Camerata's Guide To The Permanent Residence Process

[Michael Hare]

2 hours ago, mark5335 said:

I thought you had first got PR in 2001, so did you somehow lose it and then had to re-apply back in 2021?

My BIG printing  mistake I meant December 2001, May 2002 and August 2004. Thank you for pointing that out. In all my years in Thailand I have never met another "farang" that has PR. 

[scorecard]

1 minute ago, Michael Hare said:

My BIG printing  mistake I meant December 2001, May 2002 and August 2004. Thank you for pointing that out. In all my years in Thailand I have never met another "farang" that has PR. 

I've met only 2 others:

- Retired lawyer from respected international law firm, applied for PR I guess 12 months before retirement. 

- The farang guy who worked with me for many years, he applied, got approved, six months later died of a massive heart attack.

[jayboy]

51 minutes ago, scorecard said:

I've met only 2 others:

- Retired lawyer from respected international law firm, applied for PR I guess 12 months before retirement. 

- The farang guy who worked with me for many years, he applied, got approved, six months later died of a massive heart attack.

 

I know several, all of whom applied and succeeded on the employment basis as opposed to the marriage basis (even though for those that were married, the fee would have been significantly lower.) I assume the thinking for those who had a choice was that the same criteria applied but there would be less bureaucracy involved. Also their PR status would be entirely personal.

 

 

[Burner]

On 6/7/2025 at 11:17 AM, scorecard said:

That's all 28 years ago. Has anything changed? I don't know.

The thing with PR is that it seems to be changing all the time. If I compare your story with the story of my former boss and the story of a friend and my own story, it all seems different. 
 

My ex boss hired a lawyer and put together a separate portfolio showcasing photos of all his contributions to Thai society. I did something similar and it was the first thing the IO threw into the bin. 
 

My friend didn’t use any lawyer or agent, same as I didn’t. But his company had an experienced immigration person who helped him, and the name and reputation of his company may also have helped. Both my ex boss and my friend had to wait several years for their approval. 
 

I didn’t use a lawyer or agent and my company’s HR lady suspected that this was the reason why the IO let me jump through hoops. Although she applied the exact checklist as per their website, she had very specific requests for many items on that list, many of which seem ridiculous, such as hand drawing the map of office and home; not having my gf in photos; having an arbitrary number of employees on the photos even though it was during Covid. 
 

Other than this and the sheer amount of paperwork needed from my company, I thought my process was pretty easy and straightforward and my application got approved in less than a year or so. 

[rimmae2]

On 5/28/2025 at 6:10 PM, Arun Mai said:

For the sake of clarity, I am not making any assertions.  I'm attempting to better understand @rimmae2 experience.

 

As I understand it @rimmae2 has been using the e.gates at Suwannabumi for exiting Thailand without any pre-registration (I may be wrong on this).  As I understand it, he has not been using e.gates on arrival.  Therefore, presumably, he only has stamps coming into the country but none for leaving.  I was also curious whether he had since renewed his non-quota immigrant visa, as that is when it would be subject to most scrutinisation.  Presumably, if he has done this several times the immigration upon entry must have noticed he only has entry stamps and they have not said anything about it.

 

As I say, I'm attempting to better understand @rimmae2 experience.

I did not register to use e.gates as I had to several years ago when e.gates could be used on departure and entry.

 

Today I obtianed a new non-quota immigration visa. No questions asked related to e.gates; normal procedure - 3 to 4 mins to check the documents and return circa 1 hour later.

[onthemoon]

56 minutes ago, rimmae2 said:

I did not register to use e.gates as I had to several years ago when e.gates could be used on departure and entry.

 

Today I obtianed a new non-quota immigration visa. No questions asked related to e.gates; normal procedure - 3 to 4 mins to check the documents and return circa 1 hour later.

So, you did use the e-gates?

[rimmae2]

7 minutes ago, onthemoon said:

So, you did use the e-gates?

Always on departure in last few months, about 8 times.

[tomazbodner]

2 hours ago, rimmae2 said:

I did not register to use e.gates as I had to several years ago when e.gates could be used on departure and entry.

 

Today I obtianed a new non-quota immigration visa. No questions asked related to e.gates; normal procedure - 3 to 4 mins to check the documents and return circa 1 hour later.

 

I forgot to do that, as I always go to Thai Passport counter that has basically 0 people as all others use e-gates...

 

But if using e-gates, I assume I still need to get stamped?

[rimmae2]

2 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

 

I forgot to do that, as I always go to Thai Passport counter that has basically 0 people as all others use e-gates...

 

But if using e-gates, I assume I still need to get stamped?

If using e-gates there is no stamp as was the case previously up to pre Covid when autogates wwre in use. On return I always use lanes for Thai PP holders. e-gates on arrival are only available to 2 Nationalities and if a person uses these then there are requirements to register for certain types of visa including those with WP - refer to Deloitte website which I think that I mentioned before on this forum.  

[tomazbodner]

1 minute ago, rimmae2 said:

If using e-gates there is no stamp as was the case previously up to pre Covid when autogates wwre in use. On return I always use lanes for Thai PP holders. e-gates on arrival are only available to 2 Nationalities and if a person uses these then there are requirements to register for certain types of visa including those with WP - refer to Deloitte website which I think that I mentioned before on this forum.  

I never registered for e-gates as my PR booklet was 2/3 full and I have heard of people having a problem after changing the PR booklet and they could no longer use eChannel or whatever it's officially called. And Immigration couldn't fix it. So I wanted to wait until I change the booklet, which I did but forgot about that.

Each time I go through counters, they stamp both my passport and PR booklet. In the past I saw someone going through eChannel and then going to a desk where an officer stamped both booklets. And that took longer than going through the Thai passport counter...

 

That's why I am interested in it. If there's no need for any stamps when going in and out of country into these booklets, I'd definitely prefer to use e-gates, so the passport and the white book don't fill up. Their annual non-quota visa and endorsement stamps are taking enough space already.

[rimmae2]

Have a look at full document on Deloitte website re arrival. 

[onthemoon]

On 7/2/2025 at 4:28 PM, rimmae2 said:

Always on departure in last few months, about 8 times.

Thanks. Then I'll do it too, next time.

Where do I register, at the airport or Chaeng Wattana?

[Maestro]

10 hours ago, rimmae2 said:

Have a look at full document on Deloitte website re arrival. 

 

Where is the full document?

[rimmae2]

10 hours ago, onthemoon said:

Thanks. Then I'll do it too, next time.

Where do I register, at the airport or Chaeng Wattana?

Registration not required.

[rimmae2]

9 hours ago, Maestro said:

 

Where is the full document?

 

Takes a second to find it. Try.

 

https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/assets-zone1/southeast-asia/en/docs/services/tax/2024/th-tax-newsletter-immigration-alert-dec2024.pdf

[onthemoon]

12 minutes ago, rimmae2 said:

Registration not required.

Thanks.

[Maestro]

Thank you.