Whom best to contact for info on living relatively permanent in Thailand.

[phannam31]

I’m 52 and a UK citizen and my fiancée is under 50 and has a South African passport. We aim on going to Sa to get married prior to wanting to settle in Thailand. We do t really want to settle and keep looking over our shoulder to be removed from the country and then have the complications of our different citizenships being a problem.

What would you guys recommend best options for us to look to stay in Thailand permanent and/or best U.K. advice place we could talk this over with someone ?

Thanks in advance .

[mikebell]

Not the British Embassy.

[ubonjoe]

You could apply for a one year extension of stay based upon retirement at immigration and if married your wife could get an extension based upon yours for being a member of your family.

You would need 800k baht in a Thai bank for 60 day for the first extension (3 months after that) or proof of 65k baht income or a combination of the 2 totaling 800k baht. You wife would not need any financial proof.

If in the UK you could apply for a OA long stay visa at the embassy in London. The financial requirements are the same but the money can be a UK bank. A OA visa allows unlimited one year entries for a year from the date it is issued. It is possible get almost almost 2 years of total stay from the visa by getting another one year entry just before it expires. Requirement are here: http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services/7742/84508-Non-Immigrant-visas.html#7  Your wife could get a extension based upon your OA visa entry at immigration.

[elviajero]

As you are over 50 you will be able to get a 1 year extension of stay based on retirement, which is renewable each year. Once you have the extension of stay your wife can get an extension of stay as your spouse. She effectively piggybacks your stay. Once your wife is over 50 she can keep piggybacking your extension, or get an extension in her own right as long as she too can meet the financial requirements.

 

It would be an advantage for you to enter the country with a Non Immigrant 'O-A' (long stay) Visa, and for your wife to enter with a Non Immigrant 'O' Visa. However, you would need to apply for the 'O-A' in the UK. On entry with a non 'O-A' visa you'll be given a 1 year stay. Your wife would receive 90 days, but she could extend that stay for the remainder of your 1 year stay. At the end of that year you can apply for a 1 year extension (and piggyback) at immigration, or leave/re-enter the country -- just before the 'O-A' visa expires -- to receive a final 1 year stay (using that visa). At the end of that final 1 year stay you can apply for a 1 year extension (and piggyback extension).

 

Another alternative is to enter the country as tourists and then you could apply for a non immigrant 'O' visa and subsequent extension once in the country. It's a bit of a pain with several visits to immigration, and your wife would need to exit the country to get a non immigrant 'O' visa after you've received your extension of stay.

 

[dotpoom]

10 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You could apply for a one year extension of stay based upon retirement at immigration and if married your wife could get an extension based upon yours for being a member of your family.

You would need 800k baht in a Thai bank for 60 day for the first extension (3 months after that) or proof of 65k baht income or a combination of the 2 totaling 800k baht. You wife would not need any financial proof.

If in the UK you could apply for a OA long stay visa at the embassy in London. The financial requirements are the same but the money can be a UK bank. A OA visa allows unlimited one year entries for a year from the date it is issued. It is possible get almost almost 2 years of total stay from the visa by getting another one year entry just before it expires. Requirement are here: http://www.thaiembassy.org/london/en/services/7742/84508-Non-Immigrant-visas.html#7  Your wife could get a extension based upon your OA visa entry at immigration.

Excellent answer and very informative.

[malt25]

29 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

Excellent answer and very informative.

Here... here ! If you follow Ubonjoe's recommendation on any visa or immigration topic you won't go far wrong.

[gamini]

I would suggest you avoid the foreign ghettos , Phuket, Pattaya and Koh Samui.

The nicest thing about Thailand are it's friendly people. You won't see many of these at the above-mentioned paces. 

 

[Mavideol]

17 hours ago, malt25 said:

Here... here ! If you follow Ubonjoe's recommendation on any visa or immigration topic you won't go far wrong.

agree, Joe appears to know the visa stuff and always gives good insight

[phannam31]

Ubonjoe: thanks for advice above much appreciated . One query , nothing is guaranteed I guess but am I to assume from your informative reply that:

Reapply every just before 90 days up and get 90 days at a time ? Or may be granted one year if apply and check
In every 90 days in that year ... “ May” be able to reapply for another one year resulting in two year total stay ?... if so is that the max or from
Experiences what are the chances of getting renewed again and again eg if we wanted to stay 5/6 years permanent ? Someone has privately suggested fly out to Cambodia for a few days every 90 days and easy just to re enter and will have another 90 days and forever indefinitely going on like that with no problems of being rejected? Is that true?


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[SheungWan]

On 10/23/2018 at 12:56 PM, gamini said:

I would suggest you avoid the foreign ghettos , Phuket, Pattaya and Koh Samui.

The nicest thing about Thailand are it's friendly people. You won't see many of these at the above-mentioned paces.

Yes. All the friendly people are in Nakhon Nowhere.

Edited October 26, 2018 by SheungWan

[SheungWan]

30 minutes ago, phannam31 said:

Ubonjoe: thanks for advice above much appreciated . One query , nothing is guaranteed I guess but am I to assume from your informative reply that:
Reapply every just before 90 days up and get 90 days at a time ? Or may be granted one year if apply and check
In every 90 days in that year ... “ May” be able to reapply for another one year resulting in two year total stay ?... if so is that the max or from
Experiences what are the chances of getting renewed again and again eg if we wanted to stay 5/6 years permanent ? Someone has privately suggested fly out to Cambodia for a few days every 90 days and easy just to re enter and will have another 90 days and forever indefinitely going on like that with no problems of being rejected? Is that true?
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Visas have an expiry date. After that date cannot get another stamp. So if O-A visa expires Dec 31 2018 cannot get new stamp Jan 01. Looked at another way, can get final 1 year stamp Dec 31, but that's it other than re-entry permits.

[KittenKong]

1 hour ago, phannam31 said:

Reapply every just before 90 days up and get 90 days at a time ? Or may be granted one year if apply and check
In every 90 days in that year ... “ May” be able to reapply for another one year resulting in two year total stay ?... if so is that the max or from
Experiences what are the chances of getting renewed again and again eg if we wanted to stay 5/6 years permanent ?

Retirement extensions are for one year, and they are cheap to obtain (under 2000B per year). I've been repeating my extension for eight years and have never had any trouble at all, but who knows what the future will bring?

 

If you want the advance security of five years or more then maybe you should consider the Thailand Elite visa packages. You pay for these - and they are not cheap - but they do have much longer validity.

[ubonjoe]

2 hours ago, phannam31 said:

Reapply every just before 90 days up and get 90 days at a time ? Or may be granted one year if apply and check
In every 90 days in that year ... “ May” be able to reapply for another one year resulting in two year total stay ?... if so is that the max or from

Not sure which option I mentioned you are asking about.

If you apply for a one year extension of stay at immigration you can stay for the entire year. You would only need to do a report of staying longer than 90 days to immigration. If you wanted to travel you would need a re-entry permit.

The OA long stay visa from the embassy in London allows unlimited one year entries for a year from the date it is issued. When you enter the country you could stay for one year without leaving the country and just do the 90 day reports to immigration. If you travel during that year you would get a new one year entry very time you enter the country up to the date the OA visa expires. If got a new 1 year entry on or before it expires you could get almost 2 years of stay from it. After the visa expires you would need a re-entry permit to keep that entry valid if you want to travel.

 

2 hours ago, phannam31 said:

Experiences what are the chances of getting renewed again and again eg if we wanted to stay 5/6 years permanent ? Someone has privately suggested fly out to Cambodia for a few days every 90 days and easy just to re enter and will have another 90 days and forever indefinitely going on like that with no problems of being rejected? Is that true?

No problem to get a new one year extension of stay year after year. You would just have to supply the required financial proof every year to get a new one year extension.

Not sure what that someone is saying. It appears they are referring to a multiple entry non-o visa issued by a embassy or consulate that allows unlimited 90 day entries for one year from the date of issue. For retirement those are not easy to get and even harder for your wife to be to get one.

[phannam31]

Sorry to be a bit dim but I do come from Bristol :-)
It seems under my age for retirement visa I can get a more or less continuous year on year stay without going out country or can leave RG come back UK for a few weeks visit family and just re enter? And can stay indefinitely this way at moment? If so we will be just married when we aim arrive in Thailand but my wife is not retirement age so what is the securest wAy for her to stay too obviously with me if my perception above for me is correct?


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[ubonjoe]

5 minutes ago, phannam31 said:

It seems under my age for retirement visa I can get a more or less continuous year on year stay without going out country or can leave RG come back UK for a few weeks visit family and just re enter? And can stay indefinitely this way at moment?

With a OA visa you would have to apply for a new visa about every 2 years in the UK or yearly if you don't take advantage of being able to use it to its maximum by doing a entry just before it expires.

With a one year extension of stay (it is not a visa) issued by immigration you would apply for new extension every year. If you want to travel during the year you need to apply for a re-entry permit at immigration to keep your extension valid.

Either way you can stay here for as long as your want to.

 

7 minutes ago, phannam31 said:

If so we will be just married when we aim arrive in Thailand but my wife is not retirement age so what is the securest wAy for her to stay too obviously with me if my perception above for me is correct?

Your wife would be able to apply for a extension of stay at immigration based upon your extension of stay or a entry from the OA visa. Her extension would be valid up to the date your one year extension expires or your permit to stay from the OA visa ends.