I would appreciate any advice on this question regarding the change of the extension of stay.

I have been in Thailand since 1997 on a marriage visa, the normal 1 year extension, however due to some unforeseen circumstances (ahem!) I may need to change my reason for the extension.

Is it possible to change the extension from Marriage to a Thai Wife to "Supporting a Child" - I am 50 my son is 13, he is Thai / British - he has Thai birth certificate, passport ID Etc.

I have the yellow tabien Bahn, what else would I need? The 400K / 800k in the bank is not a problem, obviously long term I would rather just put 400K rather than 800K and would rather try to go down the route of staying with my son rather than a retirement visa.

(Yes, the wife has become a vampire)

Are you the legal father of the child? I mean by court order? The problem is that immigration only gives you the 1 year extension if you are the legal father with father rights. I know if you are married with your wife you have these rights but you will need a document from your local amphoe or the courtyard. If your have not these document yet and your wife does not want to play fair, you will have problems now. Immigration made it more strict for foreigner with a thai child but not being married with the mother.

Edited December 30, 201411 yr by SoFarAndNear

Are you the legal father of the child? I mean by court order? The problem is that immigration only gives you the 1 year extension if you are the legal father with father rights. I know if you are married with your wife you have these rights but you will need a document from your local amphoe or the courtyard. If your have not these document yet and your wife does not want to play fair, you will have problems now. Immigration made it more strict for foreigner with a thai child but not being married with the mother.

I am the legal father, I am named on the Birth Cert. we were married for over a year before he was born. so there is no problem regarding the legality of parents etc.

I am the legal father, I am named on the Birth Cert. we were married for over a year before he was born. so there is no problem regarding the legality of parents etc.

While you are still legally married, Immigration will grant you the extension on that basis only.

To be given the extension on the basis of having a Thai child, you would need to produce divorce papers.

Are you the legal father of the child? I mean by court order? The problem is that immigration only gives you the 1 year extension if you are the legal father with father rights. I know if you are married with your wife you have these rights but you will need a document from your local amphoe or the courtyard. If your have not these document yet and your wife does not want to play fair, you will have problems now. Immigration made it more strict for foreigner with a thai child but not being married with the mother.

I am the legal father, I am named on the Birth Cert. we were married for over a year before he was born. so there is no problem regarding the legality of parents etc.

Yes I also thought that. But the thing is that it doenst matter that our names are on the birth certificate. Immigration only accepts amphoe document or court order. I am not sure what happens if you were married before and trying to get the legalisation after a divorce. But as unmarried father of a thai child you have to go through court, even if you wife fully agree that you are the father. This will take at least 2 months.

As you are 50 you can get 12 month extensions based on retirement.

800,000 baht in the bank or 65,000 monthly income or a combination of both.

If you can meet this it would be a lot easier

As said you might have to go through the court to be the legal father.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/381917-how-to-gain-parental-rights-as-a-father/

Since he is married to his child's mother he is the legal father. There is no need for legitimization of his parenthood.

As said you will have to get divorced in order to change the reason for your extension to one based upon being the parent of a Thai. You need to get custody of your child in order to get the extension after divorce.