I Am So Confused.

[Yelly]

So, I am set to arrive in Thailand on April 20. I have a letter of recommendation for the Portland Thai Consulate and I have printed out the application and instructions. I intended to submit the application tomorrow, but now I have a gajillion questions

1. How do I provide evidence of adequate finance? Will a printout of my online bank screen suffice?

2. Proof of confirmed onward ticket. I bought a one-way ticket to Thailand. What the hell do I do, now? I didn't know this was a requirement.

3. This says that the Non-Imm is only a 90-day stay, but I'm paying $175 for a year visa. Am I still required to do visa runs if I'm applying for a Non-Imm B visa and paying the darned $175 fee?

Thanks for any help in advance. This is daunting for a newbie.

[withnail]

My advice is to ask Portland the first two questions yourself. They may be flexible on this and if they're not you could always apply at a different consulate that is less fussy. The last I heard Houston is very flexible and you could do this by post in a day or two.

As far as number 3 is concerned it doesn't say that the Non-Imm is for 90 days but the condition it is outlining in the form is only relevent for the single entry 90 visa.

If you get a one year Non-Imm visa you will still have to do visa runs every 90 days (giving you 15 months) untill you extend that visa based on work/marriage. I'm assuming you're getting a "B" visa in which case it will be work.

Edited February 8, 2011 by withnail

[Yelly]

Yes, the letter of recommendation I have is for work. If I get it based on work, will I still need to do the runs?

Sorry if these questions seem very "well, duh" but my head's about to explode trying to figure this all out haha

[Yelly]

Ok, so I called the consulate. Found out they are an honorary consulate, so these visas are all they do and they have a quick turn-around. She suggested I wait until mid-March to submit my visa application.

Also, she said because I am applying for a one-year visa, I did not need proof of 20k BAHT (as I have a letter from my "employer" in Chiang Mai) and I do not need the onward ticket because this is a non-imm one-year B visa. She was very helpful!

[thailandbluegrass]

Ok, so I called the consulate. Found out they are an honorary consulate, so these visas are all they do and they have a quick turn-around. She suggested I wait until mid-March to submit my visa application.

Also, she said because I am applying for a one-year visa, I did not need proof of 20k BAHT (as I have a letter from my "employer" in Chiang Mai) and I do not need the onward ticket because this is a non-imm one-year B visa. She was very helpful!

Sounds like she is helpful however maybe she is not up to date with all of this because I'm pretty sure that you CANNOT apply for a one year visa from your home countries. You can get a 90 day non-B visa easy and then when you're here the company will do the paper work for your Work Permit atc which will give you an extention.

Mario or another Mod might correct me if I'm wrong but I have never heard of anyone getting a one year visa from their home country.

By the way mate stop banging your head together. It's really no sweat, just take what they give you and when you arrive it will all work out just fine. Enjoy your sleeps and keep dreaming about being here. Don't let this crap get to you, trust me.

Edited February 9, 2011 by thailandbluegrass

[QED]

Ok, so I called the consulate. Found out they are an honorary consulate, so these visas are all they do and they have a quick turn-around. She suggested I wait until mid-March to submit my visa application.

Also, she said because I am applying for a one-year visa, I did not need proof of 20k BAHT (as I have a letter from my "employer" in Chiang Mai) and I do not need the onward ticket because this is a non-imm one-year B visa. She was very helpful!

Sounds like she is helpful however maybe she is not up to date with all of this because I'm pretty sure that you CANNOT apply for a one year visa from your home countries. You can get a 90 day non-B visa easy and then when you're here the company will do the paper work for your Work Permit atc which will give you an extention.

Mario or another Mod might correct me if I'm wrong but I have never heard of anyone getting a one year visa from their home country.

By the way mate stop banging your head together. It's really no sweat, just take what they give you and when you arrive it will all work out just fine. Enjoy your sleeps and keep dreaming about being here. Don't let this crap get to you, trust me.

Yes you are wrong, no problem in getting a 1 year non-B from your home country (Edited to add: maybe not all consulates/embassies will give 1 year, but in theory they should).

Until you have a work permit you will still be required to leave the country every 90 days. These are not visa runs, per sae, you merely exit and re-enter Thailand and get another 90 day stamp.

Once you get a work permit and subsequent extension of stay, you then have to report to your local immigration office every 90 days instead, unless you leave the country in the meantime then your 90 day 'clock' is reset each time you re-enter. In my case I travel at least monthly so have never in 2 years had to report to immigration.

Edited February 9, 2011 by QED

[steve187]

if they are insisting on a return ticket just buy a cheap throwaway/refundable ticket

[PoorSucker]

Extension of Thai Business Visa

The Thai "B" or Business Visa can be extended to a one year visa in country as follows.

The extension of the visa is normally based on employment and as such there are certain regulations governing the company who is employing you.

These are the regulations for the extension of the "B" Business Visa:

1. The business must be registered in Thailand.

2. The company must be capitalized to at least Baht 2 Million while operating fund must be at least Baht 1 Million.

3. The company must have a ration of at least 4 : 1 - Four Thais for every foreigner.

4. You must earn at least in accordance with the level specified for each nationality by the Labour Department.

Duration of the Extension

- One year at a time.

Documents required for the extension:

1. Application form (T.M. 7 )

2. Passport or document used in lien of passport and its copies .

3. The applicants 4 x 6 cm. photograph .

4. Extension fee Baht 1,900.-

5. The company letters certifying as follows ;

- Nature of business

- Reason or necessity in employing the applicant his / her position, salary and education background.

- Number of Thai and foreign employees.

6. Copies of work permit or receipt of work permit application.

7. Company's annual balance sheets.

8. The juristic persons Annual Income Tax Declaration Form (Form No.50) of the latest year and its receipt of payment.

9. Thai employees Monthly Income Tax Declaration Form (Form No.1 ) of the latest month and its receipt of payment.

10. The applicants Annual Income Tax Declaration Form (Form No.91) of the latest year and its receipt of payment.

11. The official letter that certify the registration of such juristic person.

12. Business Registration or Business License.

13. Value Added Tax Registration and list of share holders.

14. A map that indicate location of the Company.

15. For those who operate export business, the documentary evidence clarifying its export activities is needed.

16. For those who operate tourism business, the documentary evidence clarifying its total number of tourist that brought in by the company is needed.

N.B. In case of necessity , documents No.7 , 8 , 9 , and 10 can be substituted by the company letters stating its reason.

[Soutpeel]

Until you have a work permit you will still be required to leave the country every 90 days. These are not visa runs, per sae, you merely exit and re-enter Thailand and get another 90 day stamp.

Once you get a work permit and subsequent extension of stay, you then have to report to your local immigration office every 90 days instead, unless you leave the country in the meantime then your 90 day 'clock' is reset each time you re-enter. In my case I travel at least monthly so have never in 2 years had to report to immigration.

Even having a WP may still require the OP to do visa runs, it all depends on whether he qualfies for extension of stay, which comes from immigration not the labour office...so having a WP does not dictate whether you have to leave every 90 days or not

[QED]

Until you have a work permit you will still be required to leave the country every 90 days. These are not visa runs, per sae, you merely exit and re-enter Thailand and get another 90 day stamp.

Once you get a work permit and subsequent extension of stay, you then have to report to your local immigration office every 90 days instead, unless you leave the country in the meantime then your 90 day 'clock' is reset each time you re-enter. In my case I travel at least monthly so have never in 2 years had to report to immigration.

Even having a WP may still require the OP to do visa runs, it all depends on whether he qualfies for extension of stay, which comes from immigration not the labour office...so having a WP does not dictate whether you have to leave every 90 days or not

Hence the reason for the red bit above

[Soutpeel]

Until you have a work permit you will still be required to leave the country every 90 days. These are not visa runs, per sae, you merely exit and re-enter Thailand and get another 90 day stamp.

Once you get a work permit and subsequent extension of stay, you then have to report to your local immigration office every 90 days instead, unless you leave the country in the meantime then your 90 day 'clock' is reset each time you re-enter. In my case I travel at least monthly so have never in 2 years had to report to immigration.

Even having a WP may still require the OP to do visa runs, it all depends on whether he qualfies for extension of stay, which comes from immigration not the labour office...so having a WP does not dictate whether you have to leave every 90 days or not

Hence the reason for the red bit above

You dont know if there is a sebsequent extension of stay applicable for the OP, this is nothing to do with issue of the WP per se, extension of stay comes from immigration not the labour dept.....hence the reason your 90 day report is done at an immigration office not the labour office, therefore your first sentence in your post is factually incorrect.

You can be in Thailand "under consideration" for a WP and on an Non-imm B with certain labour offices/immigration and dont have to visa run every 90 days

[Yelly]

Oi vey. I'm sure this will all make better sense once I'm actually IN Thailand and I have the school to answer all of my silly questions.

I'm not loosing sleep over it I just want to make sure I do everything absolutely right to make this transition as smooth as possible!

[withnail]

You can ignore most of the requirements above if you're getting a work permit as a teacher. It's completely different and much easier providing you have a Bachelor's degree. Your school is likely to do all the legwork here and will most likely get everything ready for you. If they don't then run a mile and get a job with someone else (very easy to do). Now in my experience unless it's a well run international school accepting a job before you enter Thailand is a terrible idea but with your 1 year non imm B you'll be able to stay anyway and find another job over here.

I wouldn't worry too much about it though applying for a 1 year non imm in the US is the easy bit. Just make sure you bring original degree certs with you to Thailand, that your name in your passport is exactly the same as on your degree and that you have plenty of blank passport pages.

Edited February 10, 2011 by withnail

[Yelly]

Slightly worried as I don't have a Bachelor's degree and I'm nowhere near completing one

My husband - he's fine. He's going to be doing the exact same thing as I, but he has his degree.

[samran]

Slightly worried as I don't have a Bachelor's degree and I'm nowhere near completing one

My husband - he's fine. He's going to be doing the exact same thing as I, but he has his degree.

Ultimately, it isn't that complicated, through a lot of leg work goes on behind the scene. Roughly the process is this:

1) You get a non-immigrant visa to enter Thailand long term. To work, you get a non-immigrant 'B' visa. That gives you 90 days on your first entry.

2)Your employer will arrange a work permit, which in the first instance, runs for the 90 days of your first entry.

however....if you basically earn above a certain threshold of income in your job (or with teachers a range of different criteria, some mention having a bachelors degree) then you'll be given an "extension of stay" for 12 months from the time you first entered, and your work permit will be extended for this period of time as well. No visa runs involved.

At the end of this 12 months, so long as you've still got a job and meet the criteria to have a 12 month extension, you'll get everything extended for another 12 months.

----

Of course, if you don't meet the criteria for an extension of stay, then you'll only be given 90 days on each entry. A work permit will be issued for 90 days, but then you'll have to do a border run, get a new 90 days, and get another work permit issued.

NOW....

I'm not an expert on the requirements on getting extensions of stay for teachers, so others will be more qualified to say if you qualify for one.

BUT....

a: it sounds like you and others think that you 'may' not qualify for an extension of stay under your own steam.

b: it sounds like you husband will qualify for an extension of stay.

IF this is the case, then given you are married you have a third option:

3) getting an extension of stay based on marriage.

What happens here is pretty simple, you get a non-immigrant visa 'O' category from the consulate. This allows you to enter Thailand for 90 days as well.

Given your husband (likely) will qualify for an extension of stay you can piggy back off his extension. You are his wife, you are allowed to remain in Thailand (job or no job) so long as he qualifies to stay in Thailand.

Nominally designed for visiting friends and family the 'O' visa also allows the issuance of a work permit similar to the process outline above. But you also have an extension based on your husband, so your work permit should be issued for the validity of your extension of stay (i.e 12 months).

Hope I haven't confused the heck out of you....

Others, feel free to correct my statements. As said, I'm not an expert, but have experience in having my wife getting a work permit in Thailand while on a 'non-immigrant O' visa.

Edited February 12, 2011 by samran

[Mario2008]

Work permits can now be issued for 1 year, as they no longer are tied to the permisison to stay. On a multiple entry it was already possible to get 1 year WP.

[digitalchromakey]

Work permits can now be issued for 1 year, as they no longer are tied to the permisison to stay. On a multiple entry it was already possible to get 1 year WP.

Correct; also depending on your work/job title, sometimes a Work Permit will now be issued for two years.

As is usual in Thailand, different Labour Department Offices have varying policies on this.

[Yelly]

Everyone here has been SUPER helpful. I really appreciate all of the knowledge you are sharing with me. I hope to be able to help out another newbie, someday

THANK YOU!