Hua Hin Immigration Office services

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adie.
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Post by adie. »

Thanks for the reply lomuamart, i will check it out in hua hin when i get there.

:cheers:
billseymour
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Post by billseymour »

Just to complete my story, I went to the HH Immigration office yesterday morning, and they were able to renew my one-year non-immigrant "Thai wife" visa. The whole process took about 90 minutes, and they were extremely pleasant and helpful.
lomuamart
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Post by lomuamart »

billseymour wrote:Just to complete my story, I went to the HH Immigration office yesterday morning, and they were able to renew my one-year non-immigrant "Thai wife" visa. The whole process took about 90 minutes, and they were extremely pleasant and helpful.
Thanks for the report. That's good news.
Norseman
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Post by Norseman »

Good news billseymour and nice to hear all went your way, but why on earth did you have to spend 90 min there?
For me it took only 20 minutes!!
Any particular problem?
I intend to live forever - so far so good.
billseymour
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Post by billseymour »

Norseman,

No particular problem. The office was quite busy, so there were a number of interruptions while the officers conferred among themselves. We forgot to take copies of my wife's ID card, so there was a delay while she went across the road to the Kodak place for copies. We chatted for some time with the officer handling our case, just general sanuk stuff, like where is the best som tam in HH. All in all, a reasonable experience.

By the way, I have often wondered about this: the "Thai wife" visa is not listed on that huge green board in the Bangkok office that shows the documentary requirements for different types of visas, nor is it listed on the Immigration Bureau web site. Does anyone know why this is? And the derivative question -- how many other kinds of visas are there for which no information is displayed?
lomuamart
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Post by lomuamart »

billseymour wrote:Norseman,

No particular problem. The office was quite busy, so there were a number of interruptions while the officers conferred among themselves. We forgot to take copies of my wife's ID card, so there was a delay while she went across the road to the Kodak place for copies. We chatted for some time with the officer handling our case, just general sanuk stuff, like where is the best som tam in HH. All in all, a reasonable experience.

By the way, I have often wondered about this: the "Thai wife" visa is not listed on that huge green board in the Bangkok office that shows the documentary requirements for different types of visas, nor is it listed on the Immigration Bureau web site. Does anyone know why this is? And the derivative question -- how many other kinds of visas are there for which no information is displayed?
I would reckon it's because there's strictly speaking no such thing as a "Thai wife/marriage" visa.
What you get is a year's extension to an existing Non O on the basis of marriage.
Semantics, I know, but that's probably why it's not listed.
billseymour
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Post by billseymour »

lomuamart,

Since I am very much a neophyte on the subject of visas, I will certainly defer to your judgement. By the way, what does "Non O" mean -- is it the same as "non-Immigrant"?

But here's our story: my Thai wife and I were married a while ago, and we lived in Palo Alto, California for a few years before I retired and we relocated to Thailand. When I looked at the various published visa requirements, it seemed that a Retirement visa was the best option, so at the end of my initial three-month visa (issued in Los Angeles) I applied for a Retirement visa at the Bangkok Immigration office. When I submitted my application there seemed to be some confusion on their part, and a nice lady led us from office to office to office for about two hours, before we finally ended up somewhere on the third floor around the corner from the big boss' office.

The senior officer we were then dealing with advised me to apply for a "Thai Wife" visa. He said the financial requirements were less (only B400k in the bank), and I could work if I so desired. Working wasn't important for me, but I thought I might as well take the offer.

I now have several very large stamps in my passport saying "THAI WIFE" in capital letters.
lomuamart
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Post by lomuamart »

OK, that's strange.
Non O is, as you said a Non Immigrant Visa, category "O" for "other". This is as opposed to category "B" for business, "I" for investment etc etc. There's quite a few of them.
Is the "Thai wife" stamp actually on your original visa rather than a separate one for 90 day reporting? If on your visa, I obviously stand corrected. I thought the visa would just have "O" written or typed on it. You'd then get other stamps for reporting or extensions.
billseymour
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Post by billseymour »

So here are the details: every time my one-year visa is renewed there are two stamps -- one on the day of application stating "Application for extension of stay is under consideration.........", and another about six weeks later stating "Extension of stay permitted......"

The words "THAI WIFE" are stamped above the former, and below the latter, in letters much larger than anything else on the page. There is no "O" or "Other" stamped anywhere.

Also, there are no stamps for the 90-day reporting. I have just been mailing the form (T47 I think) to the office in Bangkok, attaching copies of my visa and my most recent TM (the HH Immigration officer told me that now that I am renewing my visa in HH, in the future I must submit the 90-day reports to HH).
lomuamart
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Post by lomuamart »

OK,
I think it's just a case of semantics, as I said before. I'm sure there's no such thing as a Non Immigrant visa category, say "M", for marriage. My understanding is that you get a single/double/multiple entry Non Imm "O" initially as you are married to a Thai. When you apply for the extension to the original visa, they stamp that it's under consideration or granted as you have a Thai wife.
Either way, you're here for a year and able to do the reporting in HH :thumb:
Roll on next year when I get mine.
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