Extension of stay for Non-immigrant 'O' visa: 2 kinds of advice urgently sought

[jrmaanda]

It has suddenly transpired I cannot get an extension of stay based on my 34-year marriage due to a Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmare. After two wasted days at the Chiangmai Immigration Office ended with them discovering some trivial fault with the mountain of paperwork at the last moment, they finally managed to come up with something that cannot practically be put right, namely that in the Ro Ko 2 (detailed marriage certificate I had never seen until this week) my year of birth was marked incorrectly as BE 1961 instead of AD 1961 or BE 2504. I am told the only possible way of putting this right is for both me and my wife to go to the amphuh we married in to ask for it to be corrected, but apart from the fact that my wife is too ill for the ten-hour journey, we guess it is very unlikely they would change it, at least any time soon.

 

So, I have two urgent questions I'd be very grateful for answers to:

 

1. Could a visa agent have greater success in getting Chiangmai immigration to be more reasonable, and, if so, can anyone please recommend a good agent?

 

2. If I've understood right, I've had enough money in the bank to qualify for an extension based on retirement (instead of marriage, which would obviate the need for a penpusher-proof marriage certificate), and I'm old enough, but this would require medical insurance which I don't have. For reasons which are irrelevant to this thread, I have limited interest in the benefits of the insurance other than qualifying me to live here, but please could anyone recommend an insurance I could obtain here fast and without more than necessary expense as a 59-year-old?

[DrJack54]

Was you original visa a non O-A?

[BritTim]

If you originally entered Thailand on a Non O (rather than a Non O-A) visa, there is no requirement for insurance. 

[Moonlover]

Firstly go speak to your local amphur, taking your passport of course. I'm sure that such a trivial admin error can be corrected without a 10 hour jaunt.

[ubonjoe]

11 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

Firstly go speak to your local amphur, taking your passport of course. I'm sure that such a trivial admin error can be corrected without a 10 hour jaunt.

After several years of using a Kor Ror 2 at immigration officer noticed my wife's birth date was wrong. My wife checked with the local Amphoe and they would not do it. She called the officer and he said not to worry about it but get it corrected before my next extension.

Luckily the Amphoe we registered our marriage at was only about 60 km away and she was able to get a addendum to the Kor Ror 2 to correct it.

[cleopatra2]

Is it not obvious to immigration that the date specified is an obvious error.

This would make you over 500 years old. 

 

[BritTim]

I am quite sure the senior official at the office has the discretion to accept the application as the error is obvious and inconsequential. It says a lot about your office if the official in charge is making a big issue out of this.

[jrmaanda]

Thanks for the answers so far, but I'd still love ones to my questions about (1) visa agents, and (2) where to get medical insurance.

 

To answer questions raised, (1) yes, I am here on a non-immigrant 'O' visa, based on marriage, (2) it was a man at Chiangmai immigration who mentioned insurance when I asked a little about retirement extensions, (3) I did spend three hours at my local amphuh trying to sort out the error, but after telephoning the original amphuh, they said we had to go to the latter, (4) ubonjoe is evidently a luckier man than I, and (5) yes, it was so obvious to immigration that I was not born in BE 1961 that they pointed out the mistake themselves, but that hasn't stopped them using it as grounds for refusal, which is why I wondered whether they might be more reasonable and human with a visa agent.

 

It is not just me, but in effect my wife and two children who are threatened with having to leave the country indefinitely as a consequence, when we were all depending on being able to stay here well into next year.

[jrmaanda]

4 minutes ago, BritTim said:

I am quite sure the senior official at the office has the discretion to accept the application as the error is obvious and inconsequential. It says a lot about your office if the official in charge is making a big issue out of this.

So would you recommend insisting on seeing the man in charge? If so, can you suggest a diplomatic way that will not make the official who has refused me lose face?

[DrJack54]

5 minutes ago, jrmaanda said:

(1) yes, I am here on a non-immigrant 'O' visa, based on marriage,

Based on marriage you do not require insurance from non O or non O-A.

You would only require insurance if your original entry was non O-A and your extension based on retirement.

[jrmaanda]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

After several years of using a Kor Ror 2 at immigration officer noticed my wife's birth date was wrong. My wife checked with the local Amphoe and they would not do it. She called the officer and he said not to worry about it but get it corrected before my next extension.

Luckily the Amphoe we registered our marriage at was only about 60 km away and she was able to get a addendum to the Kor Ror 2 to correct it.

Ubonjoe,

I would be most grateful if you could tell me exactly what the Amphoe demanded to correct the Kor Ror 2, and how long it took, and whether it was essential that your wife did it herself versus any kind of paid agent/representative.

[asiaexpat]

Your solution can be simple as changing the reason for extension on the TM7 from Thai wife to Retirement. Since you have a Non-O now all you will need is 800,000 in the bank as proven by a bankbook (you said you already have that.) I, after many years of Thai Wife extensions, changed to retirement with no problem. I have renewed using retirement twice since changing and never had problem. At CW they wanted passport and copy of all pages with visa and entry data, bankbook and copy all pages, TM 30 receipt, map to house (used Google map.) Standard Bank letter showing 800K for two months ( I keep it all year in a fixed account.) 

Edited September 3, 2020 by asiaexpat

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, jrmaanda said:

So would you recommend insisting on seeing the man in charge? If so, can you suggest a diplomatic way that will not make the official who has refused me lose face?

Yes. Go back to immigration and meekly admit that the officials on the desk have no choice but to strictly follow the rules. Mention your wife's fragile health, and ask if you can speak to the boss about OKing the application in spite of the inconsequential error in the Kor Ror 2.

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, jrmaanda said:

Thanks for the answers so far, but I'd still love ones to my questions about (1) visa agents, and (2) where to get medical insurance.

You do not need health insurance for the extension, whether for retirement or to stay with your wife. You did not enter Thailand with a Non O-A visa.

[Moonlover]

1 hour ago, jrmaanda said:

So would you recommend insisting on seeing the man in charge? If so, can you suggest a diplomatic way that will not make the official who has refused me lose face?

Yes. If you can establish for sure that you and your wife must return to the amphur of your marriage you should then get a doctor's certificate saying that she cannot travel and go back, with that certificate to immigration.

 

Put them on the line with the choice of denying you an extension and forcing you out thus abandoning a sick wife, or showing as bit of common sense and human decency.

[ubonjoe]

11 hours ago, jrmaanda said:

I would be most grateful if you could tell me exactly what the Amphoe demanded to correct the Kor Ror 2, and how long it took, and whether it was essential that your wife did it herself versus any kind of paid agent/representative.

I don't recall her needing anything but her ID card and maybe her house book. I was not with her when she did it.

I suggest you have you wife call the Amphoe where you marriage was registered about it. The phone number and etc for the amphoe can be found here. https://www.amphoe.com/web/center.php 

They might allow somebody to do it with a power of attorney from you or your wife.

[jaiyenjohn]

Something similar happened to me a few years ago, when we were applying for our daughter's Thai passport from the embassy in Singapore (where we were living at the time). Turns out that my name on our marriage certificate didn't include my middle name, while the birth certificate of my daughter included my middle name. Oh well, I thought there must be an easy solution because my daughter's citizenship comes from her mother, not me. I was wrong.

 

We had to fly back up to Chiang Mai to get an amended marriage certificate from the Amphoe. Nothing else would work. Once there it was a very simple process, we just needed the normal copies of our marriage certificate, my passport, her ID card, housebook etc. They gave us an amended marriage certificate within an hour or so. In fact I remember being incredibly angry that we had to fly all that way for such trivial bureaucratic nonsense.

 

For us it was ridiculously easy, and we were in and out of the Chiang Mai government office within the hour.

Edited September 4, 2020 by jaiyenjohn

[HarrySeaman]

Yes, use an agent.

 

I sent you a PM with details I didn't want to post in the open forum.

[misterphil]

https://mythaivisa.com
 

https://www.aetna.co.th/th/individuals.aspx
 

 

[fantom]

https://assistthaivisa.com/

[DogNo1]

Just switch purpose of extension to retirement and avoid all the other hassle!

[Peter Denis]

19 hours ago, BritTim said:

Yes. Go back to immigration and meekly admit that the officials on the desk have no choice but to strictly follow the rules. Mention your wife's fragile health, and ask if you can speak to the boss about OKing the application in spite of the inconsequential error in the Kor Ror 2.

I 100% agree with BritTim.  Before taking any other steps like switching to a retirement extension, or embarking on the journey to have this ridiculous and inconsequential error on your Kor Ror 2 corrected (and which has been there for years without anybody noticing it), you should go back to CM IO. 

And instead of beating the <deleted> out of that officer (he absolutely deserves it), you should slime with a straight face that he is fully correct, but that due to the fragile health of your wife it would be difficult to correct it in the coming days and that therefore you politely request to talk with the officer in charge to plead your case.  I cannot imagine that the CM officer in charge would deny your application for such a ridiculous and obvious triviality (and I am even convinced that the desk-officer that denied your application would face an unpleasant dialogue in private with his boss afterwards).

Also > There is of course the possibility that when going back your application would be handled by a different officer and that in that case the 'error' on the Kor Ror 2 would be overlooked like it has been overlooked during all your previous applications.

Edited September 4, 2020 by Peter Denis

[Tanoshi]

On 9/3/2020 at 8:35 PM, jrmaanda said:

Ubonjoe,

I would be most grateful if you could tell me exactly what the Amphoe demanded to correct the Kor Ror 2, and how long it took, and whether it was essential that your wife did it herself versus any kind of paid agent/representative.

The typo error is obviously related to your date of birth, which was taken from your Passport.

 

You should be able to complete the changes yourself, the only problem being the language barrier.

Could you wife speak to the Amphur before you visit, or a Thai friend to assist.

Alternatively she can write a letter explaining the problem for you to take to the Amphur.

 

Take your Passport, wife's Tabien Baan and ID card, any name change certificates, your marriage certificate and the marriage registration document (Kor Ror 2).

 

I do think CM are being pedantic under the circumstances.

Edited September 4, 2020 by Tanoshi