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Retirement visa; bank letter; Bangkok Bank problem


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Renewed my retirement visa at Chiang Mai this morning.

My pension comes via Bangkok Bank London Branch, which means that receipts are recorded just as transfers, not as transfers from overseas. So my branch had to make ‘phone calls to verify the origin of the transfers, which they were then able to certify. However the immigration officer wa not satisfied with this, and wanted to see an old embassy pension confirmation letter as well. Fortunately I had kept a copy of the 2016 letter which I was able to produce – problem solved.

Other Bangkok Bank customers might like to be aware of the problem, and to not destroy their old embassy letters. Failing that the SMS advising that “London Branch has…” might serve as ecidence.

Apart from this all very easy. Arrived 0645; office open; no separate queues for different visas but we were seated in some sort of order of arrival; queue for queue tickets opened about 0730; was given number 3 much to my surprise as there were quite a lot of elderly persons ahead of me  - but there must have been more than one counter for retirements.  Process then very quick apart from minor hitch mentioned above.

All very friendly contrary to what some others are reporting.

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1 hour ago, flossie35 said:

My pension comes via Bangkok Bank London Branch, which means that receipts are recorded just as transfers, not as transfers from overseas.

So does this mean that the GBP-to-THB conversion is, in your case, performed pre-transfer in London at a fixed charge of £15? If so, then you should switch to the GBP-to-THB conversion in Bangkok alternative at charges of £20 plus 0.25% at the Bangkok end in order to gain the coveted FTT coding for each transfer in your passbook.

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22 hours ago, flossie35 said:

Renewed my retirement visa at Chiang Mai this morning.

 

My pension comes via Bangkok Bank London Branch, which means that receipts are recorded just as transfers, not as transfers from overseas

You didn't renew your retirement visa, you obtained an extension of your permission to stay. You don't have a visa which is why you need a re-entry permit if you want to enter Thailand after travel out of the country.

 

I've received monthly transfers via Bangkok Bank for years. The deposits are all designated as foreign transfers. It sounds like you're transferring baht instead of transferring GBP.

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Adding to the comment of OJAS above: If I transfer funds from my bank in the US converted to Siam Comercial Bank as baht (i.e., transfer as baht) they appear with a channel code as a local transfer. But if I transfer as US$  (then converted to THB after arrival at SCB), the transfer channel is FRCI (international transfer. It took me a while to figure this out. Saves a lot of trouble with the documentation.

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1 hour ago, wwest5829 said:

Interesting as my US bank transfers to Bangkok, NYC and within two business days I am notified that the funds are available. The funds are marked FTT in my bank book showing them as foreign funds transfers monthly.

I am notified of my FFT the afternoon of the 3rd (a.m. in the US) direct deposit from SSA via Bangkok Bank, NYC.  No delay.  I do the same thing with my company pension on the 1st, no delay.  They exchange $ to ฿ with no transfer fee.  I do not deposit cash.

 

B1st account with a debit card that can be used at any bank and any province with no fee.  Although there is a 400฿ annual fee for the card and a 15฿ monthly SMS fee.  I update my passbook after transfers and highlight both FFT's. 

 

I transfer to my wife's account as needed via the mobile app or she just borrows my card.

 

Glad I don't have to mess with TransferWise anymore.  Easier for me and immigration.

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1 minute ago, timkeen08 said:

I am notified of my FFT the afternoon of the 3rd (a.m. in the US) direct deposit from SSA via Bangkok Bank, NYC.  No delay.  I do the same thing with my company pension on the 1st, no delay.  They exchange $ to ฿ with no transfer fee.  I do not deposit cash.

 

B1st account with a debit card that can be used at any bank and any province with no fee.  Although there is a 400฿ annual fee for the card and a 15฿ monthly SMS fee.  I update my passbook after transfers and highlight both FFT's. 

 

I transfer to my wife's account as needed via the mobile app or she just borrows my card.

 

Glad I don't have to mess with TransferWise anymore.  Easier for me and immigration.

My reading leads me to believe your SS transfers will remain good. We will have to see what happens after September 30 as that is the new deadline for cutting off deposits not in the correct format demanded by Bangkok Bank, NYC. I have been informed that my EFT from my Fidelity account to Bangkok Bank NYC is not in the correct format for them to accept. My fallback will be Transferwise if I cannot get my Fidelity transfer to work anymore. I may be able to do SWIFT transfers directly to Bangkok Bank here in Chiang Mai but I need to compare costs for the once a month automated transfers.

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On 9/17/2019 at 12:10 PM, flossie35 said:

.......Fortunately I had kept a copy of the 2016 letter which I was able to produce – problem solved.

........

 Process then very quick apart from minor hitch mentioned above.

 

All very friendly contrary to what some others are reporting.

So this is why there are so many differences in peoples experiences. What if you did not have the copy of the letter and it was difficult to source a new copy and a 250km round trip back to immigration.

 

You would have had a not "all very friendly" experience. Just a heads up that it does happen and it happens to many.

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On 9/17/2019 at 12:10 PM, flossie35 said:

My pension comes via Bangkok Bank London Branch, which means that receipts are recorded just as transfers, not as transfers from overseas. So my branch had to make ‘phone calls to verify the origin of the transfers, which they were then able to certify.

How exactly does this transfer take place.

What code are you using for the transfer.

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23 hours ago, OJAS said:

So does this mean that the GBP-to-THB conversion is, in your case, performed pre-transfer in London at a fixed charge of £15? If so, then you should switch to the GBP-to-THB conversion in Bangkok alternative at charges of £20 plus 0.25% at the Bangkok end in order to gain the coveted FTT coding for each transfer in your passbook.

@flossie35 Another point that might be worth making is that you actually get more bang for your bucks with the £20/0.25% post-transfer method, despite the higher overall charge. This is because the exchange rate used by Bangkok Bank's London branch for pre-transfer conversions under the £15 method is way inferior to the corresponding TT rate applied at the Bangkok end.

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A bit off topic did my ret visa today two and a half hours thought I had everything nailed but the dreaded bit of bank details in swopping to a new book sent me scurrying across the 8 lane return race track to the offsite copy con only to find I had to brave it again for the more copy's of the new visa to get a re entry permit for a whopping 3800bt all in all far better than Promanada but could be better if they dropped the pointless photocopying and combined the retirement and re-entry at the same time same desk but that would be to easy????  

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19 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

A bit off topic did my ret visa today two and a half hours thought I had everything nailed but the dreaded bit of bank details in swopping to a new book sent me scurrying across the 8 lane return race track to the offsite copy con only to find I had to brave it again for the more copy's of the new visa to get a re entry permit for a whopping 3800bt all in all far better than Promanada but could be better if they dropped the pointless photocopying and combined the retirement and re-entry at the same time same desk but that would be to easy????  

Only 1,000 baht for a single entry re-entry permit , 3,800 baht  gives you multible rentries for the life of your permit to stay. 

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4 minutes ago, Tony125 said:

Only 1,000 baht for a single entry re-entry permit , 3,800 baht  gives you multible rentries for the life of your permit to stay. 

Got a 91 year old dad so I could depart anytime and multiple times hence 3800bt multi????

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Wwest:  At some point, Bangkok Bank will require the International ACH which US banks and brokerages won't do.  Using Transferwise may result in the transfer being coded as a local transfer in your bank book which is not acceptable.  The method that I am currently using is telephoning Fidelity each month to wire the money to my BKK Bank account.  Wiring from your cash management account is free but you must have a standing order with all of the details on file with Fidelity.  Getting the accepted  medallion signature on the standing order is virtually impossible overseas.  I finally did it by going in to the Renton, WA Fidelity branch this summer and can now wire $2,200 each month for free but I can't automate the wires.  I just telephone Fidelity each month.  The amount, converted to baht, shows up in my bank book coded FTT.       Good luck!

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This is a well-known problem- see below from a post I placed at a Thai Visa advice group on FB.  GL to all.

 

Re: Evidence of foreign $$ transfer- Transferwise. This is not a question- just some information that might be helpful to others as I went through a ton of trouble and many sent me questions when I recently posted on this. As many of you know, Transferwise has at least 3 banking partners in Thailand- TMB, Bangkok Bank and Kasikorn. ANY time you transfer money into Thailand, they may FIRST transfer to any one of those 3 banks, then do an inter-bank SMART transfer to your bank. This causes a huge problem- Non-O visas require "Evidence of foreign currency funds transferred to Thailand." Normally that is in the form of a bank letter confirming funds came from an foreign account. Because in my case Transferwise first transferred to TMB, then to my Bangkok Bank branch, Bangkok Bank WOULD NOT issue immigration a proof of overseas transfer letter. Some potential ways to deal with this... First, contact Transferwise and ask them to tag your account so that transfers are settled ONLY with your bank (no intermediaries). They will tag your account but DO NOT guarantee it! You are taking your chances! With my bank- after a lot of groveling and hours- they ended up issuing me the standard letter but stipulated on the letter that it was an inter-bank SMART transfer. I figured (correctly) that immigration would not pay attention to the details. My Non-O went through without a hitch. One theoretical consideration- the language for the foreign transfer requirement used the word "Evidence" it does not specifically stipulate the need for the standard bank letter. Theoretically, if you have evidence (statement screenshot) of $$ coming out of your foreign bank account from Transferwise, then printed a detailed transaction report from Transferwise (.pdf detailed transaction are available for download from Transferwise web site) and had a copy of the $$ landing in your Thai bank account, these things should constitute "evidence" of a foreign $$ transfer. I kept these documents on the ready in case I needed them, but in the end, did NOT use them- immigration was happy with the bank letter. Really, since Transferwise ONLY does international bank transfers, the Transferwise transaction detail SHOULD be sufficient "evidence" on its own but don't count on it. I have not tested if other forms of "evidence" would work. The net of it- you are taking a chance using Transferwise no matter what you do, but I am reasonably confident that you can deal with contingencies, but can provide NO GUARANTEES. Hope this information is helpful- it was hard-earned.

 
 
 
 
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2 hours ago, wwest5829 said:

My reading leads me to believe your SS transfers will remain good. We will have to see what happens after September 30 as that is the new deadline for cutting off deposits not in the correct format demanded by Bangkok Bank, NYC. I have been informed that my EFT from my Fidelity account to Bangkok Bank NYC is not in the correct format for them to accept. My fallback will be Transferwise if I cannot get my Fidelity transfer to work anymore. I may be able to do SWIFT transfers directly to Bangkok Bank here in Chiang Mai but I need to compare costs for the once a month automated transfers.

     BKK Bank in NY discontinued ACH transfer, which was free, from US banks last year so the only way to transfer from Chase was wires, which are not free. At the time Chase was the most expensive wire fee in the country at $40.  BKK Bank NY actually deleted themselves from my list of connected banks at Chase online so rather than fight it all I switched to Transferwise and could not be happier. Transfer straight to BKK Bank in Thailand and cheaper even considering Chase just dropped their fee on international wires to $5 they still murder you on exchange rate.  On around the 29th of every month I just open the TW app and tell them to repeat my last monthly 80000 baht transfer.

     The other problem is that Chase security freezes your accounts every time the wind blows. I tested their new $5 wire fee and added BKK NY and BKK Thai as transferees and send a wire out. Since Chase won't call me internationally and didn't notify me via their website secure message service I had no idea they frozen all my accounts for "security confirmation".  I got them on the phone and they wanted the birthdays including years of my entire family including my ex-wife, the year color and make of basically every car I owned in the past 15 years, the full addresses including zip codes of every property I had ever owned and a host of other personal identifiers. The customer service rep had to wait while I googled car informations and zip codes from long in my past. Finally she said "What about a blue Hyundai Elantra?"  I said "That was my mothers car do I need to list all the cars and homes of my parents also??" It was insane. Never again. T-Wise for me.

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25 minutes ago, ThaiWai said:

 BKK Bank in NY discontinued ACH transfer, which was free, from US banks last year

It is still possible to do ACH transfers to the Bangkok Bank branch in New York but they have to be in the international ACH format knows as IAT. The problem is that most banks are not setup to send them in IAT format.

Many people like myself are still getting their SSA and other pension payments direct deposited via ACH that are being sent in the IAT format.

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On 9/18/2019 at 1:05 PM, OJAS said:

@flossie35 Another point that might be worth making is that you actually get more bang for your bucks with the £20/0.25% post-transfer method, despite the higher overall charge. This is because the exchange rate used by Bangkok Bank's London branch for pre-transfer conversions under the £15 method is way inferior to the corresponding TT rate applied at the Bangkok end.

A useful tip - thank you.

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