French-Thai wedding - Visa Issue

Hello,

many questions,

1- VISA Non-O visa requirement, sometimes called spouse visa at immigration Office

Must be married to a Thai national
This is substantiated through a Marriage Certificate. There are instances (depending on the processing immigration office) when a copy of an Affirmation of Freedom to Marry is also required. This affirmation is obtained by the foreigner from his embassy in Thailand.

Must meet the financial requirement
Security deposit of THB 400,000 in a Thai Bank Account for at least 2 months prior to the visa application; or
Monthly income of at least THB 40,000. A letter from the foreigner embassy has to be shown to verify this income; or
Combination of the Thai bank account and yearly income with the total of 400,000 THB.
Supporting documents as proof of the security deposit in a Thai bank are as follows:

Updated bank book or passbook
Bank letter stating that the money had been deposited to the account from an overseas source for not less than 3 months.

2- Work permit

You can get work permit on Non-O Visa ( marriage ) but not on retirement Visa

3- Teacher

There is a website about teaching in Thailand known as ajarn,com, you should find all relevant informations about this

OyMamuang wrote:

Hi guys!

I came in thailand a few months ago for what was suppose to a short holiday. Surprise : 4 months later I got a boyfriend and it s pretty serious.
So as you imagine i want to stay with him in the country. We wanna get married and I am looking for work already.

I have some questions about visa and work permit.
- I already had a tourist visa so not feasible anymore. I can go in and out each month 2 extra times (visa exemption). but 1st it's pretty ennoying, 2nd I know thai immigration doesn't like it, enough to stop you at the airport sometimes. Do you confirm it s risky? I d rather avoid any kind of conflict with them.
- Do you know if I can get a work permit as a wife of thai citizen (Non-Immigrant O visa) ?
- Also apparently if i want an O visa as wife I need to prove that i got 40 000THB...which I don't have! Can anyone confirm this requirement? you know how long is the process to obtain this visa?
- I want to teach english here. I got a bachelor degree (in non formal education) and some little experience teaching. As I am french, people tell me I cannot be employed without a TEFL. Is there a teacher in the audience?

Thanks for your advice!

I take it you are female if I read your post correctly?

Nothing to stop you marrying a male Thai citizen and applying for an extension of stay based on marriage. Extension would be to an O visa(a tourist or visa exempt entry could be converted to an O visa entry at Thai Immigration).
You do not need to meet the financial requirements that a male would have to do if he were marrying a Thai lady i.e. the 40K/400,000 Baht route.

You can even apply for an O Visa in Laos/Cambodia based on your marriage to a Thai national(after it happens). takes  day or so with travelling.

You can apply for a work permit on a marriage extension.

thetelfdone (i find your name pretty funny as I asked about a tefl. Are you a teacher?)
Thanks a lot for your answer. You read right, I am a lady.
Good to know I don t need a fortune to get an O visa with my man.and can even pretend to a work permit! That will make things way easier.
.....
As info for others in my situation : the Affirmation of Freedom to Marry can take long to obtain (8weeks for us french...oh as I miss home and her messy administration!) and papers required are various from one nationality to another.

OyMamuang wrote:

thetelfdone (i find your name pretty funny as I asked about a tefl. Are you a teacher?)
Thanks a lot for your answer. You read right, I am a lady.
Good to know I don t need a fortune to get an O visa with my man.and can even pretend to a work permit! That will make things way easier.
.....
As info for others in my situation : the Affirmation of Freedom to Marry can take long to obtain (8weeks for us french...oh as I miss home and her messy administration!) and papers required are various from one nationality to another.

Hi it's the "tefldon" actually, the name came about a while back when I was a teacher in the UK, I told my mate I was going on a TEFL course. Anyway long story short the name is a play on "The Teflon Don" which as you maybe  aware was the nickname of a famous mobster in the USA. Google it and you will see. Not sure why my mate gave it me

You certainly have a problem at your Embassy if it takes 8 weeks for an affirmation!! The UK embassy is not blessed with pace but even they can turn it round in a couple of hours.

The Don was pretty bad ass indeed! I guess you have some panache
8 weeks are an average for anything back home but if for you it s so short I d better contact the embassy again.
After I got the affirmation of freedom, translate it in both English and french and get effectively married I ask the o visa under marital status. Can I ask a work permit immediately? the school year starts soon...
How long did the whole process for wedding admin and visa took you? Feasible in a month?

OyMamuang wrote:

The Don was pretty bad ass indeed! I guess you have some panache
8 weeks are an average for anything back home but if for you it s so short I d better contact the embassy again.
After I got the affirmation of freedom, translate it in both English and french and get effectively married I ask the o visa under marital status. Can I ask a work permit immediately? the school year starts soon...
How long did the whole process for wedding admin and visa took you? Feasible in a month?

Panache heh? Nope not now a days anyway! But thanks for reminding me


Here is an extract from apiece I wrote on my blog about getting married in Thailand:

After you have the affirmation to marry you need to visit the relevant department of the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have the documents certified(original and translation).

The Legalisation Division

Department of Consular Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

123 Chaeng Wattana Road,

Laksi District,

Bangkok 10210

Tel : +66 (0) 2 575 1056 59, 0 2981 7171 Fax : +66 (0) 2 575 1054 Email : [email protected] (08:30 – 15:30 hrs)

The process in the capital i.e. embassy, translation and certification can be completed in one day but it is perhaps better to plan to spend a couple of days or a long weekend in Bangkok dealing with the embassy and translations on day one and visiting the MFA on day two.

Please note that parties getting married in Thailand must be resident in the Kingdom for three days before they can register a marriage.

BTW Why would you need affirmation translated into English? French to Thai surely?

VISA
What is your visa status prior to marrying? Tourist or Visa exempt?
You can convert either of those enteries into a NON O entry at Thai immigration(1900 Bah) or you can visit Laos or Cambodia and get an O visa there after you marry.

Work Permit

You need relevant visa(Non O or B) to get a work permit. But you could apply for a job before you had both things in place(Marriage and Visa)

Timing

This comment makes me think you are visa exempt.
Doable in a month, sure is, but things need to fall into place and the JOB part is likely to cause you the most issues.
Thai schools and teaching agents can be difficult to deal with.

Ajarn.com is a great site for jobs.

My own circumstances are different to yours i.e. I am retired so I didn't need to mess around with TR Visa and I don't want to work so no work permit issues. I was already here on a retirement extension and still am. Just so happens I am married to a Thai citizen. I stay on retirement ext beause its easier to do annually.

The process of getting married from start to finish took 3 days. Two days in Bangkok at UK Embassy and MFA, then a visit to my local Amphur(district office) to sign up(get married). The Amphur took about 30 minutes and literally involves filling out some paperwork and signing same! No wedding ceremony as such.

Good news : I found work! So we can take our time to organize the marriage as I 'll get work visa and permit anyway next month _ exactly in time cause my exemption of visa will be over.
The Don you said 3 days would be enough for marriage process. i will post a.resume of how it happened when it s done.
Thanks again for all your advices
Chok Dee!!

Hello,
If you have a bachelor's degree that is essential for finding employment (look on ajarn website for this), also TEFL or CELTA diploma will help to get  a work permit. CELTA is on SIlom at International House it is worth going there to make enquiries.
Best of luck with your projects.
Tony

Je voudrais pouvoir vous renseigner car je suis moi-même enseignant et ma femme est thaïe.

J'ai toujours dû obtenir un work-permit pour travailler ici. C'est une loi indéfectible.

Quant à obtenir des facilités pour le visa parce que votre conjoint est thaï, je peux simplement vous dire que si j'étais plus âgé, j'aurais le droit effectivement à un type de visa annuel, en justifiant de mon statut marital. Mais c'est tout ce que je sais. Je peux encore essayer de me renseigner pour vous rendre service. Mais je ne garantis pas, à coup sûr, une nouvelle miraculeuse.

Où enseignez-vous ?

Je suis moi-même en école internationale.

Bonne soirée !

Jean-Marc.

How many people do you think are going to be able to read your Blog since it is in French?

purplerain24 wrote:

Je voudrais pouvoir vous renseigner car je suis moi-même enseignant et ma femme est thaïe.

J'ai toujours dû obtenir un work-permit pour travailler ici. C'est une loi indéfectible.

Quant à obtenir des facilités pour le visa parce que votre conjoint est thaï, je peux simplement vous dire que si j'étais plus âgé, j'aurais le droit effectivement à un type de visa annuel, en justifiant de mon statut marital. Mais c'est tout ce que je sais. Je peux encore essayer de me renseigner pour vous rendre service. Mais je ne garantis pas, à coup sûr, une nouvelle miraculeuse.

Où enseignez-vous ?

Je suis moi-même en école internationale.

Bonne soirée !

Jean-Marc.

You have posted on the Anglophone section of the forum so in order for members to understand what you are saying then please post in ENGLISH ONLY.
If you wish to post in French then click on the flag icon top right hand corner of this page and select from the drop down box. The posts will then be directed to the appropriate section.
Thank you  for your understanding.

I was answering to a French people. Is it forbidden to use my language with somebody having the same native language than me ? What should I lose my identity ? I find your considerations extremely selfish and extremely pretentious !

French is definitely the most beautiful language all over the world.

We have Proust, Flaubert, Maupassant, Balzac ! When reading their books I feel like I want to cry. It is so beautiful !

English is a materialistic language for financial and technical expectations, can never reach the sense of psychology used by French.

I am proud of my language and I do complain the native English speaker !

Purplerain24 it is not about criticize the langage : french english, italian, portuguese....( you can choose between these 4 langages on right corner flag )

But the way they build this website, there are 4 differents websites in 4 different langages with different topics to discuss in each forum and different subjects....

I participate in French forum as well as English Forum but I need to switch langage, just because it is like this.

The french lady who open this topic has chosen to post it in the English forum and not in the French forum it was her decision, we need to respect it...or maybe she did not know how this website was working as she was new member..

Even I put a classified ad in English forum in English, I will have to repost the same advert translated in French in the French Forum, yes many things will be duplicated....

Some topicscan be more interesting in one or the other langages, advice for embassy will be different depending on people nationality....

And like in many website you have moderator, or people doing check ( but they are not policeman lol )....just to respect the rules