Enormous shakeup of visa and immigration rules

Post by **rickfarang** » October 9, 2006, 11:21 am

Ray,

I think this is the one you are interested in. It is not necessarily for retired persons, but a retired person could use it.

Reason

7.18 In case of being a member of family of the person who has the residence in Thailand (Only for the father, mother, marriage couple,
ordinary child, adopted child, or a child of the marriage couple) Each time
of permission shall be granted for a period not exceeding 1 year.

Criteria
(1) Foreigner obtains VISA for the temporary stay and

(2) There is any proof of the relationship and,

(3) Incase of the marriage couple, the parties required to have both
practical and legal relationship or,

(4) In case of the ordinary child, adopted child, child of the marriage
couple, these person need to be single/never married and has never lived as
a part of the family before, and shall not be older than 20 years old, or

(5) In case of Father or Mother, the said father or mother shall be not
younger than 50 years old.
Documents Application Form

2. Copy of the passport of the applicant

3. Copy of the proof of relationship such as marriage evidences, birth
certificate, certificate of child adoption registration, copy of census
registration, certificate of adopted child adoption registration, or other
papers issued by the related official organization or government agencies.

4. Copy of the certificate of permanent residence and copy of the ID Card of the foreigner who has the permanent residence in Thailand.

This was copied from the pdf document referenced earlier in this thread, National_Police_Office_Order_Oct_2006.pdf, "National Police Office Order
No. 606/2006"

Post by **Bump** » October 9, 2006, 11:47 am

(5) In case of Father or Mother, the said father or mother shall be not
younger than 50 years old.
Documents Application Form

I think I misread this part.

So the guys entire problem was that he couldn't show an income outside of Thailand of 40Ka month?

Seem to me that could be worked out if you just thought it through a bit.

Wouldn't it be nice if they really did have a retirement visa

Post by **john2005** » October 9, 2006, 12:21 pm

The last paragraph of the pdf file holds some hope:

Within 1 year from the enforcement date of this Order, for the case of the foreigner who has entered Thailand and has been granted to stay temporarily in the Kingdom of Thailand before this Order will be
enforced and disqualifies to the criterions set forth on this Order, the Commander of the Immigration Bureau or the authorized officer shall be responsible to consider granting the permission, based on the necessity of
the applicant, case by case.

As for anyone applying for a "married to a Thai" visa,even millions of Baht in the bank is not acceptable:

(6) In case of the applicant who is
married to a Thai wife, one of them
or both of them need to have the
total annual income that is
averaged out not less than 40,000
Baht per month. Except for the case
that the said foreign national has
entered Thailand before this Order
is enforced and the foreign national
has been permitted to stay in the
Kingdom by the result of having
married to a Thai wife, then if the
applicant does not have the said
income, then, the latest 3 months
records of the account book of any
Bank in Thailand with the account
name of either or both parties need
to have the amount of money not
less than 400,000 Baht.

Post by **Dakoda** » October 10, 2006, 6:52 am

Well just back from Laos, was turned down for an "O" married visa, was given a 60 day (90) tourist visa. (they couldn't even follow the "New Rule") !

Picked up rumor that new changes coming Nov 15

Wish you all good luck

Post by **BKKSTAN** » October 10, 2006, 9:05 am

Did they give you areason for not giving you the ''O'' visa?What visa did you have before?Were you just trying to get the 90 days?Lots of questions I know,it just that I am confused as we are talking about changes and I want to be clear.
I was under the impression that if you wanted a 1 year visa,you had to apply in Thailand!

Post by **Paul** » October 10, 2006, 9:06 am

john2005 wrote:The guy is talking about a marriage visa i think and they are no longer available to new applicants with 400,000 in the bank.You have to show 40,000 baht a month income.No bank balance accepted.

Please state your source for this extremely important piece of news
The number of people this will affect is astronomical

Picture the 40 something year old guy who is reasonably well off and decides to give up the rat race in London - and live quietly in Thailand with his Thai wife. He has no income of such (he doesn't need it) and despite having millions of baht at his disposal - he cannot stay here with his wife because he doesnt have a regular monthly income.
This is almost unbelievable

Again - please quote and/or link to your source

From what I can decipher - those already on extensions wil still be allowed the lump sum route (ie granfathered)

In addition - I could get by quite easily on half that amount per month so each month I have 20k going into a bank account unused - what the heck am I supposed to do with that ? send it back to the UK every few months and get it 'recycled' to be used as a future 40K monthly sum.
Who on earth wants hundreds of thousands of Baht sat in a Thai bank earning no (or almost none) ineterest?

Just wondering !

Post by **Kudjap or Bust** » October 10, 2006, 10:28 am

What about not bothering with the extension process?

A falang married to a Thai national is granted a Multi Entry, Non-Immigrant "O" visa, for 12 months. Hit the border every 3 months, in and out of Laos and all is cosy......

Well, thats the way it has been, I've been doing it for the last 6 years, borders runs have varied depending upon where we were living.....

I'm not old enough for a retirement visa, have no regular job / income (I earn money doing freelance work on the internet)

Are we saying now this has changed and I should start getting concerned???

Post by **john2005** » October 10, 2006, 10:39 am

Here's the source Paul:

http://www.lawyer.th.com/National_Polic ... t_2006.pdf

The relevant section is 7.17 sub section 6

Post by **john2005** » October 10, 2006, 10:56 am

Are we saying now this has changed and I should start getting concerned???

It would appear from Thai visa that of late only a single entry "o" is available.Miltiple entry not being given out.Now dakoda says they are not even giving a single entry in laos.

As for grandfathering for previous applicants,it would appear two have tried it at Pattaya and been refused(source Thai visa)

What is odd to me is that someone over 50 with no wife or family is more welcome than a guy of 45 married to a Thai with three Thai children.Seems ther is no consideration given for four Thai citizens.

Post by **rickfarang** » October 10, 2006, 11:47 am

It would appear that there is a disticnt preference for people who bring foreign funds into the country on a regular basis over those who work within the country.

Ray, there are provisions for retired persons, section 7.21 of the referenced document. They are separate and distinct from the provisions for married persons.

http://www.lawyer.th.com/National_Polic ... t_2006.pdf

Post by **Kudjap or Bust** » October 10, 2006, 11:54 am

john2005
I'm guessing by reading the postings on Thaivisa they're quoting cases whereby persons are trying to get a visa in a local country to Thailand.
I usually make a trip back home to get my new visa, so far no problems with being granted multi entry, 12 month, non-imm "O" visas.
To date I've had 5 Non-Imm "O" and 1 Non-imm "B"

Post by **Dakoda** » October 10, 2006, 12:19 pm

Kudjap or Bust wrote:john2005
I'm guessing by reading the postings on Thaivisa they're quoting cases whereby persons are trying to get a visa in a local country to Thailand.
I usually make a trip back home to get my new visa, so far no problems with being granted multi entry, 12 month, non-imm "O" visas.
To date I've had 5 Non-Imm "O" and 1 Non-imm "B"

as far as I can tell the above has not changed. Would I be concerned? Only fools would not be very concerned

Thinking there are going to be a lot of unhappy thai's and foreigner's in near future!

As far as mine went, someone else will be posting something on thaivisa and when I get the link, will post it.

HERE

Think "gzu88bv" reflects my feelings.

Post by **john2005** » October 10, 2006, 1:27 pm

Hard to fathom.So now,if you are married to a Thai,the most they will give is a tourist visa.It's a bad joke.

Post by **wickder** » October 10, 2006, 2:32 pm

Thanks for the info dakoda,but you do not say what reason was given for refusing an o visa.

Post by **cookie** » October 10, 2006, 2:33 pm

A fiend of mine is 47 years old.
He sold his business in Europe 2 years ago; used to live for 2 years in Thailand now.
Not married and he does not want to marry.
He will now go to Cambodia or Vietnam.
minimum for 3 years and when he will be 50, perhaps he will come back to Thailand.
He will leave with pain in the hart!!

Post by **Dakoda** » October 10, 2006, 4:36 pm

wickder wrote:Thanks for the info dakoda,but you do not say what reason was given for refusing an o visa.

gzu88bv wrote: The lady Ambassador herself literally told me that it is to her discretion to issue me no visa, any visa and whatever visa........she said that I might not get what I asked for when I come back, but, if she pleases, I could maybe get an O visa from her.

What more needs to be said on this subject, Nothing, it was hinted that I was lucky to get the tourist visa.

Post by **Bump** » October 10, 2006, 4:41 pm

OK $64.00 question was she looking for Tea Money?

Post by **arjay** » October 10, 2006, 4:58 pm

As stated above (by John2005) section 7.17.6 seems to deal with those married to a thai wife, and that section does go on to state an either/or solution for those who had entered and been granted a married persons visa prior to the new regulations coming into force. I.e. that they can as an alternative (to proving a monthly income of 40K baht) show a balance in their bank a/c of 400K baht which must have been there over the preceding 3 months.

Post by **Dakoda** » October 10, 2006, 4:59 pm

ray23 wrote:OK $64.00 question was she looking for Tea Money?

NO

Now this was talked about at an outside table (joking) among us FOUR, and the words "jail" came out of the teacher's lips.

Later, the teacher went in to talk about their situation, alone for at least 15 mins. From my understanding she is now making calls, and trying to get answers. A very determine women!

Post by **Bump** » October 10, 2006, 5:06 pm

arjay wrote:As stated above (by John2005) section 7.17.6 seems to deal with those married to a thai wife, and that section does go on to state an either/or solution for those who had entered and been granted a married persons visa prior to the new regulations coming into force. I.e. that they can as an alternative (to proving a monthly income of 40K baht) show a balance in their bank a/c of 400K baht which must have been there over the preceding 3 months.

No doubt this is accurte, however Dakoda is the third person now that has been told no, that I have become aware of in the last two days.

Maybe this is confusion, I have no idea.