My Lovely Day Trying To Get A Non-Immigrant-O Visa

[BrianBkyn]

Immigration must hate me for some reason. No tattoos, dressed in slacks and a polo shirt, recent haircut, shaved before I went, even showered and I didn't have a Thai bar girl hanging on my arm. It must be my receding hairline.

Earlier in the year I had to go back to the USA about a month before my Retirement visa expired. So I tried to go a little early with a sad but true story about having to take care of my elderly mother and with a one-way ticket in hand. No dice. Just a flat out No. Do in America. Not likely.

So I come back and realize I have to go thru the entire process again - get a Non-Immigrant O Visa first and then apply for my retirement Visa. What could be easier. I had my income statement from the US Embassy and a Thai bankbook with 941,000 baht in it. There were only two ladies doing Immigrant O - one was cute, I got the other one who looked like she suckled on lemon juice as a baby. I first give her the Embassy Income statement. Where is the back-up she asks. Huh I thought you only needed this (though I have heard sometimes you need more) I respond. This is worthless she says. Only have to take oath and she puts up three fingers to demonstrate. Ok, I say, but here is my passbook which goes back 2 years. Need guarantee. But this was updated today. Guarantee downstairs. Ok I get it - come back - and she says how much of this came from outside Thailand? All of it. You need bank guarantee stating how much came from the USA. Back downstairs. Kasikorn can only go back one month in which I sent over 300,000 baht while home. Not enough she says. At this point I admit to showing some irritation. I have a letter from the embassy and 941,000 baht in the bank of which 300,000 came in July and that is not good enough! Nope.

So I go to my Kasikorn branch on Sukhumvit and they tell me the same thing. They can only guarantee going back a month. Why? Who knows but they advise that I take a statement next time. It will be ready on Wednesday. I am basically praying that I get the pretty one this time. 50/50 I figure.

How illegal is it to go to Pattaya and try there?

Brian

[Jingthing]

Wow. That really is a troubling story. It sounds like they are deliberately trying to block you. It is also unusual these days to hear people needing to show proof of foreign import. Good luck. I don't think you can try in Pattaya. You could move to a friendlier office area, but that is rather extreme.

In your case, if you still get a no, I suppose you could try getting the single entry O in Malaysia or Laos, and then go for the extension in Bangkok.

[lopburi3]

As you posted previously enough information to likely identify yourself to the immigration officer who handled your request to submit early and then followed up with

Posted 2011-06-06 22:56:34

I'll confess to being one of those who wasn't entirely being truthful in my statement to my Embassy about my "income".

they might have been waiting for you?

Did they advise you to obtain a long stay visa while you were in the US? That might also have been recorded.

Or bad star alignment.

As said obtaining visa from Consulate would seem to be your best bet.

You can not move office unless you can show you are living in there area.

[BrianBkyn]

As you posted previously enough information to likely identify yourself to the immigration officer who handled your request to submit early and then followed up with

Posted 2011-06-06 22:56:34

I'll confess to being one of those who wasn't entirely being truthful in my statement to my Embassy about my "income".

they might have been waiting for you?

Did they advise you to obtain a long stay visa while you were in the US? That might also have been recorded.

If they are effiicient enough to take a post from BrianBkyn and know it was me, then I give them kudos! That would be the most efficient thing in Thailand.

Nope - just said bring a guarantee from Kasikorn that includes all my wires from the USA. I just printed off my USA bank statements which show money being sent to Thailand and will match that up with my Thai statement and see if that is good enough. My bet is she will say I need the US Statements guaranteed also. She hates me. Maybe the beginning of a "meet mean romantic comedy".

Brian

[poanoi]

Just so you know, they are more friendly in BKK than Jomtien,

Bkk accepted my proofs for non O and issued it, but Jomtien refused to extend after 90 days

[CharlieH]

Dont understand Kasikorn and the one month thing, you have the passbook which presumably shows the money coming in, will be coded as such, and they can see precise dates and amounts for as far back as the book goes.............strange !

[Theo007]

I know of someone who was denied a retirement visa in Jomtien so he just drove up to Bangkok and applied there. Used exactly the same documentation and the application was approved.

[BrianBkyn]

Dont understand Kasikorn and the one month thing, you have the passbook which presumably shows the money coming in, will be coded as such, and they can see precise dates and amounts for as far back as the book goes.............strange !

The way it works unfortunately at Kasikorn is that if you haven't had your passbook updated in a long time, they combine a bunch of different items into one line item and give it a special code. So even the 300,000 baht that I had wired in July was thrown in with a bunch of other things and so when the lady could not see that specific line item - though it was in the Guarantee Letter - she just shook her head like the whole thing was a scam. None of this seems to be happening to anyone else so I just don't get it.

[lopburi3]

I can confirm today that " K " bank indeed combines everything to a date in previous month and makes a credit and than a withdrawal entry using code "ACM" so nothing in passbook to show what/where/when/how. It was not my account - I do not use them.

[moe666]

I donot get it when I applied for my extension no problem what so ever and just had the letter from Embassy, maybe go back and ask to see supervisor.

I have Kbank account and checked a few days ago to see if my dividend from some stocks I own where deposited and there they where in May you can check on a monthly basis back to Jan.

[lopburi3]

I believe you are talking about on line check - we have been talking about passbooks and they do not go back more than a month and I confirmed that yesterday. That bank personal can not obtain printouts I find hard to understand (bank personal not being able to update an account without a transaction I believe is another glitch reported).

[BrianBkyn]

Just a quick finish to this and a question if I could.

So yesterday I picked up my bank statement from Kasikorn (for no fee) that has all my activity per transaction. With this it turns out that Kasikorn can guarantee all my wires to Thailand. Still I hope to avoid the woman I had last time and with the wisdom of a friend I pick up two Waiting Numbers figuring that if the first called is for this same woman, I will use the second in hopes that I get the cute one. Impressed by my own slyness I go over to the C1 area only to see that the cute one isn't working today and I have no choice but to go thru the mouth of Hell again.

But she must have been having a better day - big smile when she sees the guarantee and only asks me to make a copy of the first and last pages of my bank book. Fork over 2000 baht and I am feeling good. For a minute. She says to come pick it up in 2 weeks and I say "Then I can get my Retirement Visa?". Yes, but only for three months. Eh? After that you can get one for one-year. Of course in three months I will be back in the USA for Christmas and I expect that when I come back I will have to start all over again!

So my question is - I have never really looked into what a Non-Immigration O Visa gets me as I have only used it in the past to then immediately apply for my Retirement Visa. So how long does this allow me to stay in Thailand? There isn't much point of getting a 3-month Retirement Visa if the NIO gets me to the end of November when I am going back. Thanks.

Brian

[Mario2008]

A non-immigrant visa gets you an entry of 90 days, a muktiple of unlimited entries into Thailand during the time the visa is valid, each time you enter you can stay for up to 90 days.

But you can apply for the 1 year extension up to 30 days before the than current permission expires, so somewhere in November.On proof of travel, they might even extend it earlier than 30 days before. If you do this and at the same time get a re-entry permit, there would be no need to get a new visa, as long as you would be back before Nov/Dec. 2012.

A re-entry permit rquires a passphoto and 1,000 baht for a single and 3,800 for a multiple.