Problem with visa in Savannakhet!

[Kasset Tak]

Today two of my friends and I were denied visas in Savannakhet:

One of my friends is retired and married to a Thai lady but don't have the money in the bank. Previously theyntold him it's OK use tourist visa but today they refused to give him his 3rd tourist visa.

Another friend is here teaching, she just changed schools so she needed a new non-b visa but she was denied a new visa as she didn't have a WP for her new school. The thing is that as a teacher she can't get a new WP until she has a new visa.

For me they asked for a letter from MOE to the consulate that I didn't have. I have not needed that sins I started working under OVEC 5years ago!

 

It feels like Savannakhet has stopped being a walk in the park to get visas!

[Get Real]

As for your retired and married friend, there has been easy to use tourist visa for all the people that don´t have the money to show before. That has changed and now he must use the 1 year visas that are reserved for staying in Thailand in the term of long stay. Back to back tourist visas are no longer safe to use, and more and more border and the computer system does not allow them.
As for your teaching friend, she should be able to get a Non-B visa for 90-days without a work permit. After that she can get her WP and the visa will after that be changed to 1 year. Otherwise I am quite sure that the school can produce a paper that says she will have work, and trough that have a Non-B before her real WP.

As for you it´s just to say that the rules has become harder. If you read the rules for you and your visa you have for education purpose it stands that you need a letter from MOE. What you need or not need before is no longer relevant due to that they enforce the rules harder now. It should not be a problem to get for you though.

[ubonjoe]

The one married to a Thai could get a multiple entry non-o visa with no financial proof if he is legally married and has a marriage certificate to prove it.

It seems both the others were lacking some required paperwork. The one told they needed a work permit may of appeared to of been working already.

[maoro2013]

39 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

The one married to a Thai could get a multiple entry non-o visa with no financial proof if he is legally married and has a marriage certificate to prove it.

It seems both the others were lacking some required paperwork. The one told they needed a work permit may of appeared to of been working already.

Ubon Joe, would that visa be a 90 day one, for the married person?

 

Why wouldn't financial proof be needed?

[ubonjoe]

10 minutes ago, maoro2013 said:

Ubon Joe, would that visa be a 90 day one, for the married person?

 

Why wouldn't financial proof be needed?

It would be a multiple entry non-o visa that allows unlimited 90 day entries for a year. Savannakhet does not ask for financial proof to get it.

[maoro2013]

1 minute ago, ubonjoe said:

It would be a multiple entry non-o visa that allows unlimited 90 day entries for a year. Savannakhet does not ask for financial proof to get it.

If that's the case, why do we tie up funds in a bank account to support my annual extensions?

[ubonjoe]

3 minutes ago, maoro2013 said:

If that's the case, why do we tie up funds in a bank account to support my annual extensions?

I assume so that you don't have to leave the country every 90 days for a new entry and have to go out for a new visa every year.

That is why I have applied for 9 extensions of stay but I use the 40k baht income option.

[Suradit69]

12 minutes ago, maoro2013 said:

If that's the case, why do we tie up funds in a bank account to support my annual extensions?

 

Some people don't mind leaving the country every 90 days and having to travel out every year to apply for a new visa. If that suits you, then stay here on a visa and hope you don't have any problems in future obtaining a new visa annually in a neighboring country.

 

As for tying up funds, if you use the "money in the bank" approach, it's only a matter of keeping the funds for two or three months for the marriage or retirement extension. Otherwise you could just get an affidavit confirming your monthly income and then the need to tie up funds at all could be eliminated. 

 

If you're from one of the countries whose currency is falling against the baht, keeping some money tied up in Thailand would have saved you a bit anyway/

[muzmurray]

6 hours ago, Kasset Tak said:

Another friend is here teaching, she just changed schools so she needed a new non-b visa but she was denied a new visa as she didn't have a WP for her new school.

 

Maybe she was missing the WP3 form showing that a work permit has been/will be applied for?

[Deepinthailand]

2 hours ago, Suradit69 said:

 

Some people don't mind leaving the country every 90 days and having to travel out every year to apply for a new visa. If that suits you, then stay here on a visa and hope you don't have any problems in future obtaining a new visa annually in a neighboring country.

 

As for tying up funds, if you use the "money in the bank" approach, it's only a matter of keeping the funds for two or three months for the marriage or retirement extension. Otherwise you could just get an affidavit confirming your monthly income and then the need to tie up funds at all could be eliminated. 

 

If you're from one of the countries whose currency is falling against the baht, keeping some money tied up in Thailand would have saved you a bit anyway/

Why would there be problems getting an annual visa?  bit of scaremongering there me thinks. 

[louse1953]

53 minutes ago, Deepinthailand said:

Why would there be problems getting an annual visa?  bit of scaremongering there me thinks. 

Because Savanakhet is the only one that does it and as we all know many IO make up their own rules and change without warning.

[Deepinthailand]

23 minutes ago, louse1953 said:

Because Savanakhet is the only one that does it and as we all know many IO make up their own rules and change without warning.

No savannakhet is not the only one that does non o visas, it may be the only one that does not require proof of monies in bank  which may bother some. But there are lots who have required money in bank but do not want to be bothered with the IO's in Thailand immigration making up there own rules which is far more likely than savanakhet making its own. As it's an embassy in laos I don't think they will be making up there own rules to stop the vast amount of money that place generates. 

[ubonjoe]

6 minutes ago, Deepinthailand said:

As it's an embassy in laos I don't think they will be making up there own rules to stop the vast amount of money that place generates. 

Savannakhet is a official Thai consulate. The embassy is in Vientiane and only does single entry visas.

[Deepinthailand]

3 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Savannakhet is a official Thai consulate. The embassy is in Vientiane and only does single entry visas.

Sorry yes I was thinking consulate but wrote Embassy. apologies 

[John F Gill]

Listen to Ubonjoe people he knows what he's talking about trust me.  I've asked him for advice in the past when I first retired here on my non-o marriage visa and he's always right.  Ubonjoe has NEVER led me astray all his information ALWAYS checks out.  

 

I also use the 40,000 Baht a month income option as well because I'm a retired disabled American Veteran so my pension is a lot more than 40,000 Baht a month.  I'm retired here on a marriage visa because I'm not quite 50 years old yet so I don't qualify for the retirement visa although the marriage visa is fine with me I've been married to my Thai wife for 22 years.  We actually met in the United States before I retired years before the wars.  My wife's a Thai citizen but she's also a Permanent Resident in the United States so it works out well we can freely travel back and forth between Thailand and the United States together.  She worked in factories in the United States for all those years we lived in the states but not anymore.  

 

Another thing is that if you do leave Thailand and you're on a non-o visa extension MAKE SURE THAT YOU GET A RE-ENTRY PERMIT from immigration BEFORE you leave.  If you don't your visa extension will no longer be valid when you return to Thailand and you'd have to get a whole new visa from outside of Thailand and start all over again.  Then you gotta leave the country again every 90 days, once you're on an extension you don't have to leave Thailand ever unless you want to and you can keep re-extending your same visa once a year for as many years as you want without ever having to leave Thailand.  Ubonjoe was right when he told me that it's SO MUCH EASIER to get an extension than a new visa every year.  

 

I used to do some sensitive work for the United States government when I was in the Army in Special Operations so I've lived and traveled all over the world.  I lived in Tokyo for several years and I've been all over this part of the world and the Middle East and Africa to include Afghanistan 3 times and Iraq once.  So I thought I knew it all about International travel but I learned pretty fast after retiring here that International travel is a lot different as a civilian and that I didn't know it all.  Thanks to Ubonjoe's great advice I've got it all figured out now pretty much.  Just very carefully follow immigration's rules and if you're on a visa extension MAKE SURE that you report to immigration every 90 days as required.  Just follow their laws, respect their culture and you should be just fine as long as you do everything legally, and remember this is Thailand not your home country.  A lot of people mostly tourists tend to forget that.  In my old job that was one of the many skills I learned was to build a repor with the locals.  Up here in Korat I've never had a problem with immigration before they are absolutely great.  Whenever I do my 90 day report it never takes more than 10 minutes and it's done.  Probably because I'm organized and I am overly obsessive about keeping my paper work in order, and because I am very careful to ensure that I do everything legally in accordance with Thailand's immigration laws.  

 

Anyway take whatever advice that Ubonjoe gives you at face value because he knows what he's talking about.  Whenever I read a topic like this he's the first person who's reply I read because I know that what he says is pretty much always right.  Anyway in this situation my guess is that you don't have a Thai marriage certificate.  You definitely need one of those the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can translate your marriage certificate from your home country if that's where you were married to a Thai marriage certificate, I have ours I got it last year. I'm sorry I forgot the whole process on how to get it because it's been over a year since I got it when I got my first visa extension.  It is a bit of a process but it's definitely worth it.  

 

After all my years of international travel all over over the world commercial air half the time I thought I knew it all, but when you're traveling for the United States government it's a lot different than traveling as a civilian.  So I actually didn't know as much as I thought I did.  Ubonjoe definitely guided me in the right direction with his great advice.  I also guided myself by doing my own research the best way to do your own research is off of the host country's Embassy Website in whatever country that you originally came from.  That's just my 2 cents I normally don't post in these forums but I like to read them especially these topics to learn more.  I'm glad I'm on an extension now because my first year here I used the Poi Pet border crossing every 90 days and that border crossing used to be great now I'm hearing that they changed and are making it difficult for people.  I think I know why they changed probably because that's where that scum bag Bangkok bomber crossed into Thailand and then tried to escape back across the the Poi Pet border again where he was captured.  That's a shame because Poi Pet used to be a great border crossing for those of us on marriage visas now I hear it's not.  I am just so glad that I took Ubonjoe's advice and got an extension instead of leaving Thailand and getting a new visa it is SO MUCH EASIER just getting the extension once a year and just reporting to immigration every 3 months instead of having to leave the country every 3 months.  

 

One last thing you get the Proof of Income Affidavit from your home country's embassy it's easy.  I remember when I got my first one I brought all my proof with me to verify that I do in fact receive a pension payment once a month that's a lot more than 40,000 Baht a month and the embassy didn't even ask to see it they just gave me the Proof of Income Affidavit without even checking to verify that I get paid.  I even offered to show it to them and they said that they didn't even need to see my proof of my monthly pension payments.  They just said that by signing their notorized Proof of Income Affidavit that I'm legally swearing that I receive my monthly pension payments.  So it's kind of based on the honor system but you better not lie because you're signing a legal document plus obviously you have to have income or enough money to live here.  And by all means trust me take Ubonjoe's advice he sure helped me out A LOT my first year living here.  Now I know all the rules for myself.  A lot of people complain about immigration but I haven't had any problems with them before.  

 

John 

[Took]

Hello,

 

As far as I'm concerned, I don't think you'll need a WP to apply for a Non-B for teaching.

 

What I've done before is to apply for a Non-B for teaching in Vientiane, come back to Thailand

to apply for a WP and then go to the local immigration office to make a 1-year extension.

[ubonjoe]

16 minutes ago, Took said:

Hello,

 

As far as I'm concerned, I don't think you'll need a WP to apply for a Non-B for teaching.

 

What I've done before is to apply for a Non-B for teaching in Vientiane, come back to Thailand

to apply for a WP and then go to the local immigration office to make a 1-year extension.

There is no requirement to have a work permit or a work application approval letter if teaching to apply for a non-b visa.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

I was denied a b in Vientiane in 2005, because I had no wp..it was for teaching and I hadn't started.  Four days later the school had it strasstrasight, and I got a 1 year,,but they wrote in their to apply for wp and show at 90 report..I think it was on s stamp.