A heads-up on tougher marriage O extension rules

[Russell17au]

As one of the other posters said "You broke the chain" no one else but you are responsible for this and it is not the Kalasin Immigration Office. You let your Visa Extension expire and you left the country so your file finished on the day you left the country, for what ever reason and then you returned with a new Visa, so as far as Immigration is concerned you are a new arrival and therefore you must go through the same as every other new arrival. How do Immigration know if you got divorced while you were out of the country and just trying to do a shonky new Visa Extension. You could have saved a lot of this problem by renewing your old extension and getting a Re-Entry Permit before you left the country. You created this problem so stop carrying on about it. You broke the chain so you have to start a new chain of extensions The other way that you could have solved the problem was to get a 1 Year Multi Entry Marriage Visa and do your Border Bounces every 90 days and that way you can come and go as you please without all this garbage that you are carrying on about 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Russell17au

[steve187]

13 hours ago, CharlieKo said:

I think that is your problem, applying for a Non O based on Marriage when the last time you had such a visa was three years ago. Don't you think they would be suspicious of that three year gap? As far as they would be concerned you have to start all over, whence the questioning and scrutiny of documents and Home visit etc.

 

Hardly new rules for  Non O visa application.

its an application for a yearly extension, not a visa

 

i think the op posted clearly in his op, he had a married to Thai yearly extension for a few years, but for some reason had to leave and re-enter Thailand to start the yearly extension process afresh, 

the point of the thread was to warn others that the married yearly extension applications are all being looked at with a magnifying glass, due to the old boss of his immigration office leaving with a cloud over his head

 

[brianthainess]

38 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

And so did you have to go back and get one, and did you meet him?

To late to edit; So did they implement the one "NEW RULE" or not????

[Bangkok Barry]

54 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

14 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

a letter from the village head was demanded (we have never met each other, as far as I know).

And so did you have to go back and get one, and did you meet him?

I don't have to meet him. Getting a letter from him is just part of the pantomime, with our 32 years of marriage counting for nothing. My wife hasn't been to see him yet to get the letter and possibly, with a house visit being made, it might not now be necessary. A U-turn. We'll check again when they make the visit.

[sandyf]

12 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

The officer told me they have made it much harder now to get one. I was told the same thing two years ago by a different officer at the same office in relation to them insisting that the 400,000 remained in the account until the extension was received, common now but not in practise at Kalasin at that time. It would be nice to be told, for a change, that they are making it easier, but that won't happen. Will it.

Only those that have had it easy will find it harder.

Those of us that have had to struggle with continual changes wouldn't notice any difference. I have had a home visit on my last 4 marriage extensions as well as one on a retirement extension.

A move towards equality would make thing easier.

[brianthainess]

2 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

I don't have to meet him. Getting a letter from him is just part of the pantomime, with our 32 years of marriage counting for nothing. My wife hasn't been to see him yet to get the letter and possibly, with a house visit being made, it might not now be necessary. A U-turn. We'll check again when they make the visit.

So no NEW RULE was or has been implemented, they have accepted your application without the letter. 

[CharlieKo]

3 hours ago, Andycoops said:

I've had three one-year non O marriage extensions before. I'll add that my last one expired last November. I went overseas for a week and was told by Kalasin, before I left, that I should re-enter with no visa and apply for a non O visa upon my return. I did, and that expires next week so I've applied for my fourth one-year, after a gap of five months.

Why didn't you say that in the first place. Instead of saying "since three years ago"? 

[sandyf]

3 hours ago, Andycoops said:

I believe that because you broke the chain of extensions and now have a gap of 5 months since your last extension expired last November, you are being treated as a completely new applicant.

Therefore as far as Thai immigration is concerned your past history no longer counts.

A bit irrelevant, immigration can see previous extensions in your passport. I have broken the "chain" several time and it hasn't been any different if consecutive or otherwise, always been a struggle.

When the pandemic started I was on ME Non O and come Sept the auto extension came to an end. I tried to get 12 month extension on reduced transfers, she just laughed, pointed to a previous extension and said "Not new".

I have had 5 home visits and no two have been the same.

The only consistent is inconsistency.

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

I have had a home visit on my last 4 marriage extensions as well as one on a retirement extension.

Wow!

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

I don't have to meet him. Getting a letter from him is just part of the pantomime, with our 32 years of marriage counting for nothing. My wife hasn't been to see him yet to get the letter and possibly, with a house visit being made, it might not now be necessary. A U-turn. We'll check again when they make the visit.

Expand  

So no NEW RULE was or has been implemented, they have accepted your application without the letter. 

So far, but they said they need one. They've also accepted the application subject to a house visit. My wife took a photo of a letter the wife of another applicant had, so that wording could be used for our letter. That has never been needed before to my knowledge, but now we are all being asked for it. So it IS a new rule, at least at the Kalasin office. After the visit they might 'use their discretion' and decide it is just pointless and a waste of time. We'll see.

[Goat]

11 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Stop defensive mode..

I am not the only person that has posted your posts are confusing .

Then you attack the posts..

 

I think this might be the reason Barry is having issues at immigration.

They dont like farangs with attitude.

[NoshowJones]

16 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

It is simpler, yes. But I have no burning desire to tie up 800,000 for months of the year. One day of frustration and agony per year is do-able.

Use an agent? It is not illegal as the "scared of your own shadow" brigade would have you believe.

[arithai12]

I don't see how your experience calls for a post on  "heads up on tougher rules". Rather, it seems  you had it very easy previously and now they are sticking to the book in your specific IO. An interview with the wife being asked some questions is the norm I believe, and home visits are common. The letter from the village headman is hardly a complicated thing, probably just this one time as you were starting anew.

I hope your wife managed to answer whether you have brothers or sisters.

 

[Bangkok Barry]

15 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

Use an agent? It is not illegal as the "scared of your own shadow" brigade would have you believe.

Is is illegal if you use one to get around the financial rules. Who told you otherwise?

Edited April 21, 2023 by Bangkok Barry

[Bangkok Barry]

12 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Stop defensive mode..

Well, when someone says that I quoted an incorrect fee, which I didn't, and when someone asks me what I expect after I wrote that I hadn't had a marriage extension for three years, which I didn't write, I think I'm justified in being defensive. Don't you? Like now. I'm defending myself against things I am said to have written and I didn't.

[CharlieKo]

44 minutes ago, Goat said:

I think this might be the reason Barry is having issues at immigration.

They dont like farangs with attitude.

Indeed judging by some of the OP's responses, his attitude is probably the reason for his problems.  

[Goat]

3 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

My wife hasn't been to see him yet to get the letter

 

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

My wife took a photo of a letter the wife of another applicant had,

It seems like you are relying on your wife to do everything anyway.

 

Getting a letter from the PooYai Baan isnt exactly difficult especially in a small place up in Issan.

 

Surprised you dont already know him? Just be polite and calm when you meet him.

[Bangkok Barry]

23 minutes ago, Goat said:

It seems like you are relying on your wife to do everything anyway.

I'm ignored. They asked her all the questions yesterday, and when they visited after the first one-year application they totally ignored me then too. I don't mind.

 

25 minutes ago, Goat said:

Getting a letter from the PooYai Baan isnt exactly difficult especially in a small place up in Issan.

I know. It has just never been needed before when I've made my applications. it's a new rule ordered by the new Kalasin boss.

 

26 minutes ago, Goat said:

Surprised you dont already know him? Just be polite and calm when you meet him.

I didn't know the mayor of my town in the UK either. And I know how to behave. I was brought up properly.

[Maestro]

Removed some more off-topic and troll posts and the replies to them.

 

Enough of this useless bickering.

[Bangkok Barry]

9 hours ago, Russell17au said:

You let your Visa Extension expire and you left the country so your file finished on the day you left the country, for what ever reason and then you returned with a new Visa, so as far as Immigration is concerned you are a new arrival and therefore you must go through the same as every other new arrival. How do Immigration know if you got divorced while you were out of the country and just trying to do a shonky new Visa Extension.

I know I had to start again, which is what I'm doing. That isn't the issue. The issue, which I posted to warn people of, is that stricter rules are in place now.

 

As for your nonsense about I might have got divorced in the meantime, you totally ignore the fact that my wife was with me at immigration, as required, and I produced the marriage certificate, and the required Kor Ror 2 plus photos of us in and around the house, as required. Same wife, same house, same documents as before. The only thing that has changed is greater scrutiny of ALL applicants by the new boss after the old boss was arrested for corruption involving Chinese 'businessmen'.

As for your second point, my last extension expired with an under consideration date for renewal expiring on 23 December, and I visited immigration beforehand and asked if that could be changed to 25 December, the date of my return. After all, the date your extension is due to be ready isn't necessarily when it actually is, which is why you need to wait for the phone call to come to their office to collect it.

 

They said no, and told me I had to return without visa, apply for a three month O visa before my 45 days were up, and then apply for the one-year extension. I was later advised on this forum - I think by DrJack - that that was incorrect, but you can't argue with immigration and tell them they don't know their rules.

 

That is why I did what I did, acting under their possibly incorrect instruction.