Thread: Newbie Requiring Advice from Someone in the Know

Hi , sorry if i am asking a question that is already asked but i know rules change all the time in the LOS and i would like someone to help me if at all possible .

I am a 49 year old uk male not 50 until June next year. I have a Thai girlfriend who i have been supporting in a loving relationship for 12 months.Until recently i have been travelling to see her every 3-4 months on a 30 day exemption . No problems at all. I have my next trip booked in just over a month and have flights and hotels booked for a fortnight. However my circumstances have just changed and i have been given a very generous voluntary severance to leave my job early and with my existing savings i can live of my savings now until i supplement it with my works pension at 55. so that said i now want to now extend my stay in Thailand beyond 30 days preferably until June when i am 50 . On the basis that i might be eligible to apply for a retirement visa based on my capital . Is the extension something i can do when i arrive in Thailand or do i need to do it whilst in the UK . Presuming i can do it , how long can do it without the need for a visa run bearing in mind it will be 9 months until i am 50 and if so what documents, information and evidence will i need to provide. likewise what do i need to do to stay in Thailand until June when i qualify for a retirement visa. Can I do it from within Thailand or will i need to go back to the uk and what will i need to provide as evidence or complete ? ( I will be effectively without home in the uk as i will not be keeping on my accommodation in the uk whilst i am in Thailand and will just have a care of address at my parents. likewise i am not planning on working in the uk or Thailand).

thanking you in anticipation of your help
TJ

yes - get a tourist visa now - double entry if possible

Originally Posted by baldrick

yes - get a tourist visa now - double entry if possible

double ( and triple ) entries ended last year when the METV came onboard

Thanks you have been very helpful. I am trying to complete the paperwork for a single entry visa . Can you tell me what evidence I should send for purpose of visit , given flight was booked originally for a fortnight . Do I just send off emails showing a few hotel bookings as these only cover the fortnight - also what do I put down for my proposed address in Thailand as I am booked in various hotels - do I also need to put down my gfs address as this is where I will be after a fortnight travelling that is already booked ?
Many thanks for your help guys it is very appreciated
Tj

Originally Posted by Trajan

I am a 49 year old uk male not 50 until June next year. I have a Thai girlfriend who i have been supporting in a loving relationship for 12 months.

Hope you're ready for the wild side,

Thanks you have been very helpful. I am trying to complete the paperwork for a single entry visa . Can you tell me what evidence I should send for purpose of visit , given flight was booked originally for a fortnight . Do I just send off emails showing a few hotel bookings as these only cover the fortnight - also what do I put down for my proposed address in Thailand as I am booked in various hotels - do I also need to put down my gfs address as this is where I will be after a fortnight travelling that is already booked ?
Many thanks for your help guys it is very appreciated
Tj

Thanks Baldrick you are a big help

Sorry Baldrick I hope you don't mind me asking another question - is it easy to get an extension of 30 days After the First single entry tourist visa ends - and after that How easy is it to leave the country for a couple of days and then come back with an extension won't they want to know why I am coming back so soon - is there anywhere you recommend I try first who can approve another 60 day extension as this will take me to the end of Feb so after another 30 day extension the worst case scenario is I go home to the uk at the end of March for a few months until I am 50 ?
Many thanks you are so helpful TJ

Welcome to the Buffalo Board, Trajan...It is really very easy to leave the country and come back with a new 60-day visa from the Thai Consulate in Lao...Then it can be extended for another 30 days in Bangkok or wherever...

unlees some one corrects me - it has been a long time since I have done it

at the end of your 60 days ( though be sure to know if a public holiday will close the public offices and then go earlier than day 60 ) go to an immigration office close to where you are , fill out the paperwork ( some one on here will tell you what photocopies and photos required ) , then pay 1900 baht and you should get another 30 days

then at the end of that 30 days go for a trip to vientienne or savannaket , submit your passport to the embassy / consulate applying for a tourist visa - go back the next day and collect and head back into thailand for another 60 days

rinse and repest

that's EXACTLY what i said,

^you avatar does not inspire confidence of the cunning plan

As the O/P is in his country it would behoove him to apply for the METV - multi-entry tourist visa. That visa is good for 6 months, and every entry into thailand would get him a 60 day permission to stay stamp.

After the first 60 days he does a "border-bounce" (exit/re-enter the country). This would give him another 60 day permission to stay stamp. He does this for the duration of the visa itself (6 months).

If he timed the bounces right he could pull 8 months in country out of that type of visa AND he could extend the last 60 days by another 30 at his local immigration office for 1900baht

That'd buy him the 9 months he needs until he's 50.. It'd also stop the "visa runs" where he goes to a thai embassy in another country to buy another single entry tourist visa..

Don't forget if you come in by land from Laos or any other adjoining country yo will get a 2 week visa rather than if flying into the airport you will get 1 month.

Originally Posted by stewieg

Don't forget if you come in by land from Laos or any other adjoining country yo will get a 2 week visa rather than if flying into the airport you will get 1 month.

WRONG on UK passport you get 30 Days

For the retirement visa in June you'll need to have a Thai Bank account in your name only, with a minimum of 800,000 baht for three months before you apply.

Originally Posted by Begbie

For the retirement visa in June you'll need to have a Thai Bank account in your name only, with a minimum of 800,000 baht for three months before you apply.

WRONG they'd need to bank the 800k in an account in their name for only 60 day prior to applying for the first year's extension of stay.
Every subsequent yearly extension after that needs the money banked for 3 months.

Oh FWIW: G7 countries get 30 days comin' in by air AND at land border crossings too

Here's a list of G7 countries so you don't hafta google it; United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom

This service provided by 'Just-Ask-Tod' <- I agree, the guy is an asshole, but he knows things..

Originally Posted by toddaniels

Oh FWIW: G7 countries get 30 days comin' in by air AND at land border crossings too

Here's a list of G7 countries so you don't hafta google it; United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom

This service provided by 'Just-Ask-Tod' <- I agree, the guy is an asshole, but he knows things..

He did not know what to do in order to make the Thai authorities accept the marriage, of a Thai lady, which was initially registered in the United Kingdom.

Sadly, some idiots at Chang Wattana did not know what to do either. I know what to do now.

Originally Posted by can123

He did not know what to do in order to make the Thai authorities accept the marriage, of a Thai lady, which was initially registered in the United Kingdom.

Sadly, some idiots at Chang Wattana did not know what to do either. I know what to do now.

Why would the thai immigration officers out at Chaengwattana know how to get a marriage to a thai national abroad registered in thailand? That isn't even close to their job. They do visas and extensions of stay.

I would wager the people at the local Amphurs that register marriages don't know anything about visas or extensions of stays either.

It is NOT a difficult task to get a marriage to a thai national from abroad registered at an Amphur that knows what it's doing (like Bang Rak in bangkok for instance).

AND NO, before someone says you register a new marriage, you don't. You get the original overseas marriage registered in thailand and when you're done they give you a Kor Ror 22.

FWIW; when you get married inside the country you get two documents, one is the "suitable for framing" one with the roses around the border the Kor Ror 3. The other lists the married people's names in thai and looks like a form it's the Kor Ror 2..

I have found to get accurate information from thai officialdom, you first need to talk to the office that actually does what you're tryin' to do. Here's a hint, for registering marriages, a thai immigration office AIN'T the place to go..

Originally Posted by toddaniels

I have found to get accurate information from thai officialdom, you first need to talk to the office that actually does what you're tryin' to do. Here's a hint, for registering marriages, a thai immigration office AIN'T the place to go..

We wanted to have documents certified and they gave us incorrect information. They said that a letter from the British Embassy was required and it was not. I know exactly what to do now and have bypassed the idiots at Chang Wattana by dealing with the Thai Embassy in London. There is no need for me to go to Chang Wattana again.

Originally Posted by can123

We wanted to have documents certified and they gave us incorrect information. They said that a letter from the British Embassy was required and it was not. I know exactly what to do now and have bypassed the idiots at Chang Wattana by dealing with the Thai Embassy in London. There is no need for me to go to Chang Wattana again.

At least the thai embassies and consulates are run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is where you go to get documents certified in Bangkok if you don't use an agency to get the stamp(s) for you..

I'd wager if you live in Bangkok and get yearly extension's of stay you'll most definitely be going to the thai immigration office at Chaengwattana again sometime.

I stand by what I said, if you ask the right people, in the correct government office you can get solid information..

In unrelated news; what do the posts by can123 have to do with the O/P's questions? He states no where that he's married abroad and wants to register his marriage inside the country.. He's asking about how to stay here until he turns 50 and can apply for an extension of stay...

Originally Posted by toddaniels

In unrelated news; what do the posts by can123 have to do with the O/P's questions? He states no where that he's married abroad and wants to register his marriage inside the country.. He's asking about how to stay here until he turns 50 and can apply for an extension of stay...
[at] [at]

It was made so as to alert the original poster to the fact that, although Todd Daniels thinks he knows everything, Todd Daniels sometimes doesn't have a clue about what he is talking about and will seek to mask this by being brusque and introducing irrelevancies.

He is not as clever as he would like to think he is. Well, it would be impossible, wouldn't it ?