roobaa01 Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 they are definetly after the scammers predominantely africans, middle east, eastern europe... @dsfbrit just to remember photos with the witness. wbr roobaa01 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsfbrit Posted July 23, 2015 Author Share Posted July 23, 2015 (edited) roobaa01 photos with the witness - I missed that - what photos with the witness? What I don't understand is how this scam can work for more than a year or 2 at most. People move to new locations and their 'wife' would want to move on, maybe get married for real. Ok, maybe this scam could work for longer than 2 years, but 13 years. Is it really necessary to sweep people like me up in this 'crackdown'. Like I say, maybe I will be pleasantly surprised when I go to immigration on the 4th - maybe sense will prevail - I won't hold my breath though! Edited July 23, 2015 by dsfbrit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roobaa01 Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 @dsfbrit 1 photo outside the house the front with house no. 1 photo inside cheers roobaa01 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsfbrit Posted July 23, 2015 Author Share Posted July 23, 2015 (edited) If I have to do the witness 'thing' then I won't bother with the extension based on marriage. I will change to the extension based on retirement. Ubonjoe above says I don't need to season the money if it is combined with a pension, so I will have time to do that and get away from this increasingly problematical extension based on marriage. If I was in your shoes I'd take the easiest, most practical way out and not take these regulations so personally... I would rather suck it up and get a witness than travelling to your Embassy in Bangkok and pay the exorbitant fee you guys are charged by your Embassy... and mess around with money transfers. We already do a lot of sucking up to retire in Thailand, married or not - does doing it one more time really matter? tropo, a man after my own heart. I tend to be good at ignoring mindless bureaucracy in LOS, or in the UK as well. Some of the hoops I had to jump through to get off the the UK tax list (HMRC) and even to open my last bank account in the UK, were much more of an effort than this latest immigration request. I just did those with the usual shrug of the shoulders. This immigration request is different though. After 13 years of marriage, it requires me to involve other people in my immigration process - and people I know personally. I don't like that at all. It is none of their business. For me personally as well, I have been considering switching to an extension based on retirement for several years now. With the pension letter, the amount I need to transfer is not a great deal more than the 400k baht needed for the marriage extension, so I could do this change this year if need be. I will certainly do the retirement extension next year. I don't need to go to the British Embassy, that letter proving my pension income is provided by EMS both ways at a cost of 2600 baht. I would buy my friend's wife a gift costing at least 1000 baht for acting as a witness, so the extra cost is not that great:-) Edited July 23, 2015 by dsfbrit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tropo Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 If I have to do the witness 'thing' then I won't bother with the extension based on marriage. I will change to the extension based on retirement. Ubonjoe above says I don't need to season the money if it is combined with a pension, so I will have time to do that and get away from this increasingly problematical extension based on marriage. If I was in your shoes I'd take the easiest, most practical way out and not take these regulations so personally... I would rather suck it up and get a witness than travelling to your Embassy in Bangkok and pay the exorbitant fee you guys are charged by your Embassy... and mess around with money transfers. We already do a lot of sucking up to retire in Thailand, married or not - does doing it one more time really matter? tropo, a man after my own heart. I tend to be good at ignoring mindless bureaucracy in LOS, or in the UK as well. Some of the hoops I had to jump through to get off the the UK tax list (HMRC) and even to open my last bank account in the UK, were much more of an effort than this latest immigration request. I just did those with the usual shrug of the shoulders. This immigration request is different though. After 13 years of marriage, it requires me to involve other people in my immigration process - and people I know personally. I don't like that at all. It is none of their business. For me personally as well, I have been considering switching to an extension based on retirement for several years now. With the pension letter, the amount I need to transfer is not a great deal more than the 400k baht needed for the marriage extension, so I could do this change this year if need be. I will certainly do the retirement extension next year. I don't need to go to the British Embassy, that letter proving my pension income is provided by EMS both ways at a cost of 2600 baht. I would buy my friend's wife a gift costing at least 1000 baht for acting as a witness, so the extra cost is not that great:-) I wasn't sure if you needed to go to Bangkok or not in your case, but for me I have no choice. I must visit the Australian Embassy, but the cost of letter was only 510 baht this year. I would rather pay 2600 baht though and not visit Bangkok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsfbrit Posted August 7, 2015 Author Share Posted August 7, 2015 I went down there on Tuesday with my wife and no witness. The first thing the immigration officer asked us was if we had any children. We said no, but she seemed to just ignore the reply and processed all the paperwork as she did last year. Just before she handed us over to her superior officer next to her to do the final checks, she asked us again if we had children. When we said 'no' again - she just ignored the reply again and handed the paperwork to the other officer who did the final checks and told me to come back in a month. It could not have been easier. In fact they seemed to spend more time making sure we understood and signed documents relating to the new overstay laws and agreeing to notify them of any changes in our marital circumstances. So all done for another year - I wonder what intriguing new tests they will devise for next year's fun visa extension event. Thanks for your help with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sutty Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 So if I'm reading this correctly if you have children living with you witness not required is this correct???? So next question does that mean and include step children Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siriam Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Just a say about this topic, last year in Phuket for my year extension, after 23 years of marriage, they've got the the nerve of asking me for a witness, I returned the next day with an appeal's court judge as a witness... But this is another story. Approx 2 weeks ago I went there with my wife and I asked her to be the witness for a newly married friend... And surprise!!! It wasn't necessary!!! I'm speechless... Sent from my GT-I9082 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsfbrit Posted August 8, 2015 Author Share Posted August 8, 2015 Sutty, if you have fathered a child with your wife then you do not need a witness. I am not sure what proof is required though . Although it would seem logical that step children would count as 'your' children in the eyes of our friends at immigration, I do not know if that is the case. I am sure someone will come along to this thread soon who can help. Siriam - it is a mystery indeed as to the thinking of an immigration officer both at different offices and even within the same office. It seems that interpreting the rules and regulations is some kind of art form, that can be interpreted as they see fit. Next year I think I will do the extension based on retirement - that is if the pound sterling exchange rate stays above 50. So much simpler for sure - well at the moment anyway!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsfbrit Posted August 29, 2015 Author Share Posted August 29, 2015 (edited) I have to go and pick up the extension after the 1 month consideration on the 3rd September. It would be difficult for my wife to go as well, can I go and pick this up on my own? Edited August 29, 2015 by dsfbrit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnsen Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 (edited) I recently (this week) applied for my first yearly extension of stay based on marriage and did not require a witness. They asked about children to my wife but that was it. Took in heaps of photos and let them choose the ones they wanted.. Seems we might have got lucky with the witness which I would have considered a major pain in the neck... Regards, J. ... Edited November 3, 2015 by Johnsen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time Traveller Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Does immmigration also pay the salary for the witness to take the day off work and spend it sitting waiting in immigration ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sutty Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Was discussing this witness saga with Head man in village although I'm on retirement extension next year moving to marriage extension. No problem he said I'll go with you both won't be in there long he said as I outrank the majority of immigration officers it will be pretty quick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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