Tak Immigration At Mae Sot

[billd766]

I went to Mae Sot Immigration office on 24th July to apply for an extension of my 3 month Non-Imm O visa.

I took every thing I needed and made 3 copies of everything I could find.

I took my wife and son that day and I only missed one photocopy.

There was one other farang at the desk so we went to the other desk and in about 30 minutes it was all over.

I was sure that as usual I had to come back a month later as usual for "under consideration" applications.

I went back yesterday and I intended to get a multi re-entry permit.

So I went in around 11.30 and I was the only customer and spoke to the same lady I spoke to last time.

She asked what wanted and I said I had come for my extension stamp.

She looked at my passport and said something in Thai to the other Thais there and they all started to laugh.

Thinks to myself I have a problem here and I asked what the problem was and she said that last time they had stamped my passport with the visa extension.

They had so I started to laugh as well and tell them that the farang has lost a few brain cells somewhere.

They gave the the re-entry permit and all was well.

We had a few laughs and I left for home a happy chappie.

This morning I checked my passport again and I found that I had entered Thailand on 26th May 2009 and when I got my extension instead of a 9 month extension they had given me 12 months until 23 August 2010.

So at Mae Sot they are very very helpful and friendly and for my "marriage" extension the whole process was completed in 30 minutes with no pressure in a clean and tidy office, computer linked to the outside world (or at least the Immigration Department somewhere).

The staff are professional and very farang friendly and apart from my first visit when the other farang used an agent sitting with him, (I suspect more as a translator as I think he was European with a poor command of English) there are NO agents pushing, shoving and shouting their way in front of you as there was at Suan Phlu the last time I went.

I asked when the new Immigration Office was due to open in Nakhon Sawan ans was told "next month" maybe.

If it is as good as Mae Sot I will be happy.

The moral of this is always check and if you are not sure ask for clarification.

It cost me another trip to Mae Sot but it was a nice day out anyway.

:D

Edited August 22, 2009 by billd766

[Lite Beer]

Are you saying that you applied for a 12 month extension based on Marriage and they gave you the extension in one vist?

That is not the norm.

[lopburi3]

Exztensions are always one year from end of current stay now - long time ago it was from entry. Is your extension marked marriage/wife or is it retirement? Retirment with the 65k/800k normally has no wait period.

Edited August 22, 2009 by lopburi3

[Maestro]

The interesting thing I noticed is that with the marriage extension the reason for the extension is added to the “under consideration” stamp but not to the extension stamp. With retirement, there is of course only one stamp, the extension stamp, and this is where the reason is indicated. This indication of the reason is sometimes in English, sometimes in Thai, sometimes stamped, sometimes handwritten.

Examples of stamps:

Retirement extension:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/galleryuploa..._1006_79477.jpg

Marriage, under review:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/galleryuploa..._1006_45664.jpg

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/galleryuploa..._1006_11351.jpg

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/galleryuploa..._1006_51462.jpg

Marriage, extension:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/galleryuploa..._1006_39516.jpg

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/galleryuploa...0_1006_2790.jpg

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/galleryuploa..._1006_40749.jpg

Source of stamps: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Current-stam...-album1006.html (works only for logged-in membebers)

--

Maestro

[billd766]

Are you saying that you applied for a 12 month extension based on Marriage and they gave you the extension in one vist?

That is not the norm.

A 12 month extension is what I applied for and, yes it was all over in 30 minutes.

Exztensions are always one year from end of current stay now - long time ago it was from entry. Is your extension marked marriage/wife or is it retirement? Retirment with the 65k/800k normally has no wait period.

Yes I asked for a marriage extension and not a retirement extension and if I am lucky I have attached a scanned copy of the stamp.

I think I got it because I look younger than I am, I am cheerful and not complaining, dressed in a white shirt and dark trousers, have a positive attitude and also I am a handsome man or so my wife used to say many years ago.

Edited August 23, 2009 by billd766

[ubonjoe]

I think you got an extension based upon retirement. That NON-RE stamp above the re-entry permit confirms it for me.

How much income or money in the bank did you show proof of.

[lopburi3]

The red is retirement (or as the wife translates 'the last of your life').

[Maestro]

Thank you, Bill, for attaching a copy of your latest extension stamp. The red stamp in Thai to the left of the issue date says it all: you are now good to spend “the rest of your life” (immigration jargon for “retirement” in Thailand.

Because a retirement extension is less work for the immigration office, some officers like to play this trick on an applicant and give him a retirement extension even though he applied for a marriage extension, when the money in the bank is enough for the retirement extension. Now you now why they all giggled.

--

Maestro

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Are you saying that you applied for a 12 month extension based on Marriage and they gave you the extension in one vist?

That is not the norm.

A 12 month extension is what I applied for and, yes it was all over in 30 minutes.

Exztensions are always one year from end of current stay now - long time ago it was from entry. Is your extension marked marriage/wife or is it retirement? Retirment with the 65k/800k normally has no wait period.

Yes I asked for a marriage extension and not a retirement extension and if I am lucky I have attached a scanned copy of the stamp.

I think I got it because I look younger than I am, I am cheerful and not complaining, dressed in a white shirt and dark trousers, have a positive attitude and also I am a handsome man or so my wife used to say many years ago.

That full page stamp on the right is a new one for me, the 90-day checkin warning. Four pages a year, some country's passports will be used up quickly. Hope other immigration offices don't use that stamp.

Mac

[Maestro]

That’s not a stamp, Mac. It’s a leaflet inserted in, or stapled to, the passport.

--

Maestro

[lopburi3]

It is not a stamp - it is a paper form stapled into the passport.

[TaoNow]

Because the financial requirements are considerably different for a retirement extension (versus a marriage extension) I am a bit surprised that the officers at the Mae Sot office did not explain to OP what they were doing, since he clearly applied for a marriage extension.

But then again....

[Lite Beer]

You would have thought that with the financial requirements being so different the OP would be aware as to why he got the extension.

[Maestro]

It seems to be the OP’s first annual extension of stay. The page in his passport to the right of the extension stamp has a visa, covered by the 90-day address notification advisory. Based on the information of the first post in this topic, it must be a single-entry non-immigrant visa, most likely non-O.

I wonder what, if anything, he wrote at the bottom of page 1 of the application form as reason for the application.

--

Maestro

[billd766]

Sorry for the delay in responding but I have just bought another laptop and I am trying to figure out how to make it do what I want rather than what it wants and I have gone from Windows XP to Windows Vista Ultimate.

I think you got an extension based upon retirement. That NON-RE stamp above the re-entry permit confirms it for me.

How much income or money in the bank did you show proof of.

I only had about 150,000 in the bank but on the exchange rate for my pensions it came to about 85,000 baht before UK tax

The red is retirement (or as the wife translates 'the last of your life').

Thank you, Bill, for attaching a copy of your latest extension stamp. The red stamp in Thai to the left of the issue date says it all: you are now good to spend “the rest of your life” (immigration jargon for “retirement” in Thailand.

Because a retirement extension is less work for the immigration office, some officers like to play this trick on an applicant and give him a retirement extension even though he applied for a marriage extension, when the money in the bank is enough for the retirement extension. Now you now why they all giggled.

--

Maestro

Sneaky little buggers up there ain't they. I actually applied for an extension for a marriage.

It seems to be the OP’s first annual extension of stay. The page in his passport to the right of the extension stamp has a visa, covered by the 90-day address notification advisory. Based on the information of the first post in this topic, it must be a single-entry non-immigrant visa, most likely non-O.

I wonder what, if anything, he wrote at the bottom of page 1 of the application form as reason for the application.

--

Maestro

I wrote that I requested a marriage extension

The paper on the opposite page was a 90 notice and was only stapled in and the Non Imm O visa underneath it was a 3 month one from Auckland to get me back on track when I came back from New Zealand.

It was not my first marriage extension but I have been working offshore for the last few years and the timing has not always been right for renewal.

The one before this which expired was for living with my Thai child and required no proof of income but that sadly has gone by the wayside.

Ah well there is always next year bin Nakhon Sawan.

Edited August 25, 2009 by billd766

[ubonjoe]

The 85K income is what got you a retirement extension.

If you don't want a retirement extension don't show them the money for one. A lot of immigration offices will push you for the retirement extension if you have enough income or money in the bank.

[billd766]

The 85K income is what got you a retirement extension.

If you don't want a retirement extension don't show them the money for one. A lot of immigration offices will push you for the retirement extension if you have enough income or money in the bank.

Joe

I understand that NOW but it is what came out of my pensions from the UK and I DID tell them I wanted a marriage extension.

As I said before there is always next year in Nakhon Sawan, if it ever opens.