Retirement Extension Conundrum

[Mario666]

Dear all.

 

I have a difficult situation regarding my next (God Willing) extension of stay based on retirement.

 

My renewal date is July 1st.

 

My problem is this......My son is getting married in Rhodes on June 20th 2019.

 

The families are traveling from the UK on 15th of June and most will be staying 1 week in Rhodes at a resort.

 

I believe that before you could apply up to 45 days in advance to renew your extension , but last time I went to Samui immigration they said it has to be 10 days or less.

 

I know that this varies throughout the country and may change again (like everything does in LOS), but I do not want to come back to Thailand for a couple of months after the wedding as my mother

 

is elderly so I need to spend some time with her and I have new grand kids that I haven't met yet.

 

I have lived on Samui for 12 years and each year the Visa renewal process has become bothersome with increasingly difficult "Hurdles" to jump through year on year.

 

Ideally I would renew my extension before I travel back to the UK which will be about 10th of June.

 

If immigration won"t budge on the renewal window it means I will have to come back straight after the wedding from Rhodes via the UK and even then it will leave me with less than 5 working days to

 

go though the renewal process which on Samui has so many variables.

 

I would hate to miss the deadline and have to start over again with Visa Runs and all the hassle that goes with it.

 

Helpful suggestions most welcome.

 

Many Thanks M

 

 

 

 

 

[newnative]

     My retirement extension is June 25th of each year.  Last year I did the extension on May 26th. I thought I might get a new extension date of May 26th but I got the same date as before, and my renewal was stamped as due June 25, 2018.  I am in Pattaya and use Chonburi Immigration.  Perhaps if you explain your situation to your Immigration they might make an exception and let you renew early.

[moonseeker]

Hi there. I had several health situations which forced me to early renewal. Up to 45 days twice and once almost 2 months. This in Chonburi and once way back on Samui. Explained them my problem and asked for their help. No questions asked and friendly helped. Showed them my return flight ticket. 

You could always just let it expire, get a Non-Immigrant back home before you are ready to travel and apply for extension before the 3 months are over. Or travel back via another country close-by, where they issue Non-immigrant. Had to do that once via Penang and did another stopover along the coast or a scary direct van trip from Penang to Surat. Good luck. MS>

[ubonjoe]

9 minutes ago, hyku1147 said:

Ask these folks:

http://cambodiainter.com/

I think you missed this in the OP.

24 minutes ago, Mario666 said:

I believe that before you could apply up to 45 days in advance to renew your extension , but last time I went to Samui immigration they said it has to be 10 days or less.

He is not in Pattaya.

[Mario666]

16 minutes ago, newnative said:

     My retirement extension is June 25th of each year.  Last year I did the extension on May 26th. I thought I might get a new extension date of May 26th but I got the same date as before, and my renewal was stamped as due June 25, 2018.  I am in Pattaya and use Chonburi Immigration.  Perhaps if you explain your situation to your Immigration they might make an exception and let you renew early.

Thank you..I will try, But most of the immigration staff are pissed off most of the time....I don't blame them though...Constantly needing to learn new rules and dealing daily with people who in mant cases speak even less English than them.

 

[Mario666]

17 minutes ago, moonseeker said:

Hi there. I had several health situations which forced me to early renewal. Up to 45 days twice and once almost 2 months. This in Chonburi and once way back on Samui. Explained them my problem and asked for their help. No questions asked and friendly helped. Showed them my return flight ticket. 

You could always just let it expire, get a Non-Immigrant back home before you are ready to travel and apply for extension before the 3 months are over. Or travel back via another country close-by, where they issue Non-immigrant. Had to do that once via Penang and did another stopover along the coast or a scary direct van trip from Penang to Surat. Good luck. MS>

Thanks mate...I can consider, but looking to avoid that route if possible.....what with all this and "Brexit"??? ?

 

[OJAS]

2 minutes ago, Mario666 said:

Thank you..I will try, But most of the immigration staff are pissed off most of the time....I don't blame them though...Constantly needing to learn new rules and dealing daily with people who in mant cases speak even less English than them.

 

Are you perchance married to a Thai national or in receipt of the UK State Pension? If either of these is applicable in your case I suspect that the most practical course of action would be for you to obtain a single-entry non-O visa from the Royal Thai Embassy in London while you are in the UK. This would then enable you to be stamped in for 90 days upon your eventual return to Thailand, whereupon you could hit the retirement extension of stay road again.

 

http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services/7742/84508-Non-Immigrant-visas.html#6

 

[Mario666]

15 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I think you missed this in the OP.

He is not in Pattaya.

Hi Ubon Joe,

 

I know that no one on TVF has greater knowledge than you on this sort of stuff, but it seems that each Immigration Office makes its own rules and they can change year on year or seemingly day by day? ?.

 

I do not visit TVF everyday so I miss some stuff. Do you have any specific knowledge regarding Samui.

 

Before it used to be easy because via Mr. Angry (Ex Chief Immigration) you could "Chuck Him" a few thousand and fix most issues, but I believe he is now in the Klink!

 

Thanks in anticipation. ?

 

 

 

 

[Mario666]

9 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Are you perchance married to a Thai national or in receipt of the UK State Pension? If either of these is applicable in your case I suspect that the most practical course of action would be for you to obtain a single-entry non-O visa from the Royal Thai Embassy in London while you are in the UK. This would then enable you to be stamped in for 90 days upon your eventual return to Thailand, whereupon you could hit the retirement extension of stay road again.

 

http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services/7742/84508-Non-Immigrant-visas.html#6

 

Thanks OJAS,

 

I am lucky enough to be 7 years short of the age requirement for UK pension and I do live with a Thai lady, but I am still married in the UK (amicable split) 25 years later ?.

 

I welcome your advice....What I will never do again is a Visa Run from Samui, via ferry and Death Trap (Mini Van) to Malaysia or Ranong.

 

Cheers!

 

[Mario666]

46 minutes ago, hyku1147 said:

Ask these folks:

http://cambodiainter.com/

Many thanks.

 

 

[Mario666]

48 minutes ago, newnative said:

     My retirement extension is June 25th of each year.  Last year I did the extension on May 26th. I thought I might get a new extension date of May 26th but I got the same date as before, and my renewal was stamped as due June 25, 2018.  I am in Pattaya and use Chonburi Immigration.  Perhaps if you explain your situation to your Immigration they might make an exception and let you renew early.

Thank you, but I have been told in the past by the famous "Herbert" who is the Austrian God of all things regarding Immigration that if you miss by even 1 day on Samui you have to start from scratch....Of course he has a vested interest.

[OJAS]

18 minutes ago, Mario666 said:

Thanks OJAS,

 

I am lucky enough to be 7 years short of the age requirement for UK pension and I do live with a Thai lady, but I am still married in the UK (amicable split) 25 years later ?.

 

I welcome your advice....What I will never do again is a Visa Run from Samui, via ferry and Death Trap (Mini Van) to Malaysia or Ranong.

 

Cheers!

 

My pleasure!

 

If you wish to avoid visa runs (thoroughly understandable IMHO) and Samui Immigration are proving unduly difficult, then the only other course of action that I can think of would be for you to apply for an OA visa at the London Embassy if you were willing and able to go through their various hoops:-

 

http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services/7742/84508-Non-Immigrant-visas.html#7

 

Your passport would then be stamped for 12 months from the date of your return to Thailand, and, were you prepared to do one of those dreaded border runs just before the visa itself (as opposed to the latest permission to stay granted under it) expired, your passport would then be stamped for a further 12 months, meaning that you could get almost 2 years out of the visa before you needed to start submitting yourself again to the peculiar whims of Samui Immigration for retirement extension purposes.

[Mario666]

12 minutes ago, OJAS said:

My pleasure!

 

If you wish to avoid visa runs (thoroughly understandable IMHO) and Samui Immigration are proving unduly difficult, then the only other course of action that I can think of would be for you to apply for an OA visa at the London Embassy if you were willing and able to go through their various hoops:-

 

http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services/7742/84508-Non-Immigrant-visas.html#7

 

Your passport would then be stamped for 12 months from the date of your return to Thailand, and, were you prepared to do one of those dreaded border runs just before the visa itself (as opposed to the latest permission to stay granted under it) expired, your passport would then be stamped for a further 12 months, meaning that you could get almost 2 years out of the visa before you needed to start submitting yourself again to the peculiar whims of Samui Immigration for retirement extension purposes.

OJAS Many thanks...I will explore your recommendation.

 

I vow to you and all readers that I will never do another  "Mini Van Russian Roulette Visa Run" again....I will fly to KL or anywhere to avoid that !!!

 

Life is too short already and potentially even shorter in one of those Mash Machines .???

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

22 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Your passport would then be stamped for 12 months from the date of your return to Thailand, and, were you prepared to do one of those dreaded border runs just before the visa itself (as opposed to the latest permission to stay granted under it) expired, your passport would then be stamped for a further 12 months, meaning that you could get almost 2 years out of the visa before you needed to start submitting yourself again to the peculiar whims of Samui Immigration for retirement extension purposes.

 

Re getting the 2nd year out of an O-A visa, it wouldn't necessarily have to be a deathtrap van journey to Malaysia. It could be timed to another trip back to his home country, or some local SE Asia flight vacation to someplace nearby.  I too would avoid the deathtrap vans!

 

[Mario666]

2 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Re getting the 2nd year out of an O-A visa, it wouldn't necessarily have to be a deathtrap van journey to Malaysia. It could be timed to another trip back to his home country, or some local SE Asia flight vacation to someplace nearby.  I too would avoid the deathtrap vans!

 

Thanks TallGuy....I will avoid at all costs doing another Kamikaze Road Trip Adventure and welcome your help. ?

[ubonjoe]

10 hours ago, Mario666 said:

I know that no one on TVF has greater knowledge than you on this sort of stuff, but it seems that each Immigration Office makes its own rules and they can change year on year or seemingly day by day? ?.

Not sure where the 10 day nonsense comes from. Most offices encourage people to do it early.

I see not reason for them not do it early. I would help if you showed them you have tickets out of the country.

[wgdanson]

11 hours ago, Mario666 said:

year on year or seemingly day by day? ?.

Why not year BY year, or day ON day? Just wondering what happened to the Queen's English.

[Wallander4]

11 hours ago, newnative said:

     My retirement extension is June 25th of each year.  Last year I did the extension on May 26th. I thought I might get a new extension date of May 26th but I got the same date as before, and my renewal was stamped as due June 25, 2018.  I am in Pattaya and use Chonburi Immigration.  Perhaps if you explain your situation to your Immigration they might make an exception and let you renew early.

yeah - for a fee ...

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, Wallander4 said:

yeah - for a fee ...

Only the standard 1900 baht fee for an extension application.

What was done is standard procedure. Nothing special.