Visa Questions.

[North]

Hello everyone,

Now the time has come, when I can start planning moving to Thailand.

I am danish, 53 years old and retired with a pension. I am married to a thai woman, who lives in Thailand.

Like so many other foreigners moving to Thailand I have a few questions about the visa, I need for staying in Thailand, and I hope to get some good answers here in this forum.

1: I can meet the financial demands for either the "supporting the wife visa, 400K baht " or "retirement visa, 800K baht ", but I just wonder, which one is best concerning possibility to have: thai driver´s license, buy a car in my own name, Tabian Bahn ( I don´t know if I can get one ) etc.

Any differences there ?

2: I already called the nearest thai consulate for having a non immigrant visa, I can have a 3 months single entry "non O" or a 12 months multiple entry "non O"

Regardless of which one I get can I then go to immigration any time after arriving in Thailand ( in the visa period ) to apply for a one year extension, OR do I have to wait, until the 3 or 12 months visa is nearly finished ?

3: As I want to stay in Northeast Thailand I am planning to go to Immigration in Nong Khai for the visa extension, does anyone know approximately how long time it will take, before I can get the extension after applying ?

Thank you in advance for your help.

North

[lopburi3]

1. You can not work on a retirement extension or be likely to obtain permanent residence status (PR). Other than that there is no real difference with daily life issues and without having a work history/tax payments you would not be very likely to obtain PR with Support Thai Wife either.

2. You can apply anytime during the last 30 days of any 90 day stay (although they have been known to allow you to apply at any time on occasion).

3. Retirement is given on the spot. Support Thai Wife will take normally take several visits at 30 day intervals.

[North]

1. You can not work on a retirement extension or be likely to obtain permanent residence status (PR). Other than that there is no real difference with daily life issues and without having a work history/tax payments you would not be very likely to obtain PR with Support Thai Wife either.

2. You can apply anytime during the last 30 days of any 90 day stay (although they have been known to allow you to apply at any time on occasion).

3. Retirement is given on the spot. Support Thai Wife will take normally take several visits at 30 day intervals.

Thank you for the answers, Can you answer these two questions too:

1:

Actually I had thought about, if I were able to obtain permanent residency status after staying in Thailand for three years, do I understand you right:

Will this not be possible for me, because I do not have a work history and never have been paying tax in Thailand ?

3:

If I choose to have the retirement visa at first, can I then change that visa to a marriage visa next year when applying for an extension ?

( when I arrive in Thailand next month I can only stay for three months because of some business abroad, and according to your description I would need to stay more than three months in order to get the extension from immigration )

North

[lopburi3]

Will not say you can not obtain PR but feel it is much less likely than someone younger who is working here. If that is your goal encourage you to go for it. But you might want to ask around and not plan on it as automatic.

You should not have any problem changing extension of stay type.

[North]

Will not say you can not obtain PR but feel it is much less likely than someone younger who is working here. If that is your goal encourage you to go for it. But you might want to ask around and not plan on it as automatic.

You should not have any problem changing extension of stay type.

Ok, I understand about the PR. I will ask around and if I cannot get PR,..- well I will have the time to visit immigration one time per year, no problem.

Thank you again for your quick and precise answers, Lopburi3.

Bound for Thailand in three weeks.

North

Edited May 22, 2006 by North