Visa changes July 10, 2004 slap visitors in face

[rickfarang]

Source: expat.telegraph.co.uk 2004-04-12

 

Thai visa crackdown brings expulsion threat to expats

 

New visa rules from July 10, 2004

 

BANGKOK: Many British residents of Thailand with Thai spouses face repatriation and broken marriages because of new visa regulations due to be introduced on July 10.

 

From that date, foreign partners of Thai spouses must deposit 400,000 Baht (£5,700) permanently in a Thai bank or show assured monthly income of at least 40,000 Baht (£570) in order to obtain a renewable one-year visa based on marriage.

 

Until now, married foreigners have had to place 200,000 Baht (£2,850) in a Thai bank account at the time of the application only.

 

This has led to short-term, co-operative loans between friends, a practice of which the Thai authorities now disapprove.

 

Hundreds of longtime British residents, particularly pensioners, say they can't raise the amount of cash and tie it up permanently, as required by the new regulations, and many fear they may have to return to Britain, leaving Thai spouses behind.

 

Jim Francis, a 62-year-old British citizen living with his Thai wife in a remote northern Thai village on a small Royal Navy disability pension, is one of them. He has written about his plight to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

 

"There's no way I can meet the new requirements", says Mr Francis, whose pension is 9,500 Baht (£136) a month.

 

Until now, Mr Francis and many British men married to Thai women have been able to maintain their residence in Thailand on so-called "multiple-entry non-immigrant visas", documents which are officially intended for business people. The visas require holders to leave Thailand every three months.

 

Mr Francis and many others existing like him on limited funds maintain a permanent residence in Thailand by making what are called "visa runs", crossing the nearest border points into Myanmar, Malaysia, Laos or Cambodia every three months and returning the same day with their passports and visas correctly stamped. Francis spends 24,000 Baht (£340) annually on his visa runs.

 

Thai embassies and consulates abroad have been quite liberal in issuing multiple-entry, non-immigrant visas. But there are signs the procedure is being tightened up to exclude all but genuine business people - with real funds in the bank.

 

A Thai Immigration Department spokesman commented: "We regret any cases of hardship caused by the new regulations. But it must be understood that we have to ensure that any foreigners wishing to live in Thailand must be able to maintain themselves and their dependants and present no risk of becoming a burden to the State".

 

In his letter to Mr Blair, Mr Francis complains that when he last applied at the Thai Embassy in Vientiane, Laos, for re-entry to Thailand he was told he didn't have enough income to continue to live in Thailand, and that he would never be given another multiple-entry visa.

 

Mr Francis points out that the average family income in Thailand is 3,340 Baht (£49) a month.

 

"What right has anyone to say I can't support my wife on 9,500 Baht a month? I've been living happily with her for the past seven years, have never got into debt and we've never gone without."

[Guest]

Quote

"This has led to short-term, co-operative loans between friends, a practice of which the Thai authorities now disapprove. "

 

Probably the ones that complain the loudest are the ones who caused the problem in the first place.

[whosyourdaddy]

"present no risk of becoming a burden to the State".

 

 

Yes us British, Canadians , Norwegians are just all lining up for the social benefits of Thailand. Damn ...there goes my welfare cheque . What a crock of shit