Samut Prakarn Immigration – extend ‘support Thai wife’ visa

[Bredbury Blue]

So yesterday the wife and I went for the annual trip down to Samut Prakarn Immigration office to extend my ‘support Thai wife’ visa.

We arrived 3pm – you need to be there before last ticket at 3.30pm, they close at 4.30pm – and it was close to 5pm when we got out. We were there so long partially because it was busy (very busy these days, seems to be a lot of foreign students getting visa, but mainly because of pedantry).

I’d prepared all the documents listed on their website below. The list mainly remains the same year-by-year (been doing this for over a decade now) but now listed is the need to get an ATM slip on the day to verify the amount in your bank and the bank letter tally – good idea to get your bank book up-to-date too.

When our turn came our documents were delivered back to us with a long list of what was considered wrong – go do it again (think the officer was having a bad moment). Here’s what we learnt THIS YEAR (they seem to have different requirements every year):

1. You need to fill in two TM.7 forms (stick your photo on each)
2. You need to have 2 complete sets of the document copies below and the originals in case they want to see them.
3. You need to copy every page of your passport which has information on it or a stamp on it (blank pages are not needed) – the passport photocopy has to be across the page right-to-left in Portrait (I did Landscape – do it again – pedantry).
4. You need to sign each page of the 2 sets of the application documents at the bottom of the page. Your wife has to do the same. You don’t sign her pages (Thai wife‘s I.D. Card and House register of Thai wife). She doesn’t sign your pages (passport, letter).
5. It is a good idea to go to the office in advance and ask them for a FULL set of forms for you and for your wife, if you don’t and you just fill in TM7 then you will be surprised to find out that there are additional forms to do which will slow you down. I ended up filling in TM7 plus 2 other forms and my wife ended up filling in 3 forms (how many more times will she be asked where and when we met 20 years ago!) – the annoying thing was they were given to us at random times during our process yesterday.
6. Make sure you’ve got plenty of small change as you will regularly need to go get photocopies.
7. Keep calm and smile, the staff are under pressure, most of them are nice ladies (it seems to be an all female office these days).
8. You and your wife will have to go to the back office for a joint photo. You will need to have your own photo taken for Re-entry Permit.
9. The photocopier has now moved from the bottom of the stairs and is inside where you go to get your photo taken or go to the toilet.
10. The office looks like it is being refurbished. Across from the immigration office was the old post office (closed for a few years) which is now being made in to what I assume is the new immigration office (looked like counters being built).
11. Parking is still rubbish.

 

http://www.samutprakanimmigration.go.th/list-of-documents-for-support-thai-wife/

List of documents for Support Thai Wife

1. Visa Extension Form (TM.7)
2. Passport or Travel Documents
3. Non-Immigrant Visa
4. Marriage Certificate.(If from abord have to certified by The Embassy or Consulate in Thailand) and Certificate of family, Certificate of marriage.
5. Thai wife‘s I.D. Card
6. House register of Thai wife
7. Children‘s Birth Certificate
8. Letter from Thai Bank certified money in thai account (Alien’s Name) more than 400,000 Baht 2 months before, bank book and ATM slip on date of application OR
9. Income or Pension have to certified by The Embassy or Consulate in Thailand and Show income more than 40,000 Baht/month
10. Map to Home
11. Family Photo

[ubonjoe]

As far as I know every office but Chaeng Wattana requires 2 TM7 forms with a set of supporting document attached to each one.

I think about all offices will not accept copies done in landscape since it make them hard to see without turning the stack of paper work around.

Signing every copy is normal.

My office wants a copy of every page of the passport that has any thing for Thailand on it. That was a lot of pages until I got new passport 3 years ago.

The other forms were probably the overstay rules and the conditions for an extension of stay.

Your wife doing a statement is the same every year. My wife had to do a new one this year because they lost the records of the previous one when they moved offices last year. Before they just reviewed what they had on the computer with her and printed it out.

[Bredbury Blue]

Went today to renew my annual 'support thai wife' extension and it was the most painless visit to Samut Prakarn Immigration ever!

 

The major change this year is that they no longer accept an ATM slip on the day of the visit to immigration to verify the amount in the bank; now you have to get your bank book updated on the day of the visit to immigration to verify the amount in the bank. Not a major concern except as banks don't open till 8.30am, unless you can update your bankbook in the ATM machine you'll need to pop in to the bank, meaning you can't be at immigration when it opens at 8.30am. You'll need to photocopy 2 copies of the bank book update.

 

When we visited last year they were refurbishing the old post office part of the immigration building. It has been completed and is in operation and is a HUGE improvement. The old downstairs part is now just used for reentry visas and 90 day reports only and reasonably quiet, the new modern part (right side of the stairs) is only for extension renewals. The photocopier is in the new part. When we arrived after a bank visit, around 9am, it was very quiet, on the ticket system there was a 2 or 3 number wait.

 

I noticed that the TM7 and 8 forms i had downloaded off the Samut Prakarn Immigration website, though they basically had all the same details to be inputted were slightly different layout/format to the ones they had on the counter, so i redid my application form (TM7 x 2) and reentry form (TM8 x 1) using the ones on the counter.

 

Every time we go we consider we have everything organised and in order only to be told this is wrong, go copy again, etc. This year the lady who served us (haven't seen her before) served us with no fuss, no complaints and all was in order. Didn't even bother to check our copies against originals. We had all our paperwork in the order shown on their website for 'support thai wife' and all seemed in order for her. I signed all pages except the wife's ID card photocopy and house registration photocopy and the wife signed just those 2 photocopies. Of course a couple of new forms were given to us to sign which took minutes. The paperwork was ok'd in say 10 minutes, passport stamped, paid,  and then we were sent to a desk in the same area for a joint photo, then to the lady boss desk who signed the 30 day under consideration stamp and we were done. It's all female staff and they all seemed in good spirits.

 

Then  across to the old part to do my reentry. Had to wait just 2 queue numbers. Done quickly. Photo taken of me at the counter (they no longer use that back room near the toilet for photos). 

 

We were out in 45mins.

 

Excellent service, well done S.P. Immigration! I think back to the horrible days of 10 years ago when the place was completely full every visit and it was a very tense horrible experience. Every year recently has improved. Hoping they keep up the improvements.

 

 

 

[Orton Rd]

I have had them make me copy all pages in passport, even the blank ones. Did it before getting there this year but they did not want that this time!

[justaphase]

They were a nightmare when i last went there 2 years ago, having to have a photo taken and nobody speaking any form of English trying to tell me where to go. The main man signing off the passports had some kind of hangover and was having a massage to ease the pain. And yes the worst parking ever.

[TerryLH]

5 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Then  across to the old part to do my reentry. Had to wait just 2 queue numbers.

I assume you're traveling during the under consideration period.

[dickjones2018]

2018, they have all the info in a database, but we need still to provide the same papers over & over & over .... for what ? they cannot take our passport ? scan it or type in the number and get all the info ?

 

and for what ?  do we get thai unemployment money? social security ? social housing ? pension ?

 

every bloody refugee in my home country comes pennyless or with hidden assests, get all of the above, for free

[overherebc]

Any copies I hand over anywhere if only one side copy I draw a blue wavy line down the blank side. Goes some way to stop my info on the other side being spread about.