TB Immigration Info Brief 111/19 – Immigration Bangkok (Chaeng Wattana) – “Thai Marriage” Year Extension
Notification: Tom Bang
Subject: Immigration Bangkok (Chaeng Wattana)
Extension ”Thai wife visa”. Today 13-11 went to Changwattana road in Bangkok to extend my visa with expiry date 14-11. It still took some effort to get everything together in time because I was under the assumption that it would only expire on the 19th.
On Monday the 11th, my wife put all the necessary and present papers at work in the photocopier and made a copy of everything 4x so that we would certainly not bring too little. She is over worried that something is missing because last year when we went for the first time we had to go back home to take extra pictures.
On Tuesday morning the 12th when her sister got home on time from work, we completely filled the memory card of my wife's phone with photos. In front of the house on the street with house number and mailbox, in front of the front door with the dog, on the sofa in the living room, in the clean kitchen and in the bedroom.
I then took her to work, 2 hours late, but she had informed her boss in the morning that she would come a little later, which is possible (if I ask her to take time off, it is usually not possible because it is always busy) .
In the evening I then divided everything into piles, of which 1 pile signed everything and the rest as a reserve (who knows what they will come up with now).
We arrived around 9.00:40 am and there were XNUMX waiting in front of us, pffff, it went pretty fast and then everyone was told that to spare the officers everyone would be called by another employee to do a preliminary investigation to see if all the papers were correct.
And yes, I had not expected anything else, we still had to copy something, all pages of the passbook, so we quickly went into the basement to arrange that. When we came up again, our number had already appeared and so when we walked in to the employee we were told that they had already called our number several times, but we were at least helped.
And as if the devil is playing with it, this employee also had wishes, a copy of the marriage certificate that she had an employee make (that saves another walk to the basement), but then she still wanted more copies of 2 sheets with photos that we had to make them yourself because they were color copies, what do you need duplicates for? ( next year my wife will probably bring the copier home and we will rent a car to take everything to the government complex 555 ).
All stamps were already in the passport, I had already paid, but first those copies had to be delivered. Done and handed in just before 12.00, but the head employee who still had to sign the papers had already gone to lunch, so that's what we did then.
Present again at 13.00:XNUMX, but then you have to wait for someone else to turn and as soon as they get out of their chair, you have to make sure that the employee sees you, otherwise she will continue with the next one, she will signal someone and says that we can sit down again until the other person calls me and is waving his card and bank book.
Under consideration is now in it and on 11-12 I can come back to get the final stamp and I must not forget to bring my passport (seems quite logical to me) and copies of all pages of my bank book updated on that day ? Yeah strange.
Have a nice day, she says, nice to be able to talk English with a farang, she says.
All in all it went faster than last year because then we were only gone at 16.00 pm and now at 13.15 pm.
Reaction RonnyLatYa
It is not so exceptional that at the end of the “Under consideration” stamp you are asked to also bring the updated bank book. Usually, it is checked again whether the required 400 Baht is still there because the annual extension is not yet allowed until then. Afterwards you can do whatever you want with it. The fact that copies of all pages from the bank book must also be supplied is exceptional…. I suspect it will depend on the "expertise" of the officer. 😉
Note: “Reactions are very welcome on the subject, but limit yourself here to the subject of this “TB Immigration Infobrief. If you have other questions, if you would like to see a topic covered, or if you have information for the readers, you can always send it to the editors. Use only for this www.thailandblog.nl/contact/. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation”
Regards,
RonnyLatYa
You can avoid some of the stress by renewing well before the due date.
I always do it at least 4 weeks before the expiration date, if something is not right, you still have plenty of time to put your papers in order.
The original expiration date remains unchanged, so you do not lose a day.
I have not yet had that “Under consideration” stamp with my Non OA at renewals.
I'm guessing this is only linked to a Thai Marriage Visa, correct?
Indeed, it is usually used with an extension based on Thai Marriage.
The standard duration is 30 days almost everywhere, but this can actually be extended to a maximum of 30 days after the end date of your current period of stay, in other words, for example, if you request your extension 3 weeks before the end date, they will usually give an “Under consideration” of 30 days, but this can be extended to a maximum of 51 days in this case.
It mainly serves to give immigration time to conduct a neighborhood survey. Immigration then come along to see whether people are really living together. “de jure and de facto” as they say so nicely in immigration regulations. Which actually means that you not only have to legally, but also actually live together. This can range from taking photos to questioning the neighbors and village manager to determine whether they have any problem with your stay there and/or whether you are causing any nuisance.
It is less common for extensions based on “Retirement”, but that does not mean that it is not allowed or does not happen. There are immigration offices that also impose an “under consideration” period in the event of “retirement”. Usually the smaller immigration offices do this sometimes. They then use this to look at your finances in more detail, or also talk to the neighborhood to see if you are causing any nuisance, etc... At the larger immigration offices, where many annual extensions are processed, it is more of an exception as "Retired". but always possible. There is also no regulation anywhere that says this is not allowed with “Retired”.
Still forgotten. This “Under consideration” period ultimately has no consequences for the duration of your new annual extension. If approved, regardless of when the “Under consideration” period ends, the annual extension will always follow the last day of your previous period of stay. So you don't lose or gain anything with an “under consideration” period that would extend beyond your last period of residence.
If matters arise during the “under consideration” period that are not compatible with allowing a subsequent annual extension, you will still obtain an extension of 7 days after that “Under consideration” period. This should give you time to leave Thailand within a legal period.
Dear Roland,
such an 'under consideration' stamp can in fact be given at each annual renewal. That again depends on the Immigration Office. Previously this was only given if the extension was based on Thai Marriage. This gave Imm time to verify things and that usually happened in Bangkok and not in the local Immi office.
Here in Chumphom, it's now the third year in a row that EVERY year's renewal has been stamped under consideration first. That was not the case before. When you collect the final stamp, you only have your passport here. Why now and not before? Who's to say: TIT….