Spousal Visa for a Filipino

[vision2014]

I am an Australian and have had a retirement visa for 1 year. My Filipino wife has had an education visa for one year. She is serious about learning Thai and she takes two hour private lessons 5 days a week at one of the highly rated schools in Pattaya. In about a year or two the teacher says she will have very good oral and written skills. If she stops taking classes in 2015 or 2016 , will she be able to remain in Thailand as my dependent ? We have purchased a house and plan for Pattaya to be our permanent residence. I would appreciate comments on whether she will qualify for a spousal visa and what is the process for obtaining a spousal visa. Thanks

[casualbiker]

Gotta ask how you purchased a house?

Sent from my XT1032 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ubonjoe]

She could get an extension as your dependent now if she wanted to. She can change the reason for her extension for going to school to one as your dependent.

If she is getting 90 day extensions now it wold be better to do the change now. A ED visa or extension is not required to go to school.

[vision2014]

Thanks ubonjoe.

Casual biker, I should have been more specific. I purchased a condo.

[vision2014]

She could get an extension as your dependent now if she wanted to. She can change the reason for her extension for going to school to one as your dependent.

If she is getting 90 day extensions now it wold be better to do the change now. A ED visa or extension is not required to go to school.

Hi Ubonjoe, Can you please tell me or alternatively recommend a web site (or perhaps a forum on Thai Visa) that provides details on what documents Immigration requires to approve a spousal visa. For example, what else do we need In addition to providing copies of the marriage certificate and my Thai retirement visa. Many thanks

[ubonjoe]

There is no spousal visa. It is an an extension of stay as your dependent under clause 2.20 of the police order. Nothing more is needed than what you have been told already. She will need a non-o visa or she may able to change from her extension for attendong school school to it.

From clause 2.20 of Immigration Bureau Order 138/2557 documents for extension of stay.

"1. Application form

2. Copy of applicant’s passport

3. Copy of the passport of the alien who has been permitted to stay in the Kingdom

4. Copy of documents proving relationship, such as a marriage certificate, a birth certificate, registration of child legitimization, household registration certificate, child adoption registration certificate, or other evidence from the government or relevant agency"

[vision2014]

Many thanks. Your advice is extremely beneficial to neophytes like me.

[vision2014]

There is no spousal visa. It is an an extension of stay as your dependent under clause 2.20 of the police order. Nothing more is needed than what you have been told already. She will need a non-o visa or she may able to change from her extension for attendong school school to it.

From clause 2.20 of Immigration Bureau Order 138/2557 documents for extension of stay.

"1. Application form

2. Copy of applicant’s passport

3. Copy of the passport of the alien who has been permitted to stay in the Kingdom

4. Copy of documents proving relationship, such as a marriage certificate, a birth certificate, registration of child legitimization, household registration certificate, child adoption registration certificate, or other evidence from the government or relevant agency"

Hello Ubonjoe,

My apologies for asking more questions but I just happened to read your reply to another member (from a 2014 post) and I would like to make sure I follow your instructions for getting the extension of stay as a dependent

My questions are:

1) Do we need to leave Thailand to get my wife a single entry Non O Visa? Currently she has 75 days remaining on her Education extension of stay and I am confused on whether we can just make the "extension" change at Immigration in Jomtien. Ifthis is not the case and we must leave Thailand for the single entry Non O , do you recommend we go to Laos ?

2) Do we need to have the Philippine marriage certificate verified by the Philippine embassy in Bangkok before we apply for the extension of stay ( I had previously not seen any articles indicating that the Philippine Embassy needs to verify the marriage certificate but I want to make sure I do not miss a critical step.)

In summary I may have misinterpreted your previous reply to me but I thought it stated that I could just take the required documents (marriage certificate, birth certificate, my retirement visa, property title/ Chanote) to Immigration in Jomtien to change from an education extension of stay to a extension of stay as a dependent. I really appreciate your time and valuable knowledge !!!!

[ubonjoe]

There is no spousal visa. It is an an extension of stay as your dependent under clause 2.20 of the police order. Nothing more is needed than what you have been told already. She will need a non-o visa or she may able to change from her extension for attendong school school to it.

From clause 2.20 of Immigration Bureau Order 138/2557 documents for extension of stay.

"1. Application form

2. Copy of applicant’s passport

3. Copy of the passport of the alien who has been permitted to stay in the Kingdom

4. Copy of documents proving relationship, such as a marriage certificate, a birth certificate, registration of child legitimization, household registration certificate, child adoption registration certificate, or other evidence from the government or relevant agency"

Hello Ubonjoe,

My apologies for asking more questions but I just happened to read your reply to another member (from a 2014 post) and I would like to make sure I follow your instructions for getting the extension of stay as a dependent

My questions are:

1) Do we need to leave Thailand to get my wife a single entry Non O Visa? Currently she has 75 days remaining on her Education extension of stay and I am confused on whether we can just make the "extension" change at Immigration in Jomtien. Ifthis is not the case and we must leave Thailand for the single entry Non O , do you recommend we go to Laos ?

2) Do we need to have the Philippine marriage certificate verified by the Philippine embassy in Bangkok before we apply for the extension of stay ( I had previously not seen any articles indicating that the Philippine Embassy needs to verify the marriage certificate but I want to make sure I do not miss a critical step.)

In summary I may have misinterpreted your previous reply to me but I thought it stated that I could just take the required documents (marriage certificate, birth certificate, my retirement visa, property title/ Chanote) to Immigration in Jomtien to change from an education extension of stay to a extension of stay as a dependent. I really appreciate your time and valuable knowledge !!!!

1. Chances are that you wife will have to go out for a single entry non-o. There are have been reports that Jomtien has been reported as refusing to change the reason for an extension for any extension.

Vientiane would be the best place to go..

2. I don't recall Jomtien asking for the certification

Since I first replied things have changed at immigration. I gave you an answer in number one.

[vision2014]

Thanks again Ubonjoe

[vision2014]

Hi Ubonjoe, I would appreciate your advice again (sorry to be a pain). I went to Jomtien Immigration last week to see if we we could do the conversion to "an extension of stay as my dependent" in Jomtien rather than go to Vientiane. However, there was a long line up so I thought I would go to one of the privately owned Visa agencies nearby to confirm I had brought all the required paperwork (marriage certificate, our passports, birth certificate and bank letter). The lady at the Visa agency said that for 10,000 Bhat she could process the "extension of stay as a dependent in one business day at Jomtien Immigration and we would not have to go to Vientiane nor have to spend hours sitting at Immigration The offer sounded attractive to me but I am hoping you might have an opinion on whether this sounds like a "too good to be true" offer.

I also asked the Visa agency whether we need to get documents from the school to cancel the "extension of stay for going to school" at the same time we convert to "dependent extension" and her reply was no. She indicated the "school extension" would be automatically cancelled at the time the "dependent extension" is approved. Is she correct ?

Many thanks !!

[ubonjoe]

They might have better luck getting it done than you would because you can be sure part of their fee would be to grease some wheels.

If you don't mind paying the 10K baht it is up to you.

Normally the letter from the school is needed to cancel the existing extension.

[vision2014]

Thanks Ubonjoe. I was concerned that you were going to reply and indicate that I was a candidate for "sucker of the month" and that there was no way the Visa agency could deliver on their promise. However, as this was not your reaction, I think I will give the Visa agency a try. It would cost more than 10000 Bhat for the two of us to go to Laos and we would probably have to spend half a day melting outside the Immigration building in Vientaine. If the Visa agency fails to deliver on their commitment, I will add another reply to this topic to forewarn other people.

[vision2014]

My final post. The Visa agency delivered on their commitment. We went on April 1 and paid 10000 Bhat. Later the same day, we went back to the Visa agency and picked up her passport. She now has an extension of stay as my dependent.