Non immigrant O marriage agent

[johnny1966]

My current non imm O multi visa based on marriage expires June 25th 2020, arrival stamp to 15th April so taking advantage of the Amnesty. I suppose my choices are, wait till the Amnesty finishes and borders open and apply for a fresh visa at Savannahket or in Vietnam (if I'm unable to do a border bounce pre June 25th), or, do what a colleague has done and engage an agent to do a 1 year extension (at a price) given I am unable to meet the 400k requirements.  My questions are, should I stay away from agents who offer such a service or, if I go ahead with the agent, could this be done after my current visa expires (june 25th) and what risks if any are involved. I know of at least 3 people who are using this particular agent so I imagine there would be quite a few people going down this road however I'm a little uneasy with the idea.

Edited May 25, 2020 by johnny1966

[ubonjoe]

If the admitted until date on your arrival stamp is April 15th you are already on the amnesty unless you applied for a 60 day extension.

You visas expiration date means nothing now. You would be extending the 90 day entry from your visa.

Before deciding on using the agent you need to think about the cost of doing it.

I am sure you will not be able to do a border hop until after June.

[johnny1966]

11 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

If the admitted until date on your arrival stamp is April 15th you are already on the amnesty unless you applied for a 60 day extension.

You visas expiration date means nothing now. You would be extending the 90 day entry from your visa.

Before deciding on using the agent you need to think about the cost of doing it.

I am sure you will not be able to do a border hop until after June.

No 60 day extension as yet. So technically I could do a one year extension one week before the Amnesty date ends, even though my visa will have expired by then. Correct? The cost I think outweighs the inconvenience of travel to obtain a new visa and subsequent bounces but I don't know if the cost outweighs any risk of using an agent, particularly as the extension is apparently not done in Bangkok (where we reside), but upcountry.

Edited May 25, 2020 by johnny1966

[JackThompson]

19 minutes ago, johnny1966 said:

So technically I could do a one year extension one week before the Amnesty date ends, even though my visa will have expired by then. Correct? The cost I think outweighs the inconvenience of travel to obtain a new visa and subsequent bounces but I don't know if the cost outweighs any risk of using an agent, particularly as the extension is apparently not done in Bangkok (where we reside), but upcountry.

The "expiration date" on your visa has no bearing at all on this - only says the last day you can use it to enter the country for a fresh 90-days.  Your "permitted stay" is all that matters, and has already passed.  You are on the "covid automatic extension" now. 

 

Immigration is set up to explicitly encourage the use of agents.  Each office is allowed to "make up" it's own rules, to maximize a Multi-Level-Marketing style envelope-money scheme.  Therefore, doing it in person for the "list price" of 1900 Baht is often fraught with "undocumented requirements" and, many times, insulting treatment of your wife. 

 

I have attempted a Non-O 1-year based on marriage multiple times, at 3 offices in different parts of Thailand, and they have always found a way to deny the extension for some "undocumented" reason - to spite my meeting every "documented" requirement.

 

I also live in Bangkok (now), and the only references I could find were "law firms" serving the Chiang Wattana office, and they wanted 35K or so.  Someone posted recently the agent-cost for this in Jomtien was "only" 25K (~10K more than retirement).  

 

The significant extra cost appears to be for the envelope for the division-level sign-off, which is needed to support a Thai family, but not needed if you don't / retired.  Somehow, marrying a Thai is viewed as "suspicious" and needing additionial scrutiny / envelope-money. 

 

You will be required to file 90-day reports.  If you can do online, it is fine - otherwise your agent might have to file them for you, at the office they used.  Or, you would need to "re-locate back" to Bangkok, to file them here. 

Edited May 25, 2020 by JackThompson

[johnny1966]

10 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

The "expiration date" on your visa has no bearing at all on this - only says the last day you can use it to enter the country for a fresh 90-days.  Your "permitted stay" is all that matters, and has already passed.  You are on the "covid automatic extension" now. 

 

Immigration is set up to explicitly encourage the use of agents.  Each office is allowed to "make up" it's own rules, to maximize a Multi-Level-Marketing style envelope-money scheme.  Therefore, doing it in person for the "list price" of 1900 Baht is often fraught with "undocumented requirements" and, many times, insulting treatment of your wife. 

 

I have attempted a Non-O 1-year based on marriage multiple times, at 3 offices in different parts of Thailand, and they have always found a way to deny the extension for some "undocumented" reason - to spite my meeting every "documented" requirement.

 

I also live in Bangkok (now), and the only references I could find were "law firms" serving the Chiang Wattana office, and they wanted 35K or so.  Someone posted recently the agent-cost for this in Jomtien was "only" 25K (~10K more than retirement).  

 

The significant extra cost appears to be for the envelope for the division-level sign-off, which is needed to support a Thai family, but not needed if you don't / retired.  Somehow, marrying a Thai is viewed as "suspicious" and needing additionial scrutiny / envelope-money. 

 

You will be required to file 90-day reports.  If you can do online, it is fine - otherwise your agent might have to file them for you, at the office they used.  Or, you would need to "re-locate back" to Bangkok, to file them here. 

All very good points. The risk may however arise on doing 90 day reports, particularly if there is a 'crack down' on agents and the like. So if I go down this road I'm assuming I could get the ball rolling just before the Amnesty ends?

[JackThompson]

4 minutes ago, johnny1966 said:

All very good points. The risk may however arise on doing 90 day reports, particularly if there is a 'crack down' on agents and the like. So if I go down this road I'm assuming I could get the ball rolling just before the Amnesty ends?

I've done everything I could to avoid swimming in the mire with immigration's agent-partners.  I was ready to dive in this year, but the cost extreme so I tried a "legit" extension, again - figuring my work-permit and proven-income/taxes-paid would be good.  Nope - just more and different bull.  Plan now is to wait out the borders, and go for for another Non-O-ME.   

 

But if I found a reasonable-priced agent, that would be tempting.  An "agent crackdown" would require bringing in the Singaporean police to do the investigation, since the envelopes apparently go all the way up the chain.  Just look how they don't enforce a common set of rules from the top - cannot be an accident.  Remember the Big Joke "crackdown"?  That just pushed MORE honest-applicants to agents via the change to the money-rules - with NO change to the "seasoning money" requirement not being checked for agent-applications.

[In the jungle]

43 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

If the admitted until date on your arrival stamp is April 15th you are already on the amnesty unless you applied for a 60 day extension.

You visas expiration date means nothing now. You would be extending the 90 day entry from your visa.

Before deciding on using the agent you need to think about the cost of doing it.

I am sure you will not be able to do a border hop until after June.

 

Are you sure on that interpretation Joe?

 

The reason I ask is because I was in my local immigration office on 22 May 2020.  I was there to get a letter confirming my place of residence for a vehicle purchase.  They pulled my details up on screen which showed that my last 90 day entry was on 27 December 2019 until 25 March 2020.  I extended my stay at their office by 60 days until 24 May 2020.

 

They told me on 22 May 2020 that I am lawfully here until 31 July with no need to extend my stay or do further 90 day reports until then.

 

Your interpretation seems to suggest that I am unwittingly an overstayer which is pretty alarming to me.

[Boomer6969]

@JackThompson Don't understand your lengthy tirade. I and, I bet, many others here, have been getting "Thai Wife" extensions, year in, year out, without any issue.

[JackThompson]

49 minutes ago, Boomer6969 said:

@JackThompson Don't understand your lengthy tirade. I and, I bet, many others here, have been getting "Thai Wife" extensions, year in, year out, without any issue.

You don't understand, because it hasn't happened to you.  Many others have not been so lucky.  I am far from the only one. 

 

When I have applied, I've met every published requirement, and even been prepared for "unpublished requirements," which I read about on this forum.  They seem to switch those around, when people start showing up prepared for them.