Marriage extension approved with embassy letter.

[ratcatcher]

This post only deals with extensions based on marriage at smaller offices.

At 1300hrs my wife and I were outside the Phichit immigration office waiting for the officers returning from lunch.

Right on time they arrived and in we went and immediately they started the process of examining and re-examining both identical sets of papers I had carefully prepared over the weeks previous.

The lady that started the process knows my wife and I and was one of the officers who did the second house visit when we transferred from the P'Lok Office 2 years ago.

In plan A., I had included my letter from the Canadian Embassy dated Nov 30th 2018 stating that they had seen evidence of my pensions going into my Canadian bank account. She multiplied that by the prevailing C$ rate and satisfied that it was above the B40,000 required then examined photographs and processed the rest of the papers. After much shuffling, sorting, laughing and joking another senior officer came along and proceeded to stamp, re-examine, shuffle some more, toss out some extra copies he deemed unnecessary and after a couple of photo shoots, they stamped my passport with the usual "report back/ under consideration stamp. 

All was finished by 14.15 During the whole time only a couple of Thais and Burmese ladies came in. Everything was very low key and friendly.

Obviously Phichit being a small rural province with few expats, life is easier for us and the immigration staff.

I feel for those that have to endure the Industrial version of doing extensions of stay and other related activities in centres such as Bangkok, Jomtien and Chiang Mai.

I should add that I also had a plan B if the initial application using an embassy letter was refused for some reason. I had transferred B400,000 into an account with K.Bank over two months ago and had gone to the trouble of getting a letter dated today and an updated passbook, just in case. Not necessary but a useful exercise.

For those who complain about all the hassles required doing an extension based on a Thai Wife, my advice is make sure you have everything copied correctly, in two separate piles, let your wife do as much talking as necessary, as inevitably the conversation will orient towards them unless you speak fluent Thai.  Smile and be calm, dress tidily and speak when spoken to.

This annual pilgrimage is often stressful for many, but just be prepared, cover all your bases, ducks in a row and good luck. 

[ubonjoe]

That is how it should be if you can get proof of income from your embassy. The new rules state they are accepted.