Reader question: I will no longer receive an annual visa during my stay in a Thai temple, what now?
Dear readers,
I'm in a very tricky package. Would be very happy to get advice from you, about a visa. I know that there is already a lot about Thailand blog, but I would like some personal advice from you please.
Just a bit of history, since 7 years I have been in Thailand off and on and live in a Thai Temple, first that was Wat Sanghathan and then a Temple in Nakhon Pathom. Never had any problems with my visa because on arrival this was always neatly changed by the Temple into a one-year visa.
However, now a problem has arisen in my last Temple. I went to the Netherlands for a check-up for my brain tumor and was told that I had to get a Non-immigrant O visa in Amsterdam, a Single Entry. Done.
Upon arrival back in Thailand I would receive a work permit because the Temple in Nakhon Pathom is registered as a foundation. On arrival I was told that I could not enter anymore, very disappointed, back to a Temple in Supanburi, but everything went wrong and now I am without a temple and my Non Immigrant Visa O Single says enter before 12 June 2014 on the immigration stamp from the airport it says March 28, 2014 arrival and Admitted until June 25, 2014.
After all these years I now have to make a visa run to Cambodia if no one in my old temple wants to help me and I assume that.
What should I do? Sorry for my long story, I'm very down about this.
Best regards,
Anja
Dear Anja, could it be that you made a mistake when you left Thailand? If you have a reantry visa
If you had taken it for 1000 bath, I don't think anything would have happened. I think if you have lived and worked here for 7 years that you should have known this. But I could be wrong. How to solve it?
Converting your visa via income statement etc to a one-year visa is not possible?
Maybe others here can advise you. I wish you the best of luck.
Dear Jan,
Thank you very much for the info, Unfortunately I did not make a mistake, but was too gullible in the temple where I last lived. They immediately said at immigration in Nakhon Pathom, no problem you don't have to get a re-entry visa because everything will be arranged in your new temple, Not so, promised everything and no more new entry and also lost my money for the initiation that I would have had on April 6th, Below par to steal money from a Thai Nun, sorry to say it that way. I thought I was dealing with honest and trustworthy people, Thought I would finally find the temple where I could become a female monk, The only Temple in Thailand where Mother Superior spoke good English, no so that's how it can go in Thailand. Thanks again for the info.
Moderator: please only respond to the reader's question.
Your Non-Immigrant O Single Entry visa was used on March 28, 2014, so you will have to leave Thailand no later than June 25 as stated in your passport.
The date of June 12, 2014 is no longer important here as it is a Single entry and you have already entered with it. You cannot make a visa run on this visa.
The only option to stay on the basis of this visa is to request an extension at Immigration as “retired”.
I will not repeat the requirements because they have already been mentioned enough and otherwise you will just read Dossier Visa.
If you do not meet the requirement, you will indeed have to get a new visa in another country, as many people do and that does not have to be Cambodia.
By the way, a visa run is not torture, thousands are doing it….
Thanks Ronnie for the info. I'm going to ask again in my previous temple if they can help me. A visa doesn't seem like torture to me at all, but do I have to go back every 3 weeks or can it also be extended for 3 months?
Sorry to ask again, otherwise I'll have a look at Thailandblog.
If you get an extension as a nun because you are connected to a temple, this will probably be for a year, so you don't have to do any visa runs and everything is solved. Just like in the past
So definitely try to get the cooperation of that temple.
If they have helped you for 7 years I don't understand why they wouldn't want this anymore
In any case, you cannot perform visa runs on your current visa, only extend it in Thailand.
I don't know if you qualify for this? Do you meet the requirements?
If they do not want to help you, you will have to get a new visa in another country.
Your visa runs then depend on the visa you have received.
Usually this will be every 90 days.
(I don't know what you mean by those 3 weeks?)
personal advice
Stay out of the illegal circuit or solutions that propose visa-run offices.
A visa run is indeed not torture. You can also keep an eye on cheap tickets via AirAsia, for example, then you don't necessarily have to cross the border by bus/minivan. Had to make a visa run myself last week, and made the best of it by making a weekend in Kuala Lumpur. Flew for less than 2000 Baht return.
The advantage of flying to Malaysia is that you do not have to incur any costs for a visa for Malaysia.
go to a visa run office in pattaya or bkk. They will tell you the options there.
it's possible, don't worry.w
You have until June 25 to ask a temple if they can book you as a student of Buddhism and then the authorities will not convert your visa into a one-year extension.
If that doesn't work, try to get a nun im O in a neighboring country.
I can tell you that in Laos people want to see 8 tons of baht in a Thai bank and you have to be 50 years or older. If that does not work or is not possible, then you have to go back to your 'home country' to buy a Non im O or a Non OA at the consulate in Amsterdam. There are some conditions for which I refer you to the website of that consulate.
Success.
Your question covers a fairly exceptional situation.
In addition to what visa expert Ronny 'LatPrao' Mergits writes, I believe your need is covered by the Non-Immigrant visa 'ED'. This visa is “To study, work-study trip, observation, participate in projects or seminars, attend a conference or course, study as a Buddhist monk.” See dossier Visa Thailand (appendix, pages 7-8, 13-15) and
http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/123/15402-Types-of-Visa.html
The rules for an ED visa have been tightened quite recently.
You must apply for that visa in the Netherlands on the basis of documentation from Thailand. Granting your ED visa at a Thai embassy in another country is extremely unlikely. An internationally-tinted temple certainly knows what they have to deliver for this. If you want to know exactly what is needed, go to a 'farang' religious organization in Thailand for advice, because they regularly have it at hand. I can put you in touch with that ( [email protected] ).
Please note, a 'visa run' (= activating a subsequent, already authorized visa period) does not apply to you, because you have a single entry Non-Immigrant visa 'O' with a maximum stay of 90 days. You must leave Thailand on the 90th day at the latest to get either an extra 15 days (new entry by land), or 30 days (by air, to eg Kuala Lumpur); you then use the 'visa exemption' scheme.
If you are 50 years or older, and you can meet the income requirements, there is also the option of an 'annual visa' (= extension of your 'O' visa by 1 year at a time; you can do that in Thailand, briefly before the expiration of your 90 days). That is a very simple procedure where you are not dependent on anyone. You can request this at any Immigration office, but it is best at a large office, because only there they know the rules well! That is actually the best 'structural' solution for your (annually recurring) problem!
Dear MACB,
I appreciate you calling me an expert, but I've just gathered information and an expert is more than that, so I'd rather not use that title.
As for Anja
We also don't really know what happened, and why that entry was not possible or why everything went wrong. However, I understand that this may be sensitive for her to write this on the blog and we must respect that.
I didn't mention it ED because she actually already has a good visa.
With her current 'O' visa, she can go in many directions.
http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/123/15398-Issuance-of-Visa.html
“Other activities (Category “O”) as follows:
to stay with the family, to perform duties for the state enterprise or social welfare organizations, to stay after retirement for the elderly, to receive medical treatment, to be a sport coach as required by Thai Government, to be a contestant or witness for the judicial process.
It is also important in her question that she speaks of a work permit.
So she probably wants to do something active (whether paid or not) for that temple and then she will need a work permit.
In that case the ED does not cover the need either, because as far as I know you cannot get a work permit based on an ED. However, she can do this with her current “O”.
As I wrote earlier, it is important that she ask her previous temple to take her in just like the previous years.
If they have been doing this for her for 7 years, I think this should continue. If they don't want to do that, I'm afraid they don't want to provide ED papers either.
(@Erik - It is of course not the case that the temple will issue a year extension itself as she writes, but I think someone from the temple went to Immigration with her passport and arranged that for her.
Things like that happen often)
The best solution is therefore that everything is arranged as in previous years.
Your suggestion to ask a 'farang' religious organization in Thailand for advice is always possible if contacts are difficult and is certainly good advice. Maybe they can mean something to her.
If nothing works, the solution of an “O” due to “retired” remains.
The advantage is that it is something that you have some control over yourself, and is therefore also a “structural” solution in the longer term, as long as you meet the requirements of course.
The disadvantage is that no work permit can be obtained, but perhaps this should be taken into account during the activities.
Thank you very much for all the good tips, I will certainly keep them in mind, now get help from all sides from Temples who have known me for some time. I don't see it so gloomy anymore. Thank you all for taking the time to leave a message.