Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Visa Extensions. So let me be clear, we are not talking about visas that are sought at a Thai Embassy or Consulate outside of Thailand, we are talking about Visa status which is extended here in Thailand. That is going to be extended by a Thai Immigration Office under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior as opposed to a visa application which is lodged at an Embassy or Consulate outside of Thailand which operate under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Two different things here. We are talking about Extensions specifically, so we are talking about intra Thailand Extensions.

So the reason I thought of making this video, I was reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Thailand to become a more popular destination for Russians fleeing Putin's draft. There was an excerpt in here, I urge those who are watching this video, rather interesting article, you should go check that out yourself. I am going to quote a small excerpt here. Quoting directly: "Russians don't need a visa to come here for 30 days and extensions are easy to obtain. On the other hand, the Work Permit rules here are very strict". He said he had been a waiter in both Kazakhstan and Turkey but that was impossible in Thailand. Alexei complained that he had met some official hostility even in Pattaya." So they are quoting this person Alexei, ostensibly a Russian person, who came over here to Thailand and their observations about the overall Immigration System. It's interesting that they said "extensions are easy to obtain". Okay I want to unpack that for a minute because I think people can get into some real misnomers here.

So I think what that person was saying was that 30 day extensions are easy to obtain. So yeah by 'easy', I hate using the word easy with anything having to do with Thai Immigration but it is pretty straightforward to get a 30-day extension. If you come in on a 30-day stamp, now a 45-day stamp, you want to extend it go to the Immigration Office and basically fill out a single form, pay them a fee and boom you get an Extension. You get to do that. Now if you try to do that again, you can run into some problems because they will basically say "no" there is no requirement that they do it and they don't want people here living on Tourist or tourist type visas, like Visa exempt status. 

So the thing to understand is, look different extensions differ wildly and what I mean to say is for example Business Visa Extensions, the documentation is like a phone book and I am not kidding. We file these all the time, pretty much daily now, either Business Visa extensions or an initial request for extension, we definitely file them on a weekly basis but I mean they are fat, they are they are document intense. Meanwhile, you do like a Marriage Visa Extension, it is not quite as documentarily intense but as we have discussed in other videos, there is a far higher level of scrutiny associated with Thai Marriage Visa Extension. As we have discussed, it basically came about from the fact that there were a bunch of scams in the past associated with Thai Marriage Visa Extension and now they frequently do inspections associated with the couple; there is all kinds of background they do on O Marriage Visa Extensions. Retirement Visas, that is another one. It may not be like a Business Visa where there is this thick stack of paperwork but a Retirement Visa Extension, you have got to prove financial abilities, you have got to prove up certain identity documentation, it is not just a, to say extensions are easy, okay in one context I would say it is fair to say that for things like “oh I want to add on 30 days to my 60-day Tourist Visa”, or “I want to add on 30 more days to my Visa Exemption stamp”. Yeah okay that is going to be a pretty straightforward experience but if you are dealing with like Non-Immigrant Visa Extensions in Thailand, that can be a rather harrowing experience.