Phuket Residency And Getting A Visa

[scotslad]

Myself and my boyfriend have had a windfall and are looking to relocate to Phuket. we are from the UK aged 35 & 33 years old. I am a teacher and he is a graphic designer. We have enough disposable income to buy a property and live off for 5 years or so. However we wouldn't want to use all of our savings up.

We would look to live in Phuket, buy a property and in the future (possibly 12 months down the line) start to work. this could involve setting up our own company or working for someone else.

We know that it is common practice to do a 'visa run' and that there have been some problems with this in the past.

We would love to settle in the LOS but are terrified of seling everything here, buying over there and then not being allowed to stay.

Can someone please offer us some advice and help us out here.

Cheers

C&D

[astral]

To be honest you are too young to come and live here full time.

It can be done, but is difficult.

At your age you need to be working or to make a substantial investment to start a company, in order to live here.

I expect the guys as Indo Siam will advise you one that.

If you are over 50 you can stay longer as a retiree.

The rules on visa's are being tightened as we speak.

Firstly I suggest you apply to the Thai Consulate in Hull and get a double, or if they will issue it a triple entry Tourist Visa at the last minute before you leave.

You can check the details with the Consulate beforehand, but you need every day of the validity of the visa, to get the best advantage from it!!

On arrival you will be stamped in for 60 days.

At the end of the 60 days you must apply to Immigration here for an extension. I am not sure how many days you will get, it used to be 30, but some offices are clamping down and may give less.

When the extension expires you must do a quick hop across the border to Malaysia and back. Quite an easy trip from Phuket.

When you re-enter you will get another 60 days, and this can probably be extended.

If you get the Triple Entry, you can do this a third time, just before the 6 months expiry date for using the visa.

With a double entry you cab stay 6 months, or with the triple, 9 month.

Then you will need to leave the country and try to get a new double/triple entry visa. You will have to watch this forum for the latest news about whether this is possible and where.

I see from another post that the consulate in Hull may grant you a 1 year (multi-entry)Non-Immigrant visa, which may be a better option. You will still need to do a border run every 3 months.

Give these uncertainties I do not recommend you buy a property here.

Better to rent. It allows you to move around more easily, and repatriating funds later may be complicated.

In fact you cannot own land here, only lease it, which is another complication.

Sorry to sound discouraging.

Come on the tourist visa and enjoy yourselves and see the country.

Then reconsider the question in 6-9 months when you have a better feel for the country and what is possible.

Edited October 4, 2004 by astral

[LivinLOS]

Hull appears to be very loose in issueing non imm 0's (I may even send my second passport to my brother in the UK who could then forward the mail to Hull) to see if I get a one year non imm O

Is that legal ?? I have multiple passports specifically so that one can be carried while another gets visa processed, this is common for offshore workers or people who have to do lots of business travel.

Then if one was granted I resume I would need to fly back to Europe for a day to go through a country immigration that did not place entry and exit stamps ???

Back to the topic if Hull wont comply you may be able to get a double or triple entry tourist visa which would be 2 x 60 or 3 x 60 and if current rumors prove incorrect you may be able to extend them by 30 days each one effectively making 2x90 or 3 x 90 stays with visa runs at each break (Phuketians often do Ranong)..

Lastly if you are thinking of buying property you might consider the 3 mil investment visa. Again there seems a lot of confusion and many immigration offices are not aware of this visa but with 3 mil in a gov bank, gov bonds, or a condo, you can qualify to have a one year visa extension. I have no idea if by being creative you could both get away with using the same 3 mil or what.

You will almost certainly find some way to be able to do what you are attempting to do you just need to learn to be adaptable.