long term visa

[fabman]

hi , i'm planning on moving to thailand ( hua hin ) within the next 6 month and am really not sure which type of visa i should get ..

i am 46 years old from the uk , have a long term girlfriend in hua hin , would i get a longer visa if we were married ?

we own our house in HH

i would like to stay in hua hin as long as posssible without having to return to england every few months ( at least a year )

what are my best options ?

thanks for any advice ...

[lomuamart]

If you marry, you can extend a Non Immigrant O visa for a year at a time here in HH. The potential difficulty will be getting the O visa in the first place as you currently don't qualify - not yet married and not over 50 to be eligible on the basis of retirement.
However, you can try the Hull consulate or any of the others - Birmingham gets good reports at the moment. The O visa comes in either single or multi-entry varieties. The latter will be more difficult to obtain but it's worth doing some homework and giving it a go. You'll get 90 days on arrival here. With the multi-entry you need to exit Thailand every 90 days and get a further 90 days on arrival back here as long as the visa is valid - it will be for a year from date of issue.
For the extension, you'll need to prove that you're married - certificate from the Amphur office - and your wife will need to go to Imm with you and be interviewed. You'll also need to prove an overseas income of minimum 40K THB a month or have 400K THB in a Thai bank account for 3 months before application. It can't fall below that amount prior to application. There are other requirements and we'll be happy to help you out with those if you go down this route.
If you have trouble getting an O visa from the UK, get a Tourist visa which you can upgrade here to a Non Imm O as long as you're married and fulfill the requirements. There's an extra fee of 2,000 THB for this.
Another issue, if trying to extend on the basis of savings, will be timing. The tourist visa will give you 60 days on arrival and can be extended for a further 30. If you havn't already got your 400K in a Thai bank account, you're going to run out of time before the money is correctly seasoned. Therefore best to get a double or even triple entry tourist visa which shouldn't be a problem from Hull. Try to avoid the Embassy in London. They are strict enforcers of the regulations. Consulates are much more generous.

[H2ODunc]

You can also get a 1 - 10 year education visa now where you learn Thai on-line at your own pace for around 12000 baht for a year visa. Very popular here on Samui as it saves you doing visa runs to the border every 60 / 90 days etc.

[bapak]

You can also get a 1 - 10 year education visa now where you learn Thai on-line at your own pace for around 12000 baht for a year visa. Very popular here on Samui as it saves you doing visa runs to the border every 60 / 90 days etc.

Be careful.
I know for a fact that the Ministry of education is investigating schools offering Ed Visa / Online study.
They intend to insist of 80% in class attendance.

[dtaai-maai]

You can also get a 1 - 10 year education visa now where you learn Thai on-line at your own pace for around 12000 baht for a year visa. Very popular here on Samui as it saves you doing visa runs to the border every 60 / 90 days etc.

When you say 1-10 years, do you mean it's renewable for up to 10 years? Is there legislation (or experience) to confirm this, or is it just a claim by the 'school'? If it's being accepted by immigration, I'm sure it's extremely popular, and not just on Samui!

[H2ODunc]

You can also get a 1 - 10 year education visa now where you learn Thai on-line at your own pace for around 12000 baht for a year visa. Very popular here on Samui as it saves you doing visa runs to the border every 60 / 90 days etc.

Be careful.
I know for a fact that the Ministry of education is investigating schools offering Ed Visa / Online study.
They intend to insist of 80% in class attendance.

As you study on-line just how are they going to insist on an 80% attendance ? Maybe you could link us to this FACT the Ministry of Education is running any clamp down ?
As these schools have only just been accepted into the scheme to allow them to issue education visa by the very Ministry you mention I fail to see how or why they would now be clamping down on these schools.
I know of several people that have successfully applied.

[Elaine]

You can also get a 1 - 10 year education visa now where you learn Thai on-line at your own pace for around 12000 baht for a year visa. Very popular here on Samui as it saves you doing visa runs to the border every 60 / 90 days etc.

Be careful.
I know for a fact that the Ministry of education is investigating schools offering Ed Visa / Online study.
They intend to insist of 80% in class attendance.

As you study on-line just how are they going to insist on an 80% attendance ? Maybe you could link us to this FACT the Ministry of Education is running any clamp down ?
As these schools have only just been accepted into the scheme to allow them to issue education visa by the very Ministry you mention I fail to see how or why they would now be clamping down on these schools.
I know of several people that have successfully applied.

I also made some inquiries and was told that when the school makes the application to the Ministry they just say study Thai... Do not mention online. There is quite a furore in Bangkok at the present time (many pages on another forum) and the Ministry is now aware.

[fabman]

thanks guys , the education visa sounds great if it works , do you know the name of any of the schools / colleges in hua hin that offer this service ?

cheers for all the other info as well lomuamart

[barrys]

thanks guys , the education visa sounds great if it works , do you know the name of any of the schools / colleges in hua hin that offer this service ?

cheers for all the other info as well lomuamart

Contact The Learning Centre - sponsor here, I'm taking classes there and find them to be very good.

[bapak]

thanks guys , the education visa sounds great if it works , do you know the name of any of the schools / colleges in hua hin that offer this service ?

cheers for all the other info as well lomuamart

See my PM...