Visa extension

[gprit]

One of my sons visiting Thailand this summer will need to get his (free entry) visa extended to 60 days, as he has a UK passport.
I understand this costs 1900 baht, but what documents are required by immigration, as my wife will be with him, I am staying in France...(!)

[Stantheman]

You might try this site, may need to create an account and go from there.
https://www.thaievisa.go.th/tourist-visa

[sometimewoodworker]

Your son will probably enter Visa Exempt, so he will not have a visa, He can get a 30 day extension of stay that requires a passport photo, his passport and the fee of ฿1,900 if you have a TM7 form he can fill that in or immigration will give him one.
He may find that getting a tourist visa before leaving the U.K. is easier and faster, that will give him 60 days, the permission to stay can also be extended by 30 days with the same form, cost and photo.

[gprit]

Thanks for the quick responses....as we are in France it will be easier to get when there, rather than beforehand....

thanks again

[sometimewoodworker]

Thanks for the quick responses....as we are in France it will be easier to get when there, rather than beforehand....

thanks again

Since the whole process now is usually done online, that is for getting the visa as opposed to getting an extension, you are probably mistaken.

[gprit]

Well, further to the above.....My wife and son are now in Thailand.
When she went through immigration at Bangkok airport, and explained she would extend his visa to 60 days when in Udon Thani, she was told that this was not necessary as he was under 18 and travelling with parent who has valid Thai visa....
However, today she went to the immigration dept at Udon Thani, and they said:
".... they say can’t do it without documents permission from you , Thomas under 18 he need parents come, if not you must to sign permission paper at Thai embassy and send the original to my wife" They say it the only way to do.

Any further thoughts?
Thanks

[sometimewoodworker]

Well, further to the above.....My wife and son are now in Thailand.
When she went through immigration at Bangkok airport, and explained she would extend his visa to 60 days when in Udon Thani, she was told that this was not necessary as he was under 18 and travelling with parent who has valid Thai visa....
However, today she went to the immigration dept at Udon Thani, and they said:
".... they say can’t do it without documents permission from you , Thomas under 18 he need parents come, if not you must to sign permission paper at Thai embassy and send the original to my wife" They say it the only way to do.

Any further thoughts?
Thanks

That situation is not at all common and is not in the documents I have access to. I would suggest that a call to the immigration Tel.1178 / 02-572-8500 to inquire the situation would be a good point of contact.

You are not clear if your wife is Thai or not and is actually travelling with a visa. If she is not Thai and is travelling with a visa she can go to any immigration office.

NB I did say that the probably the best course of action was to get a visa before travelling, it seems that the contention that getting an extension in Thailand would be easier was misguided.

[gprit]

Can I correct my original question....(!)...my wife giving me wrong information.

It was actually concerning renewal of my other son's THAI passport, that expires on 4th August.
Passport office in Udon Thani said:
".... they can’t do it without permission documents from father , as son is under 18 he need parents to attend, if not you must to sign permission paper at Thai embassy and send the original to my wife" They say it the only way to do.

There is no way I can travel to Paris to do this., and even if I could time to obtain and post to Thailand could be an issue.
He does have a British passport so could possibly apply for visa extension same as other son, at the immigration office (1900 baht each)......however, as he entered Thailand with his Thai passport, the British one was not stamped upon entry - not sure if this would cause a problem on exit... hey ho.....

My wife IS Thai, so does not need a visa.
Any further thoughts - have also emailed Thai Consulate in Paris.....and await what they say.
thanks

[sometimewoodworker]

Can I correct my original question....(!)...my wife giving me wrong information.

Regrettably a none too unusual situation.

It was actually concerning renewal of my other son's THAI passport, that expires on 4th August.
Passport office in Udon Thani said:
".... they can’t do it without permission documents from father , as son is under 18 he need parents to attend, if not you must to sign permission paper at Thai embassy and send the original to my wife" They say it the only way to do.

Regrettably, though I have no knowledge concerning the Thai passport office, I have never heard of conflicting advice from them.

There is no way I can travel to Paris to do this., and even if I could time to obtain and post to Thailand could be an issue.

Does the phrase "I'm screwed" ring any bells?

He does have a British passport so could possibly apply for visa extension same as other son, at the immigration office (1900 baht each)......

No he can't he would be refused as you can't extend something you don't have

however, as he entered Thailand with his Thai passport, the British one was not stamped upon entry - not sure if this would cause a problem on exit... hey ho.....

If you could persuade any IO to stamp his passports the confusion (so tea money) would be immense.

My wife IS Thai, so does not need a visa.
Any further thoughts - have also emailed Thai Consulate in Paris.....and await what they say.

They will almost certainly be of no help.

thanks

However there is a legal simple way to solve the problem. It isn't very cheap but is probably cheaper and faster than any other solution.

Your son (probably accompanied by his mother) flies to the cheapest nearby country, this will probably be Malaysia, he leaves Thailand using his Thai passport, changes to his British passport on the flight arriving in Malaysia (or other country) enters using his British passport. Returning using his British passport, if you time the flights correctly you may not need an extension of stay for him.

If you insist that he follows the exact procedure and nobody gets creative and thinks that they can save money by doing anything but the process outlined everything will be OK.

FOR THIS TO WORK HE MUST FLY OUT OF THAILAND. HE CANNOT DO IT BY LAND.

NB you son carries both passports. He only uses/ shows his Thai passport leaving Thailand, he then only shows/uses his British passport after that.

I have no idea if there are any restrictions on a minor child travelling unaccompanied, your wife and sons may enjoy a couple of days in a nearby country so no harm no foul.

The only harm is to your wallet, but even then a couple (or 3) flights are not very expensive, and certainly easier than trying to go through Thai bureaucracy.

[pal52]

It was actually concerning renewal of my other son's THAI passport, that expires on 4th August.
Passport office in Udon Thani said:
".... they can’t do it without permission documents from father , as son is under 18 he need parents to attend, if not you must to sign permission paper at Thai embassy and send the original to my wife" They say it the only way to do.

When I tried to renew my sons Passport at Udon office they would not let me.
They said the law in Thailand was that the mother was always the legal guardian.
I had split up with his mother & was given parent ship by the courts.
I took these documents to the passport office but they said I had to go back to the courts to get Legal Guardianship or get his mother to renew his passport.
I got in touch with his mother and she went to the passport office and renewed his passport I did not sign anything.

[tamada]

It was actually concerning renewal of my other son's THAI passport, that expires on 4th August.
Passport office in Udon Thani said:
".... they can’t do it without permission documents from father , as son is under 18 he need parents to attend, if not you must to sign permission paper at Thai embassy and send the original to my wife" They say it the only way to do.

When I tried to renew my sons Passport at Udon office they would not let me.
They said the law in Thailand was that the mother was always the legal guardian.
I had split up with his mother & was given parent ship by the courts.
I took these documents to the passport office but they said I had to go back to the courts to get Legal Guardianship or get his mother to renew his passport.
I got in touch with his mother and she went to the passport office and renewed his passport I did not sign anything.

Good outcome there. I recall on both my son's initial passport issue in Udon and subsequent renewal in Pattaya, both Mrs tam and myself were attending.

Since this Legal Guardianship issue may arise again, you may be stuck with Thai bureaucracy if for any reason your ex-wife and son's mother isn't available. Maybe take time to get a lawyer and get all the bases covered until he's a legal adult?

[gprit]

Thanks for the insights.....(!) @pal52 interesting.....I said to my wife, what if we had split up or I was dead?!!
Think I will ask her to go to IO - Udon Thani or nearer her village and just explain the situation, and try and persuade to get British passport stamped....and then extension, showing of course, great kindness...
I remember once when lived in UT and used to cross the friendship bridge to renew date....until one time they would not let me back into Thailand...they said crossing the bridge was max 3 times (i think it was just after the military coup)....eventually after some 'kindness' they gave me a temporary entry visa for two weeks to get it sorted out!!

[sometimewoodworker]

Think I will ask her to go to IO - Udon Thani or nearer her village and just explain the situation, and try and persuade to get British passport stamped....and then extension, showing of course, great kindness...

I hope your wife doesn’t have the distaste for communicating with officials that mine does, and that that the amount of great kindness required is not a significant multiple of the simple, though time consuming, legal method I suggest.

I think that that solution is much more difficult than you think, as the Thai passport must also be stamped out of Thailand if you don’t want more problems specifically when you try to get the new passport.

[jackspratt]

As distasteful as I find them, isn't this the sort of situation that "agents" were invented for?

[deankham]

Interesting topic and hope gprit gets the issue resolved.

Just trying to fully understand the issue, so I (and others) can avoid a similar issue in the future.

The Son entered Thailand on his Thai passport, which will expire in early August. As the Son will be returning to Europe after the date of Thai passport expiry he would not be allowed to leave Thailand unless he gets a new Thai passport. The fact he has a valid UK passport does not allow him to leave Thailand on that passport as he never entered Thailand on it originally.

Is this summary above the correct situation?

My daughter is on her 3rd Thai passport and will need her 4th once next year. I do remember that both myself and my wife were needed when we got these passports issued in Thailand.
As an aside it is not the same case for renewing a Childs UK passport. I was able to do this at a UK passport office without any involvement of my wife.

I also remember when my wife got a passport for my step daughter. As the thai father was not contactable it involved several visits to government offices in Udon to get some documentation so that my wife could get the passport issued without the Father being in attendance. I do not remember the offices that we had to visit but we did it all on day 1 and did the passport on day 2, and It was all done within Udon.

[gprit]

The Son entered Thailand on his Thai passport, which will expire in early August. As the Son will be returning to Europe after the date of Thai passport expiry he would not be allowed to leave Thailand unless he gets a new Thai passport. The fact he has a valid UK passport does not allow him to leave Thailand on that passport as he never entered Thailand on it originally.

Is this summary above the correct situation? <<<< Correct

My daughter is on her 3rd Thai passport and will need her 4th once next year. I do remember that both myself and my wife were needed when we got these passports issued in Thailand.
As an aside it is not the same case for renewing a Childs UK passport. I was able to do this at a UK passport office without any involvement of my wife.<<<< NOT correct. UK passports can be renewed ONLINE with NO attendance required and application signed by one parent.

I also remember when my wife got a passport for my step daughter. As the thai father was not contactable it involved several visits to government offices in Udon to get some documentation so that my wife could get the passport issued without the Father being in attendance. I do not remember the offices that we had to visit but we did it all on day 1 and did the passport on day 2, and It was all done within Udon. <<< Be interesting to know what documents....my wife has just about every conceivable document with her.....

Ha! I think my wife has now learned from me how to deal with authority!!!

[gprit]

Not sure why this disappeared from the main index board....I will update as things proceed....

[tamada]

It disappeared?

This thread that I am typing in right now doesn't exist any more?

Was it originally posted in this Thailand Visa & Immigration Information forum or did it kick off in General and it was subsequently moved to the correct forum?

Low interest and inactive threads tend to slip down the page but unless they're moved to the correct place or deleted by admin for being totally inappropriate, they seldom disappear.

[gprit]

No idea...still doesn't show in my list of topics unless I click 'my posts..'

Anyway....it is ongoing....and Thai Embassy in Paris VERY helpful re passport issue.....given some advice and have offered to call my wife by phone in Thailand on Monday. Cannot ask for more.

A second question now....actually ABOUT Visa extensions. It seems that when my wife entered Thailand, she got talking to an immigration official and explained she was going to get a 60-day extension for other son's British passport at 1900 baht at local immigration office. The IO said no need because child is under 16 travelling with Thai mother. Anyone heard of that?

[sometimewoodworker]

No idea...still doesn't show in my list of topics unless I click 'my posts..'

Anyway....it is ongoing....and Thai Embassy in Paris VERY helpful re passport issue.....given some advice and have offered to call my wife by phone in Thailand on Monday. Cannot ask for more.

A second question now....actually ABOUT Visa extensions. It seems that when my wife entered Thailand, she got talking to an immigration official and explained she was going to get a 60-day extension for other son's British passport at 1900 baht at local immigration office. The IO said no need because child is under 16 travelling with Thai mother. Anyone heard of that?

Minor children are not subject to the 500 Baht per day fine and other penalties such as banning from the country. They do have the overstay stamped in their passports.