It's annual visa renewal time. The last few years I have been living in an apartment & all that was required was a letter from the apartment owner on letterhead paper. But now I am renting a house.

I have the rental contract. Does anyone know if I will also need copy of house certificate or Thai ID card from the owner?

I suspect that will be down to the whims of Nong Khai, or the Immigration office you go to.

I was asked for a tabien bahn (house registration book) when I went to Nong Khai office last year, (in order to verify my address I was told) and as I had one I produced it. However, previously in Phuket I had not been asked for one, and indeed did not have one. After all you could be renting a room wherever and would still qualify for a retirement visa. So I suspect that when it comes down to it, it's a nice to have, but not essential.

Though ultimately I guess it will be down to the whims of Immigration again on the day.

When I was renting a house they wanted a copy of the landlords tabiaan baan (signed) and a copy of his/her ID card - signed.
As the landlord was living in Holland at the time - they (immigration) told me they would accept his sisters ID Card copy instead who still lived in Udon - yet was nothing to do with the house I was renting.
Still trying to figure that one out !

This sounds pretty screwey. I obatined my retirement visa in Bangkok and have obtained the extensions (three so far, if memory serves) there as well. I have never been asked for any proof of my address. I tend to side with Arjay, this must the be function of the way the particular immigration officer feels.

If you can extend in Bangkok, you migh avoid a lot of uncertainty.

BTW: If you could give those ads in the middle of the thread a different background color, it might make them less distracting and intrusive. Just a thought.

Nong Khai copies of the house papers and the owners ID signed by them is standard stuff. By the way you will run into the same thing to get a license in this area or to register a car. So if your staying, the best thing to do is get several copies at the time of renting, you will need them for lots of things.

Rickfarang wrote:This sounds pretty screwey. I obatined my retirement visa in Bangkok and have obtained the extensions (three so far, if memory serves) there as well. I have never been asked for any proof of my address. I tend to side with Arjay, this must the be function of the way the particular immigration officer feels.

Agreed, I can't see that there can be any legal requirement to produce a tabien bahn, because after all you could be staying in a hotel or an apartment, which wouldn't provide you with one.

I can only guess that Nong Khai ask for it, but if you said you live in the whatever hotel, they would have to leave it at that. When I questionned why they wanted to see a tabian bahn, they said so that they could verify where I lived. But in fact they require us to confirm our address every 90 days anyway, though they have never sought to verify that. So I think it can only be them being pedantic, or pursuing a "nice to have" policy.

I was never asked for a tabien bahn by Phuket Immigration.

All the more reason to continue to extend in Bangkok, where they go by published policy.

The shopping is good there as well, it certainly crosed my mind during my little fiasco this year. But the copies of house papers are important for other things that you do here if yuo are staying. Beleive me I've sold and regitered enough bikes now to know they are needed for things other then immigration. So the best policy is to get them is at the rental agreement time, when the landlord doesn't have your money already.

Even when Thai's purchase a vehicle and want to register it they have to come up with copies of house papers. There may be lots of good reason to get a renewal in Bangkok, but since there is such a need for them anyway, I don't think this i one of them. If you own your houe no dificult jsut make and sign some coipes. When renting Thai's know the need so it's not an unreaoanble request. But moer then likely if yuo don;t k they won;t volunteer. Trust me they have them handy, just ask.

As Paul mentioned they will bend thier rules if you have a legiimate reason. IE absentee landords. I've known othe guys that have had the same thing happen always seems to be another way to get the hair off the cat.

I was sweating blood this year a I didn't have aprope bank letter, but I got it anyway. Several people were kind enouhg to explain to me altenatives out of the area.

A trend that is making me nervous is the possible requirement of a New Embassy letter each year, I couldnt tell if that was what happened when they kept my original this year, since mine was five years old. But I'm hearing hey have been keeping a lot of originals. That means the expense of a trip to Bangkok and the embassy fees annually. Mine is a government retirement it only goes up each year, so not hard to qauilfy, but nothing is going to change from year to year except it will be more money. How about yuo guy who use Pucket and Bangkok is that the trend there as well?

Even though I live in NK,I go to BK to do my visa renewals!I like the consistency and I get my letter from the bank plus register my car while there!No hassles!

The first year I used the income letter,they took the original and since then they accept a copy of the original w/ the letter from my bank and my bank book.Last year I had 44,000 in the book and letter,this year will be 22,000 baht!

I have never been asked for proof of residency from Immigration,although I can't remember the first time I applied for my retirement visa!I don't even need proof for 90 day reports,as I just fill in the simple form!

I have only needed proof of residency for marriage ,I.D.,D.L.etc.!!Sometimes as I listen to people say how an immigration officer demands it for visas,My thoughts say he is in auto mode thinking it is a requirement,when it is not!

If I was someone going to a non-BK immigration office,I would go early enough that if I had problems,I could not correct,I could go to BK where things are straightforward!No need to panic ,yet!!

Ray mentioned ''sweating blood''!Even though there is consistency at the BK immigration,I have to admit that each year I feel an anxiety about negative possibilities when extending my visa!I always remind myself that I now understand what it is to be a member of a ''minority'' with the accompaning predjudices and powerlessness that most minorities have to deal with!

Good point, Stan. Living here has sure increased my awareness of what foreigners go through in other countries, and had made me more sympathetic.

Ray, you can get a new affidavit here in Udon from the embassy staff when they visit. The only problem might be that the immigration people would want to see a letter that is less than X days old. You never can tell.

Ray,I hope you kept a copy of your original!You won't need a new one if you did!

When I renewed in Jan. the letter from Embassy was one of the concerns. I had the original and copies from Oct. Embassy visit. Still not sure if the issue was related to the copies (they kept the original) or the fact that it was 4 months old. I don't much care for BKK and I hate going to the Embassy there. I'm wondering if we went to the Embassy in Laos and got the affidavit would the Thais accept it.

I suspect that they would - but the Embassy staff there might not know what you are requesting...

No this year immigration asked for the original, anyone have clue when the embassy is visiting Khan Kean or Udon?