Visa for Thai citizen moving back to Thailand

[ralph]

I am waiting to retire in Thailand in 2006. I am now 53 years

old and married to a Thai lady for over 30 years. My wife is now a United State citizen. She carries a United State passport. She has an old Thai ID card and when we were in Thailand two years ago, she still shows up on the family resistor as never leaving Thailand. She was told by the major of her town she could get a new Thai ID card.

>

> I want to know if she can move back to Thailand and live like an ordinary Thai citizen or will she have to apply for a non-immigration visa?

>

> If she is able to get her Thai ID will she be able to get a Thai passport?

>

> I keep seeing that there are requirements in Thailand for me. One being is having 800,000 Baht in the bank or income from retirement of 65,000 Baht per month. The problem is that there is so much confusion from one immigration office who says you need 800,000 another one says 400,000

> plus 65,000 per month income from retirement. Is their anyone who in the Thai government that can make a straight ruling on this subject?

>

> Please help me, Ralph

[george]

She should travel back to Thailand with a Non-Immigrant Visa "O" in her US passport. Visit her local Amphur and update the Tumbien Baan and get a new Thai ID card.

Next step for her is to obtain a Thai Passport. She then has to either travel out and swap passports or maybe the local Immigration can help out so she does not go overstay on the US passport.

Regarding your visa: It's either 800K or 65K pension per month OR a combination, example 400K and 32.5K pension per month. This is the regulations and the praxis.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

As a spouse you should be able to get by with B250.000 in a Bank in Muang Thai. No Thai passport, no ID she is a Yankee on arrival.  Arrive on a Non Immigrant visa as you MUST.  As our wise friend George says it is sortable there ......you may learn about under the table ways of bureaucracy

[ralph]

Thanks George and dr_Pat_Pong  Dr for your help.  

I was thinking about letting my wife go back to Thailand next year to get her Thai ID and passport.  If she was able to get her Thai ID and passport at that time , the next year or so I would move to Thailand.  Do you thing that is the best thing to do?

As to you may learn about under the table ways of bureaucracy.  I remember it very well because This is Thailand (TIT).

Again thanks

Ralph

[george]

I was thinking about letting my wife go back to Thailand next year to get her Thai ID and passport.  If she was able to get her Thai ID and passport at that time , the next year or so I would move to Thailand.  

Be aware that getting a new ID card in her case can take some time, at least if her home Amphur is up-country. Remote places can take up to 2-3 months to get a new ID-card. In Bangkok they are quite swift with these things.

Where does your wife come from?

[samran]

You may want to approach the nearest Thai embassy or consulate and try and get your wife a Thai passport before she even leaves the US.

My mother is in a very similar position to your wife. She married my dad in Australia 30 years ago and is now an Australian Citizen.

A couple of years ago she approached the Royal Thai Embassy in Canberra and asked for a Thai passport to make travel to Thailand easier.

She produced all her 30 year old documents that she had (and she didn't have many) basically to prove that she was really Thai.

The embassy issued her with a fully valid Thai passport. As she didn't have an ID card, they simply left that bit of the form blank. I think they accepted that cause my mum could prove that she had been officially "resident" overseas, and Thailand doesn't have the facilities to issue house registrations and ID cards to overseas Thais.

Now when my mum enters and leaves Thailand, she simply shows her Thai passport.

As I said, you may want to enquire at your local embassy about this strategy before you leave. If it doesn't work then obviously, the advice offered by the others on this board is the alternative.