Which visa is better for expats in Thailand: Non-Immigrant B or Non-Immigrant O (based on marriage)?

And the Non B can also be extended at the Immigration Office in Thailand.

Because he says he has “plenty of cash in the uk and thai banks”. Unfortunately since you highlight that there is no lump sum option in London, that’s not a consideration anymore.

based on what? there is no lump sum for the Non Immigrant O visa in London: For accompanying a Thai spouse : A copy of marriage certificate, a copy of Thai passport/a copy of Thai ID of spouse, and (3 months bank statement showing monthly income of more than £1,500.)

The non O visa is based on marriage and independent from the business, unless you use the income method made out of this business inside Thailand. The Non B is stable as long as your business is doing good, the Non O is stable as long as your marriage works out well. Both can go wrong.

@Robert ******

non imm b is granted if you are married to a Thai or not. The non imm o based on marriage is linked to your relationship to a Thai. Thus your visa dont only depend on your business making a success but also your marriage. Purely from a business sense the non imm b is beter and more stable option for a businessman, which the OP seems to be. As for the changes to the non imm o based on marruage I did say I dont know if its still going to happen. I just repeated what the IO said. As can be expected he did not go into details. Lets wait for this week as the scheduled date was the 22nd April 2562 for these changes.

Ron van den Heever And without knowing or telling us what these changes are and already telling not sure if these changes are implemented, how can you say the Non Immigrant B is more stable?

I had a chat with my IO last week, before BJ was moved amd he said that they want to bring in changes to the non imm o marriage visa. I domt know if it still will happen after the change but for me the non imm b is more stable and not relying on the longterm stability of a marriage.

If they can not do it, I would say go to Savannakhet, get the multiple entry Non Immigrant O visa based on marriage to a Thai National and you're good for 1 year. Time enough for your trip to London and arrange your WP before or after that trip.

You can visit the Immigration Office and ask if they can convert your Tourist Visa into the Non Immigrant O visa. Not all offices are allowed to do this.

And where in Thailand are you?

What type of Visa do you have now?

Or visit the Thai Consulate in Vientiane where you get the Single Entry Non Immigrant O visa based on being married to a Thai or Savannakhet where you get the 1 year Visa even without any financial requirements. And than apply for the Work Permit.

As I mentioned. You are the managing director of your company but wont be on the payroll until visa and work permit 1st completed. Apply for the work permit tomorrow, visit the Ministry of Labor in your area and get the hand out, copy all needed and apply. With documents form the Ministry of Labor you can go to apply for the Non Immigrant B visa and on return put yourself on the payroll. Than you can fly to London to apply for the Non O visa

To apply for the work permit you only need to show what your salary would be, as long as you do not have the work permit you are not allowed to work and receive salary. For the Non Immigrant B visa you visit a Thai Consulate with several documents but you also not have to show your salary.

Not sure what the new problem is, visa and WP could be arranged in 1 week.

Yep, but you need to fly every year to London and making every 90 days border runs. an Extension of Stay maybe more documents to copy, application cost are 1.900 Thb. At the end a bit cheaper.

My thoughts, no difference to start and no difference for Extension of Stay, but as said you need to meet the requirements if based on working. And just out of many topics on this page, it seems that companies do not have the staff or tax and sso payments or paying the minimum salary for the foreigner. Which all part of the requirements.