My day going from retirement to Marriage Visa

[Shibuya1]

I am a US Citizen. My retirement Visa expires May 22. Went into immigration with my wife on April 22nd to apply for the Marriage Visa. There were two ladies handling the Visa. I had all the needed paperwork, but hadn't signed every page and copies of every page. Also was told the TM 7 I downloaded had been replaced and had to fill out two new ones. Was told I had to start over and get a new number. You must have two complete sets of of all paperwork signed. Also my Google map was rejected and I was made draw two new ones by hand. They accepted my income letter from the US Consulate.

After my two complete sets were finished. got a new number tried again. The first agent only talked to my wife as she went through the paperwork. Had to make two more photo copies and she then stamped my passport for May 22nd 2019. Maybe the start of the Visa? We then moved to the second lady, the big boss, who interviewed my wife and asked questions like "how did we meet" , "how long had we been together", etc. She never looked at me or talked to me or smiled. She told my wife someone would call her and come to our house within 30 days to check us out again. We will  have to go back to immigration on May 22nd to get the final stamp and approval. We arrived at about 1:30 and were done at 3:30.

It looks like their  visit is just a formality and will get the final stamp on May 22nd. 

[billd766]

Could you possibly list all the paperwork required, photos etc as I will most likely be doing the same thing in July as my visa expires in August.

 

Thank you, as I think that a lot of people will be heading down that route this year.

[ratcatcher]

Congratulations Shibuya 1, pretty well a normal experience. The home visit is a mere formality and if you offer tea and biscuits or whatever your wife thinks appropriate, smiles all round and on May 22 you are home and dry for another year. Welcome to the club.

They will suss out any marriage of convenience quite easily after talking to your wife and neighbors etc.

[SEtonal]

1. What Immigration Office did you visit?

2. With the marriage extension, there is always a 30 day "under consideration" period.   During this time the application will be sent to a regional office for approval.  Once approved, you will receive a marriage extension.

[Shibuya1]

Jontiem 

[Shibuya1]

20 hours ago, billd766 said:

Could you possibly list all the paperwork required, photos etc as I will most likely be doing the same thing in July as my visa expires in August.

 

Thank you, as I think that a lot of people will be heading down that route this year.

They will give you the list in English and Thai. I found it. 

marriage visa - Chonburi.pdf

[jacko45k]

34 minutes ago, Shibuya1 said:

Jontiem 

Good feedback. I had heard of that office being 'difficult' wrt Extensions based on marriage to a Thai. Your experience counters that.

[SEtonal]

1 hour ago, Shibuya1 said:

Jontiem 

The marriage desk at Jomtien Immigration has a reputation for being rude.  I guess a lot of people with fake marriages attempt to use that office.    Immigration was fairly civil to you and your wife and took your application, which doesn't always happen, so that was good.

 

 

[billd766]

4 hours ago, Shibuya1 said:

They will give you the list in English and Thai. I found it. 

marriage visa - Chonburi.pdf 1.07 MB · 6 downloads

Thank you very much for the list.

[JackThompson]

5 hours ago, Shibuya1 said:

They will give you the list in English and Thai. I found it. 

marriage visa - Chonburi.pdf 1.07 MB · 8 downloads

You won't get it with just that list (which is what I had when I first tried there).  You also need an up to date TM-30 plus additional landlord / residence docs. 

 

If you own your own condo, the blue book and chanote will do. 

 

If you rent, the lease/contract plus, signed (by the owner) copies of: The owner's ID, owner's house-book, residence house-book, and residence chanote.  If the owner is unwilling or unavailable, you are out of luck.

[JackThompson]

4 hours ago, SEtonal said:

The marriage desk at Jomtien Immigration has a reputation for being rude.  I guess a lot of people with fake marriages attempt to use that office.    Immigration was fairly civil to you and your wife and took your application, which doesn't always happen, so that was good.

Anyone faking it would just pay an agent - easy-peasy and all-smiles.  It's the honest folks they are known to give a hard-time to.

[Shibuya1]

On 4/24/2019 at 5:18 PM, billd766 said:

Could you possibly list all the paperwork required, photos etc as I will most likely be doing the same thing in July as my visa expires in August.

 

Thank you, as I think that a lot of people will be heading down that route this year.

They will give you the list in English and Thai. I found it. 

[Shibuya1]

On 4/24/2019 at 5:18 PM, billd766 said:

Could you possibly list all the paperwork required, photos etc as I will most likely be doing the same thing in July as my visa expires in August.

 

Thank you, as I think that a lot of people will be heading down that route this year.

They will give you the list in English and Thai. I found it. 

Edited May 15, 2019 by Shibuya1
New information

[Shibuya1]

After everything's had been approved in Pattaya, they called me Monday and said Bangkok immigration wanted proof of my income, even though I had the letter from the US Consulate dated December 24th. I went to immigration and they didn't know why Bangkok wanted proof. After explaining I could not get this information, they then asked me to go the Consulate and have them certify the letter as it was 5 months old. I told her they had been accepting this document for the last 14 years and it was good for 6 months. She understood, but said there was nothing she could do as this was coming from Bangkok. I asked for the letter back so I could just renew my Retirement Visa. She didn't have the letter as it is in Bangkok. I told her I couldn't ask the Consulate to write up some kind of verification with only a copy of the letter. She got on the phone with Bangkok and then she said the officer there would submit to the big boss for approval but didn't know if it will be approved. She said she would call me if the was a problem. That was Monday. They haven't called back yet. I will go back Monday to see its approved. If not I'll only have 2 days to apply for the retirement visa and the letter will still be in Bangkok. Maybe they will accept the copy as the original is in Bangkok. This is totally ridiculous. 

[OJAS]

On 4/25/2019 at 2:24 PM, jacko45k said:

I had heard of that office being 'difficult' wrt Extensions based on marriage to a Thai.

As are Jomtien's "neighbours" at Maptaput. I can only infer that both offices are acting under strict orders from their Divisional HQ bosses in Bangkok (who make the final approvals during the "under consideration" period) to make the marriage extension process as bureaucratically awkward as is humanly possible.

[OJAS]

1 hour ago, Shibuya1 said:

After everything's had been approved in Pattaya, they called me Monday and said Bangkok immigration wanted proof of my income, even though I had the letter from the US Consulate dated December 24th.

Was there not some US pension statement supporting your 24 December affidavit, which you could have provided? That said, it would not have surprised me if Bangkok had insisted on a certified Thai translation to boot, given their clear drive and determination to make the whole process as difficult as possible!