Extension of THAI Spouse Visa (Chiangmai)

[csmith]

THAI IMMIGRATION (Chiangmai) : it is with great anticipation and excitement each year when April comes around as I have to extend my THAI Spouse Visa for another year. It's always fun, and an intellectual challenge to see what the government can do to test my British resolve. 

 

Today 27Feb2019 I thought I'd drop by the immigration office and ask for their list of requirements for my visit in April … and you can see it below. 

 

It looks like they have tidied it up since my last copy (in December) … and bless their socks they have added at least one new requirement that was never asked for before (in 16 years) … and NO .. nothing to do with money or finances or pensions … something else. 

 

Beware immigration officer … I will be fully prepared … and all in the correct order and all filled in with  BLUE INK.

 

Have fun .....

 

Chris (Shamblesguru)

[baansgr]

So whats the new requirement...or is that secret

[JackThompson]

Thanks for posting this - should help many.  Is that "birth certificate" of applicant?  Guessing that is the "new" requirement - because a passport that shows our DOB isn't enough? 

 

The income is still fuzzy - "works abroad" = "embassy letter"?  Leaves a lot to be desired in terms of clarity.

 

There should be ONE document, with an official document-number from Bangkok, which lists the full set of requirements applicable to every office.  This is just more "our interpretation" junk.

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

hanks for posting this - should help many.  Is that "birth certificate" of applicant?  Guessing that is the "new" requirement - because a passport that shows our DOB isn't enough? 

That would be a child's birth certificate that the couple might have or it could be plural if they had more than one.

[ocddave]

5 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

Thanks for posting this - should help many.  Is that "birth certificate" of applicant?  Guessing that is the "new" requirement - because a passport that shows our DOB isn't enough? 

 

The income is still fuzzy - "works abroad" = "embassy letter"?  Leaves a lot to be desired in terms of clarity.

 

There should be ONE document, with an official document-number from Bangkok, which lists the full set of requirements applicable to every office.  This is just more "our interpretation" junk.

Nonthaburi has one of these as well, but this time the Immigration Officer filled it out for us, and then handed it back to my Wife and I to sign. Theirs is more like a checklist though, and they go thru it in front of you, then the signing part. The birth certificate part is probably for any children, I have to supply the Birth Cert every time I do the extension, even though mine is based on marriage, they want the marriage proof, and my daughters birth certificate.

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, ocddave said:

Nonthaburi has one of these as well, but this time the Immigration Officer filled it out for us, and then handed it back to my Wife and I to sign. Theirs is more like a checklist though, and they go thru it in front of you, then the signing part. The birth certificate part is probably for any children, I have to supply the Birth Cert every time I do the extension, even though mine is based on marriage, they want the marriage proof, and my daughters birth certificate.

That was my first thought on the BirthCert, but not indicated from the format of the letter.  At least they have a list - though there should only be one for the entire country (if BJ were for real about his cleanup, etc).

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, JackThompson said:

Thanks for posting this - should help many.  Is that "birth certificate" of applicant?  Guessing that is the "new" requirement - because a passport that shows our DOB isn't enough? 

4. Birth certificate is a mis-translation .......... 'birth certificate children' ..... is what the Thai script says.

บุตร = child/children

Edited February 27, 2019 by BritManToo

[ocddave]

30 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

4. Birth certificate is a mis-translation .......... 'birth certificate children' ..... is what the Thai script says.

บุตร = child/children

Us lazy farangs should probably learn the language????

[graemeaylward]

A 72 year old female friend of mine married to a Thai man for 47 years, lived in UK until 12 years ago, was recently asked by Immigration for original birth certificates for her four children, all late 30s. She told IO in no uncertain terms that birth certificates were the property of the person whose name appeared on the certificate and had nothing to do with her application, so she would not be producing them! She got her extension! :-)

Sent from my Lenovo A3000-H using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Acharn]

OT a little -- Does anybody know why they've started demanding blue ink? I don't care particularly; I'll pick up a pen with blue ink at Big C tomorrow, but I started using "black or blue-black" ink sixty years ago because the Thermofax machines used then could not "see" blue ink. I don't remember for sure, but I think the early Xerox machines also had a problem with that color.

[ubonjoe]

13 minutes ago, Acharn said:

OT a little -- Does anybody know why they've started demanding blue ink?

That apparently is strange requirement in Chiang Mai. Not a problem here at my office.

I complete and print out my TM7 form in black ink without a problem.

[pizzachang]

An interesting comparison, if I may.....I have a US bank account, from which I can instantly download my deposit records. In the USA, these records are acceptable to law courts and, in fact can be subpoenaed as factual evidence. My bank deposit records indicate clearly where my deposits come from (in my case including SSA and PERS retirement benefits) My bank activity records will also indicate when, where and what ATM in Thailand was used to withdraw them. These facts meet all the requirements for the finances portion of the Immigration requirements - except the bank account in Thailand.  Since I've read the new Immigration order, I've wondered who exactly benefits from the Thai bank account and why this makes a difference? In this age of electronic banking, I fail to see any difference in practice - the practice of proving where the money comes from and transferring the money electronically.  Is money-laundering a serious problem among expat Social Security recipients? 2 to 3 thousand dollars per month seems a bit unattractive to launderers, I would think - especially since we can so easily prove where our funds originate.  Just some random thoughts for comparison.  

[gamini]

Can somebody clarify if the 400 K for a marriage visa can be  in our joint account or does it have to be in my account.

[ubonjoe]

14 minutes ago, gamini said:

Can somebody clarify if the 400 K for a marriage visa can be  in our joint account or does it have to be in my account.

Normally it has to be in your name only. Some office smight accept it being in a joint account.

Best to ask you local office what they will accept.

[ReMarKable]

If I get a two month extension for my Non-o retirement extension of stay in August are their any changes to this procedure?  Do I have to prove 400,000 or 800,000 in the bank to get this extension now?  Thanks to anyone who knows. Also, do i need for regular extension of stay 90 days of 800,000 in the bank or 3 months?

[holy cow cm]

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That apparently is strange requirement in Chiang Mai. Not a problem here at my office.

I complete and print out my TM7 form in black ink without a problem.

One year I signed all docs at bottom in black and then had to resign them all on same page in blue. But they have accepted black colored copies almost every year. Unwritten everybody knows rule that blue is the color. I think it starts in schools as only blue is allowed and the morphs itself into being official rules.

[473geo]

5 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

One year I signed all docs at bottom in black and then had to resign them all on same page in blue. But they have accepted black colored copies almost every year. Unwritten everybody knows rule that blue is the color. I think it starts in schools as only blue is allowed and the morphs itself into being official rules.

Could be blue signed documents are more easily identified as the originals and not photo copies.

[holy cow cm]

6 minutes ago, 473geo said:

Could be blue signed documents are more easily identified as the originals and not photo copies.

That almost would make too much sense, but who knows. I see it as the schools here only accept blue pen for what ever reason they have for that, so I really think it has some odd ball thing to do with that and then carries upwards. Maybe some big guy had  monopoly on blue pens here at one time and gave kick backs to every school and agency's buyer that used them.

[steve73]

19 minutes ago, 473geo said:

Could be blue signed documents are more easily identified as the originals and not photo copies.

After a career in engineering, at least during the early years, blue was always used to sign drawings and documents for the simple reason that it did not show on a B&W copy...  Thus you always knew when you were looking at a photocopy rather than the original.

 

Red (which always showed clearly on a B&W copy) and green (like blue did not show) had specific meanings as well... but can't remember now what they were.

Of course all this became redundant with computerized drafting packages, where the revision history & approvals could always be traced back... 

 

But I still always sign things in blue, if asked to sign in Black I usually refuse (except for my UK passport application, where it must be in Black so that it copies clearly into the new PP). 

Edited March 1, 2019 by steve73

[jacko45k]

2 hours ago, 473geo said:

Could be blue signed documents are more easily identified as the originals and not photo copies.

Since the advent of color copiers no longer!

[473geo]

37 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Since the advent of color copiers no longer!

Sure a colour copier can make a signature in black - blue - to easily identify it is the original

[4MyEgo]

On 2/28/2019 at 2:05 AM, ocddave said:

Us lazy farangs should probably learn the language????

That would frustrate the crap out of me, because of the limited Thai I speak, when I do pronounce a word, Thai's look at me as if to say, " I not understand you ", e.g. went back to see a girl for the 2nd night of my stay in Phuket, this was a few years back, wife was at home where she enjoys being and looking after the offsprings ????

 

 

I didn't see her, the girls name was Beer, so I said; is Beer here to the girl behind the counter, she looked at me as if to say, what, so I repeated myself, is Beer here, she looked lost, turned to her friend, said something in Thai to her and, her friend turned to me and said, what you ly Mr, I repeated myself, is Beer here, they both looked at each other as if to say, what the fark does he want and, then the penny dropped, oh.....Beeeeeeeerh, she cuming soon, you sit, we call she.

 

So there I sat frothing, until she came 5 minutes later ????

 

[jacko45k]

5 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

So there I sat frothing, until she came 5 minutes later

Had a beer while you waited?

[Acharn]

On 3/1/2019 at 10:23 AM, ubonjoe said:

That apparently is strange requirement in Chiang Mai. Not a problem here at my office.

I complete and print out my TM7 form in black ink without a problem.

I guess I was unclear. The form is supposed to be black ink. You can pick it up in the immigration office. In fact I used to fill it in at the office, because until the coup of 2006 it never took more than an hour to do my extension at the Soi Suan Phlu office. For some reason they now insist the signature must be in blue ink, although they seem to be OK with everything else filled i with black ink. Oh, and this is at the Nakhon Sawan office, not Chiang Mai. 

[GinBoy2]

On 2/28/2019 at 8:47 PM, gamini said:

Can somebody clarify if the 400 K for a marriage visa can be  in our joint account or does it have to be in my account.

I think as is often the case it depends on the office.

 

A friend of mine went to do his marriage extension in Khon Kaen with a joint bank account, and they wouldn't accept it

[ripstanley]

On 3/1/2019 at 10:07 AM, Acharn said:

OT a little -- Does anybody know why they've started demanding blue ink? I don't care particularly; I'll pick up a pen with blue ink at Big C tomorrow, but I started using "black or blue-black" ink sixty years ago because the Thermofax machines used then could not "see" blue ink. I don't remember for sure, but I think the early Xerox machines also had a problem with that color.

Last year in Phayao they also asked for signatures and forms to be filled in blue ink. They report to Chiang Mai. I asked why and was given the reason that in blue ink it has to be original. No photocopies. I tried to explain that photocopies can be in colour but gave up and used a blue pen. I now complete all forms in blue ink.

Edited April 8, 2019 by ripstanley

[jacko45k]

13 hours ago, ripstanley said:

I tried to explain that photocopies can be in colour but gave up and used a blue pen. I now complete all forms in blue ink.

Bend with the wind, color copies are yet to be seen in Phayao.