Worry-Free Non-O-Visa Savannakhet

[ubonjoe]

5 minutes ago, flindbkk said:

Hi,

my year is nearly over and I booked already all travel arrangements - just want to check if anything changed from last year/list ?

thank you

No changes.

[anto]

53 minutes ago, flindbkk said:

Hi,

my year is nearly over and I booked already all travel arrangements - just want to check if anything changed from last year/list ?

thank you

You know you can get 3 months more just before the 12 months end ,and another 2 months just before the 3 months end ?

[Somtamnication]

No.

[legendarysurfer]

On 7/7/2017 at 4:15 PM, anto said:

You know you can get 3 months more just before the 12 months end ,and another 2 months just before the 3 months end ?

Curious about this, also. How?

[kanook]

On 7/7/2017 at 4:15 PM, anto said:

You know you can get 3 months more just before the 12 months end ,and another 2 months just before the 3 months end ?

 

33 minutes ago, legendarysurfer said:

Curious about this, also. How?

On the date or even a day or two before your visa expires, do a border crossing that will give you another 90 days. Before the 90 day entry expires, visit immigration and extend for another 60 days to visit your wife at a cost of 1900 baht.

[kurtmartens]

2 minutes ago, kanook said:

 

On the date or even a day or two before your visa expires, do a border crossing that will give you another 90 days. Before the 90 day entry expires, visit immigration and extend for another 60 days to visit your wife at a cost of 1900 baht.

Be aware, in Chiangmai they will only do 30 days for visiting your wife ... 

[anto]

4 minutes ago, kurtmartens said:

Be aware, in Chiangmai they will only do 30 days for visiting your wife ... 

Thanks ,did not know that .

[kanook]

7 minutes ago, kurtmartens said:

Be aware, in Chiangmai they will only do 30 days for visiting your wife ... 

CM immigration is where I extended (for 60 days)  my last Non O multi entry from Savannakhet after it expired last year.  Please tell us what happened when you went to extend for 60 days?

 

Edited July 28, 2017 by kanook

[legendarysurfer]

21 hours ago, kanook said:

 

On the date or even a day or two before your visa expires, do a border crossing that will give you another 90 days. Before the 90 day entry expires, visit immigration and extend for another 60 days to visit your wife at a cost of 1900 baht.

Thanks, kanook. Will keep in mind going forward. The extra months add up!

[kurtmartens]

I just read a report on a different website that the Consulate in Savannakhet is offering same day service now?  Drop offer before 11AM and pickup same day after 3PM?  I am FINALLY off tomorrow to get my new O visa.  Would be great if we (wife coming along) didn't have to stay in Savannakhet for too long.

 

Was bringing the following:

- Application form with 2 photos attached (can I get this online?)

- Original marriage certificate

- 1 copy of marriage certificate

- 1 copy of my passport photo page signed by me

- 1 copy of my wife’s ID card, signed and dated by my wife

- 1 copy of my wife’s Blue Book (Tabian Ban) signed and dated by my wife

- 5000 Baht visa fee

[kurtmartens]

On 7/28/2017 at 11:53 AM, kanook said:

CM immigration is where I extended (for 60 days)  my last Non O multi entry from Savannakhet after it expired last year.  Please tell us what happened when you went to extend for 60 days?

 

Two different times in person I was told "only 30 days" and even when my wife called on the phone she was told the same.

[BEVUP]

3 minutes ago, kurtmartens said:

Two different times in person I was told "only 30 days" and even when my wife called on the phone she was told the same.

Still not correct, but you must write in for visiting wife & 60 days

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, kurtmartens said:

I just read a report on a different website that the Consulate in Savannakhet is offering same day service now?  Drop offer before 11AM and pickup same day after 3PM?

They did that it a few years ago. I  have seen no reports of it being done now.

[kurtmartens]

12 minutes ago, BEVUP said:

Still not correct, but you must write in for visiting wife & 60 days

Whether correct or not ... I'm reporting what happened to me twice in person.  And, I wrote "visiting the wife" on the application and she was there with me as well.  The immigration folks would only give me 30 days.  

 

Arguing with them gets you no where I find.

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, kurtmartens said:

Whether correct or not ... I'm reporting what happened to me twice in person.  And, I wrote "visiting the wife" on the application and she was there with me as well.  The immigration folks would only give me 30 days.  

 

Arguing with them gets you no where I find.

In the office I use, there are completely different desks for 'family-extensions' and 'tr-extensions'.  I am not sure if this is the case in CM - if they sent you to the wrong desk/person. 

 

Was this a Non-O Visa you were extending, or a TR-Visa or Visa-Exempt entry?  

It shouldn't matter to get a 'visiting wife/family' extension (60-days either way), but I can imagine if they saw a TR or Exempt entry, they picked the "easier to process" extension.

But on a Non-O, they could only do a 60-day 'visiting wife/family' extension or 7-day 'denied' extension.

[legendarysurfer]

I always post travelogues on my visits outside of Thailand and my life in the Thai countryside. The beginning post in a series of about 5 -- about this year's trip to Savannakhet to get my Thai visa -- is located here: https://the-isaan.blogspot.com/

[kurtmartens]

15 hours ago, JackThompson said:

In the office I use, there are completely different desks for 'family-extensions' and 'tr-extensions'.  I am not sure if this is the case in CM - if they sent you to the wrong desk/person. 

 

Was this a Non-O Visa you were extending, or a TR-Visa or Visa-Exempt entry?  

It shouldn't matter to get a 'visiting wife/family' extension (60-days either way), but I can imagine if they saw a TR or Exempt entry, they picked the "easier to process" extension.

But on a Non-O, they could only do a 60-day 'visiting wife/family' extension or 7-day 'denied' extension.

That isn't how Immigration in Chiangmai @ The Promenade is setup.  It was a visa-exempt.  And even though the law states 60 days ... I am not going to argue with an Immigration officer.  Its just not worth "being right", ya know?

[JackThompson]

37 minutes ago, kurtmartens said:

That isn't how Immigration in Chiangmai @ The Promenade is setup.  It was a visa-exempt.  And even though the law states 60 days ... I am not going to argue with an Immigration officer.  Its just not worth "being right", ya know?

I understand the "no point in arguing" angle - and generally agree it's not worth the effort.  Since you were on a visa-exempt and married to a Thai, you could have applied for either a 30-day or 60-day - but they probably didn't want to "do the work" of processing the 60-day variety.  You could try returning near the end of the 30-days, and apply for the 60-days; this is legal (I've done it elsewhere), but reported that not all offices will do it.

 

Your situation is similar to cases of people applying for Non-O annual-extensions based on Marriage, but who showed enough money and age for retirement, so the IOs took the easier path and processed the extension based on retirement (which is a problem if the applicant wanted to apply for a work-permit).  The only known workaround is to only supply enough money to qualify for the extension based on marriage, so IOs cannot take the "easy way," extension, instead.  

 

In your case, you don't have a way to force their hand - so were stuck with the 30-day they gave you.  Entering on a non-imm visa of some type is the only way you could similarly force them to give you the 60-day extension.  Granted, obtaining that visa in advance may not be practical, in your case.

[kurtmartens]

Hello all from the Macchiato Cafe in Savannakhet.  Just dropped off my Non O visa application at the the Thai Consulate.  No hassles.  I have had 2 visa exempts and 2 extensions prior, Consulate didn't seem to care.

My (and wife's) trip from Chiang Mai was easy enough.  We flew Air Asia from Chiang Mai to Ubon.  Took a non metered taxi to the Bridge for 1,800 Baht.  Crossed over.  Arranged a car/driver on the Laos side for 1,500 Baht for 3 days.  We are staying at the Daosavanah Resort; rooms are clean if worn out and staff is friendly enough.  We arrived at 830AM at the Consulate and had one of the visa stands across the street take my picture, photocopy all the docs (below) and fill out of the application for us (they clearly have these forms ready as "our" address in Thailand wasn't actually our address (Consulate didn't seem to care either).  Cost was 180 Baht.

 

Waited in line at the Consulate.  Opened promptly at 9AM.  We had been number 3 in line, but the first 2 folks didn't have their applications filled out.  So we scooted up to #1.  Handed everything to the Consulate officer, showed him the original marriage certificate and 5,000 Baht.  Took all of 5 minutes and we pick up my passport tomorrow morning.

 

- Original marriage certificate

- Copy of marriage certificate
- Copy of my passport 
- Copy of my wife's ID card
- Copy of my wife's Tablian Baan 
- Application Form with 2 pictures 

[Somtamnication]

Nice to hear. Horrible restaurant and very overpriced, but glad all went ok at the consulate.

[kurtmartens]

4 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

Nice to hear. Horrible restaurant and very overpriced, but glad all went ok at the consulate.

Its not that horrible and in my opinion not really over priced (spent 200 Baht on basil fried pork) for a full service place.  A bit tacky in the decorations (too many), but hey ho.  The staff is friendly enough and speaks English.

[MJCM]

6 minutes ago, kurtmartens said:

Its not that horrible and in my opinion not really over priced (spent 200 Baht on basil fried pork) for a full service place.  A bit tacky in the decorations (too many), but hey ho.  The staff is friendly enough and speaks English.

In ZVK everything Food Wise is expensive. Last time we were there, wife wanted to buy Roasted Chicken she was shocked when they said 250 THB. The only thing that is cheap is Beer Lao

Edited August 10, 2017 by MJCM

[Denim]

Just back from Sav.   Applied multi O based on marriage on Wednesday 6th.   Issued on 7th no problems.

 

Usual documents, no change and very quick.  Much quieter than the same time last year when there were about 60 in the queue. This time only twelve.

 

Stayed at the Avalon again for 680 baht.  Very clean as usual. 

One criticism. They won't let you check in until 1.30 or 2.00 pm.

Not much use if like us you turn up at 10.00 am.  As the wife was not too well they managed to find us an unused room on the top floor at the rear and let us check in at 11.00 am otherwise would have had a long wait.

 

 In the same building there is now another hotel next door called the

Aura residence. here the price is 800 a night but this includes breakfast for two. Also their check in time is 11.00 am.  After discovering this I asked for a refund from the Avalon which probably spurred them into letting us check in early, along with my unwell wife.

 

The Avalon is on a crossroads. If you walk north away from the hotel there is now a beer garden about 100 meters away with a cheap little dtam sang eatery next door. Convenient and cheap for one night.

 

If , like us, you arrive in Savannakhet early , then go to the Thai consulate first, there is no need to worry about being within walking distance of the consulate since you won't be doing any walking. Our taxi from the bridge agreed to wait outside the consulate whilst I submitted our application before taking us on to the hotel. Same deal next day on collection. Also....no need to get to the consulate too early. We arrived at 9.35 and there was no queue at all.

 

Next time I will stay down town as there is more life there in the evening.

 

 

 

 

[Nong Khai Man]

Stayed at the Avalon again for 680 baht.  Very clean as usual. ......555 !!  I Only paid 600 Baht there 2 Weeks Ago......

[Denim]

On 9/11/2017 at 4:20 PM, Nong Khai Man said:

Stayed at the Avalon again for 680 baht.  Very clean as usual. ......555 !!  I Only paid 600 Baht there 2 Weeks Ago......

 

Life is so unfair. 

 

Were you alone or accompanied ?

[Nong Khai Man]

1 hour ago, Denim said:

 

Life is so unfair. 

 

Were you alone or accompanied ?

I Was with " Her Indoors " Mate....

[jeab1980]

Try this new guest houses in Savanakhet exellent was there for two nights two weeks ago.  (Not visa related holidaybtrip) Couldnt fault it 1000 x better than Avalon.

Joli Guesthouse. Its on booking .com includes a lovley breakfast we paid 699bht walk in rate. Was lucky someone did a no show.

Edited September 12, 2017 by jeab1980

[Denim]

3 hours ago, jeab1980 said:

Try this new guest houses in Savanakhet exellent was there for two nights two weeks ago.  (Not visa related holidaybtrip) Couldnt fault it 1000 x better than Avalon.

Joli Guesthouse. Its on booking .com includes a lovley breakfast we paid 699bht walk in rate. Was lucky someone did a no show.

You'll forgive me for saying that just going by the pictures on booking.com it doesn't look 1000 times better. The furniture looks a bit cheap and the mattress on the bed looks a bit hard.

 

Joli:

 

Avalon 

 

Must have been hell of a free breakfast 

Edited September 12, 2017 by Denim

[Denim]

3 hours ago, Nong Khai Man said:

I Was with " Her Indoors " Mate....

Well then ....in those two weeks either the price has gone up or else you are a better looking geezer then me  

[jeab1980]

6 hours ago, Denim said:

You'll forgive me for saying that just going by the pictures on booking.com it doesn't look 1000 times better. The furniture looks a bit cheap and the mattress on the bed looks a bit hard.

 

Joli:

 

Avalon 

 

Must have been hell of a free breakfast 

Wow by looking atva picture you can say a mattress is hard and yes i forgivebyou it a 

1000 x better