Is the 65,000 Baht into Thai Bank required every month I stay or every month of the year

[xylophone]

On ‎11‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 4:23 PM, geejay said:

Hi Everyone

I am a little confused and I would appreciate some advice.

My wife and I are both British Citizens and each year we spend about a total of seven months over three trips here in Thailand.

We are here on Retirement visa's and next year will be applying for an extension based on Retirement.

Since the British Consulate will no longer issue proof of income letters, my question is, do I have transfer a minimum of 65,000 Baht into my Thai Bank each month that I am here or every month of the year?

The 800,000 deposit is not an option for us.

Also is the 65,000 Baht enough to include my wife?

You are not the only one who is a little confused here, or maybe it's just me and my old age, so I'll try to explain...........

 

British citizens who are currently here on a retirement extension (or as some people call it, retirement Visa) will now only be allowed to prove they have the means to stay here by depositing either 400,000 or 800,000 baht (depending upon marital status as I understand it?) in their Thai bank account for a period of three months prior to the time the extension is granted.

 

This is where I get really confused when the OP asks, "my question is, do I have transfer a minimum of 65,000 Baht into my Thai Bank each month that I am here or every month of the year? The 800,000 deposit is not an option for us".

 

As I understand it from other threads here, if you are from the UK, at the moment the only option available to you after the end of this year is the lump sum deposit into one's account, and monthly deposits, even backed up by a bank statement, are not being accepted by the Immigration Department.

 

If that is the case, aren't all of these posts and discussions rather moot?

 

Perhaps someone can enlighten me.......

[allane]

I concur. Posts #'s 2 and 3 addressed the OP's question. While I haven't read all of the subsequent posts, few, if any, are on-topic.

[tropo]

10 hours ago, Maestro said:

In other words, you are saying that your wife does not need copies of your passport's ID page and the page with your retirement extension.

Both applications are submitted together in one bundle, with all my supporting documents.

[ubonjoe]

Some baiting and bickering posts have been removed. Time to end it.

[BoBoTheClown]

You must have a income e.i., a pension or salary of at least 65,000 baht a month to be granted a retirement visa if you are not using the 800,000 Baht method.  Furthermore, a pension for example, is a monthly Social Security check from your government, which would be pretty simple to prove if you are receiving one.  Mysterious money deposited into a Thai Bank monthly doesn't follow the guidelines of Thai immigration. Also, You only, I repeat, you only have to use a Thai Bank when you are using the 800,000 Baht method. 

[marcusarelus]

31 minutes ago, BoBoTheClown said:

You must have a income e.i., a pension or salary of at least 65,000 baht a month to be granted a retirement visa if you are not using the 800,000 Baht method.  Furthermore, a pension for example, is a monthly Social Security check from your government, which would be pretty simple to prove if you are receiving one.  Mysterious money deposited into a Thai Bank monthly doesn't follow the guidelines of Thai immigration. Also, You only, I repeat, you only have to use a Thai Bank when you are using the 800,000 Baht method. 

Maybe you want to check the 7000 recent posts about the income letter as opposed to the 65,000 baht per month in any bank method. 

[BoBoTheClown]

21 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

Maybe you want to check the 7000 recent posts about the income letter as opposed to the 65,000 baht per month in any bank method. 

This is the law and the law says nothing about income letters any way. Those 7000 post are all wrong. There is no current law change that says otherwise.  Attached below is the law provided by Thai Visa. 

 

 

immigration_bureau_order_138-2557_2014_-_extension_documents.pdf

[ubonjoe]

55 minutes ago, BoBoTheClown said:

This is the law and the law says nothing about income letters any way. Those 7000 post are all wrong. There is no current law change that says otherwise.  Attached below is the law provided by Thai Visa. 

As I have written several times before there is certainly an old order or regulation that states that proof of foreign income must be proven by a document from an a person's embassy or consulate.

It not being written in the current police orders does not meant there is no requirement for it. Just ask an immigration officer about it and they will say it is needed at this time.

[JohnnyBD]

2 hours ago, BoBoTheClown said:

This is the law and the law says nothing about income letters any way. Those 7000 post are all wrong. There is no current law change that says otherwise.  Attached below is the law provided by Thai Visa. 

 

 

immigration_bureau_order_138-2557_2014_-_extension_documents.pdf

Dear BoBo,

You are correct about the wording... No one has shown a police order stipulating that an income letter from your embassy is required. But, the reality of it is Thai Immigration currently does require an income letter or income affidavit (US) if using the monthly income method. In over 7,000 posts, no one has confirmed that they were able to get an extension without having to provide income letters. Do you know of someone who was able to get an extension without an income letter? It appears the TI unwritten rule is you are required to have an income letter. By the way, I have a pension well over 65k/mth and TI would not accept it. They told me they only accepted the income affidavit (US) and didn't care about my pension letter & statement. That was at the Jomtien office two years in a row, so I had to make special trip to Bangkok to get an income affidavit from US Embassy...

Edited November 14, 2018 by JohnnyBD

[xylophone]

32 minutes ago, JohnnyBD said:

But, the reality of it is Thai Immigration currently does require an income letter or income affidavit (US) if using the monthly income method.

Spot on JohnnyBD and it is something I have stated in a couple of posts here...………….Thai Immigration has said the letters from various embassies confirming/verifying/proving that the income is correct, are needed.

 

Three embassies so far have said that they cannot meet the level of proof required for this, so will stop issuing letters at the end of the year.

 

So with the monthly income method it is now impossible to get a retirement extension unless the lump sum method is used...…….things can change of course, but TIT so one never knows.

 

The bottom line is that I believe most of the previous posts have not tackled the key issue which I and JohnnyBD have now done (I hope!). 

[Maestro]

15 hours ago, BoBoTheClown said:

This is the law and the law says nothing about income letters any way. Those 7000 post are all wrong. There is no current law change that says otherwise.  Attached below is the law provided by Thai Visa. 

 

 

immigration_bureau_order_138-2557_2014_-_extension_documents.pdf

It is there, in clause 2.22 of the Police Order to which you linked:

Quote

3. Evidence of income such as a retirement pension, interest or dividends; and/or

 

"Evidence" is not defined in that clause or elsewhere in the Police Order and this leaves it to immigration to decide what documents to consider acceptable evidence for the implementation of this clause.

[BoBoTheClown]

5 hours ago, Maestro said:

It is there, in clause 2.22 of the Police Order to which you linked:

 

"Evidence" is not defined in that clause or elsewhere in the Police Order and this leaves it to immigration to decide what documents to consider acceptable evidence for the implementation of this clause.

I get that, but income affidavit letters no longer exists for most and the law doesn't state it is needed.  Acceptable evidence is something that is tangible. Things that don't exists are not. 

[elviajero]

7 minutes ago, BoBoTheClown said:

I get that, but income affidavit letters no longer exists for most and the law doesn't state it is needed.  Acceptable evidence is something that is tangible. Things that don't exists are not. 

The law doesn’t have to state it’s needed. 

 

At some point immigration have received orders to only accept embassy letters to meet the proof of income criteria set out in the police orders. As it stands that has not changed. If embassies don’t issue a letter then immigration won’t issue an extension.

 

New orders may or may not come.

[Thaidream]

2 hours ago, elviajero said:

At some point immigration have received orders to only accept embassy letters to meet the proof of income criteria set out in the police orders. As it stands that has not changed. If embassies don’t issue a letter then immigration won’t issue an extension.

 

New orders may or may not come.

And if Thai Imm stands pat and says no letter- no income extension, that leaves only one choice-  800K/400K in a Thai bank for those of us that want a 1 year extension without leaving Thailand at some point to  get a new Visa and doing 90 day runs.