Non-O visa extension problem after move to another province

[roberta]

I have a non-O visa based on retirement and 800k in the bank.  It was issued by Immigration in the province of Nonthaburi.  I have since moved to Bangkok, and registered myself there with a TM30 at BKK Immigration.  Following this move, I needed to obtain an extension to the visa for one year (retirement extension).  I applied for this at BKK but it was denied on the grounds that a visa issued in Nonthaburi could only be extended by Nonthaburi Immigration.  I protested that I no longer had an address there, and was fully resident in Bangkok, and I would surely be denied also at Nonthaburi.  I was assured that it could be done, so I made application there, but was refused just as I expected.  Eventually I did get my extension there with the help of a Thai friend who knew somebody who knew somebody etc.....   This was a one time only thing.  I cannot do this again. 

Now, here is my dilemma; I will have to apply for another extension early next year.  My condo lease will have expired by then so I will be able to move back to Nonthaburi by renting a condo there, if that is the only way I can solve this issue.  But I prefer to stay in BKK if possible, but only if I can be certain that I will be able extend my visa there when required.  I cannot face that nightmare of being denied at both  places again, so I am looking for some help.  Please, would anyone who has a visa from another province and has been able to extend it here in BKK tell me about it, and how it was done?  Alternatively, it seems that the wise thing for me to do would be to go back and live in Nonthaburi again, do a TM30 there, and hope I could thereafter extend the visa at Nonthaburi Immigration in the usual way.  Is this the better option?  

[Peter Denis]

Wow, what a horror story.  I feel for you.

For sure you will get some good advice from senior TVF members on how to manage this without having to move temporarily to Nonthaburi, to get your extension of stay approved.

If nothings works, then an alternative could be, when you visit your home-country, to re-apply for a Non Imm OA Visa there.  The additional advantage of that being that the 800K in the thai bank you currently have will be freed up, as there is no need for that during your 1 year visa validity, as well as during the 1st year of your extension of stay.  Another minor advantage being that no re-entry permits will be necessary while the new Visa is valid.

[Puchaiyank]

Be careful...wait for it...you will soon learn that YOU are the problem...Thai people do not make mistakes...it is their country and you should return to your home if you can not suck-up (I mean adapt) to immigrations laughable policies.

 

Apologists, naive youngsters, and just plain mean spirited people are quick to try and defend the indefensible Thai positions...

[fourpack]

40 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

Be careful...wait for it...you will soon learn that YOU are the problem...Thai people do not make mistakes...it is their country and you should return to your home if you can not suck-up (I mean adapt) to immigrations laughable policies.

 

Apologists, naive youngsters, and just plain mean spirited people are quick to try and defend the indefensible Thai positions...

Nice rant now take your medicine and relax

[Why Me]

3 hours ago, roberta said:

I cannot face that nightmare of being denied at both  places again, so I am looking for some help.

Get an agent. Done.

[lopburi3]

Why not just exit and return on visa exempt or tourist visa and then convert to non immigrant O in Bangkok or obtain a single entry non immigrant O visa from a Consulate?  Then you would extend in Bangkok as you were trying to do originally.

[GeKoSc]

Did you request to talk to the chief of immigration at the Bangkok office? 

[TSF]

5 hours ago, Why Me said:

Get an agent. Done.

+1 Get an agent. I've had an agent handle my retirement ext. for the past decade. Everything is kosher, all my docs are in order and I have more than the required amount in a Thai bank, but I have no stomach for dealing with Thai Imm myself, so I pay a pro to cut through the nonsense.

[Number 6]

I doubt an agent can solve this long term.

 

Exit. Go to ?? Savanakhet. Bring your book with 800k. Get an O visa. Return and extend that.

 

Pretty absurd. That would also mean that anyone in BKK relocating to the sticks would need to start all over as well. I doubt this true.

[Scott424]

I wonder if UbonJoe might know the answer to this question...would it have made a difference if the OP had submitted the TM28 change of address form, seems that the TM30 is not a change of address, i.e. permanent move, but simply notification of where you are currently staying.  Or do some Immigration offices use the TM30 as a change of address also?

Edited September 17, 2019 by Scott424

[roberta]

In reply to above message:  when I went to BKK Immigration to report my change of address last January, I filled out and submitted both TM28 and TM30.  The officer handed back to me the TM28 with the words "we don't use this one anymore".

They fully accepted that I had changed my residence address.  That was not the issue.  In fact the officer to whom I presented my full set of documents accepted everything, and then passed the folder on to the next higher authority.  After waiting about an hour outside I was called back in and told that it had been rejected by that higher authority.  Someone "upstairs", as they called it.

 

I think that if I actually move "permanently" back to Nonthaburi and register my address as soon as I move, that should remove the impediment and allow my next and future extensions to proceed as normal. 

 

I am still hoping to hear from someone who has managed to get a visa issued in another province extended in Bangkok...      

[gk10002000]

Pretty crazy "catch 22" situation.  way too much focus on provincial locations especially when it is a Thailand visa, not a provincial visa

[kingofthemountain]

Your non o visa is valid all over the thailand, not only for one province.

No matter what IO has issued the visa.

So if you have declared your change of adress (And obviously you did it

i am just surprise they don't accept your TM28, wich is the form to do it)

there is no reason to refuse your extension

(If the others conditions are filled of course)

If i understand well you have now your extension of stay based on the retirment

issued by Bkk immigration, i do not see why they are not going to give you another

extension of sty for one more year, you have now nothing more to do with Nonthaburi

they don't know you anymore. for them you are now in the area of BKK immi.

When i have moved fom chiang Rai to Pattaya i was on the same extension of stay delivered by CR imm

at the date of expiration, i have had a new delivered with no problem at all by Jomtiem imm.

Before moving from CR i have asked what was the process for this and they have been very clear

when i am register in a new immigration office, i have no more to do with the old one.

 

 

 

[jacko45k]

15 hours ago, Why Me said:

Get an agent. Done.

Yes, or get a brand new Non-Imm-O and start again. 

[lopburi3]

The non O visa is issued by immigration office only for an accepted extension of stay process at that office.  It is not a Consulate issued visa valid for entry we are talking about.  She is trying to do the extension in another location other than where issued.

[roberta]

7 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

Your non o visa is valid all over the thailand, not only for one province.

No matter what IO has issued the visa.

 

Could you please tell me if your visa was issued by Immigration at Chiang Rai, or by a Thai consulated in your own, or another country?  Apparently they are treated differently, according to a more recent post by lopburi3.  I was completely unaware of this until I read that information.

[ubonjoe]

12 minutes ago, roberta said:

Apparently they are treated differently, according to a more recent post by lopburi3.  I was completely unaware of this until I read that information.

He is probably confusing a extension of stay with a visa.

As Lopburi3 wrote non immigrant visas issued by a immigration office are meant to be used at that office to apply for an extension of stay.

Some might do it if the two offices are on different parts of the country. 

[USNret]

17 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Why not just exit and return on visa exempt or tourist visa and then convert to non immigrant O in Bangkok or obtain a single entry non immigrant O visa from a Consulate?  Then you would extend in Bangkok as you were trying to do originally.

That could no doubt be done, but why would one have to leave the country simply to change address?  Surely this has been encountered by Immigration before and they must have a way to change address to a new province.  

[USNret]

Wonder if I will have a similar problem.  I'm coming to Thailand on a non-O 90-day visa.  TM-30 will report my address in BKK with my in-laws.  Set up my bank account and deposit 400,000 for marriage extension.  During the 90 days, I plan to go to Hua Hin for about 30 days (staying at an AirBnB) and intend to do a 60-day extension in HH to get 2-months seasoning of my bank deposit.  Then return to BKK during the 60-day extension and complete my application for 1-year extension for marriage at CW.

Will CW officials look at my 60-day extension in HH and declare I have to go back to HH to do the 1-year marriage extension?  My residence will remain in BKK throughout. 

 

Edited September 18, 2019 by USNret

[ubonjoe]

11 minutes ago, USNret said:

That could no doubt be done, but why would one have to leave the country simply to change address?  Surely this has been encountered by Immigration before and they must have a way to change address to a new province.  

It is not a problem with doing a change of address. It is due to applying for a non immigrant visa at one immigration office and then applying for a extension of stay ot the 90 day entry from it a different office.

[ubonjoe]

6 minutes ago, USNret said:

Will CW officials look at my 60-day extension in HH and declare I have to go back to HH to do the 1-year marriage extension?

No 

Your situation is completely different from OP's.

[lopburi3]

27 minutes ago, USNret said:

That could no doubt be done, but why would one have to leave the country simply to change address?  Surely this has been encountered by Immigration before and they must have a way to change address to a new province.  

Because she does not have an extension of stay yet - she obtained a non immigrant O visa entry from previous immigration location on the condition she was going to extend her stay there.  She did not do so.  There would not have been any issue with move if extension had already been issued.

[roberta]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

As Lopburi3 wrote non immigrant visas issued by a immigration office are meant to be used at that office to apply for an extension of stay

So I take from this that I cannot extend my visa from Nonthaburi if I continue to reside in Bangkok.  Oh dear!

If I move to an address in Nonthaburi and register it, well before my next extension is due, do you think that Nonthaburi immigration would then be willing to extend it? 

If I want to live in Bangkok again, would I have to leave the country and apply for a new non-O at a foreign embassy or consulate? 

[ubonjoe]

3 minutes ago, roberta said:

If I move to an address in Nonthaburi and register it, well before my next extension is due, do you think that Nonthaburi immigration would then be willing to extend it? 

Yes they allow you to apply for the extension.

3 minutes ago, roberta said:

If I want to live in Bangkok again, would I have to leave the country and apply for a new non-O at a foreign embassy or consulate? 

No problem to move back to Bangkok after you get the extension. It is not same when you have the extension already.

[roberta]

35 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

No problem to move back to Bangkok after you get the extension. It is not same when you have the extension already.

Sorry, I am a little unclear about this.  If I move back to Bangkok after getting my next extension at Nonthaburi, I would then be in exactly the same position as I am in now.  That is, with a visa which has already been extended once at Nonthaburi, but unable to obtain my next extension as I now reside in Bangkok, and neither Bangkok nor Nonthaburi will accept my application.  I do not see how I can live anywhere in Thailand except in Nonthaburi so long as I must seek annual extensions of a visa which was issued in Nonthaburi.  

I hope I am making sense - it's all a bit complicated, isn't it?  Confusing, to say the least!

[lopburi3]

22 hours ago, roberta said:

Eventually I did get my extension there with the help of a Thai friend who knew somebody who knew somebody etc.....   This was a one time only thing.  I cannot do this again. 

It seems you now have an suspect extension of stay but hopefully legal looking and if so that should be extendable at Bangkok if you are living in Bangkok now.  You originally apper to have applied in Bangkok when you had the 90 day non immigrant O visa entry issued by other immigration office so that would have been why Bangkok would not extend.  Now that you have a one year extension of stay there should be no issue if indeed it is a legal stamp.

Edited September 18, 2019 by lopburi3

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, roberta said:

Sorry, I am a little unclear about this.  If I move back to Bangkok after getting my next extension at Nonthaburi, I would then be in exactly the same position as I am in now. 

No 

That is not what I meant when I wrote my post.

6 minutes ago, roberta said:

That is, with a visa which has already been extended once at Nonthaburi, but unable to obtain my next extension as I now reside in Bangkok, and neither Bangkok nor Nonthaburi will accept my application. 

You have not applied for an extension yet. You only applied for and was issued a non immigrant visa (category O).

After apply for and getting your first one year extension of stay you can move anywhere and apply for new one there.

[roberta]

1 minute ago, ubonjoe said:

You have not applied for an extension yet. You only applied for and was issued a non immigrant visa (category O).

After apply for and getting your first one year extension of stay you can move anywhere and apply for new one there

Now I am sorry again that I have apparently confused you.  I have already applied for and received a one year extension issued at Nonthaburi in March of this year.  I now reside in Bangkok, and have done TM30 and twice done 90 day reports at CW. Next March I will need to extend my stay again.  With address in Bangkok I can only apply at Bangkok, but I am anticipating that they will reject it, because my non-O visa and first extension were both  issued by Nonthaburi.   

[ubonjoe]

9 minutes ago, roberta said:

With address in Bangkok I can only apply at Bangkok, but I am anticipating that they will reject it, because my non-O visa and first extension were both  issued by Nonthaburi.   

You will be able to apply for your next in extension in Bangkok.

There is no reason for you not being able to do it.

[roberta]

Many thanks to ubonjoe, and to all others who have commented here.
I think I am clear on the situation now.  I can extend in Bangkok now, because I have already done my first extension of the visa in question.  The second, and all subsequent extensions can be done in any province where I am residing at the time of application. 

But please correct me if I am wrong!