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Documentation for Spouses "Tied" to Thai Retirement Visa Holders

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing documentation associated with the dependent spouse of a retiree in Thailand. It doesn't happen an awful lot of the time but it can happen where you have a spouse of a retiree who in their own right, usually due to age, does not meet the retiree qualification, so they are brought in oftentimes as a dependent spouse of a Retirement Visa holder. Honestly, these Visas can be rather tricky to obtain. In a sense, all visas are discretionary but there seems to be an extra level of discretion exercised with respect to issuance of these kinds of Visas. So just as a practical matter, especially where a retiree couple can meet the financial criteria, oftentimes we find it is a lot more straightforward to just have them both get their own Retirement Visas and oftentimes Thai Immigration will say the same thing. 

There are circumstances where you do have a spouse and they are dependent on a retiree and they don't of their own accord, meet the Retirement Visa qualifications. Under those circumstances, it is possible to obtain a dependent Spouse visa on that Retirement Visa. One issue, a lot of people have sent me emails on this in the past roughly week or so, and they have been asking me about documentation associated with Certification of Marriages overseas, especially overseas marriages especially in an American context, and yeah there is a lot of notarization and certification requirements associated with marriage documentation in the context of a retiree dependent. Part of the reason for this, is it has never really been an issue in the past is that this documentation oftentimes has to be certified by the local authority which issued the marriage or which formalized or solemnized the marriage or issued the marriage document. Under these circumstances, getting that documentation certified by the authorities in that jurisdiction and oftentimes possibly counter certified by federal authorities and then certified by Thai Authorities can be a pretty cumbersome process. Yeah, it is our understanding that this is being required more and more and as a result, it is having a detrimental impact for lack of a better term or negative consequences for folks who are dependent spouses of a retiree. 

We will keep you updated on the situation as things progress. At least for now yeah just kind of be aware out there that documentation associated with marriage can be kind of a problem if you were married overseas and you are looking to get a Visa in Thailand.