Getting a Non-O Visa in UK

[Greenside]

I've been here for a long time using a tourist visa converted to a non-o in Chiang Mai and then annually applying for a retirement extension. I'd now prefer to get a marriage extension (yes, I know that's not the right term) and, because my present visa can't be used for this purpose, am planning to apply for a new visa in the UK when I visit later this month.

I'll not be getting a re-entry permit when I fly out so I'm posting here to ask if there are any gotchas that I should be aware of before I leave.

I'm assuming that I will need my marriage certificate and proof of funds as well as the right form and passport and that I'll be asking for a non-immigrant O visa which I can then take to the CM Immigration Office within 90 days of returning where my wife and I will need all the pictures, maps and other stuff I hear they require.

Hull seems a convenient place for me to apply - any experiences?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

[nzexpat]

If you currently have an "extension of stay" based on retirement there is NO reason for an " "extension of stay" based on marriage to e refused if applied for .

BTW

If you have a "retirement extension" it is extremely unlikely that a valid VISA which prevents application for an extension based on marriage is present in the same passport !

Go and discuss the issue with the immigration officers who are a better source of information than the local bar !

[OJAS]

OP - it really does seem to me that you might be making a mountain out of a molehill here. Why not simply apply for your next extension of stay at Chiang Mai based on marriage rather than retirement? It is not clear to me how come you have a "visa" at all at the present time, let alone why you believe that this "visa" would rule such a course of action out!

However, should you still wish to go ahead with your convoluted course of action, then, as already said, Hull would the last place to go to for a fresh non-O visa. This is because they have tightened up on their procedures for issuing visas generally after being deemed by the powers-that-be at the Royal Thai Embassy in London to be naughty boys for issuing visas in circumstances which they should not have done.

[Greenside]

Thank you for that useful tip about Hull. Do you know where (other than London) would be a better option?

Just to clear the matter up - Chiang Mai Immigration is (or was, I'm not sure of the current situation) allowed to convert a tourist visa to a non-o for the purpose of getting a retirement extension only and so my visa cannot be used as the basis of a marriage extension. I have no idea why this should be, but this is what they told me and was confirmed by one of the senior officers on duty at the time hence I'm taking this opportunity to get one that will be acceptable.

My questions were clear and you've been kind enough to address one of them. I don't want to spend money on a re-entry permit just as insurance in case there is some kind of issue I'm not prepared for so if anyone could respond to para 3 in my OP I'd be grateful.

Not you, NZexpat, I think you've responded enough, thank you.

[Jim walker]

I got my multi entry O visa a few months ago found it a bit of a skutter this time application is in London only, and payment cash or Postal Orders.

[ubonjoe]

Thank you for that useful tip about Hull. Do you know where (other than London) would be a better option?

Just to clear the matter up - Chiang Mai Immigration is (or was, I'm not sure of the current situation) allowed to convert a tourist visa to a non-o for the purpose of getting a retirement extension only and so my visa cannot be used as the basis of a marriage extension. I have no idea why this should be, but this is what they told me and was confirmed by one of the senior officers on duty at the time hence I'm taking this opportunity to get one that will be acceptable.

My questions were clear and you've been kind enough to address one of them. I don't want to spend money on a re-entry permit just as insurance in case there is some kind of issue I'm not prepared for so if anyone could respond to para 3 in my OP I'd be grateful.

Not you, NZexpat, I think you've responded enough, thank you.

In my opinion immigration at Chiang Mai is being overly pedant.

You can get a single entry non-o based upon marriage at the embassy in London in person or by post. Or from any of the consulates in person.

You could also get the non-o at any nearby embassy or consulate.

[ubonjoe]

I have removed 6 posts for being abusive and then replies to them. Time to start all over again.

[Greenside]

I don't want start this less than productive thread up again (unless someone would like to answer my question from the OP) but for the benefit of anyone coming to it in the future here are the facts that some respondents are getting so worked up over:

• Chiang Mai Immigration converted my 90 day Tourist Visa to a Non-Immigrant O on the basis that I was applying for an annual Retirement Extension which I have now had for 8 years. Whether they (or other offices) can still do this, I don't know.
• When told that I wanted to change to a Marriage Extension they checked my passport and to my surprise said it wasn't possible. I asked the most senior person I could find and he said their power to issue a non-O was only good for retirement extensions and I'd need to go out of Thailand and get a new Visa which I should bring back and apply with. I wasn't pleased but renewed my Retirement Extension for another year rather than take an unwanted trip anywhere.
• I have since read of others who encountered the same issue so it's not something peculiar to me.
• There seems no way round this. You can't argue (or if you can it's not worth the effort) and since I had a trip to the UK planned anyway it seemed like the easiest way forward (and not in any way a convoluted solution).

I've never applied for a non-O type visa (outside of Thailand) and just wanted to be sure I wasn't in for some kind of unexpected hassle, hence the post.

At least I now know to avoid Hull!

[smedly]

unless you really need to go back to the UK the easiest solution would be to go to a neighboring country and get a single type O based on marrage

[Greenside]

"....... and since I had a trip to the UK planned anyway......."

[OJAS]

I don't want start this less than productive thread up again (unless someone would like to answer my question from the OP) but for the benefit of anyone coming to it in the future here are the facts that some respondents are getting so worked up over:

• Chiang Mai Immigration converted my 90 day Tourist Visa to a Non-Immigrant O on the basis that I was applying for an annual Retirement Extension which I have now had for 8 years. Whether they (or other offices) can still do this, I don't know.
• When told that I wanted to change to a Marriage Extension they checked my passport and to my surprise said it wasn't possible. I asked the most senior person I could find and he said their power to issue a non-O was only good for retirement extensions and I'd need to go out of Thailand and get a new Visa which I should bring back and apply with. I wasn't pleased but renewed my Retirement Extension for another year rather than take an unwanted trip anywhere.
• I have since read of others who encountered the same issue so it's not something peculiar to me.
• There seems no way round this. You can't argue (or if you can it's not worth the effort) and since I had a trip to the UK planned anyway it seemed like the easiest way forward (and not in any way a convoluted solution).

I've never applied for a non-O type visa (outside of Thailand) and just wanted to be sure I wasn't in for some kind of unexpected hassle, hence the post.

At least I now know to avoid Hull!

Chiang Mai's attitude does, indeed, seem puzzling and absurd. I know a fellow Brit who is also based in Chiang Mai and moved out here 7 years ago under a non-OA visa granted by the Royal Thai Embassy in London. He immediately switched to extensions of stay based on marriage to his Thai wife after the non-OA visa and the latest permission to stay granted under it had expired. AFAIK Chiang Mai never raised any objection to this course of action in his case! So why should Chiang Mai regard a non-O visa conversion which they handled in a different (and less positive) light to a non-OA visa issued by the London Embassy, I wonder?

[elviajero]

"I'm assuming that I will need my marriage certificate and proof of funds as well as the right form and passport and that I'll be asking for a non-immigrant O visa"

​Take your original marriage certificate plus a copy (front and back), signed by your wife.
Copy of wife ID, signed (married name)
Copy of wife house book, signed. (married name)
​Proof of funds isn't needed at all embassies and consulates. I don't know about the UK offices. Best check by email.

"Hull seems a convenient place for me to apply - any experiences?"

I always used to use Hull. They were excellent and would return it within 4 working days of me posting the application. But I understand that all postal applications now get forwarded to London. So if using the post you might as well send direct.

Hull will take personal applications but they have to be signed off by London which takes 1-2 days so there is no longer a same day service. And they will only take personal applications from people living in their catchment area, although as they don't require proof of UK address that seems pointless and open to abuse. This is their area:-
"Furthermore the applicant must reside (home address) within our area, which roughly includes the counties of Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Durham, Greater Manchester, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk and Yorkshire."

They do have a work around the 1 - 2 day processing and will allow you to email the application. Once London have given it the green light you can visit the Hull office to pick up the visa.
This is the notice:-
"NON IMMIGRANT VISA APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED TO THE CONSULATE MUST BE APPROVED BY THE LONDON EMBASSY BEFORE THE CONSULATE CAN ISSUE THE VISA. THIS PROCESS USUALLY TAKES 1-2 DAYS. SO, TO MINIMISE INCONVENIENCE TO SUCH APPLICANTS, THEY CAN SUBMIT SCANS OF ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS BY EMAIL TO THE CONSULATE ([email protected]), AT LEAST ONE WEEK BEFORE TRAVELLING. FOR DETAILS OF DOCUMENTS REQUIRED - PLEASE CHECK DOWNLOADS (BELOW): "Rn - Applying for Non Immigrant Visa 2015" AND "Vd - Extra Evidence for Non Imm Visas 2015"). AS SOON AS WE RECEIVE APPROVAL FROM THE LONDON EMBASSSY WE WILL CONTACT THE VISA APPLICANT TO ARRANGE FOR THEM OR THEIR NOMINATED AGENT TO VISIT THE CONSULATE WITH THE APPLICANT'S PASSPORT SO THAT WE CAN ISSUE THE VISA. THIS FINAL PART OF THE PROCESS USUALLY TAKES NO MORE THAN 60 MINUTES."

​I don't know if that helps but if you want to use Hull, and can collect the passport, it's an option. And if you email first you will know the application is successful before having to visit the office.

[elviajero]

I don't want start this less than productive thread up again (unless someone would like to answer my question from the OP) but for the benefit of anyone coming to it in the future here are the facts that some respondents are getting so worked up over:

• Chiang Mai Immigration converted my 90 day Tourist Visa to a Non-Immigrant O on the basis that I was applying for an annual Retirement Extension which I have now had for 8 years. Whether they (or other offices) can still do this, I don't know.
• When told that I wanted to change to a Marriage Extension they checked my passport and to my surprise said it wasn't possible. I asked the most senior person I could find and he said their power to issue a non-O was only good for retirement extensions and I'd need to go out of Thailand and get a new Visa which I should bring back and apply with. I wasn't pleased but renewed my Retirement Extension for another year rather than take an unwanted trip anywhere.
• I have since read of others who encountered the same issue so it's not something peculiar to me.
• There seems no way round this. You can't argue (or if you can it's not worth the effort) and since I had a trip to the UK planned anyway it seemed like the easiest way forward (and not in any way a convoluted solution).

I've never applied for a non-O type visa (outside of Thailand) and just wanted to be sure I wasn't in for some kind of unexpected hassle, hence the post.

At least I now know to avoid Hull!

Chiang Mai's attitude does, indeed, seem puzzling and absurd. I know a fellow Brit who is also based in Chiang Mai and moved out here 7 years ago under a non-OA visa granted by the Royal Thai Embassy in London. He immediately switched to extensions of stay based on marriage to his Thai wife after the non-OA visa and the latest permission to stay granted under it had expired. AFAIK Chiang Mai never raised any objection to this course of action in his case! So why should Chiang Mai regard a non-O visa conversion which they handled in a different (and less positive) light to a non-OA visa issued by the London Embassy, I wonder?

I suspect that the OP wasn't given an actual Non-'O' and the "conversion" was simply special permission to allow the Tourist Visa (TR) to be extended for 1 year. As the reason for extending the TR is changing they will not or cannot apply the same concession.

If they did issue a new Non-'O' there shouldn't be any problem in changing the reason for the extension to marriage and he's been hard done by.

@Greenside. Just out of interest. Did they place a new visa in your passport or just change (by hand) the Type and Category of the existing tourist visa from Tourist 'TR' to Non-Immigration 'O', or neither?

[Greenside]

Thank you very much for all those helpful details. I will be staying near Hull for a few days about half way into my trip and your suggestion about emailing the paperwork looks worth trying.

Re the Non-Immigrant O Visa I currently have. Yes it's a real one, with a real stamp and it's survived transfer to a new passport as well as giving me 7 or 8 years of trouble free annual extensions. Why they have this dotty rule beats me but I've been a low maintenance regular at CM Immigration since 2006 and always found them helpful and good to deal with. I can't believe their making this stuff up!

Never mind, I'll take all the docs with me to the UK and fingers crossed it will go according to plan.

[Greenside]

Just a follow up to mention how helpful the Thai Consulate in Hull turned out to be. I was asked to email all the documents and they let me know after three or four days when the visa was approved by the Embassy. I went along to the Consulate about a week later, presented my passport along with the two original photographs and the visa was completed in about 10 minutes. If you're planning to do this here are a couple of tips:

• Hull can only accept applications from persons with a UK address in their area. This is basically the Eastern Counties from Lincolnshire up - I don't have the exact list but it's vital to check before starting the process.
• The application form is unique to Hull (and probably each Consulate has its own) so don't do what I did and spend ages filling in and submitting the London version. Look on the Hull website for their form.
• Unless you have Acrobat Pro, filling the form in on a computer is a bit of a pain in the neck. I converted their PDF to a Word Document but even then the formatting would do unpredictable things.
• On the form where you would normally clip the copies of your photo, they want you to include them in the scanned document. I placed them using the insert picture routine in Word but it freaked the formatting out and took ages to get right. Putting them side by side seems acceptable.
• The Hull Consulate is on a small business park at the southern end of the Humber Bridge. You need your own transport or a taxi to get there - Google Maps will find it with a search.

I'm now back in Chiang Mai with my shiny new 90 day Non-O visa and prepared to go to arrange a marriage extension in due course. Naturally all the appointments are booked for the next 100 days so it looks like an early morning start in August...