29 minutes ago, Peter Crow said:

The thing is it should be, shouldn't?

Absolutely not

On 2/25/2026 at 9:03 AM, KhunLA said:

Rules are set by BKK, and why you need dupes, one stays local, one off to BKK, I believe. So blame the agents, expats & corrupt officials for the extra paperwork, and scrutiny.

The laws are maybe set by Bangkok, the rules are definitely at the whim of each and every immigration officer nationwide. That's probably why this thread has 6 pages already.

Stop victim blaming the expats just because you have never hit any speed bumps in your past dealings with immigration.

27 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Absolutely not

Well, I don't see how Thailand can accept to bear the financial risk incurred from an aging foreign population, many of which have no health cover nor the means to pay for the treatment of the inevitable catastrophic illness.

But that's only my opinion.

14 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

The laws are maybe set by Bangkok, the rules are definitely at the whim of each and every immigration officer nationwide. That's probably why this thread has 6 pages already.

Stop victim blaming the expats just because you have never hit any speed bumps in your past dealings with immigration.

Rules for marriage are set by Imm law, and (marriage extensions) enforced by BKK Imm, as they approve all marriage extension. Why local offices are very picky about the paperwork, along with 2 copies of everything.

If your office asks for more then the minimum, oh well. And blame your fellow expats, as that's probably why.

Retirement extension, they have lot of leeway, if, they wish to extend to applicants, since locally approved. Since being burned so many times when being nice, well, they're pretty picky also.

All it takes is one idiot, to stiff a hospital bill on a retirement extension, and the Imm Office is screwed, as how could someone with 800k a year income, not be able to afford inexpensive care at govt hosp. That would come right back on the the Imm office.

So yea, they're picky even when they don't need to be, because of skint expats skirting the rules. Thank them, don't blame Imm.

How hard is to prove your residence & income. That's it for a retirement extension. If you can't do that simply task, then you really probably shouldn't be here in TH.

For marriage, same, residence & income, and simply prove you are still married, and that's a piece of paper from amphur office. Take a for snaps, and you have to find 1 or 2 witnesses (location dependent).

Seriously ... Is it really that hard ? Or just skirt the law, and use an agent. If you don't have 400k or 800k a year, you definitely shouldn't be here in TH anyway. Stay in your own country, and enjoy your safety nets.

How dumb do you have to be, to get denied. You walk in, ask what they want, then simply comply. I'm seriously amazed, people have a problem doing such a simply task.

Made it.....30 day consideration granted at least!!

Bank, no queue sorted in 10 mins.

IO not too busy, made it through pre-check okay....although I notice the new photo requirements don't require the whole house is in view.....WT....? New Community Attestation form accepted (had the village head witness it)

Waited no more than 5 mins to get called up, then................it began.

Every page was inspected at least thee times. We had to have our photos taken on the official camera as normal, but then the IO officer took out his iPhone and wanted a photo of our marriage certificate, a photo of us holding up the marriage certificate....then a selfie with all three of holding it up?????

Then we paid the 1,900 and I'm thinking, back of the net, done......nope. He went back through every page submitted and put a tiny stamp bottom right corner.....then initialed each stamp. Finished? Nope.

We were asked to move down one and another officer went through every page and got all excited when she realised I had a new bank book, but hadn't submitted a copy of the front pages.....got that sorted. Then the IO officer stood up, said they had an interview and went.......left us sat there. Eventually another officer seemed to take pity and started asking, father's name, mother's name, brother and sister's name, UK telephone number, where did we meet, when did we meet, when did we marry (FFS we've been married for 20 years). he printed out some more forms in Thai which we signed.....no idea what they were........then the original officer came back and asked the same questions.......finally after 90 minutes....stamp.

By now there wasn't an empty seat in the place.

Transferred 65k yesterday......not going through that again.

1 hour ago, MIke B Bad said:

Made it.....30 day consideration granted at least!!

Thanks for update. Very clear.

Makes retirement extension look like picnic.

Under consideration = approved (basically)