Changing from retirement visa to marriage visa

[brianthainess]

Going to immigration tomorrow, changing from retirement extension to marriage visa, i have heard that i need to take someone Thai that has known us for 2 yrs is this fact or a fictional

myth ?

[ubonjoe]

Whether you need a witness or not depends upon the office where you apply.

Never heard of an office wanting them to know you for 2 years

[Lacessit]

Apparently the IO in Chiang Mai is flooded with applications for marriage visas, due to the more stringent financial requirements for single farangs. A rather drastic solution to the problem.

[brianthainess]

5 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Whether you need a witness or not depends upon the office where you apply.

Never heard of an office wanting them to know you for 2 years

Thanks ubonjoe, i did have a mate who years ago went out on the street,and paid an old lady 200 baht to say she knew him, so there is that option.  

[brianthainess]

14 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Apparently the IO in Chiang Mai is flooded with applications for marriage visas, due to the more stringent financial requirements for single farangs. A rather drastic solution to the problem.

Serves immigration right. Not so drastic for me as I've been married a few years now,but i liked to keep my independence, visa wise. dam them i need my money to spend in the forthcoming year. well i'm off to the poo yai bans birthday party tonight hope to get his phone num. might help me tomorrow. our friends work all-day and i don't like to ask them as a witness.

[ahddub]

Serious question - what's the benefit of the Marriage Visa vs the Retirement Visa?

 

I'll be retiring soon (6 months - a year).  My Thai wife and I have been married for 30 years but the last 10 years she's lived in Thailand (can't live with the cold weather in NYC) and I've lived in NYC (need to work).  We have 4 children (Thai and U.S. citizens, living/working in U.S.; btw, my wife is also Thai and U.S. citizen).  I've been through the Imm-O and Wife Visa before but that was 10 years ago and I don't really recall all the steps that we went through.

 

Anyway, I'm looking for a step-by-step procedure and documentation requirements for either a Retirement Visa or Wife Visa (whichever is better)...

 

1.  I'm currently living in NYC; my wife is living in Thailand.  The children are all working in the States and have no desire to move back to Thailand (hopefully, they'll visit their empty-nesters).

 

2.  My monthly Social Security will be $2,500+;  I have $125K+ in my IRAs;  about $50K cash-in-bank.

 

3.  We (she) own a 2BR house in Tungsong, Nakhonsrithammarat.  She (we) has a large family there - I (and the 4 children) have lived there before for about 8 years.  Great caring, helpful, loving family.

 

So, I'm looking for a fairly smooth procedure, without a lot of in-out travelling.

 

[4MyEgo]

14 hours ago, brianthainess said:

have heard that i need to take someone Thai that has known us for 2 yrs is this fact or a fictional

myth ?

In my case at Sakon Nakhon immigration, not fictional, needed someone who new us for more than 2 years, wouldn't try what your friend said he did, what if it backfired....ooops, you might be in a lot of strife, remember your in Thailand.

 

Take someone you know, we paid my wife's aunty 200 baht, not that she asked, but immigration round trip was 2 hours 30 minutes by car without the stops, we also shouted her lunch and bought her some fruits on the way back home, almost an all day event, she didn't ask for anything, oh by the way, don't forget to tell who ever your taking to bring along their blue book and ID Card, and make sure you take lots of photos of you and the Mrs in and around the house and draw up a map where your house is.

 

From my experience when I first applied, they STRONGLY suggested that I do the retirement extension and used a number of excuses and said you can get it today, I wasn't buying it, they then said next year do marriage extension ok.

 

They said if I applied for marriage extension now Bangkok might knock it back as there was no guarantee they would approve the Marriage extension, later I found out it was because they are lazy and Bangkok wants everything in order as opposed to them just sticking your retirement file in a draw, not checks, questions or further copies.

 

I only agreed to do the retirement extension for that year and did the marriage one the following year, not because of money issues, and I can tell you they weren't happy chappies, but it's what I originally wanted and believe there is more weight in a marriage extension if the government chops and changes things or asks retired farangs, not married retired farangs to exit, i.e. they would leave the retired married farangs alone to support their wives and kids, call me paranoid if you like, but the recent enforcements have made a few farangs exit the country for not having the funds in their accounts and there will be more changes to come, I believe, so best of luck with it.

[brianthainess]

11 hours ago, ahddub said:

Serious question - what's the benefit of the Marriage Visa vs the Retirement Visa?

now that you can not touch your 800,000 baht for 3 months AFTER your extension, and then you must leave 400,000 in the bank all year. Those with limited income say a state pension and limited savings simply can not afford not to spend their money, and with the high baht, transfers mean you are depleting your savings faster than you planned 10 years ago.

[fishtank]

You can work if you wish with a Marriage Extension (It is not a Visa)

You need less money in the bank.

You can take all of the money out and spend it.

Nowadays it is probably easier to get than a Retirement Extension.

[ubonjoe]

12 hours ago, ahddub said:

Serious question - what's the benefit of the Marriage Visa vs the Retirement Visa?

Less financial proof needed for an extension of stay (it is not a visa) based upon marriage. You need to prove 40k baht of income verses 65k baht for retirement. Or 400k baht in a Thai bank for 2 months on the daty your appy verses 800k baht for 2 months and then 3 months after you apply and then it has to stay at 400k baht.

With marriage there is less likely to be changes to the requirements since it is humanitarian reasons verses convenience for retirement.

You can get a work permit and work with an extension based upon marriage. Not possible with retirement.

12 hours ago, ahddub said:

So, I'm looking for a fairly smooth procedure, without a lot of in-out travelling.

After you get a extension of stay based upon marriage or retirement you never have to leave the country unless you want to.

You can easily get a single entry non-o visa based upon marriage that will allow one 90 day entry and then apply for an extension of stay during the last 30 day of the entry from it from the embassy or one of the consulates in the states. You could apply for an extension based upon marriage or retirement.

You could also apply for a OA longest stay visa at the embassy or one the 3 official consulates. A OA visa allows unlimited one year entries for 12 months from the date it issued. You can show money in the bank in the states to apply for it or 65k baht income.

[Gandtee]

2 hours ago, fishtank said:

You can work if you wish with a Marriage Extension (It is not a Visa)

You need less money in the bank.

You can take all of the money out and spend it.

Nowadays it is probably easier to get than a Retirement Extension.

•  

"You can work if you wish with a Marriage Extension." Really? Is this fact?

[ubonjoe]

17 minutes ago, Gandtee said:

You can work if you wish with a Marriage Extension." Really? Is this fact?

Yes it is correct.

A work permit permit can be applied for with a non-o visa or extension of stay based upon marriage or for being the parent of a Thai. Income from working can be used to apply for an extension of stay to meet the 40k baht income requirement.

[jrward42]

1 hour ago, Gandtee said:

•  

"You can work if you wish with a Marriage Extension." Really? Is this fact?

Definitely the case. I have done that for 5 years doing marriage extensions and holding the same job and WP. Paperwork is more fiddly with a marriage extension but not too bad. As with everything here, the requirements vary from place to place.

[billsmart]

I assume what you mean is you came here on a Long-stay Type-O visa, and have been getting yearly extensions of stay using the retirement qualifications, and now you want to use marriage qualification.

You can do that, but you'll need a lot more than just someone who's known you for two years, and in fact, I've never heard of that requirement. You should check out the official Thai Immigrations website to get a list of all the requirement, but they include many things. I've attached a .pdf of the list of things I take to get an extension based on marriage. And, this was made several years ago, so there may be more now. 

Chok di...

Table of Contents - Marriage Visa -.pdf

[poka513]

Attached is a paper in English and Thai for extension based on marriage I got 2 days ago at Chiang Mai Immigration.

 

Been living in Chiang Mai past 5 years (USA citizen), have gotten one year extensions past 4 years based on retirement and US Embassy income letters. I do not wish to deposit income money monthly into a Thai bank nor 800k in one throw either. If my investments go up in the near term, I might consider putting 400k into a Thai bank to qualify for one year extensions based on marriage to a Thai.

 

We got married 4 years ago at Chiang Mai Amphoe. One year ago, my Thai wife got angry with me, so we divorced at Amphoe, but I have continued living with and supporting wife and her 3 adult kids. Because of Immigration changes this past year, decided being married would be better than retired, so we tied the knot again at the Amphoe last month.

 

My current retirement extension was due to expire on July 17, 2019. We went to CM Immigration Wednesday about 11am to ask for a 60 day extension based on marriage to a Thai. They had already given out all the queue numbers, come back tomorrow at 7:30am. My daughter and wife said the lady at front desk talked "violently" to them answering questions. The IO also asked for my TM-30 which I had, but not stapled into my passport (it is now).

 

We returned a little past 7:30am yesterday (Thursday, July 11, 2019), got number F6. They called number F1 at 8:15am. For some reason number F2 took over an hour (maybe an agent). We were called about 10:45am. They asked for my bank book showing 400k which I said I did not have yet, hence the reason for me asking for 60 days to give time to decide what I will do. They asked why I want 60 day extension, my answer was to Visit My Thai Wife. They did not like that answer and I got the feeling they did not want to grant the extension. After some back and forth, they did agree to proceed, but made a point that I would have to leave Thailand before end of 60 days.

 

While sorting through our paperwork copies, my wife in her wisdom mixed up our first marriage papers with the current which caused another crisis with 2 IOs and my wife and daughter speaking Thai back and forth. The IOs asked who my wife was married to prior. When my daughter answered HIM (papa), everyone laughed. The correct paper was given to the IO and the proceedure was completed by about 11:30am, including my 90 Day Report which is really easy to do now in CM.

 

One thing to note: the extension date was granted 60 days from yesterday (July 11, 2019) and not 60 days from my previous retirement extension date next week. So my new expire date is September 8, 2019.

 

Given to IO for 60 day extension (from memory):

Copies of my passport, TM-30, and Depart Card.

Copy of our current marriage certificate.

Copy of wife's ID card.

Copy of wife's house book.

One passport photo.

TM-7 form.

1900 Baht fee.

A new form to acknowledge overstay penalties.

Another new form for me to sign, sorry forget what it was exactly.

About 15+ pieces of paper, each signed by me and or my wife with some 2 sided.

 

If needed, copies are done across the busy street from the Immigration Office where there is also overflow parking (20 Baht). The copy place is also an agent. Their cost for doing an extension based on marriage to a Thai (or parent) is 7900 Baht.

 

This morning, after a good night's sleep, I asked my wife if she would like a short holiday in HCMC Vietnam prior to Sep 8, so I can get a multi-entry one year visa based on marriage to a Thai. Also in future we may be taking short holidays every 3 months elsewhere outside Thailand. Now everyone, wife and kids, are happy today.

thai_wife_chiang_mai.pdf