Hi guys, I haven't posted for a while because my life took an unexpected shitty turn! I was until about May of last year, married to a wonderful Thai lady and we lived, despite our problems, fairly happily in the UK but, now don't get me wrong, this ain't no 'bad Thai lady' story, our marriage didn't work out as we had hoped, in fact, she remains to be the most remarkable(in a good way!) person I've ever met. Anyway we are now separated and I still want to relocate to LOS and she wishes to remain in the UK. I am a relatively young man of 33. What I would like to know is due to my esoteric situation,what kind of Visa should I try to obtain ? and what requirements would I have to meet? This is a kind of reverse situation story, where the young(23) Thai girl tries to win back the penniless farang!
I still love the girl massively and will endeavor to assist her all the way. I could spend hours trawling your archives for loosely related titbits that may pertain to my specific circumstances but I hope you will forgive my audacity and come to my aid.
I had considered many destinations in LOS but Hua Hin still remains a favourite because of your very genorous and caring online community. By the way, I have just downloaded footage of the Led Zep O2 gig and I must confess, I wept...it was so F**king good! All hail the ghost of Bonzo!
I thank you for any asisstance with my visa prediciment!
Coming to LOS
Sorry to hear your marriage did not work out NS but good to hear you are still friends. Quoting from your post you want to relocate rather than a holiday, you are 33 and penniless!
Oops, I think you should concentrate on a job rather than dealing with visas. Visas are a hassle nowadays but the job part is even harder. Good luck. But maybe you are a qualified teacher? I think you have a better change finding something in Bangkok and spending the weekends in HH for a start.
Oops, I think you should concentrate on a job rather than dealing with visas. Visas are a hassle nowadays but the job part is even harder. Good luck. But maybe you are a qualified teacher? I think you have a better change finding something in Bangkok and spending the weekends in HH for a start.
We are all living in 'the good old days' of the future.
Sorry to hear about your predicament. Maybe it'll improve? I'll try and deal with the visa issues.
First off, at your age and separated from your Thai wife, it's not going to be easy to remain in Thailand long-term - although not impossible.
When you first come over, get a multiple-entry Non Immigrant O visa. The best place to apply would be the consulate in Hull. Reason for visa, "to visit family and friends". It can be applied for by post in the UK and it's normally back with you in 3 days or so. It'll be valid for a year and when you arrive you'll get an entry of 90 days. All you have to do thereafter is exit Thailand every 90 days and you'll get the same entry of 90 days each time you come back in, until your visa expires. If you time things correctly and exit a day or so before the visa expires, you'll get a "bonus" 90 day stay therefore making the visa work for approximately 15 months.
After that, it gets tricky. The normal way people stay here long term is to extend a Non Immigrant visa annually at an Imm office within Thailand, but you have to meet certain criteria to be able to do so. The usual ones are when you're married to a Thai, retiring or working. For retirement, you've got be over 50. Working is a separate issue. I can't see marriage getting through either because Imm are going to want to see your wife with you. In the case of the "marriage" extension you'd also need to show a minimum monthly income of 40k Baht from overseas.
You could try a nearby consulate, say Penang, for future Non O visas, but you'll need the marriage certificate, copy of your wife's ID card and possibly financial information again. In your situation, I can't see this being a long term option.
Then there's combinations of Tourist visas and 30 day entries, but you can now only have 3x30 day visa exemption stamps in any one 6 month period. There should be no limit to the number of tourist visas you can make, but neighbouring Thai missions are starting to set their own limits on these.
So, all in all, it ain't going to be easy for you, I'm afraid, but as I said at the beginning, not impossible.
Also, how long has your wife been in the UK? Did she come on a settlement visa and has she been there for over 2 years, thereby getting ILR? If so, I think she can stay without you. If not, you're still her sponsor and she needs to be with you for the Settlement visa to remain valid. Maybe she'll have a hard time remaining in the UK? I'm not really "up to date" on the UK angle, but believe this is the case. So, might she consider a return to Thailand where you can try and repair the bridges? If so and you've got the income, getting annual extensions to the Non Imm O visa shouldn't be too difficult,
Good luck.
PS, there's also the option of returning to the UK every 15 months or so and getting a new multi-entry Non imm O visa.
First off, at your age and separated from your Thai wife, it's not going to be easy to remain in Thailand long-term - although not impossible.
When you first come over, get a multiple-entry Non Immigrant O visa. The best place to apply would be the consulate in Hull. Reason for visa, "to visit family and friends". It can be applied for by post in the UK and it's normally back with you in 3 days or so. It'll be valid for a year and when you arrive you'll get an entry of 90 days. All you have to do thereafter is exit Thailand every 90 days and you'll get the same entry of 90 days each time you come back in, until your visa expires. If you time things correctly and exit a day or so before the visa expires, you'll get a "bonus" 90 day stay therefore making the visa work for approximately 15 months.
After that, it gets tricky. The normal way people stay here long term is to extend a Non Immigrant visa annually at an Imm office within Thailand, but you have to meet certain criteria to be able to do so. The usual ones are when you're married to a Thai, retiring or working. For retirement, you've got be over 50. Working is a separate issue. I can't see marriage getting through either because Imm are going to want to see your wife with you. In the case of the "marriage" extension you'd also need to show a minimum monthly income of 40k Baht from overseas.
You could try a nearby consulate, say Penang, for future Non O visas, but you'll need the marriage certificate, copy of your wife's ID card and possibly financial information again. In your situation, I can't see this being a long term option.
Then there's combinations of Tourist visas and 30 day entries, but you can now only have 3x30 day visa exemption stamps in any one 6 month period. There should be no limit to the number of tourist visas you can make, but neighbouring Thai missions are starting to set their own limits on these.
So, all in all, it ain't going to be easy for you, I'm afraid, but as I said at the beginning, not impossible.
Also, how long has your wife been in the UK? Did she come on a settlement visa and has she been there for over 2 years, thereby getting ILR? If so, I think she can stay without you. If not, you're still her sponsor and she needs to be with you for the Settlement visa to remain valid. Maybe she'll have a hard time remaining in the UK? I'm not really "up to date" on the UK angle, but believe this is the case. So, might she consider a return to Thailand where you can try and repair the bridges? If so and you've got the income, getting annual extensions to the Non Imm O visa shouldn't be too difficult,
Good luck.
PS, there's also the option of returning to the UK every 15 months or so and getting a new multi-entry Non imm O visa.