Thai Immigration issues new police order 327/2557 effective August 29, 2014

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Thai Immigration issues new police order 327/2557 effective August 29, 2014

A New Police Order For Extensions is Effective August 29th

Thai immigration Bueau posted the changes in notices on their website on July 29th.Thaivisa.com has arranged for a translation of the documents for our members (comments by Thaivisa’s UbonJoe).

"ORDER OF THE IMMIGRATION BUREAU No. 327/2557

Subject: Criteria and Conditions for Consideration of an Alien’s Application for a Temporary Stay in the Kingdom of Thailand"

English translation: Immigration Bureau order 327-2557 (2014) - extension criteria & conditions en.pdf

Original in Thai text: Immigration Bureau Order 327-2557 (2014) - extension criteria & conditions th.pdf

"ORDER OF THE IMMIGRATION BUREAU No. 138/2557

Subject: Supporting documents for Consideration of an Alien’s Application for a Temporary Stay in the Kingdom of Thailand"

English Translation Immigration Bureau order 138-2557 (2014) - extension documents en.pdf

Original in Thai text Immigration Bureau order 138-2557 (2014) - extension documents th.pdf

New orders are a revision of the previous police order with changes only done to the following clauses.

Clause 2.4 In the case of tourism purposes.

Adds visa exempt entries to this clause that was only for tourist visa entries before. A 30 day extension will be allowed.

-----

Clause 2.7 In the case of a teacher, professor, expert or educational personnel in a private educational institution:

Adds the following:

Educational Personnel is: Person performing librarian, guidance, educational technology, registration and evaluation, general administration, supporter of education as specified by the Private Education Commission

Also adds the following under Criteria for Consideration.

(4) In case of educational personnel, the alien must have degree or experience that meet the work requirement and the ratio of alien employees shall not exceed

10 percent of total teachers or instructors in a particular education institution.

There is a significant change under this clause of 138/2557 verses 305/2551 for supporting documents. This should make it much easier when changing jobs.

3. Copy of work permit or application form in case of changing institution of teaching during the validity of work permit.

-----

Clause 2.9 In the case of enrollment in a private educational institution:
This is the most common extension for attending a school. It is possible that language schools may fall under these changes.

Adds

(2) In case of nonformal school, each permission shall be granted for a period certified by the educational institution, for no more than 90 days, total length of stay shall not exceed

one year from the date of entering the Kingdom.

Types of non-formal school are such as religion, arts and sports, vocational, tutoring and skill development school as specified by the Private Education Commission ***

Also: *** Announcement from the Private Education Commission,

Subject: Types and nature of schools, teaching management and curriculum of non-formal school dated on 12 February 2009

· Religious school: a school established by sole purpose of teaching religion

· Art and Sports school: a school established to provide education of music, art and sports

· Vocational school: a school established to provide vocational skills to be applied to further carrier or as an additional skill for learners

· Tutoring school: a school established to provide additional knowledge parrarel to the general education curriculum

Skill Development school: established to develop talents, ideas and other skills of learners

-----

Clause 2.18 That is for extension based upon marriage to a Thai or being the parent of a Thai child. The following has been added to (5) which the criteria for being a parent.

"In case the father or mother requests to be under maintenance of children, the age of father or mother must be 50 years of age or over."

It is not clear what this will mean. It apparently will be done on a case by case basis because it was inserted before this statement in the original order..

"For other necessary cases, the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner of Immigration Bureau is granted the authority to make decisions regarding approval on a case-by-case basis."

-----

Clause 2.20 For dependent extensions for family members those that have extension.under various clauses of the police order.

Adds dependents of those that an have non immigrant visas that end with an " A". Such as the non immigrant OA (long stay) visa which is the most common under this category..

This has also been added under the criteria.(5)

"and must not be over 20 years of age except in case of the person hereof is of illness or disability and cannot live without support of father or mother"

An additional list of supporting documents for this change has been added to 138/2557

-----

Clause 2.25 For medical extensions.

Adds the following.and an additional criteria for them.

B. In case of receiving medical treatment for applicant from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Arab Emirates and other countries as announced by the Ministry of Interior,

the attendant of such applicant is exempted from visa issuance.

Supporting documents for this change has been added to 138/2557 also.

-----

Clause 2.26 In the case of litigation or court proceedings:

Add the following under criteria.

"(2) The applicant does not behave in such a way that indicating his intention to stay longer."

I interpret this to mean that the applicant has not been trying to deliberately delay the case to stay longer.

-----

Clause 2.32 In case of a sport visitor or athletic personnel:

I call this new clause the football player clause. It would also be for managers, coaches and etc. It sets a minimum salary of 40,000 baht.

This clause has also been added to 138/2557 for supporting documents.

-- 2014-08-08

[DrTuner]

Phew. As I saw 2.18 in there, blood pressure shot up. Dodged the bullet, this time ..

[CarolinaJames]

Private schools can only have 10% foreigners. Am I reading that correctly?

Language schools? International Schools?

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ubonjoe]

Private schools can only have 10% foreigners. Am I reading that correctly?

Language schools? International Schools?

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

That is only for education personnel not teachers. From clause 2.7.

Educational Personnel is:

Person performing librarian, guidance, educational technology, registration and evaluation, general administration, supporter of education as specified by the Private Education Commission

(4) In case of educational personnel, the alien must have degree or experience that meet the work requirement and the ratio of alien employees shall not exceed 10 percent of total teachers or instructors in a particular education institution. [/size]

[SooKee]

"(2) In case of nonformal school, each permission shall be granted for a period certified by the educational institution, for no more than 90 days, total length of stay shall not exceed

one year from the date of entering the Kingdom."

Assuming here that that means on THAT visa, not that you can only apply for ONE Ed visa for a max 12 month duration, given that to learn Thai to a proficient level would take more than 1 year of study IMO. And of course assuming that it WILL apply to the language schools.

[chrisinth]

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"(2) In case of nonformal school, each permission shall be granted for a period certified by the educational institution, for no more than 90 days, total length of stay shall not exceed

one year from the date of entering the Kingdom."

Assuming here that that means on THAT visa, not that you can only apply for ONE Ed visa for a max 12 month duration, given that to learn Thai to a proficient level would take more than 1 year of study IMO. And of course assuming that it WILL apply to the language schools.

If the individual has to attend 5 days a week as has been suggested in earlier threads, that is going to shorten the course considerably.

[enuff said]

.

Great news. I think they are trying to fill in the chinks and close loop-holes.

Good work Thai Immigration!!!

'nuff said

~

[thaimeister]

Tourist visa for 30 days max....am I reading right?....So a 3 entry tourist visa cannot stay 60 days each entry?.....Please advise Thanks

[pistachios]

So you can stay in Thailand for two years learning thai, but now you HAVE to leave the country, waste 3 days and 15000thb to renew your visa when you could do an extension in 30 minutes at the local immigration office. Another stupid rule imposed for no apparent reason. What's the next step, every 3 months student will have to apply for a new visa outside the country? Do the immigration have deals with airlines companies and consulate or something?

[ubonjoe]

Tourist visa for 30 days max....am I reading right?....So a 3 entry tourist visa cannot stay 60 days each entry?.....Please advise Thanks

Clause 2.4 is for 30 day extensions of a 60 day tourist visa entry or a visa exempt entry.

[retell]

About 2.18

Do they mean can only get extention on your marriage visa if your 50 or older ????

Or what

Strange rule if so

[ubonjoe]

About 2.18

Do they mean can only get extention on your marriage visa if your 50 or older ????

Or what

Strange rule if so

You will see this is part of (5) for getting extensions for being a parent of Thai.

"In case the father or mother requests to be under maintenance of children, the age of father or mother must be 50 years of age or over."

It has nothing to do with (6) for extension based upon marriage.

[DrTuner]

About 2.18

Do they mean can only get extention on your marriage visa if your 50 or older ????

Or what

Strange rule if so

I see it as if your Thai kid pays the piper, you have to be 50+.

[Ianatlarge]

I have no idea what is going on, please explain?

[iancnx]

About 2.18

Do they mean can only get extention on your marriage visa if your 50 or older ????

Or what

Strange rule if so

You will see this is part of (5) for getting extensions for being a parent of Thai.

"In case the father of mother requests to be under maintenance of children, the age of father or mother must be 50 years of age or over."

It has nothing to do with (6) for extension based upon marriage.

Father of mother? And requests to be under maintenance? Can anyone correct the English so this makes sense?

[DrTuner]

There seems to be an error in the minimum income table for South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong in the English version. Says 54k, ought to be 45k. A typo, I suppose.

[DrTuner]

I have no idea what is going on, please explain?

The Immigration has released a new police order regarding extensions of stay. It replaces the one from 2008. The changes have been indicated in the OP.

[ubonjoe]

There seems to be an error in the minimum income table for South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong in the English version. Says 54k, ought to be 45k. A typo, I suppose.

That typo has been noted already.

[Pattaya46]

Tourist visa for 30 days max....am I reading right?....

So a 3 entry tourist visa cannot stay 60 days each entry?.....

It's for an "extension", at an Immigration Office inside Thailand.

When you make a visarun you use another of your N "entry" and get 60 days as usual.

[ubonjoe]

I am correcting typos as noted and will submit the file for review. (change from doc to PDF).

[schweizer]

So where does the Thailand Elite Visa fit into this scenario, the normal Tourist visa in section 2.4 does not cover this and there is no separate section mentioning a 5 year visa renewed automatically every 12 months.

I would have expected this to be covered as this list of visa types is newer than the changes and release of the new TE visa

[ParadiseLost]

To qualify for a 30 day extension, as a tourist:

The alien:
(1) Must have been granted a tourist visa (TOURIST) or exempted from applying for visa. Each permission shall be granted for no more than 30 days as announced by Ministry of Interior.
(2) Must not be of a nationality or type prescribed by the committee monitoring official proceedings of officers of the Immigration Bureau.

Does anyone else find this a little disconcerting? What is a type?

And still there is no mention of a maximum period allowed. This will lead to more people claiming that getting triple entry visas, with extensions entitle you to 270 days in country - add one visa exempt entry plus it's extension and hey presto! it adds up to 330 days.

The entire process is pointless unless you define the parameters...

[iancnx]

I am correcting typos as noted and will submit the file for review. (change from doc to PDF).

Big thank you to Joe and all the others at TV that have worked so hard to understand the Thai and produce this for us.

[DrTuner]

So where does the Thailand Elite Visa fit into this scenario, the normal Tourist visa in section 2.4 does not cover this and there is no separate section mentioning a 5 year visa renewed automatically every 12 months.

I would have expected this to be covered as this list of visa types is newer than the changes and release of the new TE visa

So far I haven't seen anybody who's been able to pinpoint the actual ministerial regulations governing the Privileged Entry extension rules (if there are any). It's outside the scope of these "mere mortal" police orders.

Edited August 8, 2014 by DrTuner

[ubonjoe]

To qualify for a 30 day extension, as a tourist:

The alien:

(1) Must have been granted a tourist visa (TOURIST) or exempted from applying for visa. Each permission shall be granted for no more than 30 days as announced by Ministry of Interior.

(2) Must not be of a nationality or type prescribed by the committee monitoring official proceedings of officers of the Immigration Bureau.

Does anyone else find this a little disconcerting? What is a type?

And still there is no mention of a maximum period allowed. This will lead to more people claiming that getting triple entry visas, with extensions entitle you to 270 days in country - add one visa exempt entry plus it's extension and hey presto! it adds up to 330 days.

The entire process is pointless unless you define the parameters...

Item (2) is only putting what they already do in the order..do. People from certain countries cannot get 30 day extensions for tourist visa entries already.

The total stay has nothing to do with extensions which is what the police orders are for. Do you have any idea how much additional time it would take for an immigration officer to dig back through a passport to total up how many days a person had already stayed in the country one entry to the country.

[thaichalina]

Soo..what have changed regarding getting an ED visa? Only thing is see is that ED visa will be valid for 1year instead of 15months.Nothing about financial requirements etc. when applying for visa,what has been mentioned before? Is getting an ED still easy as before(given that one would go to every class and apply to a proven language school)?

Edited August 8, 2014 by thaichalina

[Dah fahrang]

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About 2.18
Do they mean can only get extention on your marriage visa if your 50 or older ????
Or what
Strange rule if so

You will see this is part of (5) for getting extensions for being a parent of Thai.
"In case the father of mother requests to be under maintenance of children, the age of father or mother must be 50 years of age or over."
It has nothing to do with (6) for extension based upon marriage.

Father of mother? And requests to be under maintenance? Can anyone correct the English so this makes sense?

It's a typo. Should read "father or mother."

Request to be under maintenance simply means that your adult offspring is your carer/provider.

It's a clarification, removing singular interpretation of applying for an extension "as a parent".

I've been posting about this issue, on and off, for years. As it was before this welcome clarification, immigration, and TV members believed that you could only extend your stay when you were the maintainer of your kids. That is, you provide for them under the B40,000 income per month rule.

I always asked what happens when you get too old to maintain your kids. Millions of Thai take care of their aged parents. So why should the same consideration not be given to luuk-kreung, possessing Thai Nationality, with an alien parent?

Thank you, Immigration. In my view, and in future, my case, a job well done.

[bapak]

So, as I understand. If you get an Ed Visa/Extensions, you can only stay for 12 months from the date of arrival in Thailand. Not clear but assume you can then depart Thailand and apply for a new Ed Visa. I have yet to meet a foreigner who can learn Thai in 12 months.

What about the students who are already here? Assume that they must also leave at the end of their final extension that falls under their present arrival in

Thailand.

Hopefully, George, there will be more clarification on some of dark areas.

[billd766]

Phew. As I saw 2.18 in there, blood pressure shot up. Dodged the bullet, this time ..

Clause 2.20 may be a bit tricky if your wife dies before you and the child you are supporting passes the age of 20.

[billd766]

So, as I understand. If you get an Ed Visa/Extensions, you can only stay for 12 months from the date of arrival in Thailand. Not clear but assume you can then depart Thailand and apply for a new Ed Visa. I have yet to meet a foreigner who can learn Thai in 12 months.

What about the students who are already here? Assume that they must also leave at the end of their final extension that falls under their present arrival in

Thailand.

Hopefully, George, there will be more clarification on some of dark areas.

People like me who are partly or seriously deficient in audible skills (deaf old buggers) take much longer to learn if ever.