Andrew Hayes Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Hi everyone Just a new boy on the block. I would like to ask a few questions......apologies upfront if they are answered elsewhere. Be gentle :) I have spoken to a legal firm in BKK called Siam Legal. Has anyone any experience of them? I intend to come to BKK in the very near future and so far I have been told that I can come in on a Tourist Visa and then they can convert that to a O retirement visa whilst in Country. However they want a fee of B38700? Is this excessive and / or can I do it myself once I have arrived? Or would you recommend an agent? There may well be a possibility of marriage later in the year so is it also possible to convert a retirement visa to a marriage visa? One reason also being that I would like to work in BKK to supplement income and I know that this is not legal with a Retirement Visa. And lastly is there a better way of just extending the initial tourist visa and doing visa runs?? Any help greatly received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glegolo Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 28 minutes ago, Andrew Hayes said: Hi everyone Just a new boy on the block. I would like to ask a few questions......apologies upfront if they are answered elsewhere. Be gentle :) I have spoken to a legal firm in BKK called Siam Legal. Has anyone any experience of them? I intend to come to BKK in the very near future and so far I have been told that I can come in on a Tourist Visa and then they can convert that to a O retirement visa whilst in Country. However they want a fee of B38700? Is this excessive and / or can I do it myself once I have arrived? Or would you recommend an agent? There may well be a possibility of marriage later in the year so is it also possible to convert a retirement visa to a marriage visa? One reason also being that I would like to work in BKK to supplement income and I know that this is not legal with a Retirement Visa. And lastly is there a better way of just extending the initial tourist visa and doing visa runs?? Any help greatly received. Thisd conversion they charge 38.700 baht... that is horrific really. It is so easy to do it yourself, most of all of us guys have done it all by ourself.. Go for it, forget Siam whatever legal..... Soon more knowledage guys will follow and answer your other questions.. Glegolo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 The price they quoted probably includes proof of the 800k baht in the bank to do the change to a non immigrant visa entry and then the extension of stay (it is not a visa) based upon retirement. You can easily do it yourself if you have the 800k baht in bank or proof of 65K baht income by way of a letter from your embassy or a combination of the 2 totaling 800k baht. If you get the one year extension based upon retirement you would not be a able to change to an extension based upon marriage until the one year extension ends. Or you leave the country without a re-entry permit, get a single entry non-o visa based upon marriage and enter the country using it which would allow a 90 day entry that you could extend based upon marriage. If you could get a multiple entry tourist visa (METV) that before traveling that would be better than get a single entry tourist. You can get almost 9 months of total stay from a METV by getting a 60 day entry from just before the visa expires. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Hayes Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 Thank you for all the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stanley78 Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 I use Siam Legal a few times a year for real estate/land office related issues and they give good service to me for that. However, THB 38700 for some help with visa stuff? I doubt I'd pay for that but if you decide to use them I'm sure they would a good job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayceenik Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 I used Siam Legal Pattaya a couple years ago to do my Thai Last Will. Cost me 10000. Job well done and very satisfied. I really don't understand this visa extension facilitation high fee quoted by the OP ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 2 minutes ago, jayceenik said: I really don't understand this visa extension facilitation high fee quoted by the OP As I wrote before the fee is not just for assisting with the application. It includes the 800k baht financial proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dentonian Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 5 minutes ago, ubonjoe said: As I wrote before the fee is not just for assisting with the application. It includes the 800k baht financial proof. Not necessarily! My mate was charged 42,000 baht for the privilege of them doing a conversion to a Non Imm O and then an extension based on retirement. He had to transfer the 800,000 baht funds beforehand and supply his passbook and a letter from the bank as proof. His extension was dated one day after receiving the Non Imm O. Back in his province, Immigration refused his 90 day reports because the extension was issued without the seasoning of the funds. Told him to make his reports back in Bangkok. When he contacted Siam about his problems, they fobbed him of, never had anyone available to discuss the issues and never replied to any of his calls. The 42,000 baht included a multi re-entry permit, which was just as well as he had to do border runs every 90 days for the duration of that extension. The year after his local Imm office renewed his extension subject to proof of funds being seasoned for 3 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texanaust Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 I tried to contact SiamLegal by email, their online form and telephone-no reply. I called their number in the USA multiple times and it was always an answering machine. I left numerous messages and no one ever called back. Certainly not professional from my standpoint. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 A defamatory post has been removed. This 18 month old topic is now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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