If you are married to a Thai then you can apply for a Thai marriage visa and have this visa extended in Thailand for a period of 1 year at a time. The visa is much better than having a tourist visa as you can apply for a work permit while having this visa.
Before you arrive in Thailand you can apply for a Thai marriage visa at a Thai embassy. This visa will allow you to stay in Thailand for 3 months only. The visa can also be multiple entry and this is usually 4 entries per visa. When you enter Thailand you will use your first entry and this will be for 90 days. Before the end of the 90 days you need to do a visa run and leave the country and re-enter. The second entry will then be used and you can stay in Thailand for another 90 days again.
Most people however opt to obtain the 3 months single entry Thai marriage visa and then to have it extended in Thailand for 1 year. For this you do not need to leave Thailand again for the year however you have to do what is called 90 day reporting to Thai immigration. In order to obtain the marriage visa you need to have the following:
- Your passport;
- Passport photos;
- A completed application form;
- Copy of your Thai wifes ID card;
- Copy of your marriage certificate;
- Copy of your wifes ‘house papers’
- Copy of your passport
These are the basics for the 3 month visa. When you exited the visa in Thailand you would need more documents however an attorney can do that for you. You need to meet the financial requirements being that you must hold 400,000 Baht in a Thai bank account or have an income of at least 40,000 Baht a month. They do accept a combination of the two so you can ask to have them match the values.
The marriage visa before it expires in 1 year you would simply have to repeat the process. The process does become complicated as they need to see proof of a relationship, a map to your house or apartment and a range of other bits of paper that needs to be submitted. Most expats simply use the services of an attorney for the application process.
Speak to us online on our main website, call us on our toll-free US or on our UK numbers or you can walk into any of our offices in Thailand to assist you with the application process.
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