KL refusing multi O (marriage) without 400,000 Baht.

[ShannonT]

That's strange. A friend of mine came back from KL on Tuesday and got a multiple entry (1 year) visa based on marriage to his Thai wife. He said they didn't even ask for any financial information. He took a bank book with him showing a balance of around 100,000 Baht but they didn't even ask to see it. Maybe this is "up to the officer" ? When did the original poster go? Before Tuesday or after?

[Mario2008]

Reports say Monday and information on the website has been changed to 400,000 on the 22nd of this month.

It might be your friend was lucky as it is a new rule and he already had one multiple from KL?

[Chao Lao Beach]

A search did not spew up anything good, anyone know any treads on here about the current procedure for a Thai based extension of stay based on marriage.

The 400k one. I am looking for reports of how long it took and what was involved. I have been told they want pic of wife etc in the bedroom, <deleted>?

Not the Non imm O issued abroad.

Unless I missed it, this is not what I am looking for. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/3139-useful-immigration-information-visa-descriptions/

[MJCM]

A search did not spew up anything good, anyone know any treads on here about the current procedure for a Thai based extension of stay based on marriage.

The 400k one. I am looking for reports of how long it took and what was involved. I have been told they want pic of wife etc in the bedroom, <deleted>?

Not the Non imm O issued abroad.

Unless I missed it, this is not what I am looking for. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/3139-useful-immigration-information-visa-descriptions/

This will get you started for the paperwork needed

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/562523-list-of-docs-required-for-extension-of-stay-marriage-pattaya-jomtien/

Ps: This is Jomtien / Pattaya. Other offices could have other requirements but you can use this as a guidline

Edited June 27, 2013 by MJCM

[mancub]

Reports say Monday and information on the website has been changed to 400,000 on the 22nd of this month.

It might be your friend was lucky as it is a new rule and he already had one multiple from KL?

Would it be correct to summarise then, that a 1 year multiple entry non-o visa ,issued from the Thai Consulate in KL should require proof of bt400 k in a Thai bank account ? Do these funds need to be seasoned for a certain period as per extension based on marriage ,though ?

[BB1955]

At least they got a single entry.

They could get about 5 months out of the visa by getting a 60 day extension to visit their wife. During that time they could try and put 400K in the bank or if they can meet the income requirement of 40K baht and then apply for an extension of stay.

Or make a trip to Savannakhet for their multiple entries with no financial proof needed at the moment.

As a farang married to a farang I have to show either 800,000 in the bank or a monthly pension of 65,000 per month I never understand why it is much less if you are married to a Thai all those who I know married to Thai's moan that there wives cost them a fortune as they are very spendthrift that is not the case with my wife I would love to know who came up with such an idea that farang wives must cost more than a Thai wife !!!!!!!!

Welcome to Thailand

[Maestro]

I have deleted some posts that were nonsensical, off-topic or trolling.

[Maestro]

Would it be correct to summarise then, that a 1 year multiple entry non-o visa ,issued from the Thai Consulate in KL should require proof of bt400 k in a Thai bank account ? Do these funds need to be seasoned for a certain period as per extension based on marriage ,though ?

No, it would not be correct to summarise it this way. It would, for example, be unreasonable to expect that a man living in Italy must have an account with a bank in Thailand when he applies for a multiple-entry non-O visa for the purpose of visiting his wife in Thailand.

[Maestro]

The MFA website lists one of the required documents for a non-O visa as follows:

- Evidence of adequate finance ( 20,000 Baht per person and 40,000 Baht per family )

Source: http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/123/15398-Issuance-of-Visa.html

Most consulates do not enforce this requirement. Technically, the consular section of the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur has, in my opinion, no authority to impose the requirement of THB 400,000. If a resident of Malaysia were refused a visa because he does not meet this requirement but otherwise is clearly qualified for it and as a result complained to the MFA I am sure the consul would get told off by the MFA.

[userabcd]

In UK now and just applied for Multi Non-imm 'O' marriage and only required copies of marriage cert and id/passport of the missus, plus £125 plus £10 return postage. No mention of funds and there and back in 48hrs no probs.

Chances are i'll only need one entry as i'm going back to sort everything out and return home to UK for good....10 years more than enough for me, the best days are long gone i'm sad to say....

Hi Rickster,

Where in the UK did you apply for your Visa?

I recently applied and obtained my visa at the Thai embassy in London and in addition to the usual marriage certificate and my wife's ID docs, the embassy requested supporting financial documentation.

[OJAS]

It should be noted that a visa, any visa, is not for living in Thailand but for travelling to Thailand and the type of visa to be applied for depends on the purpose of the trip to Thailand. The applicant for a multiple-entry non-O visa for the purpose of visiting his wife in Thailand several times a year would typically be a man who lives and perhaps works in a country other than Thailand. To live with his wife in Thailand, the correct procedure would be for the foreigner to apply, after his arrival in Thailand, for a one-year extension of stay at the local immigration office.

The OP did not give details of the two friends he mentioned but it appears that they were already living in Thailand and therefore would technically not qualify for a non-O visa but should instead get one-year extensions of stay.

In which case the OP's friends' permissions to stay in Thailand presumably ceased to be valid when they crossed the border into Malaysia without obtaining re-entry permits beforehand. However, despite having been issued with single-entry (rather than multi-entry) 90-day "O" visas, they could, I take it, still apply for annual extensions of stay for marriage purposes through their local immigration office(s) within 30 days of the expiry dates of their visas, so long as they met the necessary financial requirements, could they not?

[mancub]

Would it be correct to summarise then, that a 1 year multiple entry non-o visa ,issued from the Thai Consulate in KL should require proof of bt400 k in a Thai bank account ? Do these funds need to be seasoned for a certain period as per extension based on marriage ,though ?

No, it would not be correct to summarise it this way. It would, for example, be unreasonable to expect that a man living in Italy must have an account with a bank in Thailand when he applies for a multiple-entry non-O visa for the purpose of visiting his wife in Thailand.

I fully agree that it would be unreasonable , the marriage certificate is all that is required (supposedly) at the Thai Consulate in Birmingham UK . I was trying to make sense of previous / original posts concerning applying for the visa in KL . In any case ,a man living in Italy would most likely not be going to KL to get his visa !

[Maestro]

As the content of a web page may change in future, below is a PDF file of the page on the website of the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur, downloaded today:

Non-O Kuala Lumpur embassy.pdf

[Maestro]

...despite having been issued with single-entry (rather than multi-entry) 90-day "O" visas, they could, I take it, still apply for annual extensions of stay for marriage purposes through their local immigration office(s) within 30 days of the expiry dates of their visas, so long as they met the necessary financial requirements, could they not?

Yes, they could, and it would be the correct thing to do if they plan to live long term in Thailand, ie visa to visit the wife, extension to live with the wife long term.

[Maestro]

...

I recently applied and obtained my visa at the Thai embassy in London and in addition to the usual marriage certificate and my wife's ID docs, the embassy requested supporting financial documentation.

This seems to be with reference to the requirement of the 10,000 Baht mentioned on the MFA website. If the embassy did not implement this requirement earlier it may indicate a trend towards a stricter implementation of the official requirements, at least by the consular section of Thai embassies and perhaps also other government-staffed Thai consulates.

[Maestro]

Back in early 2000 I had this O visa and renew every year and show my bank statement for 400.000,- Bht in a Thai Bank so this is not a new thing, this was done at immigration in Phuket town.

You are talking about the marriage extension, ie the one-year extension of living with your Thai wife in Thailand (obtainable at the local immigration office), not about a visa applied for at a Thai consulate (outside Thailand)

While "visa" is often used for "extension", in this particular topic it is quite important to use the two terms correctly so as to know what a poster really means.

[theajarn]

I LOL at this, and not to be an arse, but imagine if I had decided to do the Non-Imm O thing, this is the crap I would have to put up with.

I'm glad I'm back in the States. Leave Thailand to the Thais. I'll be back though -- when I'm 90+

Edited June 28, 2013 by george
snip - bad language

[anto]

If one doesn't have 400,000 in a bank or 40,000 a month in income how do you support your wife and family

Simple ,my Thai wife has her own business and earns more than me .

[RubbaJohnny]

As the content of a web page may change in future, below is a PDF file of the page on the website of the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur, downloaded today:

Non-O Kuala Lumpur embassy.pdf

As the content of a web page may change in future, below is a PDF file of the page on the website of the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur, downloaded today:

Non-O Kuala Lumpur embassy.pdf

Thank you Maestro,nowhere does it state the money must be in a Thai bank in Thailand and I have never been asked for this.I always provide an Australian Bank statement with my address in Thailand and this has been accepted without question in the past.I think it would be helpful to have any indication to the contrary before making my annual pilgrimage.

HAS ANYONE BEEN REFUSED FOR HAVING SAVINGS OUTSIDE THAILAND PLEASE ?

May I add while LOS will of course follow its own inclinations I and I am sure many other Older members would happily pay more than 5500 say15000 all spent inside Siam than have the bore of having to leave the country,similarly delighted to pay insurance on entry as the minutiae of a French policy will no is hard enough for me to fathom let alone immigratin here at rural borders.I am not holding my breath that a tsunami of logic will overwhelmm xenophobes.Prospect of wheelchair visa runs are not appealing.

Edited June 28, 2013 by RubbaJohnny

[PoorSucker]

If one doesn't have 400,000 in a bank or 40,000 a month in income how do you support your wife and family

Simple ,my Thai wife has her own business and earns more than me .

To bad the removed the combined income option for extension of stay in police order 777/2551. (2008)

[jacko45k]

This must be a joke, I opened a topic about this kind of visa one week ago, already paid for flights and hotel room... If someone has the 400k why they should bother going to KL when they can get the year extension without living the country?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

The OP talks about a visa but many others seem to think this is about a visa extension of stay based on marriage.

For example,getting a non-Imm O visa (multiple) in a Thai UK consulate was just a matter of the £100 visa cost and no need to mention marriage. What am I confusing here?

[bangkokburning]

400k is greater than the US Social Security average payment for as 2013.

They should make the 400K a pre qualification for a marriage licence. Then the message will be clear.

This may really screw up my finances and I am not at all happy. I may have to liquidate some stock at a loss, all the BS attendant transfer costs. Moving from nearly 4% return with no risk to a Thai savings account and essentially zero percent interest. Then there is the fact that I may have to return to states and deal with my aging parents and the estate in a few years. Add to this the cost of the wedding last year, 125k with her ring.

We could have just gone to the Amphur, but I wanted to do right by my Thai spouse and her parents. Stupid me Thai Immigration! I would not have got married honestly. Why hassle it? Why pay for it?

We could have just as easily lived together and i could have continued my free booting lifestyle. If we married years later - maybe or maybe not. I married for my Thai spouse as much if not more than me, to make her an honest woman in the eyes of her culture and family. I love my wife but if Thailand is going to be thoroughly uncooperative, what is to be done?!

Nation is not run by clever nor compassionate people and this I do know and will never forget - they do not like foreigners and at best tolerate us as they must to facilitate tourism and trade. It is not an epiphany, I am just reminded more and more of it or so it seems.

IT DOES NOT HELP TO HAVE IDIOTS COME ON THIS AND ANY OTHER FORUM AND POST QUESTIONS LIKE:

CAN I GET MARRIED IF I AM A CRIMINAL AND HAVE A RECORD IN MY COUNTRY? CAN I OBTAIN AN O VISA AND LIVE (HIDE?) IN THAILAND?

These people should just be banned. I was shocked. That looked soooooo bad. A real low for TV

Why can't they get a hand on their illegal worker (white) issues IF it bothers them so much??? Why so incapable?

Edited June 28, 2013 by bangkokburning

[jrtmedic]

bangkokburning

Interesting rant -------

"Why can't they get a hand on their illegal worker (white) issues IF it bothers them so much??? Why so incapable?"

Maybe the Thai authorities are attempting to emulate the spectacular success enjoyed by the American Government, who last time I checked have a massive "illegal" problem.

Edited June 28, 2013 by jrtmedic

[Sophon]

<snipped>

Moving from nearly 4% return with no risk to a Thai savings account and essentially zero percent interest.

<snipped>

Why don't you place the money in a Thai fixed deposit, that way you can achieve interest of around 3% p.a.? Or go with TMB's "No fixed account" which pays 2.75% p.a. with instant access.

Sophon

[bangkokburning]

I asked this before, no one really had an answer:

How many marriages are found by the authorities to be fraudulent? My guess is none.

Marriages based on fraud in Thailand have their own way of self destructing long before the second extension or O visa application. Think about how difficult it would be to keep reigns on a bar girl for two or three years. What would it cost? Well, I bet it would cost as much as a Walen Non O ED Visa! So why would any chimp like moron bother?

There is ZERO benefit. You cannot work, you cannot claim residence, there is no tax incentive. You even have to pay for a re-entry or get a multiple visa. As a spouse you cannot own land and what you do own must now be shared jointly. You are responsible for your wife's debts. WHY?

There may be a load of bad marriages, but there are very few fraudulent marriages. My hunch is of those, it is as much at the prodding of the Thai than it is the brainstorm of the farang. Thai Immigration is not based on logic or empirical data, it is just whim and fancy. Then again, perhaps all a nations immigration policies are much the same.

It's much the same with the hyperbole surrounding farangs and hospitals. When hospitals will willingly let people die on the steps, why should Thailand care if we are insured or not?!

[Time Traveller]

I think this was bound to happen, and many were expecting this.

I was back home in Amsterdam a few weeks back applying for the same visa (non "O" multiple entry) and for the past 8 years the only requirement was a marriage certificate. The clerk informed me the rules were now changed and I needed to show income as well (a Thai bank book showing money coming into my account was accepted). He couldn't tell me an exact amount that was needed each month, but advised me to show at least the equivalent of 2.000 euros. The new rules in Amsterdam have been in affect for about a year now (according to this guy), however the website still shows the old requirements. Be aware

Was this a cue for payment of bribes perhaps? Why would any country expect that you have an income in that country before granting you a visa to travel there?

[bangkokburning]

bangkokburning

Interesting rant -------

"Why can't they get a hand on their illegal worker (white) issues IF it bothers them so much??? Why so incapable?"

Maybe the Thai authorities are attempting to emulate the spectacular success enjoyed by the American Government, who last time I checked have a massive "illegal" problem.

Apples and oranges

The immigration issues that the US have and the ones That Thailand thinks it has are totally different. You might compare the US to the Thai in relation to Lao, Khmer or Burmese workers - but not farang. Farang workers like it or not are needed as teachers (the system is just too insanely stupid to make way for them). They also work whether on dive boats or in businesses, many do pay tax or would love to pay tax or work illegally to avoid insane arbitrary laws like forced Thai employment at 1:4. Farangs can still bring a lot to the table when it comes to service industries. In this day and age a number of businesses could be set up in Thailand due to technology and the Thai are just missing all of it.

Reminds me of when I was working in Indonesia. Japanese came to the Indos and said, hey we want to get square with you over our illegal fishing. The Indos gave them some idiotic price and the Japanese just said - well, that is out of the question. So we will continue fishing illegally.

Sophon: I am looking at fixed but do not like the terms. I think the USD is headed up, way up judging by the surge last week. I want to ride that for a year or more. I also would rather be in my position now than wherever and in a Thai bank when the US (China) market crash comes. Those fixed deposits are also for years...I see whifs of inflation everywhere, especially Thailand. Finally, I think Thai banks are WAY over extended. I trust my 150 year old bank that I have a personal relationship with,

[jrtmedic]

bangkokburning

An " illegal worker" is just that an " illegal worker" !

Ethnicity or skin colour and the country in which the illegal activity takes place has nothing to do with the argument

[soihok]

Thanks to the OP.

Can some one confirm that the bank and amount in it are required to be Thai and in Baht, or equivalent in foreign currency in a non Thai bank?

Cheers

[Expat7]

At least they got a single entry.

They could get about 5 months out of the visa by getting a 60 day extension to visit their wife. During that time they could try and put 400K in the bank or if they can meet the income requirement of 40K baht and then apply for an extension of stay.

Or make a trip to Savannakhet for their multiple entries with no financial proof needed at the moment.

As a farang married to a farang I have to show either 800,000 in the bank or a monthly pension of 65,000 per month I never understand why it is much less if you are married to a Thai all those who I know married to Thai's moan that there wives cost them a fortune as they are very spendthrift that is not the case with my wife I would love to know who came up with such an idea that farang wives must cost more than a Thai wife !!!!!!!!

Easy answer. TiT

Older people tend to need more health care