visa extension refused

[simonrbkk]

Went to Bangkok immigration yesterday to change from retirement extension to marriage extension (non imm o ) was refused because i made a mistake by using some of 800000 baht 2 weeks before the 3 month in account after getting retirement extension.lots of talk about blacklist & deportation i not understand whats going on but after my wife reasoning with them im told i have to leave country by end of July amnesty my visa runs out 16th july.she tells me they not put application for marriage extension on system but once i have left Thailand i will only be able to return to Thailand if i have a "new uk passport" this is the part i don't understand because my retirement extension will still be on the system even if its not in new passport.

Has anyone come accross this before ?

Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[timendres]

If your retirement extension does not have a re-entry permit, then once you leave the country the extension will be canceled. If your current passport meets the requirements for a marriage visa, and then extension, I am not sure why you would need a new one. It is interesting to see that the 800k rules were checked, which confirms that they will be using this method for enforcement of that rule.

[Max69xl]

Why didn't you keep the 800k in your bank account 3 months after the application? This is a requirement from March 1 2019 when using the money in the bank option, and it's not negotiable. Did immigration put a stamp of some kind in your passport about you not meeting the financial requirements? I guess you have to leave the country and start all over again, but you can't do a border crossing since the borders are closed. When does your permission to stay expire? 

[Max69xl]

2 minutes ago, timendres said:

If your retirement extension does not have a re-entry permit, then once you leave the country the extension will be canceled. If your current passport meets the requirements for a marriage visa, and then extension, I am not sure why you would need a new one. It is interesting to see that the 800k rules were checked, which confirms that they will be using this method for enforcement of that rule.

They check the money in the bank 1 year back due to the new rule from March 1 2019. OP doesn't meet the financial requirements when he went below 800k before 90 days after the application. Immigration did it by the book. 

[dabhand]

I feel sure that the reference to not putting the marriage extension application on the system is a clear indication of what they are expecting you to do next........... Nothing an agent can't fix.

[Upnotover]

2 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

They check the money in the bank 1 year back due to the new rule from March 1 2019. OP doesn't meet the financial requirements when he went below 800k before 90 days after the application. Immigration did it by the book. 

Sounds like they did it by the book but are cutting him some slack allowing him to clear off home and get a new passport, rather than deporting and blacklisting.

[ubonjoe]

I think immigration could of been a little flexible since your were applying for a extension based upon marriage that does not have the same requirements as retirement.

I don't understand why they are telling you that you will need a new passport. Leaving the country will cancel your current extension.

I see no reason for getting the new passport unless you will less than 12 months remaining on it when you apply for a extension later.

You could apply for a 60 day extension to visit your wife to get more time to leave the country if the amnesty is not extended.

 

[Mansell]

I thought it is 400,000 baht for marriage extension....what happened here?

[jackdd]

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I think immigration could of been a little flexible since your were applying for a extension based upon marriage that does not have the same requirements as retirement.

He said his "visa" (he probably means extension) ends on 16th July, and that he withdrew money before 3 months were up.

So he got this extension on 16th July 2019 with the requirement to keep the money in the bank. He withdrew the money in about October 2019. Technically he has been on overstay since 16th July 2019 or October 2019, however immigration wants to interpret it.

They were already quite flexible, by not stamping his extension as void while in the immigration office and arresting him for being on a few months overstay.

 

6 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You could apply for a 60 day extension to visit your wife to get more time to leave the country if the amnesty is not extended.

I don't see them issuing an extension to somebody with a multiple months overstay, technically he also doesn't come under the amnesty because he has been on overstay before.

 

My advice for OP: You voided your extension, the IOs were already nice to you, leave Thailand as soon as possible.

[baansgr]

Pm sent

[moe666]

20 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I think immigration could of been a little flexible since your were applying for a extension based upon marriage that does not have the same requirements as retirement.

I don't understand why they are telling you that you will need a new passport. Leaving the country will cancel your current extension.

I see no reason for getting the new passport unless you will less than 12 months remaining on it when you apply for a extension later.

You could apply for a 60 day extension to visit your wife to get more time to leave the country if the amnesty is not extended.

 

Joe he took money out of 800,000 before 3 months after he recieved the extension of stay

[simonrbkk]

12 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I think immigration could of been a little flexible since your were applying for a extension based upon marriage that does not have the same requirements as retirement.

I don't understand why they are telling you that you will need a new passport. Leaving the country will cancel your current extension.

I see no reason for getting the new passport unless you will less than 12 months remaining on it when you apply for a extension later.

You could apply for a 60 day extension to visit your wife to get more time to leave the country if the amnesty is not extended.

 

I asked about getting a 60 day extention but they said i didn't have a valid visa as i didn't keep money in the bank for the required time.i did my first 90 day report 2 weeks early took bank book but was not asked for it so i thought i was ok to use money forgetting i went 2 weeks early my mistake.

[ubonjoe]

28 minutes ago, simonrbkk said:

I asked about getting a 60 day extention but they said i didn't have a valid visa as i didn't keep money in the bank for the required time.i did my first 90 day report 2 weeks early took bank book but was not asked for it so i thought i was ok to use money forgetting i went 2 weeks early my mistake.

Unless they canceled your extension it is still valid. They are just being difficult.

[ChouDoufu]

50 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I think immigration could of been a little flexible since your were applying for a extension based upon marriage that does not have the same requirements as retirement.

I don't understand why they are telling you that you will need a new passport. Leaving the country will cancel your current extension.

I see no reason for getting the new passport unless you will less than 12 months remaining on it when you apply for a extension later.

You could apply for a 60 day extension to visit your wife to get more time to leave the country if the amnesty is not extended.

 

they were checking that he met the requirements for his extension for retirement.  he was to keep the full 800k in the bank for 3 months but failed to do so as part of that extension.  nothing to do with the new extension based on marriage.  can't get a new extension of any kind if he broke the rules last time, although if only a couple weeks they should show some leniency.

 

is this a new thing?  sounds like there is now a blacklist for failing to meet the financial requirements after the extension is granted.

[ubonjoe]

20 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

is this a new thing?  sounds like there is now a blacklist for failing to meet the financial requirements after the extension is granted.

It is certainly not a blacklisting.

Normally they would cancel the extension and give a person 7 days to leave the country. But leaving the country in most cases would not be possible now.

 

[ChouDoufu]

6 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

It is certainly not a blacklisting.

Normally they would cancel the extension and give a person 7 days to leave the country. But leaving the country in most cases would not be possible now.

 

what was the point then of suggesting a new passport?  sounds like the system may now be set up such that if someone fails to meet the new financial requirements during the entire validity period of their extension, they won't be allowed to apply for any type of new visa using the same passport.

[lopburi3]

9 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

It is certainly not a blacklisting.

Normally they would cancel the extension and give a person 7 days to leave the country. But leaving the country in most cases would not be possible now.

 

Believe the extension ended last year when he no longer was meeting requirements (as on the paper we have to sign and are provided a copy).  As he seems to have stayed the full year it appears this was long ago before COVID became an issue.  Agree this is a gray area with a lot of yes/no/maybe but very little actual reporting.  But appears he may have been facing about 8 months overstay?

[USNret]

2 hours ago, Mansell said:

I thought it is 400,000 baht for marriage extension....what happened here?

He was applying for a marriage extension. But he was still on the retirement extension and inside the period of time that the 800K is required.  He should have known better and kept the 800K in place until his conversion to marriage extension was approved. 

[OJAS]

3 hours ago, ChouDoufu said:

what was the point then of suggesting a new passport?  sounds like the system may now be set up such that if someone fails to meet the new financial requirements during the entire validity period of their extension, they won't be allowed to apply for any type of new visa using the same passport.

I seriously wonder whether it was actually a new non-O visa that they told him to obtain rather than a new passport. But even that would be bunkum advice. All he would need to do would be to do a border run shortly before the amnesty expired, re-entering with a 30-day visa-exempt permission to stay and then applying for a 90-day non-O visa conversion at CW before hitting the annual extension of stay trail once again.

[ChouDoufu]

35 minutes ago, OJAS said:

I seriously wonder whether it was actually a new non-O visa that they told him to obtain rather than a new passport. But even that would be bunkum advice. All he would need to do would be to do a border run shortly before the amnesty expired, re-entering with a 30-day visa-exempt permission to stay and then applying for a 90-day non-O visa conversion at CW before hitting the annual extension of stay trail once again.

exactly.  and when he applies for a new visa conversion, the io's will inspect

the passport with the visa extension that just expired, and find that he didn't maintain the bank balance.......

[Upnotover]

3 hours ago, USNret said:

He was applying for a marriage extension. But he was still on the retirement extension and inside the period of time that the 800K is required.  He should have known better and kept the 800K in place until his conversion to marriage extension was approved. 

Nope, his retirement extension was not valid as he didnt keep the 800k in his account for the required period after it was granted in 2019.  So he wasnt't on anything at all when he applied for the marriage extension.

Edited June 23, 2020 by Upnotover

[david555]

6 hours ago, simonrbkk said:

I asked about getting a 60 day extention but they said i didn't have a valid visa as i didn't keep money in the bank for the required time.i did my first 90 day report 2 weeks early took bank book but was not asked for it so i thought i was ok to use money forgetting i went 2 weeks early my mistake.

90 day reporting desk are not the  ones who check that 90 day / 3 months money checking , that is done by the ones who did the extension !

[OJAS]

11 hours ago, ChouDoufu said:

exactly.  and when he applies for a new visa conversion, the io's will inspect

the passport with the visa extension that just expired, and find that he didn't maintain the bank balance.......

My understanding is that, if applying for a non-O conversion based on marriage at CW, all he'd need to show was his bank passbook showing a current minimum balance of 400k with no seasoning required. But maybe @ubonjoe could confirm (or otherwise).

 

Alternatively he could travel to Savannakhet to obtain a fresh non-O visa for marriage with no proof of finances required. However, the $64,000 question is whether the consulate there will have reopened for issuing visas by the time the amnesty expires.

 

And the other "little" matters of which he might also need to be aware in the context of re-entering Thailand, whichever route he decided to go down, are the current requirements for (1) 100k USD minimum COVID-19 insurance cover and (2) 14-day quarantining.

[ubonjoe]

40 minutes ago, OJAS said:

My understanding is that, if applying for a non-O conversion based on marriage at CW, all he'd need to show was his bank passbook showing a current minimum balance of 400k with no seasoning required. But maybe @ubonjoe could confirm (or otherwise).

Not sure what you mean by conversion.

To apply for an non-o visa if he was on a tourist visa or visa exempt he would only need to show 400k baht in the bank on day he applies.

To apply for one year extension he would need 400k baht in the bank for 2 months.

 

[Peter Denis]

12 hours ago, ChouDoufu said:

exactly.  and when he applies for a new visa conversion, the io's will inspect

the passport with the visa extension that just expired, and find that he didn't maintain the bank balance.......

The only way IO could ever find out that he didn't maintain the bank-balance is when he re-applies with the same bank-book he used for his previous application.  Opening a new bank-account and using that one when applying for a new Visa or extension will effectively cover his tracks.

[visarunner]

20 hours ago, baansgr said:

Pm sent

why ?

[visarunner]

15 hours ago, OJAS said:

I seriously wonder whether it was actually a new non-O visa that they told him to obtain rather than a new passport. But even that would be bunkum advice. All he would need to do would be to do a border run shortly before the amnesty expired, re-entering with a 30-day visa-exempt permission to stay and then applying for a 90-day non-O visa conversion at CW before hitting the annual extension of stay trail once again.

but the borders are closed and not likely to be opened anytime soon for visa or border run.

[JusticeGB]

Surety you have some pension income coming into Thailand. Why not use the combination method to make up for the withdrawn money and keep your personal retirement Visa. There is far less hassle with that than with a marriage Visa and you still have time to do it.

[saminoz]

5 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Not sure what you mean by conversion.

To apply for an non-o visa if he was on a tourist visa or visa exempt he would only need to show 400k baht in the bank on day he applies.

To apply for one year extension he would need 400k baht in the bank for 2 months.

 

Thanks Ubonjoe.

Solid, easy to follow advice as always

[saminoz]

1 hour ago, JusticeGB said:

Surety you have some pension income coming into Thailand. Why not use the combination method to make up for the withdrawn money and keep your personal retirement Visa. There is far less hassle with that than with a marriage Visa and you still have time to do it.

Are they even allowing the combination method nowadays?

Edited June 24, 2020 by saminoz