arjay wrote:The 800K and 65K figures are definitely for a Retirement Visa, not a married to a Thai visa.

Doc wrote:That's not what my friend was told. It is also not what is on the paper that they gave him. It specifically states for Non-Immigrant O Visas. Maybe Nong Khai is doing things differently now?

I note you referred to an "O" Visa. Maybe we are at cross purposes then. A retirement visa is I believe an O/A visa and requires the figures of 800 or 65K baht. Those were the figures on the paper they gave me last September when renewing my Retirement Visa.

See this thread for further info:

http://www.udonmap.com/udonthaniforum/v ... php?t=3315

I wouldn't doubt Nong Khai are making up their own rules as they go along. They always seemed to me to be more obstructive, than helpful.

I was recently passing the Immigration office in Patong, Phuket, and being aware that my 90 day report was due in a further 2+ weeks, and having my passport with me, I put my head in the door and asked if I could notify/confirm my address in advance of the due date.

The officer asked for my passport, opened the page, crossed out the existing date, stamped a new date 90 days hence, and handed my passport back to me all within about 60 seconds and before I had even had a chance to sit down. Oh and I forgot to say, all done with a smile. Not like Nong Khai as I remember it.

arjay wrote:I note you referred to an "O" Visa. Maybe we are at cross purposes then. A retirement visa is I believe an O/A visa and requires the figures of 800 or 65K baht. Those were the figures on the paper they gave me last September when renewing my Retirement Visa.

All that I know for sure is the following:

1. My friend has a marriage O visa. He went to renew his O visa and was only able to obtain a 90 day extension because he didn't meet the financial requirements.

2. He brought back with him a paper written in both Thai and English outline the financial requirements.

It could be that the person in Immigration thought he had a Retirement Visa - but that could be a stretch of the immagination.

arjay wrote:The officer asked for my passport, opened the page, crossed out the existing date, stamped a new date 90 days hence, and handed my passport back to me all within about 60 seconds and before I had even had a chance to sit down. Oh and I forgot to say, all done with a smile. Not like Nong Khai as I remember it.

Nong Khai has really clamped down on the 90 day reports. Where they used to give you one week past the date - they don't any more. 500 Baht each day. No questions asked.

I almost got hit for 16,000 Baht because I reported late according to the piece of paper they staple to the last page of your passport. I never knew it was there. The date on that was different than the last date stamped in my passport - the difference because I had gone in to have my new passport have the visas put in about a month after my last check in. Fortunately, my excuse for being a month late was accepted and there weren't any charges.

rickfarang wrote:From postings on this board, it seems as though Nong Khai has been doing things their own way for quite a while. So, yes to that.

Ricohoc, so give them your hotel as an address or that of a friend. I have used my mother-in law's address, and those of a lady friend in the past. I never received any document of importance at either of those addresse after many years.

Thanks. I thought about that, but wasn't sure ...

Doc wrote:Nong Khai has really clamped down on the 90 day reports. Where they used to give you one week past the date - they don't any more. 500 Baht each day. No questions asked.

Well, at least that sounds consistent. In Patong, they did tell me of the introduction of a 500 baht per day charge for reporting late, and with no days of grace. But it was all done with a smile on the face, whilst he was stamping the new reporting date in my passport. I was not asked to fill in any forms either. He just stamped the new date.

I know I've related this before on another thread, but I'll repeat it again here, in case it helps or re-assures anyone in a similar situation:-

When I made preliminary enquiries at AEK last September, about renewing my Retirement Visa, the younger guy I first spoke to told me that I had to have 800K in my Thai bank a/c., OR be able to show that I had transferred into my Thai bank a minimum of 12 months x 65K =800K baht over the preceding year. He didn't seem to know that it was acceptable to simply show that you had a monthly pension income of at least 65K. There isn't a requirement that all of the 65K has to be transferred into your Thai bank a/c. He tried to assert that one had to meet requirements 2 AND 3 on the list which he gave me. Whereas when I read it again carefully at home it clearly said "OR", after each of the possible criteria.

When I subsequently went to Nong Khai to renew, the Sqn Ldr guy dealt with me and simply accepted the letter from the British Embassy confirming my pension income, together with a letter from my Thai bank confirming the current balance of my a/c (about 250K baht) and the amounts transferred in over the past year, which did NOT total anything near 800K.

They did however send me off to get a second set of photocopies and wanted to see a tabian bahn (there being no official requirement to have the latter). When I delicately queried the latter (which I hadn't had or needed the year before in Phuket), he said it was so they knew where to find me if there were any problems - which I construed as "to verify my address".

They do seem to not want to make these things to easy, or indeed to create a few hoops for people to have to jump through.

As I said before there is no report date reminder stapled in my passport and there is no report reminder date stamped in my passport. The only reminder date stamped in my passport is that I have to get out of Dodge before 30 Jan. 2008;o)