions!  

Some want a hand drawn map, others accept a map printed from google.

 

44 minutes ago, n210mp said:

5 . All the Passport photocopies need to have your signature on them as well as any ID that you or  your wife is supplying .

Standard at any government department. You must have missed that point from my list.

Quote

All copies must be certified (signed) by the applicant and the wife.

 

46 minutes ago, n210mp said:

6. The Bank letter is valid for 2 days at Jomtien immigration 

That's in your favour. Some insist on same date as the application.

 

At least you now know the specific requirement of Chonburi Immigration for future reference.

There is no 'standard' advice that can be given in these situations, because each office can set it's own requirements on documentary evidence it requires to comply with the rules.

 

From your experience you could post an up to date list of the requirements for an extension base on marriage at Chonburi IO, on the Pattaya forum to help other local members who may follow in your footsteps ?