Residence Permit Spouse Of Thai National

[cotrina]

Hello all

Could anybody tell me if the validity of a Residence Permit for a foreigner married to a Thai national cease to be valid if the couple get divorced at any point?

Thanks

[lopburi3]

Are you talking about Permanent Residence (PR) (where you no longer have to have visa/extensions of stay but have a book from police? Which costs about 100,000 baht if married? Or something else?

Edited August 21, 2009 by lopburi3

[ubonjoe]

Once you have permanent residency it is forever. Getting divorced will not cause it to be canceled.

[Mario2008]

From your other post I think you are talking about an extension of stay based on marriage to a Thai national, showing 40,000 month OR 400,000 in the bank every year. That is not Permanent Residency.

When you are on an extension of stay your permission to stay becomes invalid when you divorce. You can then get a 7 day extension of stay to leave the county or arrange for a permission to stay based on other grounds.

[scorecard]

From your other post I think you are talking about an extension of stay based on marriage to a Thai national, showing 40,000 month OR 400,000 in the bank every year. That is not Permanent Residency.

When you are on an extension of stay your permission to stay becomes invalid when you divorce. You can then get a 7 day extension of stay to leave the county or arrange for a permission to stay based on other grounds.

I'll assume you mean the full PR status.

I got PR 14 years ago. The immigration policeman who interviewed me made it very clear that :

- "This application is about you"!

He explained that information about marriage / kids etc., was just background detail and had virtually no bearing on the application.

Therefore I would expect that divorce has no bearing on the continuation of the PR status.

But keep in mind, the grounds for cancellation of PR status are:

1. - Gaining a criminal record (could be in any country).

2. - Development of some scenario whereby the appropriate immigration committee declares you to be a person who is no longer fit (undesireable) to hold PR status. (Actual full definitions on this seem to be fuzzy as they are in many countries.)

3. - Being phyically outside of Thailand for 366 days or more (in one block period). (And in this scenario , unless it has changed, there is no appeal process to try to regain the PR status.)

If a divorce did come into the picture and the wife decided she wanted revenge (which is of course possible in any country) then don't rule out the possibility that the wife could generate enough 'heat' to get the PR cancelled. Not likley but not impossible.

[astral]

This is one of the dangers of extension based on marriage,

and probably why Immigration prefer over 50's with the 800K.

A similar situation can occur if your spouse predeceases you.

[prakhonchai nick]

PR is for life, unless it is withdrawn for reasons detailed above.

I have had PR for 18 years. and also divorced from a Thai since then. No problem. The Alien registration Booklet which is issued along with PR has to be updated every 5 years at your local police station with a new picture, No questions are asked about your marital status.

Hope this helps