Service guide
Which dependent visa route in Thailand fits your family, what immigration charges, and how long each takes: 60 minutes, or 21 working days for a Thai spouse.
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A search for a dependent visa in Thailand almost always ends at the same place: an extension of stay on a Non-Immigrant O, granted to a family member under one of several criteria in Royal Thai Police Order no.327/2557. Thai immigration law has no category with that name. Which criterion your family falls under decides the evidence you assemble, the money you have to show, and how long immigration takes over it.
That last part surprises people. As the family of a foreigner working or studying in Thailand, the Immigration Bureau's own public service manual puts the counter time at 60 minutes. As the spouse or parent of a Thai national, the same manual puts it at 21 working days and 90 minutes. Same fee, same office, a different order of magnitude in waiting.
Picking the wrong criterion is the usual reason a file comes back. The table below maps the four family routes the public handbooks set out.
The four family routes, side by side
Criteria under Royal Thai Police Order no.327/2557 as set out in the Immigration Bureau's public service handbooks. The extension fee is 1,900 baht under all four.
| Your situation | Criterion | Financial test | Official processing time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family of a foreigner permitted to stay and work in Thailand | 2.20 | None stated in the handbook's document list; the principal's own criterion carries the financial side | 60 minutes |
| Family of a foreigner permitted to stay for study | 2.11 | A father or mother must hold 500,000 baht in a Thai commercial bank in their own name for the past three months; in the first year only, the amount must have been maintained for at least 30 days before filing | 60 minutes |
| Spouse or parent of a Thai national, the route usually called the marriage visa | 2.18 | 40,000 baht average monthly income, or 400,000 baht held in a Thai bank account throughout the past two months | 21 working days and 90 minutes |
| Visiting a spouse or child who holds Thai nationality | 2.24 | None in the handbook's document list, which asks only for proof of the relationship and of Thai nationality | 60 minutes |
Source: Immigration Bureau public handbooks, criteria 2.11, 2.18, 2.20 and 2.24
Checked August 2026
Note: Two routes look alike and are not
Criterion 2.18 and criterion 2.24 both involve a Thai spouse or a Thai child, and readers regularly conflate them. The handbook for 2.18 sets out a financial test and asks for a certified bank letter, income evidence and an affidavit from the Thai family member. The handbook for 2.24, for visiting a spouse or child of Thai nationality, lists relationship and nationality documents only, and carries a 60 minute service time rather than 21 working days.
Which one a family should be filing under is a question about their actual circumstances, not about which list looks easier. It is worth putting to a professional before the paperwork is assembled.
The extension of stay is 1,900 baht under every family criterion above. The costs that follow it are the ones people forget to budget for: leaving Thailand without a re-entry permit ends the permission you just paid for, and 90-day reporting is free right up until it is late.
What a visa agency or a law firm charges to prepare and run the file sits on top of these amounts and is quoted separately by each firm. The figures below are what immigration itself charges.
Official fees around a family extension of stay
Fees published in the Immigration Bureau's public service handbooks. Professional fees are separate.
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Extension of stay, any family criterion | 1,900 baht |
| Re-entry permit, single entry | 1,000 baht |
| Re-entry permit, multiple entry | 3,800 baht |
| 90-day notification of residence, on time | No fee |
| 90-day notification, late | 2,000 baht, and the report must be made in person |
| Non-Immigrant O applied for at a Thai mission abroad | Set by each mission: USD 80 single entry in Washington DC and Phnom Penh |
Source: Immigration Bureau public handbooks; Royal Thai Embassy visa pages
Checked August 2026
Get into Thailand on the right visa, or change status herePer mission
A Non-Immigrant O for joining family is applied for at a Thai mission abroad, which asks for the family member's own status documents in Thailand: passport and visa pages, work permit or student evidence, plus the marriage or birth certificate. The Royal Thai Embassy in Washington DC and the embassy in Phnom Penh both issue it as a single entry valid three months, allowing a stay of up to 90 days.
Assemble relationship and financial evidenceThe slow part
Relationship proof means the marriage certificate, birth certificate, registration of child legitimation, household registration certificate or adoption registration, depending on the tie. Financial evidence only applies on the criteria that ask for it, and the seasoning period matters as much as the amount: two months for the Thai spouse route, three for the parent of a student.
File TM.7 at the right immigration officeSame visit
The family application is filed where the principal files. Under criterion 2.20 that is the immigration checkpoint for the area where the main visa holder submits their own extension; under 2.11 it is the area where the principal studies. The form is TM.7 with a photograph, alongside an acknowledgement of the penalties for overstay.
Wait out the service time and collect60 minutes, or 21 working days
On criteria 2.11, 2.20 and 2.24 the handbook's total service time is 60 minutes, covering inspection, consideration and signature for approval. On criterion 2.18 it is 21 working days and 90 minutes, so the decision comes well after the visit.
Your options
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International boutique law firm in Bangkok and Phuket, providing legal and tax services to investors, businesses, and private clients across Thailand
฿7,000–12,000 / hour
Experts assisting clients in conducting their businesses and protecting their rights and investments in Thailand across a wide range of legal matters.
It does not let you work. Permission to stay and permission to work are separate grants from separate agencies, and no family criterion changes that. Work in Thailand requires a permit under the Emergency Decree on the Management of the Work of Aliens, whatever the visa in the passport says.
The penalty is specific. A foreigner who works in violation of the decree is fined 5,000 to 50,000 baht and sent out of the Kingdom once the fine is paid. There is no prison sentence attached to that offence, and the employer commits a separate one.
A spouse who intends to work here needs the permit route rather than the family route, and often both. The work permit page sets out what that involves and what it costs.
Two obligations run alongside the extension and are easy to lose track of. Anyone permitted to stay in Thailand must notify immigration of their residence every 90 days, using form TM.47, in the window from 15 days before the appointment date to seven days after it. Notification can be made in person, by registered post sent 15 days in advance, or online. Late, it costs 2,000 baht and has to be done in person.
The second is the re-entry permit. Leaving the country without one ends the permission to stay you hold, so a family member who travels buys form TM.8 at 1,000 baht for a single entry or 3,800 baht for multiple entries, priced against the remaining permitted period. The fee is not refunded if the application is not approved. The mechanics of renewing and maintaining permission are the same ones covered on visa extensions.
The risk worth naming is derived status. A family extension under criterion 2.20 rests on the principal's own permission and is filed where the principal files, so when the principal's basis for staying ends, the family's permission has nothing left to rest on. Staying past the permitted date is overstay, fined at 500 baht a day up to a 20,000 baht cap, with a re-entry ban for longer periods. That is a situation to take advice on before it arrives, not after.
Three situations account for most of the work. The first is the paperwork chain behind the Thai spouse route, where a foreign marriage has to be recognised in Thailand before it supports anything: marriage registration is a prerequisite for criterion 2.18, not an afterthought. The second is contested financial evidence, where a bank letter, a tax return or a pension has to satisfy an officer reading a handbook literally. The third is a route change under time pressure, including the case where a parent aged 50 or over may be better served by the retirement visa route than by a family criterion.
What a firm adds is matching the family to the right criterion and getting the evidence to match it too, before a permitted date runs out. A firm can also say when the answer is no, which is cheaper to hear early.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Criteria, fees and processing times change, and whether a particular family qualifies under any of them is a decision for an immigration officer; for a specific situation, speak with a qualified professional.
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฿7,000–12,000 / hour
Experts assisting clients in conducting their businesses and protecting their rights and investments in Thailand across a wide range of legal matters.
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International boutique law firm in Bangkok and Phuket, providing legal and tax services to investors, businesses, and private clients across Thailand
฿7,000–12,000 / hour
Experts assisting clients in conducting their businesses and protecting their rights and investments in Thailand across a wide range of legal matters.
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