Today I presented myself at the Aranyaprathet Immigration office for my yearly extension of my Non Imm. "O" visa for Thai wife.

First off, I would like to say that the Immigration officers at Aran are not like their counterparts at Suan Plu where I have done the extension for last six years, enduring massive queues, overworked officers & a generally un-pleasant atmosphere.

The Aran office is very small, only two officers present, no queue whatsoever, and, after surrepticiously reading their "visa extension" journal, noticed that they had only processed a total of 12 extensions in the last 4 days. Both officers were quite approachable and open to regular conversation, rather than just barking out commands like a few of the officers at Suan Plu I have dealt with over the years.

Now - a couple of points that may be of concern to others who have to change Immigration offices due to the tightening up of district rules.

If you change district you will have to go to the old district office first & inform them that you are changing offices, and they will have to write up a one page "profile" of you to take to the new office.

If you do not do this, the new office will treat your extension application as a "first" extension application and request, in addition to all the standard documents, references from a third party about your marriage, a complete set of domestic & wedding photos including the outside of your residence with the house numbers prominently displayed & a full (private if the officer deems you in comprehension of the Thai language) interview with your spouse.

In addition to this, your year No. of extensions will reset to Year 1, irrespective of whether you have done 2 years or 20 years of un-broken extensions with the previous office.

If you have visited your old immigration office & received a profile, only standard documents are required & your Year No. will remain consecutive.

90 Day reports.

If you have been doing your extension & sending your 90 day reports to Suan Plu by mail, this changes as well. Your 90 day report now has to go to the office where your last extension was processed. Suan Plu will no longer accept it. The good news for me, is that the Aran office are quite happy to accept the 90 day report by mail, or it would mean a 300km drive every three months.

Cheers, & I hope me learning the hard way (as usual ) will help others save some time & headache.

SM. You do not have an extension of a Non O Visa.

You are applying for a 12 month extension of your Temporary Permision To Stay in the Kingdom.

Your Visa expired years ago.