Recent experience of Non-Immi O and Marriage

[carlpipe]

While I realise most/all of this information is probably available via other threads, this forum has been very helpful for me in the past and I am hoping this post can be helpful to someone out there...

After holding a series of tourist visas over a period of more than two years, including triple entries from Brisbane, double entries from Vientiane and a single entry from Hanoi, my girlfriend and I got engaged and started planning the wedding and of course the change to the visa earlier this year.

The original goal:

(I am under 50 so no retirement option for me yet)

* Register marriage

* Non-Immigrant O single entry for 90 days

* Get one year extension based on marriage with proof of income at Immigration after 80-85 days

* Do 90 day reports from there + repeat yearly extension (with a six monthly trip to Bangkok to get a new proof of income document as they are only valid for six months).

Marriage paperwork:

Step 1 was to go to Bangkok to arrange paperwork for getting married, including:

1) Visit Australian Embassy to complete two documents

a. Declaration that I am not married in Australia

b. Proof of at least 40,000 per month income stat dec.

2) Translation of above two documents

3) Certification of two documents at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chaeng Wattana

The Australian Embassy part was quick and easy (maybe half hour) and cost $20 AUD. I then took the documents to a translation service in the Thai Wah Tower 200m up the road from the embassy next to the Banyan Tree hotel, who did the translations overnight. I can't remember the exact cost but it was about 800-1000 THB. I then collected the paperwork the following morning and got the long taxi ride over to Chaeng Wattana, Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get the documents stamped/certified (similar price from memory I think about 800 for the two). 48 hours later I returned to collect the stamped paperwork although they only approved the first one "Declaration that I am not married in Australia" because the translator made heaps of mistakes on the second one. In hindsight I probably should have used the translation service inside the Ministry building instead... MISTAKE #1

Marriage registration at Amphur:

We live in a few hundred clicks outside Nong Khai and since we were going to Vientiane anyway, the plan was for my girlfriend to pick me up at Udon Thani Airport, register the marriage in Nong Khai then head over to Vientiane... MISTAKE #2. Despite calling ahead in advance to make an appointment, when we arrived the only guy in the place who had the authority to marry us was at an all day meeting. So the admin girls at the Amphur called around to all the others in the area and nobody wanted to help either because they were also at the meeting or because they were afraid it was a scam marriage!! The 500km round trip back to our home Amphur with grumpy faces reluctantly followed. Our home Amphur registered our marriage with a smile for the grand total of 40 baht and a free pineapple.

Non-Immigration O in Vientiane:

Simple easy process, overnight without a hitch. Standard paperwork included passport copies, wife's tabian ban, marriage certificate, wife's thai ID copy. Cost was 2000 baht.

Just to clarify for some, no proof of income is required for the single entry Non-O at Vientiane.

So now I am in the middle of the first Non-Immi O 90 day entry and have two options

1) Go back to Bangkok, do another Stat Dec regarding Proof of Income, get it translated (properly) and stamped then get the yearly extension and continue on the original plan.

2) Go to Savannakhet yearly, get a one year Non-Immi O without proof of income and do 90 day border crossings.

My 'proof of income' is simply that I run an online learning company in Australia and the stat dec simply said 'I work for X company in Australia online and earn X per month'. Apparently this is enough although that is yet to be seen. There was some suggestion that I should make a series of monthly bank transfers to my Thai Bank Account and also provide a bank statement when going for option 1 above. However as I don't actually have a Thai Bank Account yet I won't be doing that this time round.

Although, the question on my mind now is not about which Thai Bank can have my money... it's more about the overall cost benefits comparison of option 1 vs option 2. Considering the two trips to Bangkok every year for proof of income, Savannakhet could probably end up being cheaper when looking simply at yearly totals. Although the other thing to consider of course is do I want to do a border crossing every 90 days?

As I am only 50km from the border, I can do border crossings on weekends instead of weekday at immigration, plus I can get duty free plonk every 90 days with a border crossing I will probably go with option 2... Although can one trust the Savannakhet thing indefinitely? My instinct says no.

[lopburi3]

I would use a multi entry visa from Savannakhet until I got tired to travel. Easy to make the Savannakhet once every 15 months and 90 day crossings to Vientiane if that closer.

[ubonjoe]

Do you still have the original of the stat declaration you did before? They will be accepted by immigration if they are not more than 6 months old. It does not have to be translated to use it at immigration. You will only need one a year to do an extension of stay based upon marriage. Not sure whey you are thinking you need 2.

Where will you be applying for your extension?

[carlpipe]

Thankyou once again Ubonjoe.

I think I do have the original. Seems I misunderstood the 6 month thing as being needed to get one every six months, instead of get one and it's valid for six months.

I will go to Chiang Khan

[carlpipe]

Just want to add a few notes for any other Loei people out there...

1. Chiang Khan did not accept the stat dec declaring monthly income because.... well, in the space of 4 hours, the first person stated it was valid for 6 months, the second stated 15 days, then they eventually agreed that it was actually valid for 30 days, then proceeded handed to hand me another copy of the "requirements" which clearly stated it was 6 months, then insisted again it was 15 um no 30 days. <deleted>

2. Also, the creation of a new Thai bank account and transferring >40,000 into it three months in a row meant nothing to them. Reason being of course that 3 transfers 'wasn't enough', despite them telling us before and after that we needed "2 or 3". Apparently "3" does not equate to one of the valid options for "2 or 3" anymore.

3. They also would not accept the photo of us in front of our house because the house didn't have a number on the front.

No other reasons were provided so clearly they are not telling me the real reason here. Either I didn't put enough money on the table or it must be all those murders I did and all that ice I've been selling...

So it's off to Savannakhet for us next week while we reconsider our future in Thailand.

Thanks again to the great help from the guys on here!

[lopburi3]

1. So how old was your paperwork? From photo mention the extension was for marriage? And yes there is a lot of misunderstanding of the validity time but there is a directive from Bangkok that they should have that made it six months.

2. Bank deposits are never accepted as proof of income. Bank uses is limited to 400k in account for required time. The two or three months is how long the money must be in account prior to application.

3. Requirement has always included having house number visible on that photo.

Suspect with correct photo application will be accepted if your income letter is above 40k per month and you can support that with other paperwork if asked. You can not combine income and bank accounts for marriage extensions.

[ubonjoe]

Here is the directive from immigration that makes it 6 months. PCEC-NOTICE-THAI-IMMIGRATION-NEWS-JUNE-6.pdf

I have read other reports of that immigration office being difficult to deal with.