Extension Of Stay Based On Married To Thai Woman

[Billion]

Does immigration accept income earned from work abroad or just income earned from work in Thailand.

Does Immigration accept pension as income for 40000 Baht rule.

Can I use a combination of work/pension income and money in bank for extension of stay?

Thanks for any advice.

[lopburi3]

You can not use a combination for Thai wife extension of stay. You can use income as listed on Embassy paper so that should cover income from outside Thailand or pension type payments.

[Billion]

Thanks lopburi.

Do I need to translate the Embassy letter into Thai!

Other questions:

Is it possible to jump between extension of stay based on marriage and retirement extension?

I mean if I change to retirement and later want to get back to extension of stay based on marriage!

[lopburi3]

If letter in English no need to translate. Yes you can change reason for extensions of stay but expect resistance if from Retirement to Thai wife as it is more work and not a local decision so if you still meet the financial requirements and don't plan to work you will likely be asked to use retirement.

[attrayant]

[...]so if you still meet the financial requirements and don't plan to work you will likely be asked to use retirement.

Reading between the lines here; it sounds like you're saying it's possible to work on an O visa (Thai wife). I thought I had seen other threads where folks said they had to switch from O to B in order to get the work permit. Can somebody staying on an O visa get a WP without having to switch to a B?

[kriswillems]

Can somebody staying on an O visa get a WP without having to switch to a B?

If the O visa is based on marriage you can a WP without getting a B visa.

[lopburi3]

Make that you likely can get a work permit - there seem to be some offices flatly not allowing work permit on O visa anymore (from misunderstanding it as retirement or not is unclear) so like most things in life it is not 100%.

[Billion]

As you say lopburi3; can be a problem to change back to extension of stay based on marriage.

I will change to retirement next year and use the combination of income and money in Thai bank.

The money has to stay in Thai bank account for 3 months prior application, right?

Must the money come from abroad or can it be money from inside Thailand?

Thanks again!

[Mario2008]

Money can come from abroad.

[lopburi3]

And from regulations there should not be a 3 month in account requirement if using combination method but several offices do require so no guarantee.

[SlyAnimal]

One of the other teachers at my school, told me that apparently they can't use the income from their work (In Thailand) for the extension of stay visa, rather it's supposed to all come from abroad. I thought this was strange when I first heard it, but they were convinced, and as a result had to get multi entries rather than 1 year extensions (Amnat Chaeron also wouldn't extend their visas based on work, since they're on Os not Bs, even though both had been doing this the year prior)

So you will might need to only use the money from abroad (Could just be the immigration office they were using previously).

[Mario2008]

It can be from within Thailand, but the income must than be proven with tax documents.

[attrayant]

I'd like to tack-on a related question. Could there potentially be any negative consequences from showing a bank statement with an excessively large balance to immigration? A few months ago I transferred about 20 years worth of living expenses from the US to my Kasikorn account. Now I'm a little worried that the first immigration officer who sees this will make a secret mark on my passport* letting other officials (immigration officers, police, hotel receptionists and whoever else might need to look at my passport) know that I am potential source of easy cash.

On the other hand, having just the bare minimum 800 thousand in the account might raise a caution flag to immigration (hey, this guy could barely scrape up enough to qualify for the extension!). I'm wondering if there's a sweet spot.

*perhaps a little conspiracy-theory tongue-in-cheek or paranoid there but who knows, this is Thailand.

[Huayrat]

I'd like to tack-on a related question. Could there potentially be any negative consequences from showing a bank statement with an excessively large balance to immigration? A few months ago I transferred about 20 years worth of living expenses from the US to my Kasikorn account. Now I'm a little worried that the first immigration officer who sees this will make a secret mark on my passport* letting other officials (immigration officers, police, hotel receptionists and whoever else might need to look at my passport) know that I am potential source of easy cash.

On the other hand, having just the bare minimum 800 thousand in the account might raise a caution flag to immigration (hey, this guy could barely scrape up enough to qualify for the extension!). I'm wondering if there's a sweet spot.

*perhaps a little conspiracy-theory tongue-in-cheek or paranoid there but who knows, this is Thailand.

paranoid

[Mario2008]

In your case, I would probalby use two bankaccounts. 1 with 800,000 baht in it for immigration and one account where you can deposit the money with a higher interest, but more restrictions on taking the money out.

[attrayant]

Thanks. Upon reflection, it simply makes better sense to put the bulk of that money where it can get a better rate of return.