New fees for Thai visas from August 2003

[MaiChai]

So maybe we need to push for farang men to be treated the same as farang women; that is automatic right to citizenship. This is being contested at the moment, and if it doesn't go through its about time someone started a campaign to get it sorted. I'm fed up with being treated like a tourist when my wife and children are Thai, and more importantly we want to stay in Thailand and we have made some long term commitments here. Western countries don't treat people like this; if you marry a local national, you get more rights. Ok, you may need to stay for a qualifying period (which is fair in my opinion), but after that you have pretty much the same rights as a local.

[Boo]

I agree, there shouldn't be a different rule for guys & girls. I think it was just that when these rules were originally written it was mostly farang men with thai wives & not the other way around that was the majority case.  

[pschef]

Hi Boo

I think if you are already on the three year trip? The rule is, as far as you apply for an exit re-entry Visa. leaving the country won’t affect your status. Not sure of the period you are allowed to stay out of Thailand,? You can look it up in the Thai Immigration web page; it’s longer than 3 months if I remember  ???

[MaiChai]

Boo, I inquired about the 3 continuous years requirement. You don't actually have to be in Thailand for the three years continuous; just add up the stays in your passport to make 3 years. You need 3 years accumulated time using non immigrant visas (tourist visa stays don't count). So maybe you need 4 or 5 years of non immigrant visas to make up the three years of time spent in Thailand, depending on the amount of time you spend each year in Thailand. I usually spend 3/6 months of each year outside Thailand working in my home country to finance my life in Thailand. My wife and children remain in Thailand when I'm working abroad. I checked this out with a immigration lawyer some time ago.

[lopburi3]

I checked this out with a immigration lawyer some time ago.

Well this is not the policy as I understand it.  The policy followed is that the time MUST be on extensions of stay and any break in this 3 years you start over.  There is no adding up visa stays.  I don't argue that it could not happen this way; just that the policy is that it does not.

[george]

NOTE: We are way off topic here. The subject for this thread is "raised visa fees". Please open a new topic if you want to discuss other things. Thanks!

[pschef]

Am I correct in saying that these price increases were put in line to also make the situation for farang men & women the same. I know before the rules were different.

If that is the case, then in some way it is a little unfair. Now before you go & start abusing me, hear me out.

I think it would be better for all cases to be heard individually, as, as a women in her late 20's who is going to be married to a thai man, once we have children, I will not be able to come back to Uk for a few months to earn this 103,300 baht to pay for my residents book ( as it would directly affect my situation with having a visa continuosly for 3 years to qualify) & as a couple working together with a child to support, the chances of us raising that sort of money in thailand is near impossible, so really, for us, it is a lose, lose situation.

This will also apply to guys married to thai women, who do not have the benefit of pensions or well paying jobs in LOS.

Now for older guys with pensions etc, this kind of money really wouldn't be a problem, ok it is excessive but if you can afford it & not take all your life savings, most would pay if they wanted it that badly.

I for one would want residency as we will be having children & making our permenant home in Thailand, we are also looking to move in the next couple of years to around Khon Kaen, so it would be nearly impossible to me to get a well paying job & my husband would also take a huge earning loss, it's barely possible to get a job in Samui where the wages for farang tend to be higher.

So what I want to know.....

1) Is this new price rule for both farang men & women?

2) Is there any kind of appeal that can be made purtaining to your individual situation or is this set in stone.

3) Would it be possible for me & hubby/child etc to go to UK for a few months where I would be able to work & not have this affect my 3 year continuos visa, or be blackmarket (?) for working overseas?

I know many people in different financial situations & the 2 last questiosn could maybe really help them out. (& me)

I think we are answering the above quoted post, I disagree we are still on the same topic. It all relates back to price increases and ways around those increases, forgive if I am wrong George.

[george]

Phuket Gazette report today that the visa fee increase will start on January 1, 2004 instead of next month. Phuket Gazette said the Immigration Bureau in Bangkok confirmed the new date today.

As usual we all are getting conflicting information.  ???

Will speak to Immigration Bureau again Wednesday, and will keep you posted.

[george]

More news just in:

Minimum wages for foreigners hiked

Please disuss the visa fee hike in this thread, and the salary hike in the thread linked above. Thanks.

[MaiChai]

Unfortunatly, different officials working in the same department tend to interpret rules in different ways. I have come across this many times in Thailand. I was told that I could do it this way; ask two Thais officials the same question, and you will get two different answers. TiT.

It will be interesting to see if the Thais step down the increases. If there is enough outcry, this is normally what happens in my experience. Unfortunatly there were no farangs in the Thai parliment to speak against the increases, so nobody would have objected to the increases when they were put before parliment some time back.

There is definitly a need for a lobbying body to protect foreign interests in Thailand. I would be keen to campaign for equal rights for foreigners who have a valid reason to stay here. At the moment we have a lot of unequality.

[george]

the visa fee increase will start on January 1, 2004 instead of next month.

As usual we all are getting conflicting information.  

The latest news is that the new fees will take effect on 2004-01-01, and not in August this year.

[Thailand]

Let me think about this!

OK - everything in the world is great again and everyone wants to travel to exotic places like Thailand, so why don't we just hike the cost of everything, nobody will care- all Farangs are rich are they not!

Oops, SARS is seasonal and here comes another batch, cancel some tourists.

Oops, bin laden/ saddam suporters/ some fantic, the expected major terrorist attack happens in an Asian country whre people smile a lot, or some othe complacent part of the world.

Thousands are killed by chemical, biological, nuclear attack, whatever.

OK now it's all over again let's raise all our prices through the roof to try to get back what we have lost.

And while we are at it lets find ways to ensure that all our foreign residents start to look for somewhere else to live and take their big bucks with them.

TIT

[Roger13]

What about the Philipines?

They Actively attract / Advertise for Retirees

I will start another Thread for this

[flackjacket]

Once again the obvious has been uttered by the Thai Government : We only want RICH tourists who will go away when all their money has been spent in Thailand". Tourists can be fickle, who says the Thai predictions that all tourists will come flooding back is accurate, "Two swallows do not make a summer".!!! The Real bread and butter for Thailand, those who have settled here with a retirement cheque and SPEND IT ALL IN THAILAND, they are the ones who Thailand should cosset . Expats, just look what inducements Malaysia is offering to attract the retired.

Remember the terrorist threat is still there and there is a cancer of it in  Southern Thailand. We are not foolish enough to believe it will go away, many of us have had many years experience of terrorist activities to our cost.

[wilson steer]

George, again you are wrong. August 26th is the date set by Thai immigration to hike visa fees within the Kingdom of Thailand. January 1st 2004 is the date set for the price hike for embassies overseas.

Changes in cost to visa fees within the Kingdom of Thailand can be effected overnight. Fees in overseas embassies fall strict to rule 18(a) which states a six month hiatus (or else) rule 118 © parragraph III " The next calendar year A.D. (WESTERN)".

[george]

August 26th is the date set by Thai immigration to hike visa fees within the Kingdom of Thailand. January 1st 2004 is the date set for the price hike for embassies overseas.

Yes, these are the two dates in this visa fee hike saga. I hope we will be able to have these dates finally confirmed by tomorrow Friday.

[beleby]

Can somebody explain to a dummy like me:

The monster 10 zillion bhat charge for issue of a residence book, is that a 'one off' charge or an annual fee? If it is the latter, how the heck do they expect anyone but the millionaires to afford it?

[MaiChai]

A thought occurs to me. Do Thais think that when farangs come on holiday and splash lots of money about, do they realise that most farangs can't afford to do this back home? Many farangs have been saving all year for their extravegant two weeks on holiday in Thailand.

I believe its a one off fee. Of course, if you wanted to become resident in the UK, we would treat you fairly and not demand a huge amount of money off you. If you were married to a Brit, you would be automatically entitled to stay. TiT

[dazdaz]

Come on, of course not.   They know your there to spend a UK/European/American amount of money for holiday, which is a lot for them.

ok what is Thaksin's email address?  I feel inclined to send him an email, is he on the Net?

Dear Thaksin,

Old buddy, drinking partner and various other things, how's it going, long time no write, me and the chaps arn't too happy your about to take away our fun in the land of smiles, and we aint too pleased about it.  How about I buy you some more Heineken, we know you like Heineken, and see how you feel about things then.  I mean there's no harm in buying your PM a drink is there?  You would'nt take it personally, shoot me, or put me in the BKK Hilton would you?  Or make me work in a massage parlour?  Well ok, you can make me do that, but you must allow me to make enough to pay for my permits ...

Anyway, me and the chaps and the Heineken think that you've made a slight miscalculation that will send Thailand to the depths of another economic recession, remember the last one?  See, we think that this decision is a political and not an economic one.

machine guns shoots me dead ...

There's just some people who won't listen to reason.

Regards

[beleby]

I believe its a one off fee. Of course, if you wanted to become resident in the UK, we would treat you fairly and not demand a huge amount of money off you. If you were married to a Brit, you would be automatically entitled to stay. TiT

Heck, if you want to stay in the UK, all you have to do is turn up! The authorities even pay for your train ticket to London.

Anyone who thinks I am joking obviously did not see the 'Panorama' documentry on asylum this week.................

So remind me, which of us is supposed to be the 'third world' country again????

[dr_Pat_Pong]

automatic ....give up the drink willya

[Boo]

I think greg was referring to the (fake) asylum seekers featured on a couple of tv programmes in the UK this week. They come to england & basically spounge off the system bleeding all of the resources dry & then get cash in hand work to substitue what they consider to be meager hand out, as i'm sure their own countries provide so much more. lol

With regards to genuine applicants, who go through the proper channels (i.e. not lying on the undercarraige of the eurostar to get to England) wishing to reside in the UK whether for work or with a partner, the beurocracy (!) is indeed crazy & so many peole get turned away for no reason or have to go through so much red tape that they give up trying. But going back to the original thread, an application for residency in the UK is only 250 pounds (approx 16k baht) in comparison to thailands 195,000 for peole married to thais.

I would still like to know how they came about this figure? ???

[MaiChai]

You farang want live in Thailand, pay big money. OK?

There is no logic. All farangs are rich, so they can just pay up... I was going to start doing 1 year extensions, which is OK at 200,000 baht in the bank. Needing 400,000 is now making me think twice; do I want that kind of money in a Thai bank account? After all, it is quite a reasonable sum of money to russle up in one go.

[massein]

This situation has bme really stressed, I have had a marriage visa for 2 year, i just finish building a house for about 700,000 with all the farang trimmings. I use my 200,000 bank visa money to help complete the project, knowing that I would be able to replace it by the time my visa expired in jan 1 2004.  But there is know way i will be able to save 400,000 by that time, the the yearly fee i can live with but keeping 400,000 in the bank will be tough. so what do I do when my visa is up in january go back to making monthly trips to the border. I'm retired. and have a 100,000 permonth income . but if i can't get 400000 b in the bank i certainly can't get 800,000 in the bank , any susjestions. What will become of my familly. sure thay have a nice house . but will not be able to keep it up

[dazdaz]

Sorry to hear that friend, sometimes life is'nt fair.

Bank loan

Rent out rooms

Start up a business, although you could'nt earn enough in that quick a time

Sell the house, buy a cheaper one

Leave Thailand

* Complain bitterly to the Thai Government!!!! *

What is the best way to do this?  Talk to the opposition party?  I know little about politics.

I'm surprised by those who think the hike in charges is acceptable, they are not.

Regards

[pschef]

Massein

you must look more carefully into the” what is required in the bank” I never saw anything about this??? They refer to visa hike but not to how much money in the bank. I mean Retired or married, if you have hundred per month as a retired person I think you have no problem. Just check it with your local friendly immix officers

[pschef]

Forgive me if I’m wrong<

why the guy has a pension or money about 100, 000 per month. I am sure he never needs to show any other money, if no money coming then you have to prove you can support your self by 800. 000. Baht in a Thai bank. Like me married to a Thai national, I must prove existence of 200. 000, but now will be 400.000. Nowhere I see these rules ???

[dr_Pat_Pong]

PSCHEF is correct ....for a retirement visa as it stands you need 800,000 baht OR 650000 income per month and while  the fees will rise, it is as yet unclear whether the income or bank requirements will change.

[massein]

i',m have trouble getting around in the forum so forgive me for repeat post.

I have had to produce bank doc for 2 years showing ihad 200,000 in the bank, also i had to show certification that i had stated income. I'm a retired government employee from Las Vegas Nevada, so this is no problem. Futher it has taken 3 month for approval with each application, the 2nd application didn't require a house visit. On the firt application instead of the house visit i was requested to show of at lotus at kfc with a witness, since i live 160k from Chiang Mai.there were four officers and they seperated me , my wife and my witness, for a interview, incidently i brought 2 witness.. i bought everone lunch of course. My wife stated that she had giving an additiona fee of 2,000b to her interview. But the officer I sat with state, you can apply agan next year, maybe better then, Them the officer interviewing my wife indicate everthing appeared ok as i was walking away my wife informed me about the 2000b fee for investigative services, she said the man was not happy with this. i told her that she should go and give him 2000 more bot so my file didn't end up on the bottem of basket, for ever, This she did, I later observed the officers doing personel shoping. and they greeted me with friendly smiles. I have been told that if i went to BKK to apply each year i would not have so many fees or hoops to jump. i only had to pay additional fee the 1st. time

[mesquite]

In July I received my O-A visa and despite having a pension well over 65,000 baht per per month, the immigration lady said I needed 800,000 baht transferred into my bank account here in Thailand.  I politely pointed out that my pension was in excess of the requirement and asked if I had to put 800,000 in.  She paused and then said "OK, 200,000"  I said "can do" and it all worked out.  I received my visa on the day I gave them all the documentation.  A buddy of mine had to wait 10 days while they "sent it to Bangkok".

I get the idea there are no hard and fast rules and there never will be.  The rules appear to be only general guidance and the specific requirements come from the immigration officer and is subject to how he or she is feeling on that day.