Non-immigrant 'o' Visa Extension (thai Wife)

[DavidS]

I applied for my 2nd extension today (26th March) at Suan Phlu and I did it on the basis of 400K in the bank. It's been there for ages so no issue on timing. Some points that may be helpful to know.

1) Letter from bank dated 25th March, last entry in bank passbook dated 22nd March, balance in both the same. The officer who did the final check and initialled the Under Consideration stamp asked us to update the passbook to show the balance as at date of application and then fax in a copy of that page. Had I known I would have stopped off on the way and updated it at an update machine and then copied that page across the road from Suan Phlu.

2) I was also asked to sign a document in English acknowledging that I understand that any further extensions of my visa on the grounds of Thai Wife would require the 400K to be in the bank at least 3 months prior to date of application. I'm guessing that when they scrapped the 40K/month wifes income option, they decided to ease in the 400K requirement at 2 months initially, and plan for it to be 3 months once people have had time to adjust.

A last point that delayed us a bit was filling out and signing a couple of additional documents. I had to sign 'document 2' (Acknowledgement of the conditions for permitted continuation of stay in the Kingdom of Thailand) and my wife had to sign 'document 3' (Statement, basically stating our relationship and that I still live at our recorded address). These documents are not available for download from the immigration dept website (document 2 is, but link returns 404).

They did check that I was not using last years 4x6 photo for the application. I was tempted to use one of the leftovers but fortunately decided against it.

I had a new set of photos of us around the house, taken at different times, which went down well. Again, they checked that the photos were not the same as last years.

As always, the devil is in the detail and reading of the experiences of others here does help in preparing.

[Lite Beer]

I applied for my 2nd extension today (26th March) at Suan Phlu and I did it on the basis of 400K in the bank. It's been there for ages so no issue on timing. Some points that may be helpful to know.

2) I was also asked to sign a document in English acknowledging that I understand that any further extensions of my visa on the grounds of Thai Wife would require the 400K to be in the bank at least 3 months prior to date of application. I'm guessing that when they scrapped the 40K/month wifes income option, they decided to ease in the 400K requirement at 2 months initially, and plan for it to be 3 months once people have had time to adjust.

Thanks. This is a bit strange as the Rule is definately 2 months.

[lopburi3]

I suspect it is 2 months in error and that both retirement and family should/will be 2 first application (to allow doing on a 90 day entry) and then 3 after that.

Edited March 26, 2009 by lopburi3

[opalhort]

1) Letter from bank dated 25th March, last entry in bank passbook dated 22nd March, balance in both the same. The officer who did the final check and initialled the Under Consideration stamp asked us to update the passbook to show the balance as at date of application and then fax in a copy of that page. Had I known I would have stopped off on the way and updated it at an update machine and then copied that page across the road from Suan Phlu.

This requirement may be problematic with a fixed deposit account. What if there has been no transaction, since the only transactions are interest and tax at due date (every three months) --> no new prints in the book.

I've been using fixed deposit for years and never had a problem as long as the bank letter and the bank book showed the same balance.

opalhort

[DavidS]

1) Letter from bank dated 25th March, last entry in bank passbook dated 22nd March, balance in both the same. The officer who did the final check and initialled the Under Consideration stamp asked us to update the passbook to show the balance as at date of application and then fax in a copy of that page. Had I known I would have stopped off on the way and updated it at an update machine and then copied that page across the road from Suan Phlu.

This requirement may be problematic with a fixed deposit account. What if there has been no transaction, since the only transactions are interest and tax at due date (every three months) --> no new prints in the book.

I've been using fixed deposit for years and never had a problem as long as the bank letter and the bank book showed the same balance.

opalhort

I had the same concern initially - no transactions today, and I did not want to change the balance by deposit or withdrawal as then Letter and Book no longer tally.

Fortunately, when I put the book in the Update Machine, it printed "B/f Amount" with today's date. Had nothing happened because of no transactions, I was planning to ask the counter staff to 'manually' print a balance notation with today's date.

Perhaps you could look into this?

[Maestro]

I suspect it is 2 months in error and that both retirement and family should/will be 2 first application (to allow doing on a 90 day entry) and then 3 after that.

In such case I guess that as long as Police Order 777/2551 signed by the Police Director General is not amended or replaced by an new Police Order the immigration officials have no right to ask for the money in the bank for 3 months. Has perhaps such new Police Order been issued and we’re not aware of it yet?

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Maestro

[Lite Beer]

I suspect it is 2 months in error and that both retirement and family should/will be 2 first application (to allow doing on a 90 day entry) and then 3 after that.

In such case I guess that as long as Police Order 777/2551 signed by the Police Director General is not amended or replaced by an new Police Order the immigration officials have no right to ask for the money in the bank for 3 months. Has perhaps such new Police Order been issued and we’re not aware of it yet?

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Maestro

We will wait and see. Until then you are correct Maestro the law is 2 months.

[Maestro]

One member posted that the immigration officer told him “new law since January”. Mario, is there anything about it in the Thai-language notices on the immigration web site?

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Maestro