consultancy visa service for foreign nationals. I spent a lot of my time looking carefully at the area and peoples needs and doing due diligence before my commitment to become a �specialist� visa consultant.

My team at Key Visa Co., feel totally at home with the expats & foreign community and we endeavor to make every visa application a hassle free venture for our clients.

We understand the problems clients face and we make every effort to support them until satisfaction is reached.

We are the official immigration advisors for the Pattaya Expats Club & I offer a lot of my time giving free advice to newcomers & expats in Pattaya specializing on retirement & long stay visa applications.

I am offering a weekly advice clinic in this newspaper and today I am focusing on the most recent visa rule changes and the problems clients encounter.

Retirement visa changes Starting October 1st 2007 there has been slight changes to the procedure when applying or reapplying for a retirement visa, the first change was if you applying for the retirement visa and working off the 800,000 baht in your Thai bank account and no additional income then the money has to be in your bank for a period of at least three months before you can apply or re apply for the visa and cannot drop even one baht below the 800,000 baht required for the visa.If you are applying for the retirement visa and are working off your income then in past years you could use your old income letter obtained from your relative embassies for a period of two or three years but unfortunately now you have to change your income letter every year before you apply for the visa old photocopies are not accepted by the immigration. Married to a Thai national visa

The married to a Thai national visa application has had slight changes to the procedure when applying if you are a first time applicant you shall probably be asked to show 400,000.00 baht in your Thailand bank account and also an additional income of 40,000.00 baht per month this income can be shown from the applicant or if your Thai wife has a business generating this income it can also be used but the immigration officers shall need to see evidence from your wife e.g. tax payments or salary slips, if the income is to come from the applicant then you need to obtain a regular income confirmation letter from your relative embassies or consulates when you have the income letter you now have to take it to the ministry of foreign affairs in Bangkok to have the letter and your proof of income documents e.g. bank statements stamped before they shall be accepted by the immigration. P l e a s e note this is not necessary for anybody applying for a retirement visa only a married to a Thai national visa.

In the application for a married to a Thai national you have to produce two photographs of your marriage ceremony now you also have to produce two photographs of you and your wife in your place of residence.

Tourist visa extensions 30 day & 7day

If you have a 60 day or a 30 day tourist visa in your passport and require an extension of stay the immigration officers now require you to show an ongoing travel document out of Thailand within the duration of the extension you are applying for e.g. airline ticket if you do not produce this the officer will not grant you a further extension so preempt a situation and take something with you. Penang tourist visa runners

The Thai consulate in Penang, Malaysia has now started to follow the trend of most Thai consulates around Asia they are restricting most applicants to three single entry tourist visa�s only and in some cases if you have obtained tourist visa�s from other consulates around Asia prior to your visit to Penang you could be restricted to only two, if the consulate decides to restrict your visits they shall place a red coloured notice above your tourist visa st