Thread: Marriage Visa renewal

more of the same i'm afraid...

Same again ,Photos Certificates marriage and divorce from ex plus any other hoops they like to put in front of you, just be prepared to jump when they say and have a smile on your face while doing so or there will be another hoop placed in front of you.

Depending on your age, the Retirement Extension is a hell of a lot easier than taking all those intrusive snap shots of your marriage bed etc + the reams of paper work involved.

Originally Posted by Perota

It is almost one year. Last year it wasn't so bad, a bit of a problem because they needed a certified copy of the marriage certificate. We were married abroad, in Hong Kong, and the original certificate should be certified by the local embassy. Hong Kong doesn't have a embassy because it is now part of China and Chinese embassy couldn't help us because we were not Chinese citizen. Finally my own embassy accepted to certified the marriage and that solved the problem.

Now it's time for renewal. Do they keep a record of the documents you submitted last year and it's just a matter of showing up and saying you wish to stay one more year ? It sounds a bit too easy. Or should we go through the same circus again ?

Is this IMMO (90dayx 4 +1)by reason of marriage or the 400k in the bank issued in Thailand version?

IMMO just needs reg copies of marriage cert ( In the case of Thai MC is all I know ),house book, wife's ID or Passport copy. (copy of 100k in a Thai bank account is required at some Consulates or Embassies)

Either way you would think they keep copies and maybe they do but you still have to resubmit...ours it not to reason why...

^ They May keep copies and they also know that to renew a marriage visa you must have jumped through all the hoops before , but they just like to see farang jumping.

I'm taking a shot in the dark here by the terminology the O/P used that he's wanting to apply for another yearly extension of stay inside the country at his local thai immigrations office based on marriage to a thai national..
NOT
that he's wanting to go to a thai embassy/consulate outside the country and garner a Non-O which would mean he'd hafta border bounce every 90 days.

If he is applying for another yearly extension of stay inside the country he'll need ALL the documents, pictures, etc AGAIN.. In fact you provide them every year that you apply for an extension of stay.. A friend was called on the carpet by immigrations that the wedding photos he was submitting were the same as the previous years.. He said, I only married her once! I don't marry her again every year!! They took the pics he had.

OFF-TOPIC: this has been beat to death BUT wrong terminology will throw people right off the rails faster than snot off a porcelain doorknob.

I know, I know BOTH thai immigrations AND every foreigner out here on the inter-web says, "I need to renew my visa". Saying that doesn't make it so, because there is NO SUCH THING AS RENEWING A VISA!! Neither can you renew an "extension of stay".

Foreigners who have in-country extensions of stay based on marriage, being over 50, working, supporting kids, ALL apply for and get an extension of stay for another year. It is NOT renewed, it is something you do and you get a brand spanking new 'yearly extension of stay' every time. Now you might have a daisy-chain of several years worth unbroken extensions of stay, but you NEVER renew one, you get a new one.

Sorry, that wrong terminology thingy is just a point I try to get across.. No respect, err no disrespect is intended or implied to anyone..

I'm just a dick, but you all know that already..

^ You're right, it's a new extension of stay based ...

I've heard that I need to produce an additional document on top of those produced last year, one saying we are still married and haven't divorce since last year. Is that right ? If so, where can you get this document ?

Additional question. My visa end Oct. 5, when is it the earliest I can apply for this extension and do I have to stay in Thailand for the 30 days following the application ?
I need to go abroad in October, I already hold a multi entry permit, will I need to apply for a new one once I've applied for the new extension ?

Perota

In Bangkok you could have applied 45 days before your current extension expires, other places I think are 30 days early. You don't lose any time, they just add the year onto your current expiration date.

Man, you got me on those questions. No idea about the extra documents you're talkin' about. Never even heard of it.

Extensions of stay based on marriage to a thai go under consideration for 30 days before you go back and get the year extension stamped into your passport.

Some people have reported going just before their current extension expires and they received an under consideration permission to stay stamp of 30 days which was added onto when their extension expires. I don't know, never seen a real stamp. Most people go a month early because they know about the 30 days under consideration thing.

Does your current re-entry permit expire on the same day and your extension, Oct 5th? If so, I think it means IF you're leaving and not returning until after Oct 5th, you'd need a re-entry permit or you'd lose everything when you exited the country.

They might give you a 30 day under consideration permission to stay stamp when you apply but what they won't do is let you exit/enter without buying a re-entry permit (IF your re-entry permit expires on the date of your current extension).

It wouldn't pay to buy more than a single re-entry permit ()unless you're making several trips out in that month) while your waiting the 30 days for your extension to be approved because re-entry permits are sync'd to your permission to stay, and you'd have just a month validity on it..

Once you get your yearly extension stamped into your passport you'd need to buy another re-entry permit which would be good for the entire year..

Hope that wasn't too confusing.

Originally Posted by toddaniels

Hope that wasn't too confusing.

Quite clear, thank you.

We're going tomorrow to the immigration office. If there is anything else to know I will post it here after we get back

A lot of chaps try again with a replacement partner,up 2 u

So we were at Chaeng Wattana immigration office at 8:30 this morning. Everything went very smooth and we were out before 10:00.

The big difference with last year is this year during the interview we were not interrupted every 5 minutes by "agents" dropping files on our custom officer desk. Also my wife noticed a big drop in Chinese and Indian people. But last year we came later around lunch time, maybe the explanation (agents may have first to go to their office before coming to immigration).

And also cctv cameras everywhere

Originally Posted by Perota

So we were at Chaeng Wattana immigration office at 8:30 this morning. Everything went very smooth and we were out before 10:00.

Glad it went thru okay.

Coupla questions;
Did you get the 30 day under consideration stamp dated until Oct 16th? (seeing as your extension exipres on the 5th)?

Did you ask about leaving the country while you're under consideration and whether you needed a re-entry permit comin' in after your original extension expires?

Oh and what about that 'imaginary document' you referenced earlier.. Ever figure out what it was?

Oh those CCTV cameras and signs went up a while back, but I still see 'business as usual' with those queue jumpin' agents. You just lucked out..

Originally Posted by toddaniels

Originally Posted by Perota

So we were at Chaeng Wattana immigration office at 8:30 this morning. Everything went very smooth and we were out before 10:00.

Glad it went thru okay. Thanks.

Coupla questions;
Did you get the 30 day under consideration stamp dated until Oct 16th? (seeing as your extension exipres on the 5th)?
Yes, got it.
Did you ask about leaving the country while you're under consideration and whether you needed a re-entry permit comin' in after your original extension expires?
Yes, need a new re-entry permit. The officer looked at me suspiciously, why do I want to leave the country ? To go where ? But definitively need a re-entry permit. And need to come back before the end of the 30 days extension to collect the one year extension.

Oh and what about that 'imaginary document' you referenced earlier.. Ever figure out what it was? What I understand is there is a limited number (we got 3) of certified marriage certificate. We still have one more for next year (gave one last year + one this year). It's not so clear if next year we can just show the certified document and give them a copy or if they really need the certified documents which means we will need to apply for a new one the next year.


Oh those CCTV cameras and signs went up a while back, but I still see 'business as usual' with those queue jumpin' agents. You just lucked out. Possible.

If you have the right documents the whole process is relatively smooth. Just a warning for retiring Hong Kong expats, Hong Kong documents are a nightmare to get certified. Thai consulate in Hong Kong is no help, Chinese embassy in Bangkok no help either if you're not Chinese citizen. So be prepared for some extra hurdles.

Unless I'm mistaken you can actually go to the Amphur and "register your marriage from abroad" here in thailand..

Notice I'm NOT saying "get re-married here" which is what some foreigners end up doing, even though they were married in their country before.

I'm saying there is a way to take your existing marriage certificate from Hong Kong, get it translated, get the translation certified by the MFA and have your marriage from abroad noted in the Amphur's book recognizing it in thailand.

I'm not all that up on it, but I know it can be done. A brit I know who married his wife in blightly just did it here not that long ago. Next time I see him I'll ask what he did.. I do know he didn't get re-married at the Amphur here.

Glad it worked out. Yeah I kinda sorta thought they'd make you buy a re-entry permit which would be valid for only the 30 day under consideration.

Originally Posted by toddaniels

I'm saying there is a way to take your existing marriage certificate from Hong Kong, get it translated, get the translation certified by the MFA and have your marriage from abroad noted in the Amphur's book recognizing it in thailand.

To get the translation certified by the MFA, it should have been first certified by the local embassy of the country of origin. And that's where the problem lies. Hong Kong depends of China and the Chinese embassy refuses to help if you're not Chinese citizen.

And even when you've finally found your way around to have the MFA certify the translation of your marriage certificate, you have again to explain the situation to your local Amphur to get them to issue a local marriage certificate. Not impossible but really time consuming.

I don't know how you'd "lose days", your extension of stay always expires on the same date, they just add a year to it, when you apply for a new one, OR at least for extensions based on being over 50 (retirement) they do

Nope, no link, it's mentioned on T/V somewhere, but I just was at Chaengwattana last week with someone 45 days before his extension expired and his went right thru, and he didn't lose any days either, but again it was based on being over 50.

Originally Posted by toddaniels

I don't know how you'd "lose days"

On 25 Oct '13 I did the retirement extension. 6 days or so early. The only time I've ever reported before the due date. They stamped 'Extension of stay' permitted up to Oct 24 '14. I never noticed.
My error, I lost 6-7 days, not 9 as previously stated. So it's 'farang beware' when dealing with immigration.

Again, I don't know how applying for an extension of stay early makes you lose days. Are you sure you're looking at the correct date? Not the day the extension was issued but the day it is good until.. <- the top date on the stamp with 2 dates..

Here're pics of the 5 years of mine extensions. As you can see from the dates, no matter when I applied for the year extension, 18 Mar 2009, 17 Mar 2010, 11 Mar 2011, 22 Mar 2012, 4 April 2013 my extension was always granted until April 5. <-the top date


I'm not saying you didn't lose days, I just haven't ever seen it before.

As you can see Tod I had an extension of stay until 31 Oct '13.



I extended early on 25 Oct '13 but got stamped until 24 Oct '14. Resulting in a loss of 7 days. Hopefully I've explained that right?

Mine same as todd's. July 15th forever.

You need to move.

Same goes for the 90 day report. Or it used to be before online reporting. They made it up as they went along.
I believe Kap Choeng to be a punishment posting for officers who don't make the grade.

Pragmatic, maybe the difference is that you didn't extend for the exact same reason, you changed the reason for your permission to stay from Thai Wife to Retirement.