August 23, 20187 yr Author Update. Back yesterday to finalise everything. What a nightmare. 3 hours and a mountain of paperwork, at least 2cm thick. Had to sign everything then go get copies and sign them. Right from start to finish the officer asked me 7 times if I was sure I wanted to do extension for child. Said it was very difficult. So got through all of that and you have to wait a month for approval from head office. At a few points they asked some pretty blunt questions....like how do we know u wont get your visa and leave ur son? I reminded them I had the money in the bank to do a retirement visa or could have simply got a letter from the embassy. Stings a bit when you are trying to do the right thing. I don't expect any sympathy from anyone but never once has a Thai said to me Im a decent bloke for doing the right thing for my kid or offered help in anyway. No kudos here for single dads. Then they were trying to interview my son. He does speak quite a bit of Thai and English but he's 2 years old for christ's sake. The only reason I decided to do this visa was I stupidly thought it would add to my case in the future if I have to apply for custody. She asked me where the mother was. I told her exactly where she was and what she was doing ...in graphic terms 5555. Then she tells me I need to get three people with Tabien Baan from my specific moo ban to provide signed copies of ID, TB and phone number....and they will all be required to attend immigration in a week or so to vouch that my son lives with me every day! Anyway, in the end they said they would be happy with 2 witnesses. I hate asking people to do this sort of stuff for me. For one they are always sus on what they are signing or guaranteeing. And people are busy...it's bad enough I have to go to immigration and waste hours let alone put someone else through it. I also heard them mention Poh yai baan and gunman too so I don't know if that will be yet another hoop I will have to jump through. The other kicker....I am applying for this extension a month before my other extension expired. My new extension will start from yesterdays date...so I have effectively lost a month of my yearly stay. Wasn't happy about that either I've heard people on here say it was a difficult process...and others say it is easy. Yes I guess if your prepared to put the time in its just a matter of following the steps. But my advice would be if you have any other option....marriage, retirement 800k, retirement stat dec from home....anything would be easier than visa extension based on a child.
August 23, 20187 yr 22 minutes ago, Kenny202 said: Update. Back yesterday to finalise everything. What a nightmare. 3 hours and a mountain of paperwork, at least 2cm thick. Had to sign everything then go get copies and sign them. ... My new extension will start from yesterdays date...so I have effectively lost a month of my yearly stay. Wasn't happy about that either This may be a punitive measure (see my remark below). If you are on an extension now, a new extension should start at the end of the previous extension. I could be wrong - perhaps not the case when the basis for the extension is being changed (retirement to parent of a Thai - both Non-Os) - but the first time I've heard of this, other than cases of changing from a tourist-type entry to a Non-Imm type. 22 minutes ago, Kenny202 said: I've heard people on here say it was a difficult process...and others say it is easy. Yes I guess if your prepared to put the time in its just a matter of following the steps. But my advice would be if you have any other option....marriage, retirement 800k, retirement stat dec from home....anything would be easier than visa extension based on a child. Marriage-based extensions can also be a nightmare, depending on the office. Much of their effort seems to be trying to get you to go for a retirement-based extension, which is easier for them to process. Encouragement in that direction is not uncommon, and some applying based on marriage, who had sufficient financials to qualify based on retirement, were given retirement-based extensions without their permission. In any case, good luck to you.
August 23, 20187 yr 4 minutes ago, JackThompson said: If you are on an extension now, a new extension should start at the end of the previous extension. I could be wrong - perhaps not the case when the basis for the extension is being changed (retirement to parent of a Thai - both Non-Os) - but the first time I've heard of this, other than cases of changing from a tourist-type entry to a Non-Imm type It is normal when changing the reason for a extension of stay for the new one to start on the date the application is done.
August 23, 20187 yr 3 hours ago, ubonjoe said: It is normal when changing the reason for a extension of stay for the new one to start on the date the application is done. Absolutely correct. I deliberately applied a month early when changing from 'retirement' to 'marriage' extension' for that reason.
August 24, 20187 yr On 8/22/2018 at 8:51 AM, ubonjoe said: He is in Isaan so it would be a very long trip to do it at Chaeng Wattana. Oops, my bad. Lost track of the thread. Sorry.
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