visa

Dear Drew, I'm an English Professor at Youngsan University in South Korea. I've been engaged to a woman from Buri Ram for a year and we plan on marrying (Buddhist style) on July 11, 2011.

New regulations for new and renewal of non-immigrant "B" Business visas issued in Thailand by the Immigration Bureau of the Royal Thai Police make it much more difficult for foreigners to do business legally in Thailand; especially if the books of the company and the income of the foreigner are not properly documented and all taxes are not paid up to date.

The Pattaya Times staff was recently informed by an Englishman residing in Pattaya that he was refused a Thai double-entry visa in Vientiane, Laos. Further investigations revealed people having similar problems in Penang.

If you are under 50 years of age, not married to a Thai national and financially independant there are few options if you want to live in Thailand.If you are over 50 you can easily qualify for a retirement visa providing you have 800,000 baht in the bank, however you must be at least 50 years old. If you are under 50 and don't want to work or run a company or constantly have to do visa runs then an education visa may be the solution for you if you want to reside here long term.