Trip Report: Suan Plu, Non-o Visa Extension, I Had To Leave Building To Pick Up Passport?

[neek]

My experience of extending my non-o 'thai wife' visa was pretty annoying today, thought I'd share and see if I help anyone else, or if anyone can advise what I could have done better.

20 days ago I went for the interview with my wife and accompanying documents. She is supporting me (so she proves her income with a letter from her company, rather than me proving I have money in the bank). None of the docs said she needed her annual tax certificate, and as she files her tax online she didn't get given one automatically so, after a long wait in the queue and a failed interview, that involved a trip out to a hard to find office, an hour waiting there, then back to Suan Plu and another wait in the dam_n queue and another interview. The whole thing took from 8.30am to 2pm. I walked away with a stamp saying "come back for decision on 20 May".

Today, I returned at 8.40am, clipped a yellow numbered tag to my passport, dropped it in the basket, and sat to wait. There's a sign on the wall that says those handing in their passports between 08.30-12.00 will get them back from 14.00-15.00 but I waited just in case it was ready early. At 12, I went for lunch with the wife who works nearby. At 12.40 I was back. People were still getting passports handed back, but I noticed their tag numbers were higher than mine. Then I noticed some people being directed away from the counter. They held their tag up and were told in Thai to go out of the office and _somewhere_. My Thai is not good, but I went up and asked what to do with my tag (14) and she told me fairly complicated instructions in Thai. I said I didn't understand, but she couldn't speak English. None of the people at the counter could. When I asked him, the guy at the Information counter just took me to her and left again. Then some people started speaking Thai to her and she ignored me and walked away with them. I really do think I was being polite, smiling, and saying 'please', trying not to aggravate; I gave her no reason to ignore me because of my manner. Eventually some Thais behind me were asking the same thing and were told the advice, so I followed them.

We walked out of the Suan Plu main doors, turned right and walked to the end of the main building, then right again to walk down the drive on the west side of the building, and in a seating area behind the main building there were a couple of little counters with a guy. He had our passports. The Thais I was following sounded equally amazed that this was the way to go, though I couldn't tell if they felt as misinformed as I did. This time the whole thing took from 8.40am to 2pm.

I was pretty furious that

a) there was no indication where we should have gone to get our passports. I feel that a sensible presumption was to wait near the counter where they are given in.

noone at the visa extension office in the immigration department seemed to be able or willing to tell me in english where to go.

but what's the point of getting upset, right? I was clearly upsetting them by not speaking Thai, so tit for tat, I suppose.

Is this counter round the back of the building the new norm?

[Lite Beer]

I do not know the answer to that but are you saying that you used your Wife's income to apply for the extension?

The law says that it has to be your money/income not your Wife's.

[ubonjoe]

You are lucky that you got the extension because the new rules state that the income can only be yours. But you had better be ready to show the money in the bank or your own income next year because the clause they used to give it to you will expire in November.

Tax documents have always been the only proof accepted for income earned here.

I can't comment about anything else because I have never been to Suan Plu. But it does sound like a bit of a mess.

[neek]

I do not know the answer to that but are you saying that you used your Wife's income to apply for the extension?

The law says that it has to be your money/income not your Wife's.

Yes, ever since getting my tourist visa turned into a non-o 'thai wife' visa this time last year, I haven't had enough money in the bank to do it under my own steam. We had just got married and bought a condo, so the million baht I had transferred over here disappeared pretty quick, and I actually would have been pushed to show 400,000 in the bank (I think that was the amount...).

If you go to http://www.immigration.go.th and click 'english', follow 'Required Documents' and select 'Visa Extension', then 'to support a wife who is Thai citizen or who is a permanent resident (non-Thai husband)', you see the categories. I presumed we didn't fall into the second category 'in case of working', as I have no work permit. I had thought we were 'To be supported from Thai husband' and I presumed the language was just inaccurate and 'husband' meant 'spouse'.

I have enough money in the UK to satisfy their requirements, but simply haven't wanted to transfer it to Thailand due to the terrible exchange rate. At least now it's more like 52 baht to the pound. It was 70 when I first came to Thailand

ubonjoe - you're right, they said at the interview 21 days ago that this would be the last year we would be able to use my wife's income to satisfy my visa extension requirement. I have a year to see if the exchange rate improves, at which point I'll have to transfer money and show my own money in the bank for my visa extension.

Cheers

[ubonjoe]

Just be sure you transfer the money 2 to 3 months early. The rules say it has to be in the bank for 2 months but some reports indicate they are asking for it to be there 3 months.

[Lite Beer]

If you go to http://www.immigration.go.th and click 'english', follow 'Required Documents' and select 'Visa Extension', then 'to support a wife who is Thai citizen or who is a permanent resident (non-Thai husband)', you see the categories. I presumed we didn't fall into the second category 'in case of working', as I have no work permit. I had thought we were 'To be supported from Thai husband' and I presumed the language was just inaccurate and 'husband' meant 'spouse'.

Thailand

The Immigration website is out of date and wrong anyway.

You are extending your permission to stay not a Visa.

This is the latest rule.

(6) In case of marriage with a Thai lady, the husband who is an alien must have an average annual income of not less than 40,000 baht per month or a money deposit in a local Thai bank of not less than 400,000 baht for the past 2 months for expenses within a year.

[daver1951]

Hi, I just got my extension renewed in Bkk last week. I think you must live just outside the Bangkok area which is why you needed to go to a different office. The areas change this year and although I still need to go into the city , because i live on the outskirts, my office is upstairs now. I was told this when went to apply for the extension last month after waiting downstairs. Luckily the wait was not long and we were out by 10 am. There was no indication anywhere that our officer was on a different floor, yours is obviously just round the corner.

I opened a Foreign Currency Deposit account at Ayhudya Bank last december. I can transfer funds from UK at any time with Internet Banking from my UK HSBC current account. I get an ATM card to withdraw baht at any Ayhudya ATM just like a regular current account . Until I draw it out, it stays as POUNDS, so the money there is not affected by exchange rates until you draw it. The exchange rate is around 0.5 to 0.75 baht better that the days advertised rateas well. I also get 2.5% interest(well I did in December). Costs me 15 quid for transfer up to £6k, the maximum allowed charged by HSBC, and under a tenner by Ayhudhya Bank. I could transfer it back to UK if needed, it's only converted to Baht when you draw it out here. It's very flexible as I can use any ATM (the nice yellow/orange ones anywhere in Thailand. If I had the usual SAvings Account with PassBook, I would need to go to my local branch every time i wanted money. Not convenient. ATMs are everywhere and open 24 hours.

I dont' have a bank book, just took the letter from the bank which I got them to explain that £xxxx in the account was equivalent to 400000 baht plus. I got a statement at the same time and Immigration accepted this. I think my bank is the first to offer ATM facilities to foreigners and my wife just explained to IO as he obviously had not seen this before.

Hope this helps

Oh btw, the money I transfered in December went in at 48B/pound, it's now worth 56B/£ so after the living expenses I've drawn (over £1100) the balance now is worth more than originally put in effectively giving me 1100 pounds interest in six months.