Hello all,

I wonder whether anyone can offer some advice? I am in Bangkok on a Non-B with a WP, and have been for the past 18 months. I am now planning to get married to my Thai girlfriend here next year. My questions are simple (hopefully). Is it mandatory to change my visa status, and what are the advantages and disadvantages?

Any advice is welcome. Thanks in advance.

Andy.

No you do not need to change your visa status. Are you using 90 day entry or an extension of stay? If using an extension of stay and you lose employment you have 7 days to depart but would not have that requirement if here on a family extension of stay. The family requires 40k monthly income. Being married also lowers the requirements for employer.

That said there is no rush and you can change at the next annual extension if using that method if you want or just continue. The problem could be if you lost job and wife did not meet the 40k income you might have a difficult time that could have been avoided if on extension of stay for family, as you would have until the next renewal date to find alternate employment in that case.

Lopburi - thanks as always for your advice. I am on an extension of stay based on my employment, and yes - the income would be a potential problem as my intended only earns around 35,000 baht/month at the moment. I just wondered whether I would HAVE to change my current visa status once I am married? As for losing my job, that's always a risk I guess but I am pretty sure that's not going to happen anytime soon. Thanks again.

Andy.

...I just wondered whether I would HAVE to change my current visa status once I am married.

You don’t have to. It is an option you have. This means that for your next application for extension you can choose from two reason, either “employment” or “living with Thai wife”

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Maestro

What Lopburi3 said means, no, you do not HAVE to change your visa status. If you still have your job and work permit, you are still qualified to get extensions of stay based on that regardless of your marital status.

Once you get married, and when convenient, it may be useful for you to do your next extension based on "support of Thai wife" as this gives you more time to find a new job, should you leave your current one. The 40k THB/month requirement is for family income, so the sum of your income and your wife's just needs to meet that in order to continue getting this type of extension of stay. Unless your wife gets a raise, it sounds like you'd still need to get a new job to renew your extension in that case... because you will be married, it will also be slightly easier for an employer to qualify to offer you a work permit than it was when you were single.

Of course, we've all heard stories or encountered officials who have novel interpretations of the rules. So, I wouldn't put it past some official telling you that you HAVE to change your basis for extension. But in reality, you should be able to get your extension of stay on any basis for which you qualify. And once you've been getting extensions of stay, the "visa status" is that you have an extension of stay as written in your application (and really your re-entry permit is your "visa" should you travel abroad); the type of non-immigrant visa you had prior to the extension of stay is not really important.

Edit: oops, seems I was typing at the same time as Maestro (just typing much longer :-) )

Edited December 17, 200718 yr by autonomous_unit

Much appreciated. Thank you.