Marriage Visa - another unpublished change ?

[ubonjoe]

19 minutes ago, Tofer said:

So it's perfectly reasonable to expect me to transfer copious sums of money that may or may not be needed just because IO cannot be bothered to do the job properly. As I said before, when I turn up with only 400k and they come up with some other spurious reason to reject my ME who's paying for the trip to KL for a new non-O?

Perhaps I need to be as devious as they are and carry a second bank book with an additional 400k just in case.

What, pray tell, is the problem with issuing / displaying a definitive list of requirements? I think I know....

Like some other contributors have noted my IO is not just around the corner, it's a whole day trip to find out if I've got it right. 

You seem to have a problem with people complaining about not getting what they ask for and are entitled to by the rules of Immigration. If you were told you had to buy a Lexus instead of the pick up you wanted just because you had the money available, would you be happy?

I don't think immigration would intentionally make a problem for getting the extension based upon marriage to push you to get an extension based upon retirement.

They might do the extension based upon retirement without even asking you though if you were to show enough financial proof for it.

I have done 9 extension based upon marriage using the income option. Only once out of all of those extensions did they ask for something we did not have with us which occurred when they had a complete change of staff. It was a  big surprise when the asked for my wife's divorce certificate that luckily we had at home. At this time I cannot think of anything more they can ask for than what I supply every year now.

I could put a small amount of money in one of my bank accounts and do the combination method for retirement but to me it is not worth the hassle to do it. Plus the loss of interest and penalties for taking ii out of an investment account in my wife's name.

[Tofer]

Some may say - if I'm so disgruntled why do I stay. 

 

I stay because I love my wife and Thailand as a country and it's general population, culture, customs, weather etc, and I've invested MANY millions of baht to build a pleasant retirement existence here. Not so easy to up sticks and begger off, drag my wife away from here home and family again having already spent 22 years in UK with me, having promised her we would retire here.

 

I hate the illogical officialdom and outright inequality / racism shown to decent well meaning foreign citizens, and will continue to voice my opinions if the subjects are raised. Sorry if that offends some of you but as a Yorkshireman I speak as I find!

 

By the way, over the years I've lived, long term, in 7 different countries around the world and am quite familiar with the concept of abiding by and respecting your host countries laws, regulations and customs. It would just be nice if I could find out what they are here in Thailand regarding the officialdom.

[jeab1980]

I think ubon joe has it right if your going for an ext based on marriage make sure you have less than 800k in the bank at the time problem solved.

[jeab1980]

25 minutes ago, Tofer said:

Wow, you were lucky, where's your local hospital, I'm moving. 

 

I spent 2 days in our local hospital with supposed critical dengue fever, it was dirty, downright uncomfortable, staff were too busy playing/ chatting to bother, no food provided - my wife had to bring meals in every day and a mattress fit to sleep on, visitors so noisy in middle of night I had to, God forbid, complain.

 

Overcharged horrendously for being a farang, my wife blew a gasket and left them mouths agog, when she asked them if  they found I had 4 arms and legs to justify the quadruple charges. I discharged myself early when I realised all I was getting was blood & pressure tested 4 times a day, paracetamol and bottled water, and no actual care. Sorry they did stick a drip in my hand which is the only thing I couldn't get more comfortably at home.

What can i say apart from lifes a bitch. KK has two goverment/local hospitals one is the free for Thais one the other is a paying hospital even fot thais so probably not a goverment one as such. No problems at all for me as i said food was bland. Other than that no complaints.

[Tofer]

3 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I don't think immigration would intentionally make a problem for getting the extension based upon marriage to push you to get an extension based upon retirement.

They might do the extension based upon retirement without even asking you though if you were to show enough financial proof for it.

I have done 9 extension based upon marriage using the income option. Only once out of all of those extensions did they ask for something we did not have with us which occurred when they had a complete change of staff. It was a  big surprise when the asked for my wife's divorce certificate that luckily we had at home. At this time I cannot think of anything more they can ask for than what I supply every year now.

I could put a small amount of money in one of my bank accounts and do the combination method for retirement but to me it is not worth the hassle to do it. Plus the loss of interest and penalties for taking ii out of an investment account in my wife's name.

I sincerely hope that's true. I'm pleased to hear you've got it nailed, I live in hope. Maybe I need to move to Ubon - guessing from your title that's where you are.

 

My sentiments entirely regarding finances. Just wish 'others' could understand that point, it's not rocket science after all, my ears and mind are wide open and my beachfront is pebbles not sand!

 

Unfortunately in my area and with my recent experiences I don't feel too confident about getting straightforward treatment. Still it's early days, only my first years trying for an ME, and I'm nothing if not tenacious.

 

Thanks also for the moral support.

[Tofer]

15 hours ago, rickudon said:

With any extension, what you will actually be asked for and accepted can vary slightly from Office to Office. And, as said, Immigration officers will tend to interpret rules to the letter of what there boss tells them - initiative is not encouraged (unless a tip is likely!). My experience is that sometimes a photograph is judged as not quite right or a photocopy is not good enough, which can mean another visit. As what they want photocopied varies i no longer do much, just let them do it and give them a small tip. There own photocopying is always acceptable ......   A small tip is not an issue, if an extra service is provided. An out and out bribe is not.

 

As to swapping to a Retirement extension, there are reasons why not to. I do not like the idea of tying up large sums of money at low interest, I can still get better rates elsewhere. Secondly, if the rules where to change and due to the exchange rates going down, you may no longer qualify for the retirement extension and swapping back may not be so easy. I have been on marriage because while not getting UK State pension i didn't have an income of 65,000 baht a month. Now i get state pension but due to Brexit my income is about 66,000 baht a month - any exchange rate fluctuation could make next renewal if on retirement problematical. 

 

 

I hope all goes well Rick. Being a straight shooter I am always afraid of offending the officials by preferring money, although I do believe you've hit the nail on the head. I believe it does oil the wheels, and is perhaps what's missing in my transactions.

[Tofer]

9 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

My  reason for being upset with the Thailand asutorities, happened several yeas ago when a friend of mine married a Thai woman.

The woman and her sister went to the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok to get a stamp from the Canadian official in charge there. For three days

they were turned away by the Thai lady who was manning the front desk, as she would not let them see the Canadian official.

  On the fourth day her Canadian husband and I went with them. I stated that I was a business manager and had to ask the

Canadian official a question thankfully, I still had a Government of Canada badge for security with me and showed her the card. When the

official showed up I apologized for lying to get him to the front, but he seen all of us and took care of the matter in 5 minutes.

  He stated that some Thai people working in Immigration and the Embassys sometimes liked to throw their level of power around,

and I believe this still happens today.  I have heard many stories of people both Thais and expats having troubles at government offices.

  I guess some people are lucky to get the good quality people and not some of the others who just work and throw their weight around.

I got turned away at the Bangkok UK embassy, by a Thai lady gatehouse receptionist, also at the Uk embassy in KL by telephone in their reception whilst trying to get the required verification stamp of a marriage certificate legalisation document verification stamp from the UK legalisation office, as I was told it was required by the Thai embassy staff before I could submit that document in that foreign Thai embassy for their verification stamp. I eventually persuaded the KL Thai embassy verification staff to sign it after many minutes of pleading and begging and explaining that they were asking for verification of a verification to issue their verification stamp. Work that logic out if you can!

[Tofer]

4 hours ago, Gary A said:

I'm certainly not defending Thai immigration. I had my 800,000 baht in an account that was paying decent interest. I didn't do that before asking immigration if that was acceptable. That account allowed me to withdraw the money at any time I chose but there would be a an interest penalty. As I said that was acceptable and immigration had no problem with it. THEN, Loei immigration got a new boss. All of a sudden my bank account was not acceptable. I wasn't happy with that but I said that I would change it to an acceptable account the very next day. That wasn't acceptable either because it had to be seasoned for three months. I was told that I would have to leave the country and reapply when the funds in the new account were seasoned. This immigration office is in Loei province. I went to the Pattaya immigration and asked some questions. I was told there that it was up to the new Loei boss, but that I could go get an income letter that she would have to accept. I got the income letter and the new boss lady at Loei was surprised that I didn't leave the country and it was obvious that she resented the income letter but she did accept it. I was then fined a thousand baht for a two day overstay. Rules are rules, but it would be much easier to swallow if all the rules were the same.

And if they were made clear!

[Tofer]

35 minutes ago, jeab1980 said:

I think ubon joe has it right if your going for an ext based on marriage make sure you have less than 800k in the bank at the time problem solved.

Thanks for the advice. I think I will try my devious 2 account method and see what happens. I can accept they might think they are doing me a favour as well as themselves, but maybe if they explained that concept at the time instead of  inventing new requirements / problems with my application I wouldn't be so incensed. 

[Tofer]

37 minutes ago, jeab1980 said:

What can i say apart from lifes a bitch. KK has two goverment/local hospitals one is the free for Thais one the other is a paying hospital even fot thais so probably not a goverment one as such. No problems at all for me as i said food was bland. Other than that no complaints.

Absolutely, and as they say TIT...

[phetpeter]

Grease the skids! Don't if the are polite and treat you and complete the paperwork, bring them some fruit or cookies. but, don't give them money, its wrong and makes other peoples lives difficult with demands for them to 'grease the skids' when they have done nothing wrong with the paperwork they have. My immigration office (its first year of operation) had the same problem, they must be upset with google maps! The officer sat and hand drew an inaccurate map of out location, even though I gave them both a copy of the satellite and the map from google. plus the photos had to be 6x4 outside showing house number and family group and he then stuck them onto an A4 sheet of paper, even though I had printed them on glossy two per page. Very strange behaviour from the head office. I suggested to them perhaps they should produce a booklet with exact formats that Chang mia head office require and give everybody a copy.

[ubonjoe]

A comment about a spelling error has been removed.

Forum rule.

Quote

3. If possible please proofread your post first, poor grammar and spelling can make the post difficult to understand. However be aware that not every member is a native English speaker and excessive posts regarding others spelling and grammar not only hijacks the topic but is poor netiquette.

 

[Maestro]

Removed an off-topic post.

[Ace of Pop]

I find the spellcheck thing takes over sometimes on TV.Can I turn it off on my Phone do you know.?


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[jeab1980]

1 hour ago, Ace of Pop said:

I find the spellcheck thing takes over sometimes on TV.Can I turn it off on my Phone do you know.?


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Pm sent

[roobaa01]

good morning ,

 

im up for my 4 th extension of stay marriage on the 4 th july in jomtien . are there any changes known to the procedures ???

 

-new forms tm 7 etc

-witness rule as we have no children

-photos

-documentation in general

 

wbr

roobaa01

[YetAnother]

On 5/23/2017 at 6:28 PM, simoh1490 said:

make sure you understand they are in control

could not agree more; and it explains much of their behavior

[ubonjoe]

9 minutes ago, roobaa01 said:

good morning ,

im up for my 4 th extension of stay marriage on the 4 th july in jomtien . are there any changes known to the procedures ???

-new forms tm 7 etc

-witness rule as we have no children

-photos

-documentation in general

 

No changes that I am aware of.

There is a new version of the TM7 form they may want. Fillable TM7 form.pdf

[roobaa01]

@ubonjoe

 

thk u very much. i cannot open pdfs or download on my tv. is it possible for u to post the tm 7 visually ???

 

wbr

roobaa01

[ubonjoe]

6 minutes ago, roobaa01 said:

thk u very much. i cannot open pdfs or download on my tv. is it possible for u to post the tm 7 visually ???

That seems to strange to me. See if you can open this. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6VP3EOXv5QgVkpzSlBoWFBYUHc/view?usp=sharing

You can get the form and fill it out at the office.

[nanglong218]

I am up for my first extension to a marriage visa. I arrived here on non-O imm visa, 90 day and then 60 day extend. I have followed all Ubonjoe's clear instructions regarding documentation, B400k has been in the bank 70 days. 

Does any forum member have any experience of the Buriram Imm office which is quite new?  So far they've been OK with extensions but this one is more complicated.

The horror stories here are scary. My Thai missus doesn't help as she can't believe they want photos of the inside of our home. Having been to UK and then Australia, after the initial wad of paper she was left alone by officials. She doesn't believe what I'm telling her.

I'd be grateful for any advice. My visa expires 12th July.

[Mattd]

4 minutes ago, nanglong218 said:

My Thai missus doesn't help as she can't believe they want photos of the inside of our home.

Why not get her to contact the Buriram Immigration office and ask them if they need photos, I'm sure she would believe them.

[nanglong218]

She is the most stubborn of women, I have pleaded with her.  She can give me hell but where Thai officials re concerned she'll say nothing. Culture??  edit..I try again

Edited June 28, 2017 by nanglong218
foolish optimism

[roobaa01]

very simple to my knowledge every immigration require photos u together with your wife 1. inside the house bed room, kitchen, living room 2. around the house 3. in front of the house normally 4 pictures will do in total, better 6 to let the immi officer choose.

 

since it is your first application they might want also a thai witness from yr neighbourhood confirming your marriage to the immi. then u require two photos more witness, yr wife, u inside and outside your residence.

 

wbr

 

roobaa01

[DekDaeng]

On 23/05/2017 at 5:58 PM, Rhys said:

...it seemed to take a long time for me as well... an extension of stay based on marriage.   An office required this place (Southern office) requires the lat and long coordinates on your house googled map....

 

 

 

Would not the co-ords of the marital bed be more relevant?

[Momofarang]

On 23/05/2017 at 6:41 PM, elviajero said:

It happens at other offices and is simply because it is easier for them to issue an extension based on retirement rather than one for marriage. If you have enough in the bank,/income and are over 50, they will often encourage you to go the retirement route. Unless you are planning to work it makes little difference which way you go.

I am determined to stick to the marriage route. If I was without a Thai family I would not be in Thailand period.

Further, no one can predict the changes that will affect the retirement route, my hope is that they will shy away from destroying families; but this too maybe wishful thinking considering they state of the family unit in this country.