Hi all, first post on here as a newbie so please forgive any ignorance.

I moved to Thailand on a NI visa in Dec and am about to apply for my first extension. I am 56 so the obvious route is for Retirement. I am married to a Thai national so I could also go for a Marriage extension.

I prefer the marriage route but have an issue in that after I make the application I will be away from the property for 2 weeks and could miss the officers visit.

The other option would be to take the Retirement route and then switch next time I extend ?

So I have 2 questions that I hope you can clear up ...

1. Is it possible to apply for a Marriage extension and inform that I will not be at the property for the next fortnight (sounds a bit suspicious that one) ?

2. Is it possible to obtain a Retirement extension and switch to a Marriage one for the next application ?

Thanks in advance for any help.

In answer to your second question, that is definitely no problem.

As far as your first question is concerned, I will leave it to those with experience. It might be useful to identify the immigration office where you will be making the application. Offices vary greatly in their propensity to give you a hard time.

1. it shouldn't be a problem as long as you tell the office when you apply when you will be away. You can apply 30 days before your 90 day stay expires so you might be able to time your application to miss the two weeks when you're away. Most visits seem to be made soon after the application date.
2. Yes.

You also have the option of doing a 60 day extension based on marriage first. Towards the end of the 60 days you can still apply for the 1 year extension.

In answer to your second question, that is definitely no problem.

As far as your first question is concerned, I will leave it to those with experience. It might be useful to identify the immigration office where you will be making the application. Offices vary greatly in their propensity to give you a hard time.

Cheers BritTim, looks like that will be my best option.

The office I will be applying at will be Hua Hin.