Retirement Extension Cash and Pension method

[dsfbrit]

I am confused - help!

Last year I gave up my extension based on marriage and switched to an extension based on retirement. I did this based on 800k in the bank. Simple.

 

This year I receive 3 pensions.

1. Company pension 5000 pounds

2. Company pension 1000 pounds

3, State pension 8000 pounds

 

So a total of around 14000 pounds. If I multiply that by the FX rate today then that is around 40 baht * 560000

baht.

 

My thinking is that with this and 240000 baht in the bank I have achieved the 800k baht I need.

 

Is that how the system works???

 

1. Does this mean I dont have to have the cash in the bank for 2 months before and 3 months after and a minimum of 400k baht and the other parts of these new rules??

2. Can I just go to Jomtiem immigration with a letter(s) from my pension providers in English confirming these amounts.

 

I know all this is documented here in TV and I am not usually the lazy type who does not bother reading the posts. However, in this case I have lost the will to live reading through all this stuff and really would appreciate some simple advice.

 

Many thanks for your help

 

 

 

 

 

[marcusarelus]

You need 12 months of deposits from outside of Thailand of your pension.  The combination method, I don't think anyone knows for sure.  Best to ask an Immigration officer and get his name and put it in writing.  

[dsfbrit]

marcusarelus - thanks for the quick reply. I don't get the pensions until July and then I have to renew my visa extension at the end of August. I don't fancy going to immigration and asking them anything. I hate going in there at all. I am hoping I can get the advice from TV and avoid asking immigration anything.

 

I would rather use an agent than go to immigration for advice.

Edited April 26, 2019 by dsfbrit

[ubonjoe]

37 minutes ago, dsfbrit said:

1. Does this mean I dont have to have the cash in the bank for 2 months before and 3 months after and a minimum of 400k baht and the other parts of these new rules??

 Using the combination option you would need a total of 800k baht of annual income and money in the bank. The money in the bank would have to there for 2 months on the date your apply. The part after the application has not been clarified yet. Some offices have stated only the amount in has to stay in the bank for 3 months or for the entire year if it is less than 400k baht.

37 minutes ago, dsfbrit said:

2. Can I just go to Jomtiem immigration with a letter(s) from my pension providers in English confirming these amounts.

To prove your income you will need a few months of transfer going into a Thai bank from abroad.

 

IMO you should go back to the extension of stay based upon marriage and start transferring in at least 40k baht into a Thai bank now. Or put 400k baht into a Thai bank for 2 months before you apply for the extension.

[dsfbrit]

UbonJoe, thanks very much for the reply.

I agree with you that the extension based on marriage was a better option for me logically.

To be honest, after 15 years of the marriage extension and being asked to jump through more and more hoops each year - I could not stand it any more.

Last year at Jomtien, after they had checked everything as usual, they then told me I needed a witness. I just shook my head, walked out and changed to a retirement extension!

 

Whatever it costs or whatever I have to do, I don't ever want to sit at the marriage extension desk ever again!!

 

It seems though that I have misunderstood the rules. In fact if I were to start today transferring 50k baht a month from abroad (say) then that would be 600000 baht per year.

 

I would then need 200k baht in the bank.

 

is that correct?

 

I would not need to show any pension paperwork at all, just bank statements showing money coming into Thailand from abroad?

 

I renew my extension in Jomtien at the end of August, so I would have 5 deposits if I started today.

 

What do you think about that idea???

 

Thanks again for your help.

 

Edit: In fact if I just transferred 65k a month form the UK then that would solve the problem I guess. I thought I could not do this as I would need paperwork to prove where the money came from ie a pension letter(s)

 

Edited April 26, 2019 by dsfbrit

[ubonjoe]

14 minutes ago, dsfbrit said:

It seems though that I have misunderstood the rules. In fact if I were to start today transferring 50k baht a month from abroad (say) then that would be 600000 baht per year.

I would then need 200k baht in the bank.

is that correct?

That is correct. The 200k baht would need to be in the bank for 2 months.

The 50k baht transfers would have to be shown as international transfers on a bank statement.

The 5 months should be enough this year. 

18 minutes ago, dsfbrit said:

In fact if I just transferred 65k a month form the UK then that would solve the problem I guess. I thought I could not do this as I would need paperwork to prove where the money came from ie a pension letter(s)

There is no written requirement to show proof of where the money came from but immigration could ask for some proof of the source of it.

[dsfbrit]

UbonJoe, thanks again for your reply.

 

I needed to send some money over now as I am low on funds.

What I did after listening to your advice, was transfer 1700 pounds from HSBC in the UK to Kasikorn over here.

 

That is about 68K baht.

 

I can do that until the extension at the end of August for sure.

 

Does that sound 'doable'. Does Kasikorn have the correct code to show the money is coming from abroad??

 

I read somewhere in all the posts on TV, that some banks don't show the money coming from abroad??

 

Thanks again for your help. I could not survive in Thailand without all the help you and others give me on TV!!!

 

 

[SEtonal]

The poster in the link used the combination method to obtain an extension based on retirement at Jomtien earlier this month.  He permanently keeps 401,000 baht in the bank. 

 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1093988-extension-of-stay-for-retirement/

[ubonjoe]

15 minutes ago, dsfbrit said:

Does that sound 'doable'. Does Kasikorn have the correct code to show the money is coming from abroad??

 

I read somewhere in all the posts on TV, that some banks don't show the money coming from abroad??

You need to check with bank to find out it is shown as a international transfer. Ask them for a credit avise for it that will have that info on it.

Kasikorn seems to have some odd codes that will be shown in your bank book for them.

One big problem can be with your sending bank using a intermediary bank here for the transfers. Not sure about HSBC.

It should be doable if your bank confirms they are being shown as a international transfer.

[xylophone]

Same subject, but going off at a bit of a tangent regards to the 800 K in the bank..........

 

A friend has suggested that he will put the 800 K in the bank three months before his extension is due and then as soon as it is granted, he will spend that money over the period of the year, and three months before his new extension is due he will put a further 800 k in the bank and start again.

 

He seems to think that this will work, however I did point out that should immigration wish to view his bank book for the previous year, they will find that it was empty? However his reply was well I am conforming by putting 800 K in the bank for my next extension so what's the problem?

 

Can you see any flaws in this?

[marcusarelus]

5 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Same subject, but going off at a bit of a tangent regards to the 800 K in the bank..........

 

A friend has suggested that he will put the 800 K in the bank three months before his extension is due and then as soon as it is granted, he will spend that money over the period of the year, and three months before his new extension is due he will put a further 800 k in the bank and start again.

 

He seems to think that this will work, however I did point out that should immigration wish to view his bank book for the previous year, they will find that it was empty? However his reply was well I am conforming by putting 800 K in the bank for my next extension so what's the problem?

 

Can you see any flaws in this?

If they tell him to come back in 90 days and show book. 

[dsfbrit]

SeTonal - thanks for the reply. I will go and have a look at that link. I read a lot of links before I posted and many seem to say soemthing different depending on the office they went to. I see this is Jomtien, so it may be more releavant.

 

UbonJoe - I looked at the codes in my passbook before I posted. A transfer I made from the UK last year is shown as TFN. In the codes at the back of the book there ISN't a TFN code listed ? odd...

 

xylophone - I am sorry I cannot be of any help. I wish I uderstood these latest requirements. I agree with you though, immigration will simply look at his bank book next year when he is renewing his extension and see there was not 400k Baht all year as required??? I pesronally would not use this proposed method. Then again my current proposed method may fail as well!!!

[ubonjoe]

20 minutes ago, xylophone said:

A friend has suggested that he will put the 800 K in the bank three months before his extension is due and then as soon as it is granted, he will spend that money over the period of the year, and three months before his new extension is due he will put a further 800 k in the bank and start again.

It seems he is not aware of the new rules that went into effect on March 1st for extensions applied for on or after that day.

The 800k baht only needs to be in the bank for 2 months on the date of application. Then the 800k baht has remain in the bank for the 3 months after the day the application is done. Then after 3 months the balance in the account has to remain at 400k baht or more until the account is topped up to 800k baht at least 2 months before the nest application is done.

He might not have a problem until he goes to apply for his next extension but they will likely refuse to accept the application if he has not complied with the requirements.

[ubonjoe]

16 minutes ago, dsfbrit said:

UbonJoe - I looked at the codes in my passbook before I posted. A transfer I made from the UK last year is shown as TFN. In the codes at the back of the book there ISN't a TFN code listed ? odd...

There have been some posts about the codes Kasikorn use but I don't recall them. Bank books do not show all the a bank can use.

I use Bangkok Bank and the FTT (foreign telex transfer) code for international transfers is not shown in the book.

[xylophone]

7 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

It seems he is not aware of the new rules that went into effect on March 1st for extensions applied for on or after that day.

The 800k baht only needs to be in the bank for 2 months on the date of application. Then the 800k baht has remain in the bank for the 3 months after the day the application is done. Then after 3 months the balance in the account has to remain at 400k baht or more until the account is topped up to 800k baht at least 2 months before the nest application is done.

He might not have a problem until he goes to apply for his next extension but they will likely refuse to accept the application if he has not complied with the requirements.

Thanks ubonjoe and I thought that was the case, and tried to explain it to this friend, however he had a sort of "valid" excuse in as much as he said, well it seems as if they are never going to check what money I have in the bank after I have received my extension, so when I turn up next year and show I have 800 K in the bank for two or three months prior to the extension, that will be all they are concerned about – – – this is in his opinion of course?

 

There was talk early on about some sort of inspection so that immigration could see what money was left in your account (i.e. the 400 K) but that seems to have "fizzled out".

 

In reality it all depends on how closely they look at your bank accounts when you apply for your next extension?

[dsfbrit]

Ubonjoe, I found the Kasikorn bank code.

 

The other transfers I did HSBC - Kasikorn last year had the code

TFN05027 - this is the international transfer code. In fact TFN05027-TFN05029 codes are used for international transfers.

 

So I may be lucky with this renewal.

 

Thanks again for yours and others comments.

[Lemonltr]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

There have been some posts about the codes Kasikorn use but I don't recall them. Bank books do not show all the a bank can use.

I use Bangkok Bank and the FTT (foreign telex transfer) code for international transfers is not shown in the book.

For many years my BKK a/c has stated FTT. I use Nationwide and Swift but always transfer sterling, never baht. Cost to be deducted by BKK. 

[ubonjoe]

39 minutes ago, Lemonltr said:

For many years my BKK a/c has stated FTT. I use Nationwide and Swift but always transfer sterling, never baht. Cost to be deducted by BKK. 

Correct but FTT is not shown on the list of code definitions in the book.

[jacko45k]

On 4/26/2019 at 9:30 AM, dsfbrit said:

marcusarelus - thanks for the quick reply. I don't get the pensions until July and then I have to renew my visa extension at the end of August. I don't fancy going to immigration and asking them anything. I hate going in there at all. I am hoping I can get the advice from TV and avoid asking immigration anything.

 

I would rather use an agent than go to immigration for advice.

Did you spend last years 800k already?

[jacko45k]

On 4/26/2019 at 11:19 AM, xylophone said:

Same subject, but going off at a bit of a tangent regards to the 800 K in the bank..........

The money needs only be there 2 months prior to the extension application, BUT also 3 months after the application is approved is required. If your friend is asked to demonstrate he still has the 800k after 3 months, he will be out of compliance. This, so far, seems to only be formally happening in Jomtiem and Chiang Rai. 

 

If he is not required to show the money during the year, and he spends it, he may be asked to show it was there on the subsequent extension application.

The situation is not sure and likely varies IO to IO .

Edited April 27, 2019 by jacko45k

[OJAS]

23 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Correct but FTT is not shown on the list of code definitions in the book.

Bangkok Bank's statements are, however, a little clearer. In the initial 6-month one I obtained a couple of months ago my FTT transfers are categorised as "FOREIGN T/T".

[dsfbrit]

Hi There,

 

I have been moving money around and can move the money from the UK next month. I may just make the deadline for 800K baht to be in the bank 2 months before the extension renewal - end of August.

 

It could be very tight though - is it 2 months before or 90 days before the extension renewal - it could make a difference.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, dsfbrit said:

It could be very tight though - is it 2 months before or 90 days before the extension renewal

The funds have to be in the bank for 2 months on the date you apply for the extension.

[dsfbrit]

Thanks Ubonjoe for your quick reply.

 

So August 30th renewal - money in the bank by June 30th.

 

Thanks again