Residing In Thailand

[leo12345]

I have been in Thailand working now for nearly 6 years.

I am married with 2 children.

I currently live on a non B visa and hold a work permit.

We bought a house 1 year ago.

What are my chances of ability to stay here as a resident?

Note I am only 34, so a long time before eligeble for retirement.

[lopburi3]

You may want to read the pinned thread on PR at the top of forum. Basically you need 3 consecutive years on one year extensions of stay and to meet various conditions and hopefully have a government that approves more than have been approved in the last four year. If you are married to a Thai and have children it will be a plus and income of 80k per year is good to have and language ability will help and good deeds in charity or for Thailand. It is not cut and dry point system so if you are high in one area and low in another they may balance out. At your age I would be looking into it and the officers involved in the process reportedly will try to give you good advise if you ask them.

[ericthai]

Lopburi is right on. However he did not go into details about the govt. Just a a heads up, as far as I know there have been no applications processed for PR in the last 4-5 years. From what I understand there are in the thousands of applications still waiting to be approved. The cost is not low either, my friend got is PM about 8 years ago, after application fees, lawyer fees etc it was over 300K. If I were you, I would wait and see if the new govt starts to process the waiting applications, if this happens then go for it. If nothing happens sit back and wait. I was thinking of PR a year ago, but now waiting until I see a change and the govt starts processing.

Whatever you decide to do I wish you all the best!!

[Mario2008]

OP could even check on obtaining Thai nationality, as he is married to a Thai national.

[leo12345]

Thanks all for all the useful advice.

I think I will wait and see what happens with the new govt regarding processing.

And will definitely look further into Mario 2008 post.

[samran]

Thanks all for all the useful advice.

I think I will wait and see what happens with the new govt regarding processing.

And will definitely look further into Mario 2008 post.

In my book, PR is really the sensible way to go.

Sure they haven't issued permits for a couple of years, but while your application is being considered, they'll continually roll over your extension of stay.

[PoorSucker]

Sure they haven't issued permits for a couple of years, but while your application is being considered, they'll continually roll over your extension of stay.

Is this a fact?

Could the average tourist visa expat apply for PR and because they can are not processing, you'll get extension of stay?

[samran]

Sure they haven't issued permits for a couple of years, but while your application is being considered, they'll continually roll over your extension of stay.

Is this a fact?

Could the average tourist visa expat apply for PR and because they can are not processing, you'll get extension of stay?

dunno about your average visa runner given you wouldn't qualify to apply in the first place, but someone who has had their application accepted does get, based on the experience of a close friend, 6 monthly extensions until the application is concluded.

Good try though.

Edited July 26, 2011 by samran

[PoorSucker]

dunno about you average visa runner given you wouldn't qualify to apply in the first place, but someone who has had their application accepted does get, based on the experience of a close friend, 6 monthly extensions until the application is concluded.

Good try though.

Could someone try, maybe they start processing application if they suddenly got everyone applying only for the reason to get the extension.

Maybe someone married to Thai and don't have 400.000 in the bank.

[lopburi3]

The basic requirement to even apply is three years on extensions of stay so tourist visas are not going to fly.

[scorecard]

Dear Leo,

Some will argue that there are very few benefits. I got PR some 14 years ago and I'm glad I did, it gives peace of mind that I don't have to get continuous renewals, worry will my application be approved, etc. For me it's the peace of mind factor. The PR book does also help to facilitate other things, you often get more service etc., at govt. offices etc. Another possible small benfit is that the passport staff at Thai airports like you to join the Thai nationals lines and this can often save some time. When PR is approved you get issued with a small book which is roughly the size of a passport (but of course it's not a pasport), and when you leave or enter Thailand you have to present both your own passport and the PR book, the passport officials stamp both your original passport and your PR book.

If you do intend to apply later, make sure you have copies of your work permits and renewals, and especially the annual document that shows your Thai tax returns have been submitted and finalized / cleared for every year. These two things seem to be quite critical (at least 14 years ago it was, and doubt it's changed.

Fourteen years back you needed to show proof of your own education, and proof that you have 'funds' either now or growing for the future to support yourself, (again, I doubt it has changed).

Plus all of the English language documents need to be translated into Thai, so if your going to get ready, maybe worth looking around for a place that does translations at an OK price. If your in central Bkk I can suggest a good translation shop.

Also, I had to get every document 'stamped' at my embassy. This is a bit silly because the signed stamp applied at the embasy says

'seen at ..... Embassy', the embassy don't actually check anything, but the stamp is required by the Thai Immigration PR office. Can be quite expensive also.

Good luck.

Edited July 26, 2011 by scorecard

[Arkady]

Sure they haven't issued permits for a couple of years, but while your application is being considered, they'll continually roll over your extension of stay.

Is this a fact?

Could the average tourist visa expat apply for PR and because they can are not processing, you'll get extension of stay?

There are several categories of PR application: working; working as an expert; investor; supporting a Thai dependent (or being supported by one). All of these, including surprisingly the latter two, require three years' on a work permit, earning at least B80k a month and three calendar years' of salary tax receipts. Since the application period is a short window of usually 2-4 weeks ending on 31st December, that effectively means you need up to 4 years' of tax receipts, depending on what month you start working. Under the Immigration Act a cabinet resolution is required to set the quota by nationality for year, although this is always set at the maximum of 100. In 2010 there was no cabinet resolution and consequently no applications were accepted at all. Let's see if the new Interior Minister will open for applications this year and, more to the point, do something about the backlog of people who applied since 2006.

The amount of notarised/legalised documentation required has become more and more burdensome. So anyone interested in applying should go to Immigration to find out exactly what is required to plan to get the difficult bits ready beforehand. If they open for applications on 20th December, you will probably not have time to obtain things like police records from home or copies of your degree certificates notarised by your university with a translation legalised by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs before the year end, if those are required and the requirements keep changing.

Edited July 29, 2011 by Arkady

[Time Traveller]

Sure they haven't issued permits for a couple of years, but while your application is being considered, they'll continually roll over your extension of stay.

Is this a fact?

Could the average tourist visa expat apply for PR and because they can are not processing, you'll get extension of stay?

There are several categories of PR application: working; working as an expert; investor; supporting a Thai dependent (or being supported by one). All of these, including surprisingly the latter two, require three years' on a work permit, earning at least B80k a month and three calendar years' of salary tax receipts. Since the application period is a short window of usually 2-4 weeks ending on 31st December, that effectively means you need up to 4 years' of tax receipts, depending on what month you start working. Under the Immigration Act a cabinet resolution is required to set the quota by nationality for year, although this is always set at the maximum of 100. In 2010 there was no cabinet resolution and consequently no applications were accepted at all. Let's see if the new Interior Minister will open for applications this year and, more to the point, do something about the backlog of people who applied since 2006.

The amount of notarised/legalised documentation required has become more and more burdensome. So anyone interested in applying should go to Immigration to find out exactly what is required to plan to get the difficult bits ready beforehand. If they open for applications on 20th December, you will probably not have time to obtain things like police records from home or copies of your degree certificates notarised by your university with a translation legalised by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs before the year end, if those are required and the requirements keep changing.

It would be nice to know if they are even going to accept applications this year. Has anyone been to ask recently about what's happening? I'd like to book an end of year holiday so would be good to know also if applications can be made at Thai embassy/consulate overseas also?