Talk to any expat in Thailand and you will hear a little whining about the visa process. Depending on how you enter the country and what type of visa you are trying to get will determine how much whining takes place. There was a time when anyone could enter the country on a simple 30-day tourist visa and then make a visa run to another country to re-enter soon after with permission for another thirty days. And this process could apparently be repeated ad infinitum. These days it is much harder to stay here unless you have a good reason i.e.. working, studying or retiring.
Anyway, I am working towards obtaining a retirement visa, which is pretty straightforward (but only for me as we were about to find out!). We entered Thailand with a simple stamp on our passports which allows us to stay for thirty days. The first step is to convert this “tourist visa” to a Non-Immigrant-0 Visa. If you meet the following conditions, it only takes a trip to the local immigration office with all the correct paperwork to leave with a Non-Immigrant Visa.
1) You must be at least 50 years old.
2) You must have THB 800,000 in a Thai Bank Account or a monthly pension of at least THB 65,000 or a combination of both that will give you an annual total of THB 800,000.
3) You must have a Medical Certificate.
Three months later, this can be converted to a Retirement Visa.
So we trucked down to the local immigration office thinking that it would be a piece of cake. It was our understanding that Nancy would be able to apply for the Non-Immigrant Visa as my dependent. It didn’t work out quite so easy! I was given a Non-Immigrant Visa…no problem. However, we quickly discovered that Nancy cannot probably piggyback on my visa until I have the actual retirement visa. The only way she can apply for any visa right now is from outside the country. But she has a couple of choices that allow her to stay here for the next three months until my process is completed. However, both these possibilities must take place outside of Thailand!
1) Convince the powers-that-be in a Thai embassy somewhere within travelling distance to give her a 90-day Non-Immigrant Visa or;
2) Convince the same people to give her a real 60-day tourist visa that can be renewed for a further 30 days.
The saga continues… She needs to take a few days and go on a little trip somewhere…Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore..anywhere that has a Thai Embassy that could give her the paper that she needs. If she was over 50, she could apply for her own Retirement Visa but that is a little impossible unless she can age very quickly. So now we wait to hear back from some embassies we have contacted in nearby countries. Only time will tell where she gets to go for this little working vacay. I can’t go with her because my visa prevents me from leaving the country for the next three months!
Your “Floating Market” entry didn’t come through!
Glad you’re back to blogging. Tell Nancy to be safe on her travels!
Karen
There was no “Floating Market” entry. I clicked the wrong thing while testing something!