Ok, just when I thought I had it figured out on the requirements for the non "O" visa for a falang married to a Thai I find out that I really don't have a clue.

From reading other posts on TV I was under the impression that if you are married to a Thai you can receive a non "O" by going to Immigration with your wife, showing your marriage certificate, her ID card, and passing their interrogation of your relationship. I thought you could then apply for a one year extension based on a combined income of 40,000 Bt/month...no money required in the bank.

My friend asked the Phuket Town Immigration about this and he was told...

1. Married to Thai

2. Marriage certificate

3. Her ID card

4. Interrogation of realtionship (my wording)

5. 40,000 Bt/month income into Thailand (cannot be going into an offshore account)

6. 400,000 Bt in a Thai bank

Am I missing something?

Well, first off, you must have a non-immigrant o visa, I don't believe you can get one at Immigration The extension is done at Immigration with some requirements, the non-Imm o only requires a copy of your marriage license and must be applied for outside the country, I believe.

Secondly, the requirements for a one year extension of a non-imm o visa have been well documented on this forum

here is one thread and here is another. Here as well.

1-4. Yes

5. Needs to be income derived in Thailand, but can be combination of income from you and your wife.

6. No longer an option.

It is good idea to have photos of the wedding to show the Imm officer.

You will be visited at you home, by immigration officers

and will need to find a local Thai who can vouch that you are in fact living together.

If you are over 50 it is a lot easier to take the retirement extension path.

You can obtain a change to non immigrant visa at immigration but you have to meet the old requirements (which could be 400k in bank account) and pay a fee of 2,000 baht. Once you have the non immigrant visa you can extend one year at a time on the basis of 40k monthly income.