Clarification Of New Rules For Foreign Custodial Parent?

[chv]

I am the legal custodial parent (American) of a nine year old Thai national child. In the past, I have

extended my visa with the same criteria as when I was married (400k in bank etc). The language

in the new rules is confusing. Do I now have to be over 50 (I'm not)? To clarify, when I got divorced, I was granted full custody of my child (long ugly story) and have extended my visa a couple of times with this as the reason. They just asked for the custody order along with the same documents I needed when I was married.

I just can't figure out (from the language below) if I am extending "in the case

of" supporting my child (4?) or "in the case of" being the Thai child's father (5?).

(4) In case of the ordinary child,

adopted child, child of the

marriage couple, these person

need to be single/never married

and has never lived as a part of

the family before, and shall not

be older than 20 years old, or

(5) In case of Father or Mother, the

said father or mother shall be

not younger than 50 years old.

If it is (4) it would be very good as it seems like there is no longer any 400k requirement. If

it is (5) it would be very bad as I am not over 50.

Can anyone clarify?

Thanks

[Maestro]

I just can't figure out (from the language below) if I am extending "in the case

of" supporting my child (4?) or "in the case of" being the Thai child's father (5?).

I got that one mixed up too at first and Sunbelt helped me to see clear. For “In case of...”, read “Where the applicant is...”. This means that 7.17(5) applies to your situation.

Unfortunately for you, this means that you no longer can get an extension of stay for support of your Thai child as long as you are younger than 50 years. Apparently, Immigration expects that at that age the father should be working and have permission to stay on the basis of his work permit.

If you are not working in Thailand but wish to continue to live in Thailand, a good alternative would be the multiple-entry non-O visa. In the region, the Thai embassy in Singapore is reportedly still issuing the multiple-entry visa.

---------------

Maestro

Edited November 10, 2006 by maestro

[chv]

Unfortunately for you, this means that you no longer can get an extension of stay for support of your Thai child as long as you are younger than 50 years. Apparently, Immigration expects that at that age the father should be working and have permission to stay on the basis of his work permit.

Thanks for the clarification.

Guess its time to talk to the folks at immigration. I just can't see them making me pull my kid

out of school etc. every 3 months to go with me on visa runs (and that is what I'd have to do). They are always pretty helpful and I've seen them be flexible with rules in some situations. I'm almost 50

[chv]

I just saw another thread that touches on this topic and it looks like a lot of people are trading in their wives for their kids

Again... I can't see them making a Thai kid's only legal parent do visa runs. Especially after years of getting extensions.

My visa is not due for a while so I'll just watch developments I guess.

I wonder if Sunbelt has any comments on this?

Also, I don't personally know anyone else in my situation - would love to

hear comments from others in the same boat...