Married, Non Immigrant Visa "o" , And 1 Year Extension

[icemanvarna]

Here is my experience for all procedure to get my Non Imm "O" - marriage visa.

I arrived in Thailand with “tourist visa”, on the airport I got stamp for 30 days, after 1 week I got married and went to immigration to extend my tourist visa with more 30 days (1900Bath fee) bcz. I need 21 days before my visa to be expired to apply for changing the tourist visa to “Non Imm. “O” visa”. So, first here are what you need for marriage:

First you need to bring document from your country that show you are free to marry with translation in English and all stamps from MFA in your country. This is a document basically stating that your are not currently married and are free and available to get married.

In Thailand , first you will need to visit your embassy. You will need to have an "affirmation of freedom to marry" prepared and endorsed by the Consul. This is a one page document where is the name of your parents, your occupation, that you are not married and 2 people for reference purposes if is necessary to verify all above details. (I didn’t make this document bcz my embassy has some new stupid rules and need to wait 10 days for one stamp. I am from small Eastern Europe country which now is in EU. My first visit in the embassy was follow with words like: “What will you do here?, The family of your wife will take all of your money, this country go down after October 2006, Thais don’t like farangs to rule the business here and you’ll have problems. Thai ppl. became negative to farangs., Look how they are living (she mean about poor ppl.), go to work in Western Europe. Later she said : You’ll never get any visa even the extension for your tourist visa…) I don’t know why she was so negative, I think she doesn’t like her job here. After 20 min I went to Emigration in Bangkok and got 30 days extension of my tourist visa.

Next, I went to MFA in Bangkok with already stamped certificate - freedom to marry, and first find some translator around MFA to translate from English in Thai. I paid 600 baht for 4 pages. A few days before I tried to do this around the Wireless road where my embassy is, they wanted 12000 Baht to make all documents translation including certificate in MFA and the page that I mention above-:affirmation of freedom to marry.

So, don’t believe these companies, you can do it all by yourself. The consul signature verified at the Thai Department of Naturalization. The fee for this is 400 Baht per document. For express service is 800 bath and ready about 2 - 4h.

After i had the completed documents I went to register my marriage in Ayutthaya local government amphur office. The Thai national will require his/her Thai ID card. There they checked my certificate that I am not married about all stamps but didn’t required for this page "affirmation of freedom to marry" for which some told me that is not possible to marry without this page. We paid 50 bath for the marriage registration.

Next step is to change my tourist visa to non “O” visa. To apply for this you need:

- 21 days before your tourist visa expire

- Original and copy of passport or substitute document.

- One 4*6 cm photo

- Original and copy of Wife ID card and house registration

- Marriage certificate ( kor-ror2 and kor-ror 3)

- 2,000 Baht fee

- financial evidence for 40000 baht per month, and tax receipts. (actually it will be needed when you extend your visa , but the office took it too.)

You have to be with your wife. The procedure is very fast, they just take all documents, asked me for my job and if I have some properties in my country. The result is after 15 days. They gave me 3 months non immigrant “O” visa.

Next , I have to extend my visa to 1 year. I called several times to immigration to ask when we have to apply, but got different answers, like 30 days before my visa expire, or 15 days before. The result is coming after 1 months, so I prefer not to loss time and applied 33 days before to finish my visa. I was in emigration in Bangkok at 9am but got number 38 bcz had a lot of ppl. I sat and waited until 3.30pm for the interview like many ppl just give up to wait before my number. The documents I used to apply are:

* Application Form TM.7.

* Copy and original of passport

* One 4*6 cm photo

* Original and copy of Wife ID card and house registration

* Marriage certificate ( kor-ror2 and kor-ror 3)

* Certified document for freedom of marriage

* 1,900 Baht fee

* Financial evidence of my wife for 40000 baht per month and tax receipts for last 3 months

* pictures with my wife from the front of the house where can see the number of the house, and some from inside together.

* map of the address where we are living

We missed only one document, about copy of company registration where my wife works, I brought this document after 2 days and not any problem.

Most important is the interview with the officer. The female officer is very friendly and helpful. First she talked with my wife alone, later she asked me the same questions, and check if we answer the same things.

The question is different for every case, such as, they ask me for the name of province where I am living ans so as my wife, ask about our family and siblings, how many rooms in your house, the colour of the curtains in the living room and bed room, how many fan we have annd what color, how many air conditioners in the house, how much is the salary of my wife. All is around 15 questions and also depends from the mood of the officer, I was lucky that the officer was very nice, she was very polite and smile all time. Also another that you need to have is good dressing , being very polite and smile a lot.

Good luck!