I'm going to Nong Khai immigration this week

Post by **Grandad** » September 17, 2006, 4:55 pm

Yes, I am going to NK immigration this week to get either another 30 day visa, or I may go to the Thai embassy in Laos and apply for the 90day tourist visa instead.

I am a bit concerned obviously that because I have been in Thailand since December on tourist stamps that I will be given 14 days to leave the country!!! Has anyone been recently and experienced any problems?

I would like to hear from anyone who has been up there of late and who can offer me some help and advice. I am scared that I may only get 14 days and then get kicked out of LOS.

Also, If I have 14 days, will I be able to apply for a marriage visa in those 14 days, or will I have to leave Thailand first? I really don't want to spend 90 days away.

I will let you know how I get on later this week when(if) I get back.

ps. Is there any way that they will refuse me entry back into LOS without giving me a red stamp/warning?

Thanks for any help.

Post by **Stevo** » September 17, 2006, 5:11 pm

Grandad wrote:Yes, I am going to NK immigration this week to get either another 30 day visa, or I may go to the Thai embassy in Laos and apply for the 90day tourist visa instead.

I am a bit concerned obviously that because I have been in Thailand since December on tourist stamps that I will be given 14 days to leave the country!!! Has anyone been recently and experienced any problems?

I would like to hear from anyone who has been up there of late and who can offer me some help and advice. I am scared that I may only get 14 days and then get kicked out of LOS.

Also, If I have 14 days, will I be able to apply for a marriage visa in those 14 days, or will I have to leave Thailand first? I really don't want to spend 90 days away.

I will let you know how I get on later this week when(if) I get back.

ps. Is there any way that they will refuse me entry back into LOS without giving me a red stamp/warning?

Thanks for any help.

Just a thought Grandad, not much help really...
As far as I'm aware, you can only apply for a Non-Imm "O" (marriage) visa in your own country?
These new VOA rules come into play from Oct 1st, so in theory you should be ok... however, as you have been border hopping for the past 9 months, they may take a dim view of this, as this is exactly what the new rules are meant to prevent.

Chok dee

Post by **arjay** » September 17, 2006, 5:30 pm

Also, I am not aware that there is a 90 day tourist visa. It's a 60 day tourist visa, which then allows you to extend by a further 30 days. That would seem to be your best bet at the moment.

The new regulations apply from 1st October and are not retrospective. Though no doubt as stated above they would tend to take a dim view of frequent 30 day VOA's in the recent past.

Post by **rickfarang** » September 17, 2006, 8:07 pm

In my limited experience, the immigration officers and clerks I have encountered are nice people and would give you any break they reasonably can. Since the new Visa On Arrival rulse don't kick in for a couple of week, noting has changed yet. You should be fine.

Post by **Dakoda** » September 17, 2006, 9:27 pm

Please report how it went, from where ever you end up, and how you got there.

To apply for marriage visa, you need to be on an O visa to start. So bring the orignal and copies and go for the O.

good luck

Oh, you do mean you are crossing into Laos, right? You will need to stay one night, either way, unless you are trying to get an extension!

Post by **Bump** » September 18, 2006, 11:26 am

Just a little bit of information but it is old, I got my non O in Lao, aproxinmatley three an half years ago as a single man. It took no longer then the tourist route, just more documents. So unless there has been a change you should be able to convert to a married to a Thai there.

What I did was check the sites for what was needed for the actual annual and took that with me. Truth is your really not supposed to need that, but sometimes overkill isn't a bad idea. Once I had the non O in ninety days I converted it to the annual. Teh Anuual was converted to a married to a Thai after I married I think, the funds posted are the same as when I got the single person annual so I really don't know if it was in fact converted.

So unless there has been a change in that area of visa law as well, you don't have to go back to your home country, nor do you have to leave for 90 days.

It may be wise with the work load that Lao probably has at the moment it to plan for more the one day. Now that is nothing but a guess, but I did see what thier normal workload was and it was huge for the size of the office.

One thing I don't understand is if you qaulify for the married to a Thai, why apply for another tourist visa.? Also why hadn't you applied in the first place it was always an easier visa to work with?

Thanks for your input I believe we have a learning curve ahead of us in what was said and what will really be applied.

Post by **arjay** » September 18, 2006, 11:49 am

Grandad wrote:Also, If I have 14 days, will I be able to apply for a marriage visa in those 14 days, or will I have to leave Thailand first? I really don't want to spend 90 days away.

If we are talking about Grandad, I wasn't initially clear whether he was actually married? Although upon re-reading his original postmaybe he is. He said he has been on a tourist visa for a long time.

Were you talking about getting married in 14 days, or are you married and want to get a NON-IMM "O" married persons visa within 14 days?

If the latter, and as you say you are only currently on a tourist visa, I think you have to leave the country and get your Non-Imm "O" outside the country. I am not aware you can convert a Tourist visa to a Non- Immigrant visa.

Post by **BKKSTAN** » September 18, 2006, 11:54 am

You may apply for you married or retirement visa in Thailand if you are on a tourist visa.That is exactly what I did!

Post by **Bump** » September 18, 2006, 12:34 pm

Well I used inproper wording as usual, not a concersion you are actualy applying for a new visa. I was instructed to go to Lao for that it took the normal two days for it to be cpmpleted, but I was single at the time. The conversion came later when I go married. From single status to married

Post by **arjay** » September 18, 2006, 12:52 pm

Stan wrote:You may apply for you married or retirement visa in Thailand if you are on a tourist visa.That is exactly what I did!

Are we talking here of a 60 day Tourist Visa, or a 30 day tourist stamp (VOA)??

Grandad said he only has the 30 day = VOA, so would have to go out of the country for either a 60 day Tourist visa or a Non-Imm "O" visa.

Post by **businessman** » September 18, 2006, 1:20 pm

Is it me,or do a lot of visa threads rapidly descend into utter confusion?

I think a little clarity by original posters is what is needed.Someone searching on visa issues and coming to this thread is going to give themselves a headache trying to figure out what is going on.

Post by **BKKSTAN** » September 18, 2006, 2:31 pm

arjay wrote:
Stan wrote:You may apply for you married or retirement visa in Thailand if you are on a tourist visa.That is exactly what I did!
Are we talking here of a 60 day Tourist Visa, or a 30 day tourist stamp (VOA)??

Grandad said he only has the 30 day = VOA, so would have to go out of the country for either a 60 day Tourist visa or a Non-Imm "O" visa.

VOA is not a tourist visa!A tourist visa is 60 days and it was applied for before entering the country!

A VOA can't be converted to a marriage or retirement visa here!Only extended for 14 days.

Post by **BKKSTAN** » September 18, 2006, 2:49 pm

You are right arjay,I responded to your post where you used the term ''tourist visa'' that he said he had resided on a long time.Sorry!He used the wrong term tourist visa!

Obvious his concern is that if he goes to Laos to apply for an ''O'' visa,they may turn him down because he has been doing a lot of border runs before.Therefore if they don't give him another 30 day VOA and they turn him down for the "O" visa,he is under the impression that he will be given an extention of 14 days by the consulate in Laos.Or that he has 14 days left on his last VOA,if they turn him down for the ""O"" visa.

The policy staement in the Newspaper was that the changes would take effect OCT.1,and that there would not be any reprecussions for prior VOA's.If he stays very respectful in his discussions and is having a problem,he might ''respectfully remind them of this.

Post by **banpaeng** » September 18, 2006, 2:52 pm

I agree completely Marcus, why folks ask on here (I did it at one time also) instead of calling the embassy/consulate beats me.

You know you might get the right or wrong answer from the embassy/counsulate but they are the ones you have to please.

Post by **Bump** » September 18, 2006, 3:58 pm

Answer a little stress relief and venting, getting the worries out instead of bottling them up inside. Everyone knows the only place to get the real answers is immigration. But being where we are located many times it is difficult to find others to simply discuss these matters so hence the forum is used and proably works very well for that.

May not have all the right answers, but at least you can vent a bit adn we all nee that form time to time. Right now it would seem a lot of farrangs here in Thailand may have a need for that.

Post by **arjay** » September 18, 2006, 4:22 pm

Yes, agreed, a little clarity from grandad in his initial posting would have saved us all a lot of groping in the dark!

Post by **Grandad** » September 18, 2006, 4:25 pm

Sorry for being vague. However, I now have more information than I had before and I think I will be ok (fingers crossed).

Thanks for all your kind help and advice.
G

Post by **Dakoda** » September 18, 2006, 7:08 pm

God help me if you got info from this mess, Good Luck

Post by **sunbeltnortheast** » September 18, 2006, 10:01 pm

The old regulation was that you could only apply for the type-O visa with a tourist visa (or above) and that a 30 day VOA could not be converted. Apparently, the 30 day VOA can now be converted to a type-O visa within Thailand without leaving the country. In BKK, there must be at least 21 days remaining on your stamp at the time you apply. I don't think there is any such restriction here, though there might be. Anyway, we double and triple checked this as it surprised me considering the old regulation.

Post by **sunbeltnortheast** » September 18, 2006, 10:41 pm

My understanding is that the 30 day stamp most people receive when they enter Thailand is not a "Visa on Arrival" but, rather, a "Touris Visa Exemption." It is similar to the exemption that some passport holders receive when entering the US without a visa (mostly from European countries.) In other words, it is not a visa at all. The actual "Visa on Arrival" is a visa to be applied for and that is good for up to 15 days. I think, though, the term "visa on arrival" is much easier to say (or type) and everyone knows what we mean by Visa on Arrival or VOA.

I'm going to Nong Khai immigration this week

I'm going to Nong Khai immigration this week

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