Hi all, we are an American family staying in Chiang Mai. My husband is employed and has the appropriate work permit & non-imm visa. My two children and I have been trying to get non-immigrant O visas as dependents, but have faced numerous setbacks, mostly because we don’t understand the rules and were given some bad advice.
So, our current 90-day non-imm visas (issued in Vientiane) expire later this week. When I went to the Chiang Mai immigration office to extend, I learned that I would again need certified affidavits for my marriage license and kids’ birth certificates. The office in Vientiane kept those. The US Consulate doesn’t have any openings for 10 days, so we’ll be overstaying by then and of course I’ll have to pay the $50 per page again at the US consulate.
My kids & I are leaving Thailand on March 5. We return mid-April. We will leave again on June 30ish and return around August 1 to stay long-term.
My question: should we just scrap the non-imm visas, do a border bounce this week, and do a visa-free tourist entry in April? Then we can start the whole non-imm O visa process again in the fall. If yes, what border crossing should I visit?
So far this year, we have entered Thailand once through a flight into Bangkok using a reentry on our non-imm O visa.
Will the kids be fined for overstay between now and our departure on March 5? I’d rather not pull them out of school again if I don’t have to. I thought kids didn’t get fined, but my husband’s employer is telling me they do. Will an overstay in their passports cause problems when we apply for non-imm visas in the fall? (Oh, and also, we will be applying for a new passport for one child while we are in the US this summer.)
So, to summarize:
Option 1. Make an appt at US Consulate to get new affidavits, then apply for extension, and pay for overstay.
Option 2. Get by on tourist stays until our departure in June. If yes, do kids need to cross a border with me this week?
TLDR : Answer Summary
An American family in Chiang Mai is facing challenges obtaining non-immigrant O visas as dependents, resulting in a nearing expiration of their current 90-day non-immigrant visas. They are considering whether to do a border bounce and return on a tourist visa or attempt to manage the visa extensions under complicated circumstances, including a lack of necessary documentation and potential overstays. They seek advice on how to proceed without negatively impacting future visa applications.
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