I recently was given the opportunity to discuss with a couple of senior level officials at Suan Plu about permanent residency for myself. I must say that they were very forthcoming with the information and showed me the way through the maze. I also had the opportunity to say that there was a lot of confusion in the farang community regarding the proposed changes and fees etc that have been mooted and about the number of people that had looked at and made comment in our forum about the proposed changes. This was of considerable interest to them and they will review this themselves.

One thing that came out of the discussion was - and I was told, " if you are concerned - please write to us and set out your concerns so that we can review what effect the changes might have".

If we want to have some considered and reasonable review of our concerns we should all write some constructive comment regarding our own personal situation - no rubbish or ravings about unrelated matters, this will not be helpful in any way.

Some of the seniors at Thai Immigration are reading this forum, but rarely comments.

To whom and at what address would you suggest writing?

Jeepz

To whom and at what address would you suggest writing?

The Commissioner for Immigration

Immigration Office, Soi Suanplu,

Thanon Satorntai,

Bangkok 10121

If only the rules didn't change day by day...officer by officer. It makes it soooo hard. Well, impossible might be a better word. Write 'em, not that they don't know about the confusing information issuing from Immigration offices.

Hello All,

Just joined this forum today and have found a wealth of information on visas etc. But, I'm still confused re. what it takes to obtain a residence visa to live permanently in Thailand. I've been married to a Thai lady > 23 yrs. now and 'am currently residing in northern Minnesota. The closest Thai Consulate is in Chicago and it's been tough getting information out of them.

My wife & I plan to move back to Thailand (retire) within five years and I want to get my "ducks in a row" before the last minute. We own property in Khorat or I should say, she does but besides the financial end of qualifying for permanent residence what are the steps?

When I lived in Thailand some years ago it was always a hassle doing the "visa run" to KL and back every 30 days.

Appreciate any advice & thank you!

Boon Mee

Will assume you will be 50 or more when you come to Thailand. For visa you will have 2 options. A retirement/long stay visa which would allow you to continue living here regardless of marriage or the marriage based 'O' visa. After three years of one year extensions you become eligible to apply for PR status, so this is in the future and not something the Consulate my have information about (not their job).

Believe the extension of marriage based visa (support) is your best bet (thinking of PR) and current requirement is 200k in bank account here.

At any rate you should not have to make 'visa' runs again as long as you can keep a reasonable amount in a bank account (and/or have reasonable retirement income).

For those without money requirements there is a multi-entry 'O' visa available which only requires an exit/entry every 90 days and a new visa every 14-15 months

When I lived in Thailand some years ago it was always a hassle doing the "visa run" to KL and back every 30 days.

To avoid those 30 day visa runs you should have got a visa before you came. Current rules are to apply for a Non-Immigrant O class visa at RTCG Chicago. You'll need to show your marriage papers. When you get to Thailand, open an account with any bank in Thailand. You need 200,000 baht in that account, but this amount is set to double in July 2004. Take a letter from your banker evidencing your account balance to Immigration, together with your wife, and proof of her Thai heritage, eg. old Thai passports, ID card/s, birth certificate, and apply for a one year extension of that Non-Immigrant visa. If you travel out of the country, you need to get a re-entry permit from Immigration ( or a multiple re-entry permit if you are a regular traveler ) It may have a few other changes in the next 5 years, but that is as it is now. You renew the one year extensions each year, and after three years, you are eligible to apply for residency

Thanks for the good information - I will be 50 or better but he marriage-based "O" visa sounds like the way to go. Guess what I'm looking for is the Thai equivalant of a "Green Card".

Believe I read somewhere the Thai Government grants 100 PR visas per year to individual countries passport holders. I'm assuming you can be living in Thailand or the States when applying?

Thanks again...

For PR you must have been living here in Thailand on one visa for the previous three years to even apply. You apply during a very short period near the end of each year. There is no automatic approval and as you know there are limits set.

It would probably be good to start new topics if you have other questions as that way others with the same type question are more likely to read it. Also those with answers.