Why are we subjected to 90 reporting?

[Thai at Heart]

@ Sustento Reply to Post No 5

I'm not speaking for America,but the UK allows Spouses into the Country on 2 year and 3 months Settlement Visas,and they never have to check in to the UKBA,Home Office,or Police,for the whole term,of residence,which in general leads on to permanent residence into the UK,whereby the nearest they will ever get to a Check in,is when they pick up their Citizenship Certificate,and later on British Passport Application Interview!

In answer to your question,providing the Immigration conditions are complied with,it's pretty straight forward,for most applicants to obtain a UK Visa.

IMHO excessive check ins,are xenophobic nonsense,!

Edit for spelling error!

You have surely got to be joking about the "straightforwardness" of obtaining UK visas! To enable her to accompany me on a 12-day trip back to the UK in 2009, my Thai wife had to fill out a lengthy form which required her to provide totally meaningless and irrelevant information relating to her parents' and daughters' full names and dates and places of birth, which the British powers-that-be seem to regard as essentially desperately vital for reasons which completely escape me! In addition, I had to provide a lengthy letter which basically guaranteed that I would be responsible for all the expenses she incurred while in the UK!!

The 90-day reporting and annual extension of stay processes for me here are pieces of cake by comparison .

Huh? It's not just Thai people applying for visas.

If you have 1000 John smiths applying for visas how the hell are you supposed to tell them apart if you don't track their family history?

[samran]

Here's a thought.

Try getting a US or UK visa for your Thai wife and step-kid. (and your Thai self if that's your nationality)

Then have someone try to get permission to enter Thailand for their British wife and step-kid.

Later, come back and compare and contrast...

One can take months, with no degree of certainty.

The other can be done on arrival...

90 day reports is the trade-off. Great trade for some, a pain in the butt for others.

The contrast is, once you're in the US (can't speak for the UK), you are in. No reporting to anyone, and if you want, you can start working toward naturalization and citizenship. Also if you die while in the US (and I believe this is applicable to the UK) there is a provision for "Continued right of residence" for your non-native spouse that allows the spouse to continue to live and work in country and eventually apply for permanent residence / citizenship.

Come to Thailand, and unless you are wealthy and connected, you're probably going to stay a 'visitor', 'guest', 'walking-ATM machine' until you decide to leave or die in country. The ultimate irony would be immigration attempting to collect 'over-stay' fines from your spouse after you've been deceased for a couple of years. However, if my Thai wife dies before me, there is no provision for "Continued right of residence". It's "find a different visa or get you buns out of Thailand -- we don't care that you've been supporting a family and the Thai economy for 15 or 20 year -- get out". Personally, I think that is one of the coldest and most xenophobic aspects of living here. Compassionate Thailand? I'd have to question that. Honestly, if my wife dies before me, I'm leaving. I stay in Thailand because I'm married to my Thailand national wife and my wife has no desire to move to the US.

There are things I love about Thailand, and there are things I truly dislike -- Thai immigration policy is near the top of my dislike list, maybe one down from machete wielding taxicab drivers.

A whinge if I've ever seen one.

You can apply for a retirement visa and the ability to continue staying - given that you only have to be 50.

For those with kids, they can stay on the basis of supporting their kids.

Sounds like you've been living and working here - PR would have been an easy option with 3 years of work permits and tax receipts.

So there are a fair few alternatives, but it seems you are just looking for a carbon copy of what the US provides and spitting the dummy that Thailand doesn't follow suit.

Edited September 1, 2013 by samran

[Arkady]

Here's a thought.

Try getting a US or UK visa for your Thai wife and step-kid. (and your Thai self if that's your nationality)

Then have someone try to get permission to enter Thailand for their British wife and step-kid.

Later, come back and compare and contrast...

One can take months, with no degree of certainty.

The other can be done on arrival...

90 day reports is the trade-off. Great trade for some, a pain in the butt for others.

The contrast is, once you're in the US (can't speak for the UK), you are in. No reporting to anyone, and if you want, you can start working toward naturalization and citizenship. Also if you die while in the US (and I believe this is applicable to the UK) there is a provision for "Continued right of residence" for your non-native spouse that allows the spouse to continue to live and work in country and eventually apply for permanent residence / citizenship.

Come to Thailand, and unless you are wealthy and connected, you're probably going to stay a 'visitor', 'guest', 'walking-ATM machine' until you decide to leave or die in country. The ultimate irony would be immigration attempting to collect 'over-stay' fines from your spouse after you've been deceased for a couple of years. However, if my Thai wife dies before me, there is no provision for "Continued right of residence". It's "find a different visa or get you buns out of Thailand -- we don't care that you've been supporting a family and the Thai economy for 15 or 20 year -- get out". Personally, I think that is one of the coldest and most xenophobic aspects of living here. Compassionate Thailand? I'd have to question that. Honestly, if my wife dies before me, I'm leaving. I stay in Thailand because I'm married to my Thailand national wife and my wife has no desire to move to the US.

There are things I love about Thailand, and there are things I truly dislike -- Thai immigration policy is near the top of my dislike list, maybe one down from machete wielding taxicab drivers.

Not trying to be a smartass, but how do you answer to the post above yours?

Dude, when I lived in the US as an Alien (oh yeah) the red tape was a niiIIIIIghtmare - nothing as friendly as the Thai 'ask how you like Thai food' then stamping your papers.

I suspect most of us think it's easy for a foreigner living in our home country because we have never lived as foreigners in our home country. Scratch golf looked pretty easy, too. Until I tried it.

The thing is that countries like the US and the UK make it quite difficult for foreign (non EU in the case of the UK) to come in in the first place. Many of the foreign spouses never make it at all, if the citizen spouse doesn't have sufficient means, or if the relationship and/or the background of the foreign spouse appear questionable. I once came across three couples at the US embassy who had been forced to live apart for years and were trying yet again for the Thai wife to get a settlement visa. Once you're in, you're in, but there is still a great deal of red tape and tests to obtain PR and citizenship, although there is a transparent process subject to judicial review which is sadly lacking in inefficient, corruption prone Thailand. The US and the UK like to hold passports of those applying for PR for many months, so they can't travel, although there is no logical reason for this inconvenience.

Thailand, on the other hand, lets in all spouses of Thai nationals and all retirees, subject to minimal financial requirements, without question, and extends their visas indefinitely without ever doing any type of background check or insinuating they must be drug dealers or hookers, in the manner favoured by Thai staff at Western embassies in Bangkok. You are always a temporary resident, unless you qualify for and apply for PR or citizenship, but you will always be able to renew your annual visa extensions indefinitely, as long as you can meet the easy financial requirements. In the unfortunate circumstance that the Thai wife deceases and you have no Thai children, you can easily switch to a retirement extension with a higher financial hurdle but much less paperwork and hassle. Since you were only a temporary resident when your life was alive, there is no logical or legal basis for making you a permanent resident after her death, sad though this may be.

Many of those who complain that they remain long term temporary residents, while extolling the immigration policies of their home countries, choose to ignore the reality that would probably not be able to get visas for their Thai wives to settle there.

[OJAS]

@ Sustento Reply to Post No 5

I'm not speaking for America,but the UK allows Spouses into the Country on 2 year and 3 months Settlement Visas,and they never have to check in to the UKBA,Home Office,or Police,for the whole term,of residence,which in general leads on to permanent residence into the UK,whereby the nearest they will ever get to a Check in,is when they pick up their Citizenship Certificate,and later on British Passport Application Interview!

In answer to your question,providing the Immigration conditions are complied with,it's pretty straight forward,for most applicants to obtain a UK Visa.

IMHO excessive check ins,are xenophobic nonsense,!

Edit for spelling error!

You have surely got to be joking about the "straightforwardness" of obtaining UK visas! To enable her to accompany me on a 12-day trip back to the UK in 2009, my Thai wife had to fill out a lengthy form which required her to provide totally meaningless and irrelevant information relating to her parents' and daughters' full names and dates and places of birth, which the British powers-that-be seem to regard as essentially desperately vital for reasons which completely escape me! In addition, I had to provide a lengthy letter which basically guaranteed that I would be responsible for all the expenses she incurred while in the UK!!

The 90-day reporting and annual extension of stay processes for me here are pieces of cake by comparison .

Huh? It's not just Thai people applying for visas.

If you have 1000 John smiths applying for visas how the hell are you supposed to tell them apart if you don't track their family history?

Maybe a case for tracking family history where applicants are planning to settle in the UK permanently. But for a mere visitor's visa?

And how come Thai Immigration does not apparently consider it necessary to track the family histories of the 1,000 (or how ever many) John Smith's living in or visiting LOS?

Edited September 1, 2013 by OJAS

[nong38]

Ah diddums...

I'm assuming you want sources?

http://www.arbeslaw.com/how-parole-works.html

No - I'm just continually amazed that anyone expects the law to be the same in a foreign land as it is in their own. How easy do you think it would for your average Thai male to live legally in the USA?

Here, noooooooooooo farang gets handouts, not a single baht. We only put in. Different story for foreigners who go to farangland.

Don't you think taking care of a Thai national and perhaps family, providing a house and schooling for the kids with farang money is enough. ?

Apparently not.

Hoop jumping is also required.

And a steadily increasing number of foreigners has to comply, and does. So it is not a deterrant.

Why should they change it? They just want to keep track of foreigners in their country. I see nothing wrong with that.

Sent from my I-405 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

And to make sure the relevant fees continue to flow for the visas.

[nong38]

@ Sustento Reply to Post No 5

I'm not speaking for America,but the UK allows Spouses into the Country on 2 year and 3 months Settlement Visas,and they never have to check in to the UKBA,Home Office,or Police,for the whole term,of residence,which in general leads on to permanent residence into the UK,whereby the nearest they will ever get to a Check in,is when they pick up their Citizenship Certificate,and later on British Passport Application Interview!

In answer to your question,providing the Immigration conditions are complied with,it's pretty straight forward,for most applicants to obtain a UK Visa.

IMHO excessive check ins,are xenophobic nonsense,!

Edit for spelling error!

You have surely got to be joking about the "straightforwardness" of obtaining UK visas! To enable her to accompany me on a 12-day trip back to the UK in 2009, my Thai wife had to fill out a lengthy form which required her to provide totally meaningless and irrelevant information relating to her parents' and daughters' full names and dates and places of birth, which the British powers-that-be seem to regard as essentially desperately vital for reasons which completely escape me! In addition, I had to provide a lengthy letter which basically guaranteed that I would be responsible for all the expenses she incurred while in the UK!!

The 90-day reporting and annual extension of stay processes for me here are pieces of cake by comparison .

Huh? It's not just Thai people applying for visas.

If you have 1000 John smiths applying for visas how the hell are you supposed to tell them apart if you don't track their family history?

Maybe a case for tracking family history where applicants are planning to settle in the UK permanently. But for a mere visitor's visa?

And how come Thai Immigration does not apparently consider it necessary to track the family histories of the 1,000 (or how ever many) John Smith's living in or visiting LOS?

I bet they all give there address as Tadcaster, North Yorkshire as well!

[cardholder]

@ Sustento Reply to Post No 5

I'm not speaking for America,but the UK allows Spouses into the Country on 2 year and 3 months Settlement Visas,and they never have to check in to the UKBA,Home Office,or Police,for the whole term,of residence,which in general leads on to permanent residence into the UK,whereby the nearest they will ever get to a Check in,is when they pick up their Citizenship Certificate,and later on British Passport Application Interview!

In answer to your question,providing the Immigration conditions are complied with,it's pretty straight forward,for most applicants to obtain a UK Visa.

IMHO excessive check ins,are xenophobic nonsense,!

Edit for spelling error!

You have surely got to be joking about the "straightforwardness" of obtaining UK visas! To enable her to accompany me on a 12-day trip back to the UK in 2009, my Thai wife had to fill out a lengthy form which required her to provide totally meaningless and irrelevant information relating to her parents' and daughters' full names and dates and places of birth, which the British powers-that-be seem to regard as essentially desperately vital for reasons which completely escape me! In addition, I had to provide a lengthy letter which basically guaranteed that I would be responsible for all the expenses she incurred while in the UK!!

The 90-day reporting and annual extension of stay processes for me here are pieces of cake by comparison .

Huh? It's not just Thai people applying for visas.

If you have 1000 John smiths applying for visas how the hell are you supposed to tell them apart if you don't track their family history?

1,000 John Smiths could apply for a Thailand visa by completing one A4 form, sign another and show a bit of income/capital.

Job done.

[OJAS]

Maybe a case for tracking family history where applicants are planning to settle in the UK permanently. But for a mere visitor's visa?

And how come Thai Immigration does not apparently consider it necessary to track the family histories of the 1,000 (or how ever many) John Smith's living in or visiting LOS?

I bet they all give there address as Tadcaster, North Yorkshire as well!

And if they quaffed the local loopy-juice they'd never make it to Thailand in the first place!

[7by7]

John Smiths? Rubbish. Not even brewed in Tadcaster any more.

His nephew Sam's various products, though, are excellent beverages.

[onthemoon]

The reason is because it's simply a form of taxation they prefer over another,  it's a way of creating jobs by taxing people who can afford to pay and the added bonus is they are not Thai ...... stop whining about it

Isn't the 90 day reporting free of charge?

Sent from my I-405 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[onthemoon]

To OP - the government doesn't care. It's immigration you have to report to. Immigration aren't part of the government. They are run independently. The government are just the group of people that govern the country.  

:lol:

Gotta love this comment.

Sent from my I-405 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Tomtomtom69]

You do it because thems the rules and if you want to live in this country you obey the rules.

Don't see what the problem is, nor why you need a whole lot of papers, but then you must report to a different office from me.

Did mine last week, filled in the report form at home, went there, handed over the one form in my passport, got it stamped and the new bit of the form stapled in and was out of there and on the way home in 10 min, not a problem to me.

You don't even have to go there you can do it by mail or someone else can do it for you.

If being called farang or an alien gets up your nose then you are in the wrong place, again not a problem to me.

Just something I have to do if I want to stay here.

Some rather racist Thai friend of mine asked my spouse in regards to her previous job if there were "aliens" or "foreigners" working there, as if there was a difference. I think in her mind the term "aliens" refers to Burmese, Lao and Cambodians and "foreigners" to westerners, Japanese, Chinese and Indians etc. This same person is constantly talking about farangs this, farangs that, Chinese this, Chinese that, Thais this, Thais that.

Fortunately the Thai authorities aren't that racist and refer to every foreigner equally as "aliens".