Help with visa based on child support

[fabman]

Hope someone can give me some advice with this one

I am looking at staying in LOS on the Basis that my daughter lives here ( half Thai ) and i am supporting her.

I arrived back here January 2017 from England on a Retirement Visa , which gave my 1 year + another year , my original visa ran out in December last year , but the visa still allowed me to stay another 12 months ( reporting to the immigration every 3 months )

I left Thailand to take my daughter back to see her family in England this month

The mistake i made was not getting a re entry visa / permit ..so now i can only extend my stay by another 30 days , when my initial 30 days runs out. So in theory my Visa is cancelled

Its not possible for me to get another retirement visa , as the income level is higher ( especially with the exchange rate ) and i dont really want to pay an agency 15-20K to sort it out every year

I am pretty sure i can get all of the documents to prove that i am the father of my daughter ( she already has a British Passport ) and the 40K per month income

I dont live with her mother , but we get along Ok ( so any documentation from her should be fine )

The question is how do i go about getting this visa ? Non immigrant "0" visa

Do i now have to leave Thailand , go to Laos for example to get a visa ?

I dont want to go all the way there and find out i am missing some documentation.

Is it still possible to get this visa in Thailand ?

Thanks for any advice

[DSB]

Hi, Fabman,
I am just going through a similar situation. You can go to immigration here and apply for a non-O visa, as long as you have at least 15 days left on your 30 day visa. This will cost you 2,000 baht for the application, and if approved you will get the 90 day visa on the day your 30 day visa expires. After the 90 day visa you can convert this to the retirement visa you had before. The documentation should include your money in the bank, your proof of address, a map of your place of residence ( I printed a copy of google maps), passport (of course), and anything else you can think of. The process took me less than an hour, and the lady at the photocopy machine can be very helpful to get your application together. Hope that helps

[fabman]

Thanks for the reply DSB , the problem for me though is that i dont have enough funds to get the retirement visa ( i was working before in the UK thats how i got the last one ) I think the income for that is 60-65K per month. Whereas the family / dependent visa only requires 40K per month. Pound sterling is a pretty useless currency these days..

I will pop down to immigration and check out what they say though anyways, cheers

[T.O.M.]

This should answer your questions........But better check with local immigration
https://awbiz.asia/thai-child-support-visa/

[Takiap]

I'm not sure exactly how it works in a case such as yours, but I am 100% sure that it can be done because a mate of mine was here legally on the basis of supporting his son who lived with him after he and his Thai wife got divorced.

Best of luck.

[T.O.M.]

Not married to the mother....Not living with the child....Only supporting the child economically...

IMO that should not qualify you for a "family"-visa...If immigration allowed that, it would create a major loophole in the existing rules regarding economic requirements to qualify for a visa. How much support is enough to get a visa....500 baht/month......10.000 baht/month?
If your income is not enough...may I suggest, you use the route of income + savings....Or pay an agent to solve your problems.

[fabman]

Thanks for the advice guys

My daughters mother and me, both take care of her. I see her almost every day. I pay for all her school fees etc.

[buksida]

Immigration will want to see proof that you are living together, photos of the house and you and the child(ren) in it. They are very fussy about this and really do not like doing this type of visa as it has to go to Bangkok.

The financial requirements are the same as marriage, 400k for three months or 40k per month, letter from the bank, book updated the same day. Of course you'll need all of the documents, birth certs, blue/yellow books, maps, wife's ID, etc, and they will want you to bring the child(ren) to the office when you apply so they can photograph them.

Good luck, it is not easy, and everything I have just posted maybe completely different on the day.

[fabman]

Thanks

Popped down to immigration today , they advised me to get a 30 day tourist extension this month (September) , next month get a 60 day family visit visa , after that expires apply for the 1 year family visa. They gave me all the forms and info i needed. Lots of forms and things to sort out first, but hopefully all will be OK.

[sefty]

Another important thing that hasn't been mentioned is to petition the court to become the lawful father if you are unmarried. Your name written in Thai on the birth certificate is inconsequential. This can take 3 months. Thai men unmarried, have to do this also.
Also, by you marrying the girl this is bypassed and you automatically become the lawful father.
It's not easy....

[oakdale160]

Not that my thoughts are any help but it is really appalling that you who are trying to d the right thing in supporting your child both emotionally and financially have so many hurdles placed in your way, whereas the standard Thai male just impregnates and leaves. Best wishes in your efforts.