Renewing Child's Expiring US Passport & effect on father's permission to stay w/ long stay O-A visa

[Isaanman]

I just returned to Thailand after obtaining a 1-year, multiple entry, non-immigrant, long stay O-A visa from the US. My wife and 2 daughters all received 1-year, multiple entry Non-O visas. I intend to leave the country a week or two before the the 1-year visa expires (from the issue date of the visa), having read through numerous forum topics on the subject before making my decision to obtain my O-A visa from the US instead of Thailand.

One thing that I did not look carefully at before I obtained our visas in the US is that both of my daughters' passports expire before the 1-year date granted to both my wife and me. Our visa is until mid-May 2017; theirs is only good through the end of February of the same year.

Questions:

1) Am I correct in my understanding that my wife will also receive one more year "permission to stay," providing we leave the country (on the multiple entry visa) and return before it expires in mid-May 2017?

2) If we leave the country before my kids' 1-year visas expire at the end of Feb. 2017, will they be granted an additional 1-year permission to stay also?

3) Or, will my kids only be granted permission to stay until 1 day before the expiration date on the visa in their passports (end of Feb. 2017)?

4) If number 3, not number 2 is correct, do I need to have my kids' passports renewed before we exit and return to Thailand before the expiration date (issue date) on the visa (the end of Feb. 2017)?

In other words, do I need get their passports renewed first and then leave Thailand and return--all before that end of Feb. 2017 date--in order to receive the additional 1-year permission to stay?

5). In the case of my children, their passports expire; they will have to be issued new ones with up-to-date pictures. How will the US Embassy in Bangkok retain all of the current visas and immigration stamps

with all their expiration dates in the new book?

[Years ago my US passport was completely filled up while still in country and I had it renewed at the embassy in Bangkok. They merely sewed more pages onto the end my old book. I do not think they

still do that. But, I seriously doubt they would do that for my kids anyways, as their passports need updated photos.] How do they accomplish this?

Thanks for any insights into all of this for me.

[ubonjoe]

Your wife an children only get 90 day entries from their multiple entry non-o visas. They need to leave the country every 90 days for new entries.

You wife and children can obtain extensions of stay based upon your non-oa visa entry at a immigration office that will be valid until your current permit to stay ends. Your children will be on be able to get extensions up to the date their passports expire. You should apply for new passports for them before applying for the extensions.

Once they have new passports immigration will transfer their entry stamps to the new one and do a annotation about their visa they used for entry and then do the extension in them.

[elviajero]

• If your wife/children have Non 'O' Visas they will only ever be granted a 90 day permission to stay on entry. During the last 30 (maybe 45) days of any entry they can apply for an extension of stay at the local immigration office based on being your spouse/children. The permission to stay will be for the remainder the 1 year permit to stay you received on entry.

If the children's passports expire earlier than your permission to stay they will only be granted a permission to stay until the expiry date of their passports.

When you exit/re-enter in May '17 for a new 1 year permit to stay your wife and children will have to re-apply for an extension of stay.

During the first year you can exit/re-enter as often as often as you want. If your wife and children have extensions of stay they will need to buy re-entry permits (single entry 1,000 baht; multiple entry 3,800 baht) to keep that permission alive.

You should get your children's passports renewed asap, ideally before applying for the first extension of stay. Any extensions of stay can be transferred from old to new passports.

Alternatively to applying for extensions, as your wife and children have multiple entry visas they can exit/re-enter every 90 days until their visas expire.

[Isaanman]

BTW . . . Many here will disagree; but, I personally, am not real crazy about the idea of letting my kids overstay their visas. We were told to do that by Thai immigration officials (and many expats) in Krabi 4 years ago. When we finally went to do our visa run in Savannakhet, Laos, in October 2013 with my kids' visas overstayed about 1-year, we received a very disturbing welcome at the Thai border crossing.

Upon noticing the amount of overstay, they hurried us into the office. I explained to them what the Krabi immigration official told us and they disagreed adamantly and were not happy about that at all! The woman addressing us had a long discussion with other immigration officials and prolonged our time there quite a bit. She informed us that overstaying one's visa results in fines. With the increase in daily fines at that time, paying that fine would have set us back a fortune! I think they were waiting for us to pay them some tea money under the table; but, I speak Thai fairly well and patiently conducted the entire conversation politely without getting angry.

In the end, they grudgingly let us go without paying the fines and the rest of our visa run was a breeze with no hitches whatsoever. It was a little too close for comfort for me, however; 380,000 THB is a fee I am not willing to risk this time! I gave the deepest wai I have ever given to anyone in the country when they finally let us leave the office!

So, I would appreciate any insights into my specific situation that does not require me to have my kids overstay their visa and risk these huge penalties (and the the possibility of losing the privilege to re-enter the kingdom for a time). Thanks.

[TerryLH]

"In the end, they grudgingly let us go without paying the fines and the rest of our visa run was a breeze with no hitches whatsoever. It was a little too close for comfort for me, however; 380,000 THB is a fee I am not willing to risk this time!"

Overstay fines are 500 baht per day, up to a maximum of 20,000 baht.

So, unless there were 19 people in your family group, I don't know where the 380,000 baht number comes from.

[Isaanman]

The time is drawing close for my kids' present visas in their old passports to expire. We applied for and received their new passports at the US Embassy in Bangkok. This has turned out to be an interesting experience. An annotation was put in each of my girls' new passports (PP), regarding its relationship to their former passports. They did NOT transfer the visa information, but merely told us that we should present both PP (old--with the non-O visa in it, and the new one) for each girl whenever we travel in and out of the country.

 

The first time left Thailand at the Malaysia border (Sadao) for my wife and kids' 90-day visa runs, the Thai immigration officer wanted to see both PPs and scrutinized them both carefully.  This last time we drove our Thai car to Penang Malaysia and returned last week. Upon re-entering Thailand, the immigration officer at the small arrival booth said we needed to have the girls' visas transferred into their new PPs and took my wife and girls into the larger office to do it there on the spot while I processed my arrival. Then, a woman immigration official came out and pointed out to him and to us that we did not need to do this, as it was already done. Apparently, she/they considered this annotation put in the girls PPs at the US Embassy sufficient, even though it has absolutely NO info pertaining to their 1 year, non-O multiple entry visa!  You never know what to expect!

 

 

[Isaanman]

So, I want to make sure I totally understand this before I head down to immigration to get my wife and kids an extension to stay based upon my non O-A visa:

 

I should take all of our passports to the local immigration office and request that they grant my family members an extension to stay based upon my O-A Visa. From what I have read in the forums, I believe I will only need our passports, our marriage certificate, my kids' birth certificates, a signed copy of my landlord's ID, house book, and our rental agreement. I have reported to the office here in Songkhla a couple of times and they never asked me for the latter 3 documents. Twice I have merely left the country with my family, was stamped in and out of the country at the border, and did not report to the office.  [Perhaps, I needed to insist that I show those latter 3 documents the first time I reported, as I had them with me, but was not asked to show them, even though I told them it was my first time reporting there.]

 

Is there anything I am missing here?

 

Lastly, I read elsewhere on thaivisa.com that I (and my family) can still leave Thailand on my subsequent 1-year extension to stay (providing, I leave Thailand and return before my US obtained non O-A visa expires in mid-May) by obtaining/purchasing re-entry permits at our local immigration office. Is this correct?  Thanks!