Any chance at Permanent Residence?

[jimmiejackson]

I've read the great thread by Camerata and can see that the acceptance or not of your permanent residence application can be quite subjective.

The reason I want to apply is that I'm currently married to a Thai and have an extension of stay based on that reason. I am privately not so sure the marriage will last and don't want to be thrown back into the shark tank of visas and uncertainty again.

These are my credentials:

British passport

2nd consecutive extension of stay based on marriage

Work permit in it's second year for my own Thai LTD export only company which has not yet declared a profit with exports of 3m Baht + this year

50,000 Baht declared income a month

4 Thai "employees" on our books (all SSF etc up to date)

Thai reading and writing ability - reasonable

Can get recommendation letter from prominant Thai businessman and maybe 1 or 2 ex Thai Army Generals

Donations made for a few years via Paypal to Soi Dog Foundation on a monthly basis

Member of prominent Charity based organization

Is there any point in applying or am I doomed to either an unhappy marriage or the unlikely chance of an extension of stay based on business (due to the fact we haven't made a profit yet going into 3rd year of trading).

Advice much appreciated.

[TerryLH]

Since you are married you can skip PR and apply for citizenship.

I've heard it's easier, and of course, much less expensive.

[Mario2008]

You can not apply yet, as you are not yet in Thailand for 3 years on consecutive extensions of stay. You will have to wait another year.

It is the question if applications for PR will be open this year, as it requires cabinet/ministerial approval and due to the political situation they might not have time to open PR up. If they will, it will be in December for 2 weeks.

3 years goes also for Thai nationality, but for that you can apply at any moment. Only for PR does one has to wait till they allow applications. For Thai nationality you must be on a household registration book already.

[BlessingCoffee]

Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 09:24:55 +0700
Subject: Permanent Residency
From: thaivisaexpert.com

Answer obtained below:

I am sorry to inform you even if your extension of stay is on the basis of having a Thai Wife or Retirement for 3 years or even more. You can't apply for Thai Permanent Residency.

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Thanks for your email.

You will have to show your income generated in Thailand. You will need to have work permit and Non-Immigrant B visa with consecutive extension of stay at least for 3 years.

If your source of income is from overseas, you aren’t eligible to apply for Thai Permanent Residency. One of the minimum requirements is to pay at least 100,000 THB in taxes per year.

Best regards,

[Farang99]

When I investigated the possibility of this I was told that, unless I had a minimum of 10 million baht to invest in Thai industry I would be better to save the cost of the application and forget about it.

[samran]

When I investigated the possibility of this I was told that, unless I had a minimum of 10 million baht to invest in Thai industry I would be better to save the cost of the application and forget about it.

Plenty of people on bog standard work permits and salaries meeting the threshold get it.

I understand there is an investment route, but none of the people I know went down that path.

[scorecard]

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When I investigated the possibility of this I was told that, unless I had a minimum of 10 million baht to invest in Thai industry I would be better to save the cost of the application and forget about it.

Plenty of people on bog standard work permits and salaries meeting the threshold get it.

I understand there is an investment route, but none of the people I know went down that path.

Plus when I got PR (a very long time ago), you had to also prove that you had some form of personal investment (substantial future pension benefits / money in mutual funds or similar that would ensure you are fully capable of taking care of yourself financially until death. Whether they still look at this factor I'm not sure.

[maewang99]

Glad I'm over 50. Once you get there, it's all a snap..... except for the 90 day stuff. Bring a book.

[jimmiejackson]

Thanks for the feedback all. Can you really not apply for PR on non o extensions? First I've heard of that.

I would seem better to apply for Thai nationality once I have my third extension.

The only reason I'm more concerned over doing that is that it is currently taking a huge amount of time to process - I wonder what happens if I get divorced while it's being processed?

[Time Traveller]

When I investigated the possibility of this I was told that, unless I had a minimum of 10 million baht to invest in Thai industry I would be better to save the cost of the application and forget about it.

Plenty of people on bog standard work permits and salaries meeting the threshold get it.

I understand there is an investment route, but none of the people I know went down that path.

No one applies under the investment option because it's basically the same as the work option with the additional requirement of having to lock up the investment in Thailand during the application process and then for another 3 years after the application is approved.

Edited November 19, 2014 by Time Traveller

[SteveB2]

I think its fare to say that from experience, the printed requirements for PR are very much the minimum requirements for your application to be considered. Issuance of PR is by no means automatic, and goes to committee review of the applicants at the highest level in Immigration HQ (Chaeng Wattana) to decide on who will eventually be put on the waiting list for issuance of PR.

Most of the expats I know who have PR, have spent many years (10-20 years) working in Thailand and undergone several PR paperwork submission attempts before their application was successful. I applied for PR under the Thai family scheme last year and although the application met the Dor. Mor. guidelines, and could have been sent for committee review, the official recommended that I ( as a working expat) apply under the business rules since "it would be better for me"

There were apparently only 78 successful submissions (total) already received when I applied during the last few days of the 2-week application window during December last year.

Oh and BTW - the paperwork requirements are 'massive' ...

[smotherb]

Glad I'm over 50. Once you get there, it's all a snap..... except for the 90 day stuff. Bring a book.

Even the 90-day is a snap. My wife and I both have retirement extensions. My wife schmoozes rather well with the female immigration officer in charge. I only have to sign my papers, they copy the passport, fill in the papers and push us to the head of the line--still working on letting the wife do it without my presence.

[Kerryd]

Drat ! I was kind of hoping to go the PR route as well and even went to lengths to ensure that my last 3 extensions (Non-OA) were all consecutive.

Not sure I'd want to try for citizenship though.

All well, the once every 90 days trip to Immigration is a breeze and if that's all I have to do in order to stay, so be it ! I have lots of books ! Far better than 90 day border runs followed 60 days later by a trip to the same immigration office for a 30 day extension, followed by another trip to the border.

You really hope that one day they will come up with a better solution. One day.........

[Arkady]

If you have time in Bangkok, you might consider visiting both Immigration to enquire about PR and Special Branch to enquire about citizenship. For both you need 3 complete calendar years on a WP because you need notarised tax receipts for 3 years. I would think you will find it easier to apply for citizenship. The minimum salary for that, if you have a Thai wife, if B40k, whereas for PR it is not specified but it is believed that they set an internal minimum of B70-80k. The documentation is rather less burdensome for citizenship too but, since you would be applying on the basis of being married to a Thai, you will need to keep the marriage going, or at least get her to support your application for a several years. It would certainly be critical for your wife to come with you to be interviewed by the committee at the Interior Ministry which is currently taking place around 3 years or more after application. If you apply for PR they do more detailed scrutiny of your marriage but are unlikely to check again after the first couple of years after you apply.

For more information on applying for citizenship see

http://www.thaivisa.com/acquiring-thai-nationality.html

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/121353-story-of-my-thai-citizenship-application/

[jimmiejackson]

Thanks - it would seem Citizenship is the way forwards. I was just leaning more towards PR because it guarantees a visa while the application is being processed which Citizenship doesn't.

My wife will certainly support my application for as long as it takes but whether or not we remain married officially for the potential large number of years the application takes seems unlikely.

Once I've sumbitted all the documents - including marriage certificates etc of course, I wonder if they ever get rechecked.

If you have time in Bangkok, you might consider visiting both Immigration to enquire about PR and Special Branch to enquire about citizenship. For both you need 3 complete calendar years on a WP because you need notarised tax receipts for 3 years. I would think you will find it easier to apply for citizenship. The minimum salary for that, if you have a Thai wife, if B40k, whereas for PR it is not specified but it is believed that they set an internal minimum of B70-80k. The documentation is rather less burdensome for citizenship too but, since you would be applying on the basis of being married to a Thai, you will need to keep the marriage going, or at least get her to support your application for a several years. It would certainly be critical for your wife to come with you to be interviewed by the committee at the Interior Ministry which is currently taking place around 3 years or more after application. If you apply for PR they do more detailed scrutiny of your marriage but are unlikely to check again after the first couple of years after you apply.

For more information on applying for citizenship see

http://www.thaivisa.com/acquiring-thai-nationality.html

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/121353-story-of-my-thai-citizenship-application/