Need To Stay At Least Another 6-9 Months

[mapletree]

Hi, I need some advice. The details:

I am a 41 year old US citizen. Born in Thailand but had to choose citizenship before 18 years old and had no reason at that time to give up US citizenship.

Been here since February of this year. Arrived on a 60-day tourist visa, renewed twice in Thailand, then started monthly border runs. Just got my visa stamped til Nov. 23 with a circled "1" on it.

My partner is Thai but we cannot legally marry in the US or Thailand. We applied to move to Canada which would accept us as a couple but by a miracle, my partner has won the green card lottery in the US. We are waiting on an appointment letter to get approval for the green card (we are expecting this in the next month ar two because her lottery number is very low, but we can't be sure of timing), then we would need to move to the US within 6 months of approval.

If something is messed up with this for some reason, we still plan to move to Canada. That could take another year and a half or two to be processed and approved. I would want to stay in Thailand so we could be together during that time.

I am working (volunteering) at a wat. The wat is currently checking if they can help me with a one-year non-immigrant visa. They have written to the provincial governor's office and now the request for assistance is at the city hall in Chiang Mai. This has been in process over one month and no word yet. I'm not holding my breath but also don't want to offend my friends at the wat so am waiting another few weeks before switching to another option. I'm thinking when my visa is up this month, I will probably need to leave the country and get a new visa.

So what option? It looks like a non-immigrant B or O. Someone told me going to Kuala Lumpur would work for this. In these forums, it looks like Australia works better. Can anyone walk me through it or point to a thread that would? I couldn't see anything specific for this.

Thanks for any help. Love Thailand deeply, would love to stay longer, but need to get my partner established in the US before I come back and work on getting long-term residency here for me. One step at a time!

[jbaldwin]

Reports I have seen are that KL is still issuing double entry tourist visa. Each entry will give 60 days plus a 30 day extention granted in Thailand. Hence you have a six month stay in total. You would then be able to do 3 X 30 day visa free stay.

The alternative would be to try to get a one year multi-entry non-im "O". Some US, European (eg Hull) or Australian (eg Brisbane)consulars might grant in your circumstances. Try e-mailing and asking in advance whether they can help you. You are unlikely to be sucessful in getting a non-im visa in Asia.

[Pakboong]

Reports I have seen are that KL is still issuing double entry tourist visa. Each entry will give 60 days plus a 30 day extention granted in Thailand. Hence you have a six month stay in total. You would then be able to do 3 X 30 day visa free stay.

The alternative would be to try to get a one year multi-entry non-im "O". Some US, European (eg Hull) or Australian (eg Brisbane)consulars might grant in your circumstances. Try e-mailing and asking in advance whether they can help you. You are unlikely to be sucessful in getting a non-im visa in Asia.

I have a half Thai daughter who is working in Bangkok and used her Mother's passport to get a one year non-immigrant visa. She did mention to me that immigration wants her to bring her mother in when she comes to renew. Her mother lives in the US and is a US citizen.

I don't know what visa she has. When first here, she was doing border runs and trying to get a workpermit. She seems content with her current visa situation.

[mapletree]

So this is what I see on this site about the kind of visa that you are recommending:

"6 month validity, 2 to 4 entry tourist visa: pre-obtained at a Royal Thai Embassy/Consulate and will result in the holder obtaining a 60 day 'permission to stay' stamp upon entry. If required, this type of visa may be extended by 30 days at an immigration office, but after that time the holder must leave the country."

How do I get this? What are the requirements or supporting documents? I am not seeing this option on the Thai consulate websites I looked at but then this process is nerve-wracking so maybe I am not seeing clearly.

I have until late January if I do two more monthly visa runs but I am thinking that I should go to Kuala Lumpur and get this multiple entry visa when my visa expires THIS month rather than wait. Does this make sense?