Thai wife required to have work or Tabien Baan in province for marriage extension?

[sherwood]

1 hour ago, sanooki said:

Hadn't heard about that, but it fits my hunch, though higher up. It also fits what the super was saying when we were there. Worrying is that this seems to provide the possibility that all the other assurances that since my application was accepted here already, that I'm a shoe-in, could be mistaken.

Get over the final hurdle on Sunday and you will be fine. My stamp comes up on the 31st.

Best laid plans and all that.

[sanooki]

5 minutes ago, sherwood said:

Get over the final hurdle on Sunday and you will be fine. My stamp comes up on the 31st.

Best laid plans and all that.

Thanks. Yeah, I think there's just an outside chance things go south at this point. The "concerns" expressed were about rules that don't seem to exist. So, seems unlikely they could be used to deny. We just don't know for sure. But, I've got a much more solid sense of alternatives now, beyond the speculation around machinations in Korat. Whatever happens, happens. Best of luck with your own 

[bigt3116]

15 hours ago, sandyf said:

That wasn't the view of the MFA but at the end of the day it is always the view of the man with the stamp that counts.

That is because the MFA consular section deals with visas, they have nothing to do with, (and therefore likely know nothing about), extensions of stay.

[sandyf]

17 hours ago, sanooki said:

I thought they said they were converting me to an O, but they didn't really. Just an extension.

I don't think immigration can convert B to O, they sent me to MFA, but as you say the pandemic created unusual situations. I had to turn my ME Non O into a 12 month extension with a further 5 months remaining.

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, bigt3116 said:

That is because the MFA consular section deals with visas, they have nothing to do with, (and therefore likely know nothing about), extensions of stay.

Yes they deal with visas and you cannot get a 12 month extension of stay unless you have an appropriate visa, of course you are free to think what you want.

[Neeranam]

Drive to Khon Kaen and ask them if there is a problem. 

They will say, no, just apply in Korat. Ask for a contact number from one of the officers in Khon Kaen. 

[Neeranam]

17 hours ago, sanooki said:

I have a potentially very interesting update to relay. The pair of Korat's finest left us a little while ago.

 

We will be receiving a second visit on Sunday, by just one of them. The reason is thus: We were prepared, as requested, for a visit "after 10am" with 2 witnesses, Our landlord and her daughter. The daughter took off work for half a day to be here for us. They were late and didn't show until about 14:00. This daughter had to go back to work at 13:00. There was discussion among all of us.

 

Our landlord offered to bring a second daughter out who was asleep in their house, which is adjacent to our building. This was unacceptable because, dunh dunh dunh, that daughter is on the same Tabien Baan as her mother, the landlord.

 

The first daughter lives somewhere else and has a separate Tabien Baan, so would have been acceptable, ding. But she must work today through Saturday.

 

I brought up getting the security guy from the shopping mall entrance down the soi, but we didn't think he'd have his Tabien Baan with him for work. The food stall lady nearby was disqualified because she doesn't live in Amphur Mueang, where we do.

 

The main IO guy was mai bpen rai'ing and saying we still have time, and he can come back Sunday.

 

So, at least for now for these IOs in Korat, if we put this all together, the requirements seem to be that there must be two witnesses, and they can be related, but must be on different Tabien Baans, which must be in the same Amphur. Wow. Hope this is helpful to someone.

They obviously taken a disliking to you, or your wife. Best just smile, wai and do as they ask. One of you probably disrespected them. 

[bigt3116]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

Yes they deal with visas and you cannot get a 12 month extension of stay unless you have an appropriate visa, of course you are free to think what you want.

Read my post again and you will see that what I meant was that consular affiars know nothing about extensions of stay, they are not in any way shape or from aligned with Immigration. 

Edited July 21, 2023 by bigt3116
add info

[sanooki]

5 hours ago, sandyf said:

I don't think immigration can convert B to O, they sent me to MFA, but as you say the pandemic created unusual situations. I had to turn my ME Non O into a 12 month extension with a further 5 months remaining.

Yes. Interesting.

[sanooki]

5 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Drive to Khon Kaen and ask them if there is a problem. 

They will say, no, just apply in Korat. Ask for a contact number from one of the officers in Khon Kaen. 

Interesting idea. Not sure it would help, and we've already had our app accepted. I'm wondering if the District Headquarters even has a public desk that one can visit.

Edited July 21, 2023 by sanooki
Add another thought.

[sanooki]

4 hours ago, Neeranam said:

They obviously taken a disliking to you, or your wife. Best just smile, wai and do as they ask. One of you probably disrespected them. 

Can you expand on that? Did you read the whole post, that one of our witnesses had to go to work? They were very friendly and understanding. I just see this, at least this event, as an instance of unlucky timing. I don't feel punished that they will return. Also, I feel highly confident that we were appropriately respectful throughout our dealings.

Edited July 21, 2023 by sanooki
Add another thought.

[sjbrownderby]

If you do decide to go to Savannakhet you will find the process so much easier than dealing with immigration in Korat. If all of your paperwork is correct they don't ask any questions. The downside is having to leave the country every 90 days. The nearest border crossing to Korat is Chong Chom in Surin province. There is another border crossing which may open up soon in Buriram province, which will be closer to Korat. On the Cambodian side of the border there are casinos, resorts and a market but currently only Thais (with a border pass) and Cambodians can use it. 

[sanooki]

41 minutes ago, sjbrownderby said:

If you do decide to go to Savannakhet you will find the process so much easier than dealing with immigration in Korat. If all of your paperwork is correct they don't ask any questions. The downside is having to leave the country every 90 days. The nearest border crossing to Korat is Chong Chom in Surin province. There is another border crossing which may open up soon in Buriram province, which will be closer to Korat. On the Cambodian side of the border there are casinos, resorts and a market but currently only Thais (with a border pass) and Cambodians can use it. 

Hey, thanks for the interesting details. I'm not keen on having to leave the country, especially after the insanity of the past few years and what some are predicting will happen once we hit the next cycle. But, I also saw that during those times, at least the last round, the government here was pretty accommodating to those stuck.

 

Anyway, if I do choose that route, we would likely move to Ubon sooner than our tentatively planned 6 months or so, and the Mukdahan bridge is less than two hours away from my wife's village there. So, there's that.

 

You might be wondering why we didn't just move to Ubon and do the extension there. Well, in hindsight... But, basically, my wife just came around to the idea a few weeks back when we went there to visit her grandfather in the hospital. We explored the city some more, liked it, and even visited immigration to ask what they thought. We ended up deciding we didn't have enough time to get it done now. So, we traded one hassle for another.

Edited July 21, 2023 by sanooki

[sanooki]

Update for anyone interested: Our officer visit was postponed from last Sunday to Monday morning by the officers. Sunday night, we heard from our landlord that her daughter would be unavailable for the entire week due to work. So we were scrambling Sunday night and Monday morning to find a new witness that met the criteria. "Miraculously," Monday morning, right before we were about to call the officers to try to postpone, our landlord enlisted her older sister. The bottom line was we passed our home visit, and are now waiting for the date next month when I'm due to collect my year extension. There're some details regarding how this all happened that were a little unpleasant, but not unexpected, considering where we are. I will save those for after I pick up my extension next month. Cheers.

[sherwood]

20 minutes ago, sanooki said:

Update for anyone interested: Our officer visit was postponed from last Sunday to Monday morning by the officers. Sunday night, we heard from our landlord that her daughter would be unavailable for the entire week due to work. So we were scrambling Sunday night and Monday morning to find a new witness that met the criteria. "Miraculously," Monday morning, right before we were about to call the officers to try to postpone, our landlord enlisted her older sister. The bottom line was we passed our home visit, and are now waiting for the date next month when I'm due to collect my year extension. There're some details regarding how this all happened that were a little unpleasant, but not unexpected, considering where we are. I will save those for after I pick up my extension next month. Cheers.

All fun and games fella as said before. The IO called today and I can attain my stamp for my extension tomorrow.

Peace of mind what with the extra long weekend and all.

Keep in touch.

[Maestro]

Removed a troll post.

[sanooki]

14 hours ago, sherwood said:

All fun and games fella as said before. The IO called today and I can attain my stamp for my extension tomorrow.

Peace of mind what with the extra long weekend and all.

Keep in touch.

Congrats!

[BritTim]

14 hours ago, sherwood said:

All fun and games fella as said before. The IO called today and I can attain my stamp for my extension tomorrow.

Peace of mind what with the extra long weekend and all.

Keep in touch.

All good things come to he who waits, so they say. True, apparently in this case. It was lucky that your landlord was around and was helpful.

[sanooki]

Since folks were generous with time and advice, I wish to add an epilogue to this chapter for any still tuning in or may chance upon this thread in the future.

Actually, depending, I might choose to open a new thread on the topic of "extortion in Isaan." :)

 

So, the date to pick up my new extension stamp arrived yesterday. According to the paperwork, it was finalized on the 17th, but I did not receive any such courtesy call to come in. As if they wanted to prolong my uncertainty to the max. I saw the paperwork, because they actually hand it to you here, at the outside reception window.

 

So, I got to sit and look through it as I was waiting. On the front page, I saw I had been approved! There were a couple printouts of "troublemaker" guys with similar names as mine who came up in their computer search. There was a page certifying that I was not one of those guys (they were like 30 years younger than me) and that I had a good record.

 

So, I got the good news as I was waiting for my stamp, which was nice. My number came up and I ended up with the exact same lady who had hassled me the day we applied. She seemed to remember me, but was very pleasant and businesslike, finishing my stamp in about 10 minutes. I thanked and wai'd her and she returned, showing they had also done and attached my new 90 day form. And, that was it, as if nothing had happened before. I grabbed this good luck and left, feeling light.

 

Nothing too exciting, so the folks who said it was a done deal were absolutely correct. For a month, I had the nagging feeling something could go wrong. But it was apparently for no reason--except that I had received a veiled threat the month before. I have rationalized this as part them not really being able to know when someone is a "bad person" or not, so they treat everyone as if they are. The other part I believe there could be something to the idea that they were hinting at a donation. If that is true, I think they are way too subtle in their hint. When we left the IO, my wife told me she overheard the same boss lady shaking down another hapless expat with the same routine. So, beware if you go there.

 

Speaking of bribes, donations, etc. I have more to say that I've been saving of the event of the IO home visit, regarding 2 instances of "additional costs" to this process. The first one, fairly common I'm fairly sure, was that the officers requested some help with petrol money. I didn't know what would be appropriate, so I sent my wife with 500. They actually suggested 1000, but were happy enough with what she had in hand.

 

The second instance, I would more likely call extortion. I've never heard of anything like it. We were unprepared for the requirement to have two witnesses with particular qualities. Nobody we knew around our place had tabien bahns in the district except our landlord. As I related earlier, her older sister is a Poo bahn here. She agreed to help on the morning of our visit, at the last second. But she had a condition: our landlord relayed to us that her sister had asked if we were planning to stay for a year or two, and would I make another new lease and pay the entire term up front! Can you imagine? 

 

My wife was either a genius or had a stroke of luck, so said the best thing. We had already submitted our six month lease with our app, so it would have to be five months. Of course, I had to agree to do this, and thanked my lucky stars this was money I planned to spend anyways. But, the coercive nature of what they did really rubbed me the wrong way. It reminds me of a much bigger example of the stereotypical thinking of shop owners here who raise their prices when business is bad. Before this happened, my wife and I had been talking about how we might actually want to stay for a while, since our landlord was to that point so helpful. However...

 

Sorry about the long-winded story. This was my first experience doing an extension in Isaan. I get the sense Isaan people are uniquely, "pragmatic." (?) But, I'm really not sure I'm going to be able to be happy out here if I'm going to deal with this. Considering BKK and other locations now. So much more food for thought. But, maybe some other days, some more posts.

Cheers to one more year!

[khunjake]

Seems like a major hassle. If one has the means and likes to take a short break out of the country, just get a Non-O ME visa and you can just forget even dealing with these people. We had good, professional experience in Hua Hin but upcountry they were truly nasty and simply horrible to deal with. No way would I pay a single baht to any of them!

[sanooki]

On 9/14/2023 at 7:42 PM, khunjake said:

Seems like a major hassle. If one has the means and likes to take a short break out of the country, just get a Non-O ME visa and you can just forget even dealing with these people. We had good, professional experience in Hua Hin but upcountry they were truly nasty and simply horrible to deal with. No way would I pay a single baht to any of them!

Yes. Thanks for the comment. It was my first experience in Isaan, and they're like piranhas stripping flesh off a carcass--very politely. 

 

I have a few doubts about doing it out of country. Maybe you know if they frown on doing it repeatedly? I plan on being here until the end, and if they will eventually refuse me from doing the Non-O ME, I could be SOL at some point. Secondly, my uncertainty around leaving the country should there be another plandemic, as many are expecting. I haven't been out for over 8 years, but my wife has been nudging for a trip to Laos or Vietnam lately. Cheers!