Discrimination Being Married To A Thai Man

[Boo]

yawn. you clearly missed my post before, so here it is again;

I have removed a post attempting to incite hate as well as making false claims against women posters. Take your issues & attempts at shitstirring elsewhere, there's no place for them on thaivisa.

Any issues raise to admin - support (at) thaivisa.com

[sbk]

Just a note, this is not the place to bring your prejudices. Please read the rules specific to this forum again before posting as further such attempts to disrupt this forum will result in formal moderator action

[janetplanet]

Yes, you get the one year extension just when your visa is about to expire. Then, you will only need to make 90 day reports to your nearest Immigration (reporting your address) and will no longer have to leave the country. You will have to renew your visa every year, submitting the same documentation over and over and over again tho

Make sure your daughter enters Thailand on her Thai passport tho, will save you any hassle further on down the road (ie exit Canada with Canadian passport, enter Thailand with Thai passport).

So even with the O visa and the work permit go and get an extension after 3 months? Thanks for your patience. I have mommy brain and a mute husband. Maybe my situation with the border trying to get money off me because of our daughter was just a miscommunication:) Did I mention my husband is a mute? A mute by choice. The other comment about luk krueng kids getting so much attention is interesting... . I definately don't want her to grow up thinking she is something better than other kids. Her uncle already told me that she isn't very beautiful because her skin is yellow and not white so we are on the road to modesty already....

Sbk, does my husband have to 'start paying' income tax in order for me to get my O visa extension after 3 months? Is that a one time payment? or beginning to pay on a regular basis?

[sbk]

He will have to pay income tax from now on if you want to get the one year extension based on marriage to a thai husband. It is not a huge yearly amount and will make your life far more convenient, as well as being considerably cheaper than three monthly visa runs to the border.

[too true]

He will have to pay income tax from now on if you want to get the one year extension based on marriage to a thai husband. It is not a huge yearly amount and will make your life far more convenient, as well as being considerably cheaper than three monthly visa runs to the border.

What document do you show that says he's paying tax?

I've heard of this regulation before, but have never been asked to prove that my husband is paying tax. In fact, we just extended my visa last week and didn't have to show anything other than tabien ban, marriage papers, kids' birth certificates , hubby's work license and our IDs, pictures and a map to our house. Last year was awful - we had interviews and lots of questions, even though we've been married for 5 years. But this year we both had to sign a document for the first time that said that if the status of our relationship changes, we are required to report it and my extension is immediately cancelled.

Maybe the requirements depend on the mood of the person enforcing them???

[janetplanet]

He will have to pay income tax from now on if you want to get the one year extension based on marriage to a thai husband. It is not a huge yearly amount and will make your life far more convenient, as well as being considerably cheaper than three monthly visa runs to the border.

What document do you show that says he's paying tax?

I've heard of this regulation before, but have never been asked to prove that my husband is paying tax. In fact, we just extended my visa last week and didn't have to show anything other than tabien ban, marriage papers, kids' birth certificates , hubby's work license and our IDs, pictures and a map to our house. Last year was awful - we had interviews and lots of questions, even though we've been married for 5 years. But this year we both had to sign a document for the first time that said that if the status of our relationship changes, we are required to report it and my extension is immediately cancelled.

Maybe the requirements depend on the mood of the person enforcing them???

What is 'hubby's work license'?This is sounding vague like usual...oh lord...are there rules and laws about this or not?

[sbk]

Thai people only need a work license for certain jobs, but it is most certainly not anything we've been required to show over the past 16 years of extensions. The fact that too true's husband has such a thing is probably the reason he doesn't need to show personal income tax--it proves he has a job and income enough to support his wife. Please be aware that this visa is about the Thai husband supporting his foreign wife. He is applying for permission for you to stay. Western guys have different regulations because they are the ones supporting their Thai wife, so must show extra information because they are not citizens.

To obtain a personal income tax receipt (which is what is shown to immigration) your husband needs to go pay personal income tax at the amphur. If you plan on doing your one year extension in Koh Samui, janet, then you will most certainly need this receipt.

We've never had to show photos or a map, but then I've been doing my extension with the same guy since 1994 (I started the extensions before he started at Samui immigration). Janet, if you end up doing your extension in Samui, be sure to go see Nok (he's the one who processes these extensions) ahead of time to find out exactly what he will need for a first time application.

[janetplanet]

Sbk, I got my 'O' Visa yesterday from the embassy. It is a blue sticky visa marked 'O' visa, under that S for single entry, and it is written no dependent accompanying children even though I marked our daughter on the application. Did I do ok??

thanks.

[sbk]

Yup, she's got a Thai passport, right? She doesn't need a visa. Just curious, did they want a copy of your husband's id card?

Now, when you get to Thailand, you will get stamped in for 90 days. Towards the end of those 90 days (last week or so) you and your husband must go to Immigration together and make the application for the extension. If he's in Thailand then its best if he makes the personal income tax declaration now.

[janetplanet]

Great. Yes, our daughter has 2 passports. The Thai Embassy in Canada simply asked for my passport and a photocopy of our marriage certificate. It was done in less than 24hours...very pleasant experience I might add.

Now, i have to get hubby to pay that income tax. I wonder how much it is if his income is really a pittance made from palm oil or is it based on the number of rai he owns?

[chatette]

And just to clarify, if your husband is a salaried employee, his employer ought already be paying withholding tax from his salary and he would already be lodging a tax return each year. If he is self employed and hasn't been paying tax, he should declare a nominal amount and pay tax on that once a year.The payment point is at a revenue department office, not the amphur. They are very professionally run and the officers will even fill in your tax form for a token fee.

If you plan to work, be sure that your tax is properly paid and keep all the (yellow) receipts that you get from the revenue office. They are really important as they are needed for visa renewal and should you decide to pursue citizenship, which is really easy for women and a great idea if you can have dual as it makes life just a whole lot less complicated.

For my part, I spent about 10 years on a category B visa that didn't involve my husband at all, other than listing his name on the form. Was quite good as I was never considered a dependent and didn't have to rely on him to visit immigration with me when the time came.

The citizenship was done as his spouse (otherwise much more longwinded to get), and my years of income tax statements were submitted as part of that application, too. One thing you want to try really hard to do is to not break the visa now that you have it as the citizenship or permanent residency depends on stay over several years on the same visa, so be sure to get multiple reentries when you get the 12 month O as SBKs advised above. As you have a single entry, you will want to get the 12 month one and reentries asap after arrival should you plan to leave the country within the first three months.

There's a lot of info here: http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/base.php

As for the discrimination by the immigration official, sounds like you just had bad luck striking one of the few bad ones. I've only ever struck a couple of dodgy officials on the paper round and one of them overstepped the mark, got pinned and then demoted and the other, who I'm sure was drunk or hungover, was sidestepped by his peers who spotted what was going on.

[janetplanet]

If you plan to work, be sure that your tax is properly paid and keep all the (yellow) receipts that you get from the revenue office. They are really important as they are needed for visa renewal and should you decide to pursue citizenship, which is really easy for women and a great idea if you can have dual as it makes life just a whole lot less complicated.

For my part, I spent about 10 years on a category B visa that didn't involve my husband at all, other than listing his name on the form. Was quite good as I was never considered a dependent and didn't have to rely on him to visit immigration with me when the time came.

The citizenship was done as his spouse (otherwise much more longwinded to get), and my years of income tax statements were submitted as part of that application, too. One thing you want to try really hard to do is to not break the visa now that you have it as the citizenship or permanent residency depends on stay over several years on the same visa, so be sure to get multiple reentries when you get the 12 month O as SBKs advised above. As you have a single entry, you will want to get the 12 month one and reentries asap after arrival should you plan to leave the country within the first three months.

There's a lot of info here: http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/base.php

As for the discrimination by the immigration official, sounds like you just had bad luck striking one of the few bad ones. I've only ever struck a couple of dodgy officials on the paper round and one of them overstepped the mark, got pinned and then demoted and the other, who I'm sure was drunk or hungover, was sidestepped by his peers who spotted what was going on.

I need more clarification ladies. #1. My 'O' visa is marked as S (single entry) is this ok or should I have got something else? When I get an 'extension' around the 3 month mark, what am i asking for?

#2. I was told by some guy I met on a visa run once who was married to a Thai woman that the only way a falang could get and maintain Thai citizenship was if they didn't leave Thailand for more than 2 weeks every year. This sounded outrageous...is it true?

[sbk]

Chatette, my husband pays his income tax at the amphur, believe the revenue office is inside the amphur building here on koh P

No, <deleted> on the citizenship thing this guy mentioned. I've got docs I can PM you (thanks to Samran!) that explain how to get citizenship, its all in Thai so your husband will have to go through it. Chatette, I am curious where you got your citizenship at? We tried in surat a few years ago but they were clueless, we plan on trying again after the New Year so fingers crossed!

Janet, Sounds like your husband is self-employed if he's doing palm, just curious, is he here on Koh Phangan or somewhere else? He will need to go to the tax office and pay himself if he's not got a regular job with someone else. He will need to get on that now (I know, I know--lighting a fire under a Thai man is not that easy) --he'll need to go to the office and find out exactly what he needs to do to pay personal income tax.

As for the single entry, nope no problem, you will get a one year extension based on marriage to a Thai husband at the Immigration office.

[janetplanet]

Chatette, my husband pays his income tax at the amphur, believe the revenue office is inside the amphur building here on koh P

No, <deleted> on the citizenship thing this guy mentioned. I've got docs I can PM you (thanks to Samran!) that explain how to get citizenship, its all in Thai so your husband will have to go through it. Chatette, I am curious where you got your citizenship at? We tried in surat a few years ago but they were clueless, we plan on trying again after the New Year so fingers crossed!

Janet, Sounds like your husband is self-employed if he's doing palm, just curious, is he here on Koh Phangan or somewhere else? He will need to go to the tax office and pay himself if he's not got a regular job with someone else. He will need to get on that now (I know, I know--lighting a fire under a Thai man is not that easy) --he'll need to go to the office and find out exactly what he needs to do to pay personal income tax.

As for the single entry, nope no problem, you will get a one year extension based on marriage to a Thai husband at the Immigration office.

Good news about getting the one year extension! I'm trying to light a fire under my Thai man long distance at the moment. I'm in Canada with baby will be heading back soon. We met in Koh Phangan but his home farm is outside of Surat. We were dividing our time between the two this past year. Could you tell me what the name of the government office is in Thai and what the name of the personal income tax is in Thai too? We are dealing with some real country folk so it is better to know exactly what to say beforehand.

[sbk]

If he is in Surat then its best he goes there. I am afraid I have no idea where the tax revenue office is in Surat. Where in Surat is he? If he's not in the main city then he might be able to pay at the amphur like my husband does here on Koh Phangan.

I'll get DH to write it out and I'll send it to you via PM, probably easier that way.

Anyway, welcome to the club. The farang women married to Thai men who really hate dealing with bureaucracy club

[janetplanet]

If he is in Surat then its best he goes there. I am afraid I have no idea where the tax revenue office is in Surat. Where in Surat is he? If he's not in the main city then he might be able to pay at the amphur like my husband does here on Koh Phangan.

I'll get DH to write it out and I'll send it to you via PM, probably easier that way.

Anyway, welcome to the club. The farang women married to Thai men who really hate dealing with bureaucracy club

Yeah, I guess I signed up for 'lifetime membership' for that club.... . I've got a about a million questions I'm struggling to answer in my brain. Where should I start? He would be paying at Amphur Phraesang which is outside of Surat, if you could PM me some details that would be grand.

[fabianfred]

Just an observation....... it has always amused me how here in Thailand, and maybe in some other asian countries, Farangs are awarded a kind of status, just by being Farangs. Although it is annoying to see those who abuse the privilege and act as if they are in the colonial days. I do not consider my self special to be born British.....merely lucky....because we do get a certain status and respect because of it...and i try my best not to abuse that. I have thought though, that a farang who gets Thai citizenship would lose some of that respect in the eyes of a Thai, who are mostly trying to go the other way. So, perhaps a Farang woman would experience some of this loss by being married to a Thai man. I'm convinced that their visa problems are much easier than for a man with a Thai wife though.

[PattayaParent]

tbh sounds like you just got some idiot. I haven't experienced anything like that myself regarding my half thai son, in fact I find people bend over backwards to help me when they see my surname & that my child is thai. Something I naturally encourage (why not, I like not having to jump through hoops as much as anyone)

The only time I get this kind of thing is when I get dual priced for something, me hubby & son all wanted to go on the cable car in Pattaya, husband went to buy tickets & mine was gonna be several hundred baht more, husband explained we were spouses & that he (thai citizen) was paying for my ticket so they were double pricing a thai person but the girl was not moving. Result? We didn't go so they lost all fares, up to them. We weren't bothered either way.

Do you know that if you show your Thai driving license at MOST places (don't know specifically about Pattaya Park as I've never been there) they charge you the Thai price?

Works for us guys anyway.

[easybullet3]

janet.

plain and simple. kids dont need to do visa-runs under the age of 12 years old!

your daughter is leagaly allowed to overstay until she is 12 years old.

you can ask any immigration officer to confirm this.

my 6 year old son stays in bangkok while i do my visa-runs. everytime he leaves the country he is usually several months or more overstayed. and its fine, (coz he is under 12 years old).

you can call any immigration helpline number.

I believe there is one advertised on thai immigrations website that has an english helpline.

[Raesum]

tbh sounds like you just got some idiot. I haven't experienced anything like that myself regarding my half thai son, in fact I find people bend over backwards to help me when they see my surname & that my child is thai. Something I naturally encourage (why not, I like not having to jump through hoops as much as anyone)

The only time I get this kind of thing is when I get dual priced for something, me hubby & son all wanted to go on the cable car in Pattaya, husband went to buy tickets & mine was gonna be several hundred baht more, husband explained we were spouses & that he (thai citizen) was paying for my ticket so they were double pricing a thai person but the girl was not moving. Result? We didn't go so they lost all fares, up to them. We weren't bothered either way.

Do you know that if you show your Thai driving license at MOST places (don't know specifically about Pattaya Park as I've never been there) they charge you the Thai price?

Works for us guys anyway.

Yes showing Thai drivers license in and around Bangkok seems to work as well

[MsFigure]

tbh sounds like you just got some idiot. I haven't experienced anything like that myself regarding my half thai son, in fact I find people bend over backwards to help me when they see my surname & that my child is thai. Something I naturally encourage (why not, I like not having to jump through hoops as much as anyone)

The only time I get this kind of thing is when I get dual priced for something, me hubby & son all wanted to go on the cable car in Pattaya, husband went to buy tickets & mine was gonna be several hundred baht more, husband explained we were spouses & that he (thai citizen) was paying for my ticket so they were double pricing a thai person but the girl was not moving. Result? We didn't go so they lost all fares, up to them. We weren't bothered either way.

Do you know that if you show your Thai driving license at MOST places (don't know specifically about Pattaya Park as I've never been there) they charge you the Thai price?

Works for us guys anyway.

It works there, Nong Nooch and basically anywhere we visit. Both my husband and I each carry a thai drivers license and never have to pay farang price BTW neither of us are thai. Our friends (non thai) also have no problems once they show their thai drivers licence.

[jennscoot]

Hi Forum and lovely Koh Phangananers...,

I am experiencing this wierd discrimination being married to a Thai man and having a child. First example, going to do a Visa Run to Ranong to the Casino island accompanied by my husband and child. The Thai visa officer demands that my daughter pay the same 'fee' as me even though she is holding a Thai passport. Reason given: you are her mother and you aren't Thai. So I hand her over to my husband and they said 'ohhhh...her father is Thai??' oh brother... . Then 'we will give her special' she doesn't have to pay. F-off!! My daughter is Thai! Do they do this to Falang men with children with Thai women?? Second example: I have a job offer in Surat, as soon as they find out I'm married and have a child, the job offer is rejected. Oh great... .

What am I dealing with here?? Is this what I'm facing for the rest of my life if we stay in Thailand??

Thoughts??

Slightly off topic but still related - when I lived in Thailand and made visa runs to the Cambodian border, I politely refused to pay the 'fee' ...because there is no fee. Going in and going back my passport was stamped angrily and I was allowed through. Anyone else? I wouldn't recommend this necessarily as I haven't done it for a while (gee that little cash cow has been going for years, hasn't it?) and I don't want to cause anybody any problems, but I'm interested to know how many others haven't paid that little 'fee', and had no problems.

[redfish44]

He will have to pay income tax from now on if you want to get the one year extension...

Hi sbk and others,

What a great thread this has evolved into! Maybe i am getting off topic with this question, but then maybe not in comparisson to a lot of the posts - its just so hard to get accurate info for the female farang & thai male situation, so will try anyway:

I am not married to my boyfriend (yet), but considering it.

I want him to get all the tax and other formalities done properly and keep all the docs in case we get married, as know we'll need them.

He is getting tax taken out of his pay at the dive shop this year as he's working for thais now, but had no idea about it before (hadn't crossed my mind either - blissfully in love maybe).

Q: Does he have to lodge an income tax return? If so how do we do this?

His family has a rice farm, but he deson't spend much time there, so am guessing we can just go with the diving income as he doesn't take any cash from his parents - he gives it to them instead when he goes home.

We are on Koh Lanta and neither of us can read/write much Thai (he's from the south), so this might be a big problem too.

Any advice welcome, as after reading TV for most of the year, I am still in the dark about a lot of this stuff.

Thanks girls for the info to date on all the threads,

redfish.

[sbk]

Is he speaking Yawi then and not Thai? Because southern Thai is merely a dialect and all students learn to read and write in Bangkok Thai in school.

I don't know much about the tax declaration stuff, my husband has always done that. Also, my husband owns his own business so it is (assuming here!) a different form than someone who is employed, but I don't know tbh. But it is easy enough to go to the local amphur and ask. I am sure they would be more than willing to explain to your husband what he needs to do. He does not need to go to the provincial office, or the tax office at the provinicial office, the local amphur is more than capable of doing the tax stuff for him. He just needs to ask someone which office.

[redfish44]

Is he speaking Yawi then and not Thai? Because southern Thai is merely a dialect and all students learn to read and write in Bangkok Thai in school.

...He does not need to go to the provincial office, or the tax office at the provinicial office, the local amphur is more than capable of doing the tax stuff for him. He just needs to ask someone which office.

Thanks for that sbk. Guess we will have to find the nearest amphur to Lanta if there isn't one there.

Yawi is actually a dialect of Bahasa Malaya, very close to Kelemantan Malay language of northern Malaysia - Kota Barhu, Terrenganu etc. It was origianlly written in arabic script, but now more commonly in english script, like Bahasa Malaya.

My boyfriends mum speaks no Thai at all. I will have to learn Bahasa to talk to her. His family is from a small place in Yala district where not many people speak Thai regularly. His dad is from Samui so speaks Thai, but now mostly Yawi.

My boyfriend didn't go to high school to learn to read and write in Bangkok Thai, although knows basic stuff like how to write his name and the info in his ID card and other documents. It's mostly sqiggly diggly to both of us.

He was sent to Malaysia to live with his married sisters when he was younger so his formal Thai education stopped there. He speaks Thai fine (seems so to me), but I discovered from a Thai friend last year that its pretty obvious to her he didn't finish high school Thai as there are a heap of nuances and things in the language he doesn't use/isn't aware of. I think the effect is similar to my German - great pronunciation and confidently talking away, but with wierdly inaccurate grammar. Both of us confuse a native speaker it seems.

Possibly a reason why he encountered the problems we had in Bangkok, and maybe a reason for the discrimination some from the south may feel.

I'm impressed by him being able to speak 3 (or 4) languages fluently (If you take Yawi and Bahasa Malay as distinct) without formal training.

Sometimes he does struggle with some of the local Lanta Thai as apparently can be a bit of a strange dialect. He also struggles with official things on Thai TV as they use a lot of the Thai he didn't get exposed to when younger - the political and formal stuff they use in Royal Family celebration broadcasts (which he loves, but a lot he has no real idea abot a lot of what they are saying - frustrates me as he can usually translate anything on tv for me).

He has finally started going to English school to learn to read and write properly, and I was chuffed to find out yesterday he is "number 1 in his class" - allthough would be dissappointed if he wasn't as he can speak it fine, and we have been having "English Lessons" together for a year now (but he forgets it all when I go away to work).

Hope I do half as well when I start Thai class at the same school when I get back home next week.

[Sel]

On the original post of discrimination

My daughter has a Thai passport

When my partner (Thai) goes to somewhere like Lao or Cambodia there is a big difference between using her Thai passport or her Thai ID card with regards to fees. ID card use to cross incurs significantly less fees (30Baht or so) and allows a limited stay like day trip or with a trip to the local admin office you can get like 3 day passes a slightly higher fee (100B or something). Whereas using your passport incurs a much higher fee (the same if not very close to normal foreigner amount to be paid) and allows you to stay longer like 2 weeks.

Maybe this is the problem you faced with the immigration officer (misunderstanding and not discrimination), where for all Thai passport holders that insist on using their Thai passport to go to neighboring countries through land borders the fee is actually near or equivalent to what foreigners pay.

[g00dgirl]

To look at the topic of this post from another angle hypothetically, can a foreign woman apply for a non-O visa on the basis of supporting a Thai husband (just like a foreign man would apply on the basis of supporting a Thai wife)?

Do Thai immigration dictate that because you are female you are the one who needs to be supported?

What if your Thai husband is not working because you as the foreign woman have more money and he doesn't need to work, so he would not have any income and would not be paying any income tax. Could you show a certain sum in the bank to prove that you are capable of supporting your Thai husband in Thailand?

Has any of you done it this way? If nobody knows don't worry, I should ask it separately in the visa forum.

[sbk]

As far as I am aware, and this only going on my experience at Samui Immigration, the husband is supporting the wife. My husband must make the application requesting my extension (yes, I fill out an application form but he is the one making the formal request that his wife be allowed to remain). All questions regarding income have always had to do with my husband and his business. And his income tax receipt has always been one of the required documents.

[DaleBlue]

Get used to it....trains, buses, restaurants, government parks & attractions....just about everything..... speak the language, read the language, makes no difference ....still gonna have to pay more when she is with you....

Malaysia,offering 10 year visa to ferangs, bring your car in tax free, buy property and land, ive bought myself three bedrooms, with a nice garden for £45,000 in penang, title deed in my name, never happen in thailand.

Thais dont know what fair play is---- forget about trying to shame them, the words not in their dictionary.

Glad to see the uk booted thaksin out, i hear he was one of the architect of the thai visa system ( what goes around )

Im outa here.

Just because one country offers something special, it does not mean that other countries have to follow. Most women are welcome to Thailand without a visa, however Thai's (especially women) are subject to multiple screening to travel in the other directions.

The worst is, most foreign consulant assume that Thai women sell their sex for money unless proven otherwise. Are these people abused at childhood or do they not understand that the greatest is love.

[Beachbunny]

No, the husband is making the request for his wife to have her visa extended. He must show he is paying income tax, not sure what the amount is tho.

strange, my husband has never ever been asked about paying any taxes, or to show any papers proving anything. Maybe he looks too old or something.

Beachbunny