Marriage visa now a better alternative

[wreckingcountry]

Only a good idea if you “are or want to get married”


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[vogie]

9 hours ago, bbi1 said:

What happens if the married people don't live in the same house? A pic in front of both houses? lol

But how would they know you don't live in the same house. The last time we had our friends come to our house for the photo session, IO would not accept them on minor technicalities, farang friend on photo, not allowed etc. So we went down to the friends house and our photos take there, IO was satisfied.

But anyone thinking of using an agent for the extension, agents will only work with retirement extensions as I believe these can be processed in your local IO and not sent to Bangkok like a marriage extension.

[Peterw42]

I switched from retire to marriage last year, it now appears to have some more advantage.

 

I switched for the following reasons, can work, easier to do a company (less capital, less employees), less income or deposited funds required, an easier pathway to PR/citizenship.

 

Yes , the extension is more running around but not much in the scheme of things.

[MJCM]

15 minutes ago, vogie said:

But how would they know you don't live in the same house.

<snip>

A Home Visit by Immigration and or talking to the neighbors and asking them if the couple is really living together ???

[AhFarangJa]

19 hours ago, The Stranger said:

In addition to this, at least here in Phuket, they want the pictures of your children inside the house, birth certificate and ID card, the funny part is that my daughter is 26 and living with her fiancee in Bkk... It makes no sense.

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I renewed my Marriage Visa extension in November. I received a phone call from Hua Hin Immigration three weeks after the application saying Bangkok now wants pictures of our Son alongside us in the usual poses, outside with house number, inside, etc. It was no big deal as he is 13 years old, but definitely a first in three years of renewals.

[MichaelJohn]

Is there a procedure to change from Retirement to Marriage or do you just change the reason when your extension is due for renewal?

[JackThompson]

16 minutes ago, vogie said:

But how would they know you don't live in the same house. ...

Home Visits are standard for marriage-based extensions.  The rules are "de-facto and de-jure" - so if you don't live together, you don't qualify.  Most of the "extra hoops" they set up are useless for detecting marriage-fraud (as you pointed out with the pics at another house), so only work a way to discourage marriage-based applications.  But, the home-visits actually do make sense.

[JackThompson]

Just now, MichaelJohn said:

Is there a procedure to change from Retirement to Marriage or do you just change the reason when your extension is due for renewal?

There is no legal reason you cannot just change the reason on the form, and supply the extra requirements needed.  But, you should prepare for the IOs at some offices to make every effort to create problems to discourage the change.

[vogie]

1 minute ago, JackThompson said:

Home Visits are standard for marriage-based extensions.  The rules are "de-facto and de-jure" - so if you don't live together, you don't qualify.  Most of the "extra hoops" they set up are useless for detecting marriage-fraud (as you pointed out with the pics at another house), so only work a way to discourage marriage-based applications.  But, the home-visits actually do make sense.

How standard are the home visits, I have been here 6 years and have yet to have one.

[MJCM]

5 minutes ago, vogie said:

How standard are the home visits, I have been here 6 years and have yet to have one.

 

4 years Marriage extension in Pattaya, 1 home visit by IO.

2 years Marriage extension here in Buriram, 1 Home visits (after the 1st extension) but they were not from Immigration but from Local Police together with Village Chief with A4 (double sided) full of questions which a lot were about our relationship (so I think they were send by Immigration)

Edited February 5, 2019 by MJCM

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

Think you'll find it's a lot more hassle doing the Marriage Extension. 

Aside from the items mentioned above, if you don't have children, you need to get a 'guarantor' to show up at the Immigration interview plus his picture with you and your missus in front of your house. 

Not all that much harder.

Not all offices require a witness if you don't have children. In fact I think only Pattaya immigration has that rule.

What is so bad about having to have a few pictures.

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

For an additional 400k baht, it's a lot easier to do the Retirement Extension. 

There is a lot more to it than just putting an additional 400k the bank now. I suggest you read the new requirements for retirement extensions.

[ivor bigun]

Well one thing if i change to marriage visa,it wont be far for a policeman to come and check he can just look over the wall from next door,where he has lived next to us for years lol

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[AhFarangJa]

34 minutes ago, vogie said:

But how would they know you don't live in the same house. The last time we had our friends come to our house for the photo session, IO would not accept them on minor technicalities, farang friend on photo, not allowed etc. So we went down to the friends house and our photos take there, IO was satisfied.

But anyone thinking of using an agent for the extension, agents will only work with retirement extensions as I believe these can be processed in your local IO and not sent to Bangkok like a marriage extension.

When we renew the visa they ALWAYS want a pic of us with the house number clearly visible.

On our first application IO came to the house and took pics of us outside the front gate, and also inside the house. No visits since, but they also want a copy of my TM30 each year.

I guess as Ubonjoe states different offices different interpretation of the rules....

[Peterw42]

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

Think you'll find it's a lot more hassle doing the Marriage Extension. 

Aside from the items mentioned above, if you don't have children, you need to get a 'guarantor' to show up at the Immigration interview plus his picture with you and your missus in front of your house. 

To add insult to injury, Immigration used to require a picture of you and the wife in your bedroom. 

For an additional 400k baht, it's a lot easier to do the Retirement Extension. 

The "guarantor" isn't a big deal, I just took the immigration to the condo office, I have a friend who literally grabbed a motorbike taxi guy (who knew him) from the corner.

Immigration is really just checking for cohabitation, 2 toothbrushes in the bathroom, mens and womens shoes in the cupboard etc. 

[vogie]

5 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

When we renew the visa they ALWAYS want a pic of us with the house number clearly visible.

On our first application IO came to the house and took pics of us outside the front gate, and also inside the house. No visits since, but they also want a copy of my TM30 each year.

I guess as Ubonjoe states different offices different interpretation of the rules....

Yes I agree, the photo we used for our house number was indeed our house, the rest as I said my friends house. Every year there does appear to be a new set of obstacles put in place, if agents are still going to be a viable proposition I'm sure many will go down that route, self included, its getting to the stage that it is just not worth the hassle anymore.

I just wonder what the criteria is for paying a home visit, it would appear as not as standard as one poster suggests.

[JackThompson]

13 minutes ago, vogie said:

I just wonder what the criteria is for paying a home visit, it would appear as not as standard as one poster suggests.

As with all policies, it varies by office, and from one year to the next.

 

I have yet to read a report of anyone using an agent getting a home-visit, so those who don't actually meet the stated qualifications probably use agents.

[Baerboxer]

On 2/3/2019 at 6:27 PM, ubonjoe said:

I chose that option many years ago. I am on my 11th extension based upon marriage now.

You can change the reason for your current extension to marriage when it or near to expiring.

Here is my general list of required documents. Marriage Extension Requirements 2.pdf

 

I originally chose the extension based on marriage for a few years. But the local (Pathumtani) officers suggested switching to retirement because it was easier (for them too!) and didn't have to go to BKK for approval.

I'm usually keep well above 800k in the account I use so that side isn't currently an issue. But depending on how they intend to monitor the new kept in account for 3 months after granting and then maintaining a 400k monthly min balance the extra work involved in applying based on marriage and the additional visit after approval may be less hassle. We have to wait and see. If they just intend to check when you apply for a renewal then not so much an issue. Although it's one more thing for officers to check and get confused by. They could request that bank letters at time of applying confirm all this but that would probably be too easy!

 

If lots of retirees who are married try and switch from retirement to marriage extensions I suspect, and it's only a guess, that there will be some push back from immigration and local offices will become ultra careful before sending applications off to HQ for approval. 

 

I guess we'll just have to wait and see how each office deals with this.

 

Thank you for your pdf - very useful.

 

 

[Andycoops]

I have been on marriage extns for 10 years based on income.

I have spent the last 6 weeks getting online banking from my UK account up and running.

Mainly because the card reader they require you to use didn't arrive until just this last weekend. 

I hope the 1st year leniency clause holds up for my next extn in mid December....

[vogie]

1 minute ago, Andycoops said:

I have been on marriage extns for 10 years based on income.

I have spent the last 6 weeks getting online banking from my UK account up and running.

Mainly because the card reader they require you to use didn't arrive until just this last weekend. 

I hope the 1st year leniency clause holds up for my next extn in mid December....

Out of interest Andy, how many home visits?

[steve187]

2 hours ago, Spaniel said:

 My wife and I were married in the USA.     Wouldn't it be easier to just get married again here in Thailand then we would have the marriage certificate in Thai and not have to mess around with translations etc?

you can only get married once to the same person, unless you get a divorce first

[steve187]

7 minutes ago, Andycoops said:

I have been on marriage extns for 10 years based on income.

I have spent the last 6 weeks getting online banking from my UK account up and running.

Mainly because the card reader they require you to use didn't arrive until just this last weekend. 

I hope the 1st year leniency clause holds up for my next extn in mid December....

afaik all card readers are the same, you could have borrowed somes

[tilaceer]

Two weeks ago I started the process of changing from Retirement to Marriage and, apart from an initial misunderstanding, my local IO could not have been more helpful.

The final straw was having to bring 65k over everymonth, due to the poor AUD against the baht. I used to bring over 6 months at a time, but this is now not allowed.

However, when IO saw how much money I had in my Australian bank, they wanted to still give me a retirement visa, which I refused. They claimed that, as an Australian, I could still get the embassy letter to verify income. When I informed them that the embassy had stopped issuing stat decs on the 7th January, they all looked at one another as if to say, "Did you know this ?"

When it was explained to them how much extra money the new rule was going to cost me, they agreed and were most helpful.

Should have done this years ago as it is nowhere as complex as it had been made out to be.

Now I never have to worry about bringing money over again for visa requirements, as the 400k does not have to be an international transfer, and we will just transfer this much locally into a bank account created just for this purpose for the months prior to resubmittal, then transfer back into the joint account.

[JackThompson]

17 minutes ago, tilaceer said:

Two weeks ago I started the process of changing from Retirement to Marriage and, apart from an initial misunderstanding, my local IO could not have been more helpful.

...

Now I never have to worry about bringing money over again for visa requirements, as the 400k does not have to be an international transfer, and we will just transfer this much locally into a bank account created just for this purpose for the months prior to resubmittal, then transfer back into the joint account.

Glad to read a story like this where it all worked out.  Do be prepared to keep the 400K in that account during the "under consideration" period, for future applications, in case this policy comes to your office.

[wobalt]

I always use a 1y Visa instead of an extension as my wife leaves for 26 Years in Europe where she has permanent residency. I live in our properties in Thailand. I always wonder why people can bare such treatment when they apply for an extension. What is the benefit of an extension?


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[ravip]

23 hours ago, biggerpill said:

Having been coming to Thailand for over 8 years and married to a thai lady I find the new retirement visa rules a big joke...I an about to retire and DO NOT need to jump thru do many hoops..trying to simplify my life..I support many thai households with constant construction on my wife,s farm.1.1thwy do not appreciate us.. I will look for.country that does and just come as a tourist when I can..they made my life difficult just to register a motorcycle in my name even though I have a marriage visa, bank account in thai,own  condo in bkk, but want a work permit..<deleted>  idiot's.. bike now in wifes name..I run a.very large agency in USA and not tolerant of beauracratic bullshit...and the.embassies are worthless in this fight...

Signed an ex,-expat

M

A very wise decision indeed, which will facilitate you to run your very large agency in the USA. All the best!

[Aveariel]

What kind of reason do they require or is it in your pdf

The attachment u posted does not open


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[Caldera]

While I'm not married and have no plans to get married, I must say that I find the process for an extension based on marriage as per reports here and elsewhere unnecessarily intrusive and - depending on the immigration office - sometimes outright denigrating to the applicant and his wife.

 

For this reason, even if it were an alternative for me (at least on paper), I would have a hard time to submit myself to that nonsense. Photos taken in the bedroom, clothes in the wardrobe being checked, neighbors being questioned about my marriage? Count me out!

 

[displaced American]

I lived in Thailand 9 years and married a Thai woman, had a marriage visa but was talked into changing to a retirement visa. Got divorced and went back to the states for heart operation then a hip replacement. I want to come back to Thailand and get married again to my former wife. Will I have to jump threw hoops again.

[wobalt]

While I'm not married and have no plans to get married, I must say that I find the process for an extension based on marriage as per reports here and elsewhere unnecessarily intrusive and - depending on the immigration office - sometimes outright denigrating to the applicant and his wife.
 
For this reason, even if it were an alternative for me (at least on paper), I would have a hard time to submit myself to that nonsense. Photos taken in the bedroom, clothes in the wardrobe being checked, neighbors being questioned about my marriage? Count me out!
 

For that reason I use a visa instead of an extension


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[cornishcarlos]

10 minutes ago, wobalt said:

For that reason I use a visa instead of an extension


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Same... No financials required and no reporting to Imm every 90 days..

I work 10 week on, 10 week off so suits me perfectly. If I don't have time to get a visa then I just use 30 day exempts for a while until I have a chance to get another Multi Non O