Non Immigrant B Visa Extension For Business

[digitalchromakey]

I have been trying to apply for a Non B Visa Extension under the 606/2549 rules for Temporary stay in Thailand for some three months now.

I am appling for an extension under category 7.1 which is an extension for business.

I have now visited my local immigration dept 6 times over the past three months with corrections for the problems they have found in my paper work each time I visited. I am now confident that all the details are correct.

Now time is marching on and I do not have much time left before my current visa expires. It is starting to look like I will have to leave Thailand yet again to apply for another Non Immigrant B Visa at an overseas Thai Embassy or Consulate.

I still have one problem remaining that perplexes me. The regulations state that to apply in this category (7.1) my monthly salary must be more than 50K pcm.

My salary is now 50K THB pcm, but last year it was 45K THB pcm.

Immigration say that although my Por Ngor Dor 1 shows tax being paid at 50K this year, my 2549 Por Ngor Dor 91 shows an annual salary of 540,000 THB (i.e. 12x 45K last year). Immigration have told me that even though my employers have confirmed in writing that my salary is now 50K and I am paying tax and Social security accordingly, that I am not entitled to a Visa extension because my salary was not 600,000 (i.e. 12x 50K last year).

Is this correct and can any point me to the regulations that explain immigration's interperetation of the regulations?

[lopburi3]

7.1 list of documents

9. Copies of the foreigner’s income tax

submitted annually attaching a

receipt (if any)

[digitalchromakey]

Lopburi3 - Thanks for the pointer. I am still puzzled

My pdf English translation of 606/2549 downloaded from the goverment immigration website says

Documents Required

8. Copy of the latest monthly withholding tax return showing the names of employees and the alien applicant, together with receipt.

9. Copy of the latest income tax return of the alien applicant with receipt (if any).

Basis for Consideration

(2) The alien must have an income consistent with that set out in the Income Table attached hereto; and

Income Table Referred to Clause 7.1 (2)

Nationality 1. European Countries, ..... Miniumum Income Baht 50,000/month

So I presume that for 8. one supplies the latest Por Ngor Dor 1 to show withholding tax - in my case paid on 50K per month and for 9. my 2549 Por Ngor Dor 91 which shows last year's income 540,000 i.e 12x 45K.

There is an ambiguity; the question is as to which is used as the basis for determining Monthly income?

Edited September 5, 2007 by digitalchromakey

[lopburi3]

I was using the Sunbelt translation, which I suspect is more accurate. It has become very difficult to obtain extensions of stay for many first year applicants and they end up using visa entry for the first year according to posts here.

[digitalchromakey]

Thanks

I have lived here continuously for over 5 years now and have been on a Continuous Non Immigrant B for over 4 years leaving and reentering at the 3 month stamp expiry.

Edited September 5, 2007 by digitalchromakey

[TJ9]

I experienced a similar problem a few years back when I first applied for a 1-year extension on my Non-B.

Before I applied for the 1-year extension I was paying taxes based on the Labour dept.'s salary requirement for my work permit, but when I applied for the 1-year extension Immigration required taxes on a higher salary for the last year than what I've been paying based on Labour's requirement.

I solved the problem by going to the tax department and back-paying some taxes for the last year to bring everything up to the level Immigration wanted.

Obviously another way to solve the problem is to start paying the higher taxes while still doing border runs every 3 months for the next year and then apply for the 1-year extension at a later date. Not ideal.

Would be nice to know what the real requirements are (just out of curiosity) and whether I really needed to pay the back-taxes to solve the problem or not. Won't make any difference for me now, but might help digitalchromakey and others to know how to solve this problem. There must be others in a similar situation.

[digitalchromakey]

Here's an update for anyone interested.

I tried going back a further two more times to Phuket Immigration for clarification on this issue. A senior officer there explained to me in Thai that they look for tax paid on a minimum salary of 50K from when your work permit started, or for the whole of the previous tax year if you held your WP continuously during that period.

The officer suggested that one way to fix this problem would be for me to change job and then apply for a new work permit, or to cancel my existing work permit and apply for a replacement. It took a long time to get my current work permit and I really didn't want to chance going down that route.

By this time I had less than one week remaining before my entry stamp expired. So I gave up on the visa extension application process for this year, got on the internet and booked a ticket to go down to Penang.

I applied at the Thai Consulate in Penang for yet another 1 year multiple entry Non Immigramt B Visa (with the correct paperwork and WP with 1 year validity). Got the visa, no problems. I now just need to continue making the trip to the border every three months over the next year. Then it's back to Phuket Immigration next August, to try all over again.