Dear Ronnie,
I have been reading this forum for some time now to get information for a visa application. Meanwhile, I can no longer see the wood for the trees.
Just a little explanation of what our plan is. At the beginning of October I will be 50 years old and I am fully incapacitated for work (WAO) and registered in the Netherlands. My wife is Colombian and has a Dutch passport, just like my 10-year-old son who was born in the Netherlands. However, they have been deregistered in the Netherlands because they have been living in Colombia for two years now until next September. They are also not registered in the Netherlands because of compulsory education. The intention is to go to Thailand with the three of us for at least 1 year.
Is the Non-Immigrant Visa Category O Multiple Entry the right thing to apply for and then out of the country every 3 months? I think I have also read that you can stay in Thailand for 1 year but then have to go to the Immigration Office in Bangkok or is that also possible in the place where we are going to settle? And what are the current financial requirements?
My WAO benefit may not be high enough, but I do have rental income. I assume that a visa support letter must also be drawn up at the embassy?
Since the visa information on the website is pretty minimal, I ask you this question.
Yours faithfully,
Marco
Dear Mark,
You will first have to make sure that you are 50 years old if you want to try it in a Non-immigrant way. Whether you will then be able to obtain a Non-immigrant “O” Multiple entry visa at the Thai Embassy in The Hague is the question. There they demand that you submit proof of (early) retirement, I understand several times.
But you actually only need a Non-immigrant “O” Single entry if you plan to renew anyway. You will first receive a 90-day stay upon arrival and you can then extend that for a year. In Thailand, your wife and son can then extend as your "Dependent", so that only you will have to meet the financial requirements.
You do not have to leave Thailand every 90 days.
But to get that Non-immigrant “O” Single entry for you first, you might be better off going to the Consulate in Amsterdam or maybe even in Essen (Germany) I think. According to my information and also on the website of the Consulate in Amsterdam, 50 years is sufficient. Your wife and child will normally get that, even if your wife is not yet 50.
The website is currently unavailable, but that's the link. Can you check it out later when it's back in the air. www.royalthaiconsulateamsterdam.nl/index.php/visa-service/visum-aanvragen
In any case, you will still need the passport of your wife and son to apply for a visa for them as well. Or will they apply for it in Colombia? I suspect the latter will make things even more complicated.
I'm not going to repeat everything here again, as TB Immigration Info Brief 022/19 – The Thai Visa (7) – The Non-Immigrant “O” Visa (1/2) has just been released. This is about the Non-immigrant “O” how to apply. https://www.thailandblog.nl/dossier/visum-thailand/immigration-infobrief/tb-immigration-info-brief-022-19-het-thaise-visum-7-het-non-immigrant-o-visum- 1-2/
Today or tomorrow the sequel will also appear “TB Immigration Info letter 024/19 – The Thai visa (8) – The Non-immigrant “O” visa (2/2)”
That is about extending your period of stay in Thailand. Suggest you read all of that first.
I also definitely recommend contacting the embassy and/or consulate in advance to explain your situation there, because you can hardly call your situation “everyday”….
That's not to say there isn't a solution, of course.
And then your son's compulsory education.
I'm not going to respond to that because I don't know much about it anyway or am aware of it, but I'm going to assume that you are...
Regards,
RonnyLatYa