Maybe a silly question but :-

Am I correct in presuming that when marriage is mentioned for a visa / stay / extension that it needs to be a legal marriage in the sense that you have been to the office and registered the marriage?

Secondly when talking of 'support of a Thai'. If you have married a Thai but not registered the marriage and that Thai has a child who is dependent on you for support, would that qualify as support of a Thai? In the same tone, would a wife you have not registered the marriage of and who does not work be classed as a dependent?

Or is this voided because you are not married in the eyes of the law?

The person would not be married pure and simple. So no Visa or extension based on Marriage.

There is no such Visa for supporting a Thai.

Edited May 21, 200818 yr by Lite Beer

Centric, if the Thai child you are talking about is yours and you are listed as the father on the birth certificate you can get non-O visa to visit your child. Annual extension is possible if you are at least 50 years old, otherwise only a one-time extension of 60 days or you can get a multiple-entry non-O visa valid for a year which will allow you stays of 90 days on each entry.

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Maestro

Thanks. Has cleared up that query

You are not married unless you file the paperwork with the government. The wedding ceremony is just that, a ceremony. They are two distinct things. One is a ceremony, and the other is filing the paperwork for being married. Many people do not have the ceremony, or have multiple ceremonies, but to be legally married, you need to file the paperwork.

It does not sound like your girlfriend's child is also your child (at least the way you worded it). If that is the case, then you would not qualify because of the child and being over 50. You have to be the father. You could adopt the child and then qualify if over 50.

Everything for the visa has to be legal. It cannot be based on a girlfriend, or child of girlfriend that you are supporting. You need to be legally obligated to them by either being a father, or husband.

You could get a multiple entry non-immigrant O visa from Hull in the UK based on visiting friends though. Since that is really all they would be classified as.

Edited May 22, 200818 yr by jstumbo

Adoption is the next stage, but I want to make sure the 'marriage' is working fine 1st over a long period.

I am reluctant to make the marriage official for various reasons. I want my goods and chattels to be secure.

On the other hand you never know unless you ask and seems you are all a mine of info

Non O is no problem as mine is still current. I am looking more into the distant future with an eye to looking after the wife's daughters amongst other things. I've never had to think about many of these ideas before.

In the future (at least with the way the regulations are written right now) if you were to adopt her child and live with the daughter, and you were over 50, then you could get a visa based on living with your daughter. No financial requirements to qualify. Or if you were married, you could get an extension of stay based on marriage, but you would need to show a combined family income of 40K baht per month to qualify.