Camerata's Guide To The Permanent Residence Process

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, mortenaa said:

I just asked the same question. No one has replied to my question yet.

Reports are showing that you cannot select Thailand as your country of residence, so I think we dont need to, as was also the case with TM6.

Perhaps email to division1.immigration@gmail.com  and ask for an instruction.

 

I've asked many questions on this email address, always got a clear answer in English, within about 3 to 5 days. 

[rimmae2]

13 hours ago, scorecard said:

Perhaps email to division1.immigration@gmail.com  and ask for an instruction.

 

I've asked many questions on this email address, always got a clear answer in English, within about 3 to 5 days. 

Last year I sent a mail to division1 about e gates and after several weeks received the following reply. I sent a mail to Division 2 but never received a reply.

 

'Please inquire with Immigration Division 2 directly.

Contact - Immigration Division 2

email : [email protected]'

[onthemoon]

I asked at Suvarnabhumi and wanted to register for e-gate, as I did with the previous incarnation of e-gates. They said, I must go to the PR section at CW, only they can register PR holders.

When I was at CW to renew my PR (sorry, get an endorsement), I was told they have nothing to do with the e-gates.

All is well organised, as we can see.

[onthemoon]

21 hours ago, Arkady said:

 

It would be in everyone's interest to issue a smart card for PRs but who knows, if they will ever get around to doing this.  The concept behind the red book when it was introduced following the first Immigration Act in 1927 was that it should act an alien ID document to help control the Chinese community who were difficult for Thai police and other authorities to track and many were believed to be involved with triad criminal organisations.  So it was ahead of its time to issue foreigners with ID docs they were supposed to carry everywhere because Thai citizens didn't get ID cards until after the first census of, I think, 1954.  Perhaps they still have substantial stocks of the red book blanks printed in 1927 they need to use up.

 

If they issued smart cards for ID, it would follow that the red books would have to be scrapped and pulped or burned, regardless of how much stock they still have.  Smart cards are issued by DOPA at district offices.  So the section at CW that does nothing by issue red books would be redundant.  So would the alien registration officer in each police station in Bangkok and maybe qutie upcountry whose job is just to sit there waiting for aliens to come in to have new books issued or renew old ones.  Of course district offices would not need to add any staff.  They are already issuing pink cards to PRs anyway.  So it would be a big staff saving and cracking of iron rice bowls of indolent civil servants that the police would fight tooth and nail to prevent or delay, since it is inevitable that it will happen one day.  Add to that the blue and white books that have been made redundant by immigration e-gates and another entire section of Pol Snr Sgt Majs at CW would be forced to play with their phones all day without interruption by the occasional PR.

 

Now they have other types of long term visa, they may as well issue smart cards for them too.  Indeed they could issue an ID card for NON-B visas too and stop giving expats the ridiculous pink non-smart cards that state the holder is not allowed to go out his district without permission of the district officer. 

 

If this were a private company, all this would have been done decades ago.

 

 

Let's see what happens when they run out of the red books that they printed in 1927 and are still distrubuting,

[Maestro]

On 4/1/2025 at 1:01 PM, anthonyT said:

Would anyone know if the new Thailand Digital Arrival Card  is required to be filled in by PR holders?

 

Latest information is here:

https://aseannow.com/topic/1356064-thailand-digital-arrival-card-tdac-system-is-online-but-not-announced-as-starting-yet/page/8/#findComment-19709723

 

Quote

...It will have Thailand as a choice in country of residence too 

 

[pietro998]

I am married with baby on the way, if I change to marriage visa, how long to wait in order to be eligible to apply for PR. Is it regular 3 years or lower if I have child and married? and what is the necessary income I need to have.

Can my wife employ me with some low wage in order to be eligible? how much is that? is 20-30k enough?

[Maestro]

1 hour ago, pietro998 said:

I am married with baby on the way, if I change to marriage visa, how long to wait in order to be eligible to apply for PR...

 

Change from what to PR?

[pietro998]

2 hours ago, Maestro said:

 

Change from what to PR?

Sorry for not being clear. I plan to get married visa soon. how long do i have to stay on this marriage visa in order to apply for PR assuming we have a child? and how much income do I need to have in order to apply for the PR under the humanitarian category. I wondered if there is lower requirement if we have children together. My wife is taking care of me financially since it is complicated to get a job so i was curious, but she has business so she can give me some work perhaps to fulfill that requirement.

 

[mortenaa]

17 hours ago, Maestro said:

 

Latest information is here:

https://aseannow.com/topic/1356064-thailand-digital-arrival-card-tdac-system-is-online-but-not-announced-as-starting-yet/page/8/#findComment-19709723

 

 

So does that mean PR's have to do this? 

[Ericccbk]

20 hours ago, Maestro said:

 

Latest information is here:

https://aseannow.com/topic/1356064-thailand-digital-arrival-card-tdac-system-is-online-but-not-announced-as-starting-yet/page/8/#findComment-19709723

 

 

Will PR holders still be eligible to use the Thai passport lanes for entry? I was once advised to use foreigner’s lane at Don Muang airport last December, despite having argued that I have a PR. 

[Maestro]

6 hours ago, mortenaa said:

So does that mean PR's have to do this? 

 

Yes.

[Maestro]

3 hours ago, Ericccbk said:

Will PR holders still be eligible to use the Thai passport lanes for entry? I was once advised to use foreigner’s lane at Don Muang airport last December, despite having argued that I have a PR. 

 

So far, the TDAC procedures have made no mention of the immigration lanes to be used by particular categories of foreigners.

[onthemoon]

14 hours ago, Ericccbk said:

Will PR holders still be eligible to use the Thai passport lanes for entry? I was once advised to use foreigner’s lane at Don Muang airport last December, despite having argued that I have a PR. 

At Suvarnabhumi, you can always use the Thai passport lanes. At Don Mueang, I was also asked to use the foreigners' lane but successfully persuaded the officer to not reject me after I had stood a long time in the Thai and, and the foreigners' lane was much longer (it was the end of a long holiday).

 

So, the good question is: Is it written down somewhere that PR holders can use the Thai lane? Or does immigration at DMK make their own rules?

[jayboy]

11 hours ago, Maestro said:

So far, the TDAC procedures have made no mention of the immigration lanes to be used by particular categories of foreigners.

 

Why on earth should they? They have nothing to do with how Immigration processes arrivals at Thailand entry points.

[scorecard]

15 hours ago, Ericccbk said:

Will PR holders still be eligible to use the Thai passport lanes for entry? I was once advised to use foreigner’s lane at Don Muang airport last December, despite having argued that I have a PR. 

I suspect that not all immigration officers (regardless of airport) are fully aware of these items. And I suspect that's mostly because they are not actual regulations, just convenience. 

 

Many years ago at DM airport (Suv. not yet built) I was asked to change from the foreigners line to the Thai line the very first time I re-entered Thailand after gaining PR. Coincidence I'm sure.

 

At that time the immigration officer mentioned that the officers manning the Thai arrival were more knowledgeable about such things and processing would be quicker. 

Also, at that time the Thai line had just a few arrivals waiting to get stamped in, whereas  several very long foreigners lines waiting to be stamped in.

 

I had just joined the end of a foreigners line when the immigration officer approached me and spoke quietly and told me 'much quicker if you change to the Thai line' and he took me arm and escorted me to the Thai line. 

 

Then some confusion, instantly many foreigners changed to the Thai line and the Immigration officer had to tell them 'cannot, you must use the foreign passports line'. 

 

Passport officer also said 'every time you enter Thailand show your PR book and passport and join the Thai arrivals line. That's nearly 3 decades ago. 

 

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

On 4/5/2025 at 2:33 AM, pietro998 said:

Sorry for not being clear. I plan to get married visa soon. how long do i have to stay on this marriage visa in order to apply for PR assuming we have a child? and how much income do I need to have in order to apply for the PR under the humanitarian category. I wondered if there is lower requirement if we have children together. My wife is taking care of me financially since it is complicated to get a job so i was curious, but she has business so she can give me some work perhaps to fulfill that requirement.

 

 

I don't think the humanitarian category is a viable route to PR unless there are very exceptional circumstances.

 

You'll need three years of work and paying personal income tax. I think the minimum salary for those married to a Thai is 30,000 baht per month. Your wife's business will need to have a minimum of four Thai employees in order to get a work permit for a foreigner and will have to be registered and pay tax, too.

 

Lots of information available on the interwebs from law firms specializing in helping foreigners obtain PR.

[scorecard]

30 minutes ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

 

I don't think the humanitarian category is a viable route to PR unless there are very exceptional circumstances.

 

You'll need three years of work and paying personal income tax. I think the minimum salary for those married to a Thai is 30,000 baht per month. Your wife's business will need to have a minimum of four Thai employees in order to get a work permit for a foreigner and will have to be registered and pay tax, too.

 

Lots of information available on the interwebs from law firms specializing in helping foreigners obtain PR.

And the job / position stated on the WP cannot be a work classification reserved for Thai citizens.  

 

The list of work classifications reserved for Thai nationals is clearly / specifically stated in the WP regulations and is well known to all law firms. 

[Maestro]

3 hours ago, jayboy said:

 

Why on earth should they? They have nothing to do with how Immigration processes arrivals at Thailand entry points.

 

Precisely.