Tourist Visa To Non 'o' Visa

[bkkexplorer]

Hi,

This posting is for those of yuo who don't already know that you can get your tourist visa changed to a non 'O' if you have a non 'O' that expired after your return. read on...

I had a non 'O' spouse visa issued to me a year ago from the Embassy in Singapore. The printed expiry date is the 30th of Sept. 2004.

About a month ago I did a visa run to Singapore. This was on the 2nd of Oct, two days after the visa had expired. On returning the next day, 3rd Oct., thai immigration issued me a one month tourist visa. Now, I was under the impression that I only have a month to stay and probably needed to leave the kingdom again in a month.

I brought some cash with me and I finally had the required amount needed to apply for a one year non 'O' spouse visa at immigration in bkk. I had all the documents needed including the letter from the bank. I headed down not knowing if I could apply for this non 'O' visa as my current visa at the time was a tourist one. After some enquiries and handing my passport in, I was told that I could get my tourist visa changed to a non 'O' visa. Got this done without any fee, they canceled the tourist visa and issued me a new non 'O' visa that expires on the 31st of Dec. Great, now i don't have to do another visa run and fill all the requirements needed for a new one year visa. This is the first point I wanted to share. That you CAN get your visa changed.

After meeting the officer, I was told that the bank letter did not state where the money came from and that I had to indicated clearly where it did come from. I already knew from reading other posts that this was sometimes a sticky point but decided to give it a try anyways. The money I had, had no proof that it came from overseas. My mistake, but worth a try as I was already there at immigration. Now I have to get my money from my local thai bank into an overseas account and back here. Get a new letter and I should be good to go. A lot of hassle if you ask me but TIT.

Another thing, I brought in photo's of us together (these go way back) but apparently the officers also wanted photo's of where we stayed,.. the apartment or house. Indoor and outdoor photo's.. Go figure.

Well folks, that's my contribution for the day. Cheers.