Here is a brief outline of my situation:

I am US citizen, my partner of 8 years is German - we are not married in a defacto spouse relationship which is recognized by his employer.

He is employed as an expat by a large multinational firm in BKK. He has proper work permit and visa, his contract is for two years - we are one year into it.

To get into Thaiand, I obtained an non immigrant O visa multiple entry at the Thai consulate in Australia (Melbourne) where we were living (as expats) prior to his transfer to BKK. It expired in May, but as I had left the country in March my I am able to stay until June 17.

Friends in a similar situation ie defacto relationship, he works for large multinational firm. They arrived in October 2004 she had a non imm O single entry issued in Singapore. They were able to go to the one stop place and with a letter from British consulate stating they were in a defacto relationship, and a letter from his employer - she got a non imm O visa which treats her as a spouse. No problems, no need to leave the country every 3 months. After one year her visa was extended/renewed for one year at the one stop place.

I arrived in May 2005 and at that time the firm handling our visa issues said that Thailand no longer recognized defactos and could not change my multiple entry to the spouse O and I had to leave the country every 3 months, which I did. Now that my visa has expired they are saying I have to leave Asia to get another non imm O multiple entry.

Can someone clarify - does Thailand recognize defacto now? If no, did it used to? If yes, when did they stop?

Is it true that Asian coutries will not (or are reluctant) to issue a non imm O multiple entry?

Any other options that you know of - the firm handling this for us seems to run out of options and I am wondering about their expertise if my friend in a defacto relationship was able to get treated as a spouse, and they were not able to do this for us. Could it be due to the time they came into the country vs. when I came into the country?

Many thanks in advance for your posts.

I suspect your friend had paperwork that said it was a marriage in the eyes of the British Government or some such thing and therefore this paper was recognized are the marriage certificate and foreign marriages are surly recognized by Thailand. Thailand does not recognize defacto relationships; and as far as I know never has.

Do you have paperwork that you are recognized under German law as married? If so that may well be all you need. If not I don't believe it is in the cards.

I would plan a trip to the US and visit an honorary Consulate if you require the non immigrant visa, as that will probably not be any more expensive than alternatives.

Another alternative would be a two or three entry tourist visa from Penang. Cheaper than a trip home but you will have to exit every few months (but you are used to that). The final alternative would be the monthly visa run trips to Cambodia for 30 day stamp which cost about 2,000 baht each time.

I've had laweyer friends work in here and even though lawyers are good manipulators of the law, they still could not organise defacto stays for the sposues.

What does happen, fairly commonly in these situations, is that the firm employing the expat also employs the defacto spouse as in a lower grade position, just enough so they qualify for an extension of stay based on a work permit. So the stay is handled that way.

Some firms are fairly crafty, employing more maids and window cleaners than they need, to get around the Thai to Foriegner ratio required for work permits.

I think your friends were quite lucky to have an Immigration Officer that decided to abide by the Hague Convention on International recognition of marriages or unions. Although there are enough loopholes to ensure this does not happen very often. However the Convention is quite specific that only International Marriages between a man and woman are recogniseable in International Law.