The Road To The Non-immigrant O

[Bangkok Phil]

Hi all,

I'll post this story on here because my own forum (ajarn.com) is down at the moment.

Anyway, I successfully performed the 'legalizing a marriage' process at the local Amphur office this morning (excellent service, very friendly staff - we were in and out in 45 minutes) and decided to pay a visit to one of Bangkok's 'sleepier' immigration offices, which is located literally next door. I am currently on the last entry of a multiple non-immigrant B, and quite fancy changing it to a one-year O status. The staff at the immigration were wonderful - they couldn't have been more helpful!

"Oh I have to leave the country at the end of next month" I said

"You can't do that!" they said "you have to take care of your wife. You've just got married"

"Well, this is it" I said

"We'll give you a month's extension. Then someone can bring your passport in for another month's extension, and by then you should have the one year visa approved"

"So I don't need to leave the country?" I cried through tears of joy and relief.

"certainly not" they said. And they really meant it.

I've approached this in my usual light-hearted way, but it does have a serious side. They asked me for a bank letter to show I had 400,000 baht in a Thai bank (fortunately no problem). They also took copies of wife's (still can't get used to calling her that) documents, and they even got us to draw a little map of where we'll be living, so they can pop round with a bag of fruit whenever fancy takes them.

They also quizzed me quite intensively on what I actually do here and what I intend to do in the future. When I told them my plans, they all shouted in unison "you need a non-immigrant B not a non-immigrant O" I've worried in the past few weeks about which one to get and now here I was being offered a choice.

I opted for the B in the end. I think.

Good service, great bunch of people. As I always say - go at your most humble. I was dressed as I would dress for a job interview and my wife had her smart black suit on (and she looks and talks like a real lady anyway) It's all good common sense.

I will add that the office was charmingly misinformed. They didn't know you could apply for a work permit with an O status visa, and all of their forms stated it was 500 baht for an extension. When I pointed out that the fee was 1900 baht and indeed had been for some time, the 'captain' puffed out his cheeks and said "you know, we really must get those forms changed"

[Davidcharles]

Nice one Phil!

Hope my experience is similar, in the near future.....

[Nam Kao]

Phil, which office is this ?? I will use this one for my non imm o. Sounds good.

Also when they asked for the 400K in a thai bank - did they want to see the

money tranferred from abroad or just a bank book?

thanks

nam

[dr_Pat_Pong]

You must have impressed 'em Phil. Good work. You actually can apply for a work permit on an O visa in the case of marriage or support of a Thai. Well done

[Bangkok Phil]

Phil, which office is this ?? I will use this one for my non imm o. Sounds good.

This was the office at Samut Prakarn. The staff have got absolutely nothing to do except watch TV, bend paper-clips and arrest the odd boat-load of Burmese immigrants. But be warned, as I inferred in my original post, officials with lots of time on their hands can sometimes be a tricky thing. You will get asked questions.

By the way, when I go there next week, if I'm stuck in a queue behind a thousand people from this board, I might actually regret posting this.

You actually can apply for a work permit on an O visa in the case of marriage or support of a Thai. Well done

But what surprises me Doc is that they want me to go down the Non Immigrant B route based on supporting a Thai wife (I told them that she supports me but it all fell on deaf ears - well it got a laugh if nothing else). I'm under the impression that a Non Immigrant B linked to a marriage is pretty much unheard of?

[ProThaiExpat]

What is very interesting is the ability to change visa types in locations other than the main immigration office in Bangkok.

[Bangkok Phil]

Also when they asked for the 400K in a thai bank - did they want to see the money tranferred from abroad or just a bank book?

Sorry Nam, I missed that one.

They wanted a letter from the bank confirming the balance, so I have to get that this week. It's the one piece of the jigsaw that I didn't have. No doubt when I go back next week they will have made the jigsaw bigger but let's not be pessimistic eh?

I did wave the bank book in front of them but they didn't seem interested. I doubt very much if an office that still uses the 500 baht an extension criteria on its documents is much of an expert on bank transfer codes anyway. I have a theory that when the immy staff were called in for a day's training, the Samut Prakarn lot decided to take annual leave.

Still, why not let these things work to your advantage I always say.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Phil, which office is this ?? I will use this one for my non imm o. Sounds good.

This was the office at Samut Prakarn. The staff have got absolutely nothing to do except watch TV, bend paper-clips and arrest the odd boat-load of Burmese immigrants. But be warned, as I inferred in my original post, officials with lots of time on their hands can sometimes be a tricky thing. You will get asked questions.

By the way, when I go there next week, if I'm stuck in a queue behind a thousand people from this board, I might actually regret posting this.

You actually can apply for a work permit on an O visa in the case of marriage or support of a Thai. Well done

But what surprises me Doc is that they want me to go down the Non Immigrant B route based on supporting a Thai wife (I told them that she supports me but it all fell on deaf ears - well it got a laugh if nothing else). I'm under the impression that a Non Immigrant B linked to a marriage is pretty much unheard of?

Let 'em do it their way then. Do you have a work permit Phil ?

[kenkannif]

Phil I think Non-imm Os and Bs are pretty much interchangeable. Crven had a WP on an O, or marriage on a B.

Pleased it went so well so far (and touch wood it will in the future), now if I just had 400,000 Baht spare (anyone?).

[paulfr]

I had a similiar experience this week at the main Immigration office.

I applied for the one year retirement extension. Apparently this

is not possible with a Tourist visa. So they had me getting in shape

with the stairs. From room 303 back down to the 2nd floor to

change my Tourist to a Non Imm O. Then to 1st floor to pay.

Back to 3rd floor room 303. They scrutinized my docs, asked my

Thai lady questions in Thai and then seemingly approved all my

papers (bank letter (200B), health certificate (380 B at Bumrungrad))

and told me to come back next month when my new 30 day

Non Imm O expires.

It was quite a runaround, but looks like I will have my 1 year

extension later this month.

[Trevor]

Phil, I don't get it. Why settle for a non-immigrant 'B' visa when you wanted a 1-year 'O' in the first place? Do they upgrade you from 3-monthly to annual stays on a 'B'?

[Khutan]

Maybe someone can answer this while we are on topic. Is there somewhere where the rules for gaining a WP for a Non-O are posted. My employer made me change my visa from Non-O to Non-B. His claim was that you must be paid 700,000 baht a year to get a WP for a NON-O, I think he is full of himself, I thought it was 40k a month.

As I already had the 1 year extension etc etc, I was really annoyed that I had to go to Laos and get the non-B. If I can find an english translation, I will gleefully give the guy a colonoscopy with the law.

Maybe Dr Pat you may know this off the top of your head.

[Bangkok Phil]

Phil, I don't get it. Why settle for a non-immigrant 'B' visa when you wanted a 1-year 'O' in the first place? Do they upgrade you from 3-monthly to annual stays on a 'B'?

Hi Trevor,

The problem was one of good old fashioned communication difficulty and a lack of knowledge on the immigration's part. They were ADAMANT that you could not apply for a work permit with a non-immigrant O (you can of course) and even when I said "No, No, No, I want the non-immigrant O because I intend to just sit at home all day and smoke me clay pipe" they still insisted on steering me towards the Non-immy B.

I caved in and said "OK whatever" because I didn't want to look as though I knew too much.

[Bangkok Phil]

I picked up the 'bank reference' letter this morning and will go back to the immigration well before the end of the week. Unfortuantely my missis won't be with me and I'm just praying that the staff haven't developed a bout of chronic amnesia. I have all the documents filled out already (with immigrations help) and it should be plain sailing. However, nothing ever works that way in Thailand and I can't help feel that there's some considerable mileage left in this story.

I have just heard that Penang is issuing multiple O's again (with all the right paperwork) so at least I have a plan B. It is very much a plan B though because oh man - do I ever hate Penang!

[Bangkok Phil]

So anyway.....to continue the story. I went to the immigration this morning with the 'last piece of the jigsaw' - the bank reference letter showing my current balance. The first thing they asked me for was my bank account bank.

"but I don't have it" I said "you told me that all I was lacking was the letter from the bank confirming my balance"

"You don't have the bank account book!" they all cried

"Well, it's not with me. I must have left it at home" I then adopted my tried and trusted hangdog expression - that look as if the world is about to crumble around my ears.

"Never mind" they said "you can get someone else to bring it in on Monday or Tuesday. We just need to make a photocopy"

And the officer then took 1900 baht off me and stamped me in for one month's 'under consideration' and hilighted my name with a hi-lighter pen on every single document that I'd submitted. She told me that 1900 baht would be all I'd have to pay for both further extensions and the one-year visa itself. She also said that there was no need for me to come back in person and I could just send someone down. To be honest - not a wasted morning at all.

Interestingly, she showed me some other applications that were on her desk (to indicate that they ask EVERYBODY to show their bank account bank) Of the 5 or so applications that I glanced at - every one of them had either 401,000 or 402,000 baht in the bank. And of the actual photocopied bank account books I saw - there were deposits of money all over the shop (lots of small amounts going in regularly)

The immigration officer told me that they are only interested in two things - 1) that the balance in the bank account book matches the balance on the bank reference letter and 2) That the bank account book has your name on it.

I don't wish to be a merchant of doom, but even in a small provincial office like this, there seems to be a much more in-depth scrutiny of everything. It's all done with the famous Thai smile but I'm under no illusion now that it's going to be much trickier to stay here long term than it has been in the past.

[lopburi3]

Interestingly, she showed me some other applications that were on her desk (to indicate that they ask EVERYBODY to show their bank account bank) Of the 5 or so applications that I glanced at - every one of them had either 401,000 or 402,000 baht in the bank. And of the actual photocopied bank account books I saw - there were deposits of money all over the shop (lots of small amounts going in regularly)

The immigration officer told me that they are only interested in two things - 1) that the balance in the bank account book matches the balance on the bank reference letter and 2) That the bank account book has your name on it.

You will always have to show account book and provide photo copies/signed. Her ID card copy is another and your photo/data/entry/extension/tm.6. Letter from bank and if pension income copy of that. If you have joint account you both sign the copies.

First time also requires home register of wife and copy of all pages so probably good idea to bring along each visit if they want to compare. And photos together on first visit.

Strange that they all had 400k or more as that is not effective until the weekend.