Marriage Visa Renewal Question For "obligatory" Immigrants

[Upcountry]

It seems to me that most people who have a marriage visa probably came here on a voluntary basis (having married overseas, or marrying here), or because their Thai spouse couldn’t stand living outside Thailand. My situation is less common. I gave up my life in the US to come to Thailand with my wife because she had to return; Upon graduating school, her J-1 visa status required her to come back and work for several years or pay a huge amount of money. Not being rich, my only other options were a long distance relationship or separation.

I’m not writing this to complain, but to ask if there are others in my situation that have looked into or had success with alternatives to the usual visa requirements and process (very unlikely, I know). In other words, is there anything I might not know about my status as an obligatory immigrant that could help me with my annual renewal or application for permanent residency? I know I’m grasping at straws and I only post here (hesitantly) because I don’t know where else to ask about this right now other than the bureau itself. My wife and I may look into this when we go there next time, but it's at tricky thing to ask about, especially the permanent residency part).

I’d appreciate any advice or anecdotes form others like me who have tried to deal with this issue through Immigration.

If you don’t feel like answering in this thread, please PM me.

Thanks in advance for your thoughtful replies.

[Maestro]

I believe that when you say “marriage visa renewal” you mean “annual extension of stay for the reason of living with Thai wife”

The criteria and requirements for this type of extension are spelt out in paragraph 7.17(6) of the Police order 606/2549.

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Maestro

[Upcountry]

Wow, it's taken me a while to get back to this.

Maestro, thanks for your reply.

Judging from the response, I suppose I'm in a rare category. I was hoping to get some anecdotes about ways to deal with the system that may not be documented in police orders, etc., if people have them they're not sharing. On reflection, that's understandable.

Sigh.

Edited August 19, 2007 by Upcountry

[Maestro]

I was hoping to get some anecdotes about ways to deal with the system that may not be documented in police orders, etc.

I don’t quite understand what your problem is. Is it that you cannot meet the requirement of 40,000 Baht monthly family income for an annual extension of stay?

I just finished reading a new topic by Badbanker about an undocumented way: overstaying, arrest, detention, deportation to home country. Read it, but I guess this is not what you want to do, nor would I recommend it.

Another way, and perfectly legal, is repeated entries on non-O visas for the purpose of visiting family. Being married to a Thai, you can get this type of visa easily. There are many posts by members talking about this method. Some Thai consulates in the region even issue multiple-entry non-O visas, at the moment Singapore and Penang, I believe, based on latest reports. For the multiple-entry visa, these consulates want to see evidence of money in the bank, in Singapore 400k, in Penang apparently only 200k. Some months ago, Kuala Lumpur was also mentioned as issuing multiple-entry O visas but I do not know what the current situation is.

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Maestro

[autonomous_unit]

Upcountry, some of us are in the same boat as you, and as far as I know we all play by the same rules as any other Thai-foreigner couple.

As Maestro says, you just need to show 40k month family income (it could be your wife's from her sponsoring organization).

[bunple]

some what of subject but is the 40k monthly family income likewise the 65k retirement income a gross or net figure?

[lopburi3]

It had always been considered as gross but current report from Nong Khai indicates that 65k "must" be transferred into Thailand every month so that would make it net for foreign pensions. 'your mileage may very'; as they say.