Then I can only suggest that you print out the copy of the official Thai Immigration letter confirming that it was 6 months - as supplies by poster Muni in the above thread..

Bob

Thanks for your comments. I will try to be a little clearer.

Money not available for one year extension on marriage so that option unavailable.

My colleague's current Visa from Vientiane is a single entry 90 day non imm O issued for reason of marriage. His Visa expires on 27 July. I have exactly the same type of Visa that expires on 4th August.

Work permits have been issued that expire on 31st March.

We both need to extend the Non O Visa issued for reason of marriage to 31st March (expiry date on the work permit), the reason for the extension being "work" instead of "marriage" (something I last did 3 years ago, with continuous annual extensons until 31st March 2014).

Udon Imm today told my colleague he was not able to extend his current Visa and that he must get a B visa from Vientiane. The officer today also claimed it was not possible to extend for 30 days.

Re 30 day extension
your answer appears to confirm my own understanding - it should be possible and a refusal may be cause to seek a conversation with a senior officer

Re changing the reason on a non O extension:

Has the law changed, was it previous "lax" implementation of existing laws that allowed previous extensions to be granted (and crackdown now blocking this route) or is Udon Imm simply being awkward, difficult, nasty and/or plain wrong?

If anyone knows a link to an accurate Visa information site (in English!!) then please post, if anyone has detailed knowledge re the law on this aspect please post.

I won't confuse the issue further re leaving the country and the validity of the work permit.........

Thanks Harry, that is very clear now. Unfortunately I don't think I can be of a great deal of help.

In Udon office this non approval of a 30 day extension appears to be their 'rule'. i.e. I think that it comes from above & so appealing to a higher authority there will have no impact on the outcome.
Sadly the ruling I have seen concerning visa extensions makes it abundantly clear that it is not a right & is completely at the discretion of the officer concerned...

I have no idea about the law concerning the conversion from 1 type of visa to another. I have heard tales of all sorts of things that have been permitted, but again it is one of those discretionary, at the whim of the officer you see, areas.
Also if they will not issue an extension it is all actually a bit academic as to whether they will change it..

I am sorry that my best advice has to be to go & see Udon Office & ask what they require.
However it looks like the most likely outcome will be that you have to go back to Vientiane for a B visa....sorry..

I think I can answer that, following my recent emloyment, I could not change my O visa to a B visa in Thailand I had to get all the paperwork from the school and go to Vientiane and get a 90 day B visa which was them changed to a years B visa. In Udon. I am surprised that they got a WP on a 90 day visa but as they are not the same entity I am not surprised. There is no descretion you can change a B visa to an O visa in house as it were providing all the criteria are met money etc:- , but you cannot change an O to a B you must exit and return, that has been the case for at least 2-3 years. If you do not have the money to make a marriage visa then the B visa is the only way for the moment until you have enough funds to go down the marriage route. Which i might add will be getting considerably harder.

Khun Paul wrote:I think I can answer that, following my recent emloyment, I could not change my O visa to a B visa in Thailand I had to get all the paperwork from the school and go to Vientiane and get a 90 day B visa which was them changed to a years B visa. In Udon. I am surprised that they got a WP on a 90 day visa but as they are not the same entity I am not surprised. There is no descretion you can change a B visa to an O visa in house as it were providing all the criteria are met money etc:- , but you cannot change an O to a B you must exit and return, that has been the case for at least 2-3 years. If you do not have the money to make a marriage visa then the B visa is the only way for the moment until you have enough funds to go down the marriage route. Which i might add will be getting considerably harder.

Why will getting a marriage visa become considerably harder?

I'm not understanding how they got an O visa in Vientiane if they did not have the proper documents? The 90 days is the max time allowed to get your final paperwork together and show up at immigration in Udon. In fact you can go to UI the same day you get back from Vientiane because the 1 year is from the date the visa was issued in Vientiane. Is this right?

Harry (& his friend) did have the proper documents for the visa they got.
The issue is that they now need to change from an O visa to a B.
Paul is saying that Udon would not do it (the change from O to B) for him.
Harry said that his friend was also refused.

It is not an issue about having the correct documentation for an O visa based on marriage, because they obviously do have that.
The issue is that now it will be back to Vientiane again as in order to obtain a B visa...

Khun Paul - were you on an O for reason of marriage or an O for reason of retirement? If the latter then you are not allowed to work, hence you would need a B to take up employment again.

You are allowed to work on an O for reason of marriage, and the work permit has been issued accordingly.

I'm not proposing to change the O to a B. I'm changing the reason for the O from marriage to work. Same Visa, different reason-see Thai Visa (that 100% reliable reference tool!!!!! ) for similar comments.

Was not a problem for me in 2011, nor subsequent extensions granted in 2012 and 2013.

Therefore very puzzled at current position.......I think I'll pay them a visit myself on Monday and show them my passport with the extensions......I'll update after the visit!

Thanks for your help Bob and Paul. Much appreciated.

BossHogg69 wrote:How old is the income statement? Over 30 days no good any more, If all ok just take both passports with you.

did you have experience with this situation or know someone that did?

When I went to renew my extension in April this year, at Chang Khan Loei, the main man there said 1 day later and embassy letter would be too old and it was 29 days old, so this was my personnel experience, and I cannot see what relevance the American Embassy has regarding Thai Immigration?

Then you can't have bothered to read the thread that I highlighted above.
In this case it has everything to do with it as this was the letter sent from the American Embassy to its' wardens in June last year..

"Dear Wardens,

You may be aware that the Department of Immigration had decided to change the validity period of income verification letters to a uniform standard of 15 days nationwide. This was announced internally to the
Department of Immigration through the attached document dated April 22 of this year. We and others raised concerns about the difficulties this would cause for U.S. citizen retirees in Thailand. The Department of
Immigration responded with a revision to the April 22nd instructions signed by the Deputy Commissioner of Immigration on May 29. The revision states that income verification letters will be valid up to six months. American Citizen Service's Khun Fon arranged a meeting between Consul General Pratt and the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Immigration yesterday. Immigration's leadership was keen not to make things difficult for people to live in Thailand and they recognize that many improvements could possibly be made that do not require changing the law. They confirmed it was their intention that these letters be valid for six months and that they made the change recognizing the 15 day rule caused hardship. They said all of these changes can be shared
with the public and that local immigration offices are being notified.

A spot check of a couple of offices yesterday showed they were not yet aware of the May 29 change, part of the reason we are sending the documents out to you. Our team at the Pattaya outreach today, including Consul General Pratt and Khun Fon, has more copies of these.

Best regards,

Tim Swanson

Timothy C. Swanson
Chief, American Citizen Services Unit
U.S. Embassy Bangkok

The thread then had a copy of the Thai Immigration letter confirming the above, put onto the thread by poster Muni..

Clearly NOT send to all immigration offices Bob, or they have ignored it! as they tend to do.

nkstan wrote:I renewed my passport and got my income statement.Now I realize that the passport number on my IS is my old passport number.Anyone know if this is a problem?

This is a followup of my experience when doing my retirement visa extension in Nong Khai, yesterday:While getting my paperwork copies together at the print shop,I decided to make a copy of my letter with a strip to block out my old passport # and putting in my new passport # on a following copy.I mixed this into a stapled group of paperwork which included my passport pictures ,my house lease, landlord ID & house papers and my map to my residence.I presented my paperwork and passport and sat back to wait.After the officer had scrutinized everything carefully,He noticed that my letter was a copy,immediately said ''original original only'',handing back my copy.I dug out the original which he perused quickly without checking the number against my passport,put it into the other paperwork,stamped everything and I was on my way....phew!!I let him keep the 100 baht change for the first time in 18 years.....lol

A quick update re my query about extending a non imm O (issued reason marriage) because of work (extension reason work).

Turns out I had a document missing re the extension so I took the simplest route and got a non imm B.
Still don't know the answer to my query though

Very quick at Vientiane consulate this time - went on Wednesday and done and dusted by 10.30.
Even the Thursday application queue was quiet - they had all been processed by 13.00.

To those with better knowledge than I:

I susupect the consulates will be closed on 11th, 12th and 14th August. The 14th is, I believe, a Laos holiday.
If I am correct then this would be an extremely bad week to go.