Immigration irritations

Let me start with a bit of brief explanation… in Thailand, you need two things to be able to stay in the country: 1) a visa, of varying type and duration, and 2) an entry permit, also of varying duration. So, I have a multi-entry, year-long education visa, but I still need to leave the country or check in with immigration every 90 days to renew my entry permit. There are long forum posts and discussions about this, but in general, it tends to confuse people. And, there seems to be a profit in confusing all those foreigners who don’t understand Thai immigration rules – with large, daily fines if you overstay your entry permit. I was pretty lucky last year because, 1) I applied for my education visa in the US, and 2) I traveled out of the country a lot. So I never really needed to deal with immigration, besides entering and exiting the country. However, that changed when I tried to research ways to get a new visa.

I tried to get a new visa before my old one expired (but that failed when ASPH failed to renew my contract before my old visa expired). So, I couldn’t leave the country unless I could guarantee that I could get a new visa in whichever country I went to. I wasn’t illegally in Thailand – I still had a month and a half left on my entry permit, but I couldn’t come back unless I had a new visa. With this in mind, I tried to contact several Royal Thai Embassies that had a good (blog) record of distributing education visas (because it depends on the country… urgh). Upon contacting Singapore, I was directed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, based in Nonthaburi, about 20 minutes from where I’m based. The ministry official made my day when he said I didn’t need to leave the country – I could just come to the immigration office 20 minutes from the MoPH and extend my current visa. All the paperwork was in order – I just needed one more letter (saying the exact same thing but with different letterhead). I obtained my third letter (saying the same thing) and headed to the immigration office, excited at the prospect of getting my visa extended but extremely apprehensive of the ease with which the extension was described. Visa issues are not easy in Thailand.

So, I found the office, had the correct paperwork, and got a number. And then the confusion began. The first immigration official thought I needed a work permit (which I can’t get because technically no one employs me). So she asked me to call my office so that she could explain to someone in Thai what I needed to do. When she got too confused, she passed me off to another official, to whom I tried to explain my situation (in English and in Thai). I referred to my previous contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but had no luck. She asked me to call my office, explained again that I needed a work permit, but also suggested that I needed to go to the Nonthaburi immigration office (40+ minutes away and in the middle of a rice field) because my fellowship is based in Nonthaburi. The office I was at (in Nonthaburi!) only served people living or working in Bangkok, technically another province. 

Massive government complex off of Chaeng Wattana (1st & 3rd stop)

 

Yes, so the dot in the middle is my office - the one northeast (and closest) is Chaeng Wattana's office. The one northwest (and across the river and in the middle of a rice field) is the Nonthaburi office.

 Nonthaburi Immigration Office... really, it's in the middle of a rice field!

The next day, I headed off to the Nonthaburi immigration office, this time with a Thai friend accompanying me. We found the office (eventually), waited dutifully, and were told again that I needed a work permit. After talking more, the officer suggested I go to Laos to get an education visa (really? You can’t give me one here?) or go the the other immigration office (yes, please, pass the buck on…). After more talking and several “goodbyes” from the immigration official, I was surprised when he started stamping things into my passport. Miraculously, he gave me an extension (to Sept. 15, which is technically the last day I work also…) but then said I needed to go to the other immigration office to get my 90-day entry permit. Ei! The next day, I headed BACK to the office 20 minutes from me, got my 90-day extension and finally relaxed.

 I'm legal - extended AND permitted!