mariage visa, mix funds and income

[finnsk]

I am preparing my mariage visa application.

I am going to immigration in Chiang Mai.

I am thinking about to make a mix of my bank statement and my monthly pension to reach the 400000 bath, at this moment I get around 35.000 in pension a month so I had to fill up with a statement at around 60000-100000 bath ?

As I understand the local immigration office has the right to accept or not accept a mix, anybody has experience with CM immigration in this way, do they accept mix ?

I also get confused about the rules for bankstatement, I have get an thai bankaccount and I now will let my monthly pension income from overseas go in to the account every month to show the fixed monthly income, that I can do around 8 month, I think, before I will give the application to the immigration, is that enough documentation or do they want some more/other papers from home country to documentate the pension ?

[ubonjoe]

A combination of income and money in the bank is not allowed according to the police orders. It might be accepted by the approving officer at some immigration offices but I would not plan on it. If accepted you would need a bank statement showing all of the transfers into the country and a bank book showing the money in the bank had been there for 2 months.

Could you possibley send an additional 5,000 baht into the country to reach the 40k baht income requirement.

Unless it is your first extension you will need to show 12 months for transfer from abroad. You will need a one year bank statement showing at least 40k baht going into your account every month.

Immigration might ask for proof of the source of you income.

[Peter Denis]

Hi,

From your mail it is not clear whether you are preparing to apply for

- a 90-day Non Imm O - marriage Visa OR

- a 1-year extension of stay based on your original Non Imm O - marriage Visa.

In case it is an application for a new 90-day Non Imm O - marriage Visa there would then be NO need to prove 12-months of monthly-fund-transfers to meet the financial requirements.  

You would actually only need 1 month of a 40K fund transfer (with foreign origins proven) for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa application at your local IO.  And when you apply in the last month of those 90 days for a 1-year extension of stay at that same local IO, you would by then have at least 3 monthly fund-transfers (as always with foreign origins proven) which should be sufficient for that NEW extension.

But it is recommended to contact your local IO as some have different requirements, and might not allow you to apply for a 90-day Non Imm O - marriage Visa, or might insist on more monthly-fund-transfers than the minima of 1 for application and 3 for extension.

 

[finnsk]

6 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

A combination of income and money in the bank is not allowed according to the police orders. It might be accepted by the approving officer at some immigration offices but I would not plan on it. If accepted you would need a bank statement showing all of the transfers into the country and a bank book showing the money in the bank had been there for 2 months.

Could you possibley send an additional 5,000 baht into the country to reach the 40k baht income requirement.

Unless it is your first extension you will need to show 12 months for transfer from abroad. You will need a one year bank statement showing at least 40k baht going into your account every month.

Immigration might ask for proof of the source of you income.

Thanks Ubonjoe

For your answer, I understand that in the law there is no possibility to mix the 2 options.

 

[fishtank]

Money in the bank OR income.

Not both.

[finnsk]

4 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

Hi,

From your mail it is not clear whether you are preparing to apply for

- a 90-day Non Imm O - marriage Visa OR

- a 1-year extension of stay based on your original Non Imm O - marriage Visa.

In case it is an application for a new 90-day Non Imm O - marriage Visa there would then be NO need to prove 12-months of monthly-fund-transfers to meet the financial requirements.  

You would actually only need 1 month of a 40K fund transfer (with foreign origins proven) for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa application at your local IO.  And when you apply in the last month of those 90 days for a 1-year extension of stay at that same local IO, you would by then have at least 3 monthly fund-transfers (as always with foreign origins proven) which should be sufficient for that NEW extension.

But it is recommended to contact your local IO as some have different requirements, and might not allow you to apply for a 90-day Non Imm O - marriage Visa, or might insist on more monthly-fund-transfers than the minima of 1 for application and 3 for extension.

 

Thanks Peter

 

For your answer, I can see I must visit my local IO.

Now I am on an 1 year education visa, I will see if I can use it/change it to a mariage visa, I dont no, I am quite new in this buisness.

[finnsk]

4 minutes ago, fishtank said:

Money in the bank OR income.

Not both.

Hi fishtank

 

Thanks for your answer

[steve187]

i think you would be better going for a one year multi entry non immigrant 'O' visa in either savannakhet or HCMC, both places require no financials and both require an overnight stay, each entry will give you a 90 day permission to stay stamp, which can be extended by a 60 day visit Thai wife extension at local immigration office 1,900thb, in the final 30 days of any entry you can do a 1 year extension once you have sorted out the financial requires of either 40,00thb per month or 400,000thb in a bank account, in your name only for 2 months prior to the application

[Russell17au]

I am on the visa that steve187 has said and I got mine from Savannakhet and like steve187 said it is a 2 day event. You lodge your application in the morning and you pick up your visa the following afternoon. The thing with this visa is it is a multi-entry and you must leave Thailand every 90 days. I do a border run to Nong Khai and I just park in the Amazon Coffee car park walk through Thai immigration and pay 10 baht for the bus across the bridge and go through Laos immigration then walk around to the other side of the building and back through Laos immigration on to the bus back across the bridge and through Thai immigration for my next 90 day stamp and then 2 days before the visa expires I will do another border run and get another 90 day stamp then 2 days before that stamp expires I will go to the local imm and get a 60 day extension. So for the 1 year multi entry non-imm o visa I will get 17 months and as steve187 said there are no financials involved so it will give you time to organize your financials or you can re-apply for another 1 year multi entry visa. This visa is quite legal and does not involve any agents

[finnsk]

11 hours ago, steve187 said:

i think you would be better going for a one year multi entry non immigrant 'O' visa in either savannakhet or HCMC, both places require no financials and both require an overnight stay, each entry will give you a 90 day permission to stay stamp, which can be extended by a 60 day visit Thai wife extension at local immigration office 1,900thb, in the final 30 days of any entry you can do a 1 year extension once you have sorted out the financial requires of either 40,00thb per month or 400,000thb in a bank account, in your name only for 2 months prior to the application

Dear Steve

 

Thank you so much.

I did not know this possibility.

I must understand it right, this visa works 1 year, I had to go out every 90 days, and I can make the last borderrun just before the end of visa expires, so I can make 5 times 90 days and the last 90 days I can extend with 60 days at the local IO ?

 

[finnsk]

11 hours ago, Russell17au said:

I am on the visa that steve187 has said and I got mine from Savannakhet and like steve187 said it is a 2 day event. You lodge your application in the morning and you pick up your visa the following afternoon. The thing with this visa is it is a multi-entry and you must leave Thailand every 90 days. I do a border run to Nong Khai and I just park in the Amazon Coffee car park walk through Thai immigration and pay 10 baht for the bus across the bridge and go through Laos immigration then walk around to the other side of the building and back through Laos immigration on to the bus back across the bridge and through Thai immigration for my next 90 day stamp and then 2 days before the visa expires I will do another border run and get another 90 day stamp then 2 days before that stamp expires I will go to the local imm and get a 60 day extension. So for the 1 year multi entry non-imm o visa I will get 17 months and as steve187 said there are no financials involved so it will give you time to organize your financials or you can re-apply for another 1 year multi entry visa. This visa is quite legal and does not involve any agents

Dear Russel

 

Fantastic - Thank You so much, to give this detailed description.

 

This can give me some time, I am waiting 2 years for the last part of my pensions, then later i will have no problem to show income more than 40.000.  

[maprao]

39 minutes ago, finnsk said:

Dear Steve

 

Thank you so much.

I did not know this possibility.

I must understand it right, this visa works 1 year, I had to go out every 90 days, and I can make the last borderrun just before the end of visa expires, so I can make 5 times 90 days and the last 90 days I can extend with 60 days at the local IO ?

 

Exactly as Steve said. I like the 60 day extension at the end.

[Peter Denis]

59 minutes ago, finnsk said:

...

I did not know this possibility.

I must understand it right, this visa works 1 year, I had to go out every 90 days, and I can make the last borderrun just before the end of visa expires, so I can make 5 times 90 days and the last 90 days I can extend with 60 days at the local IO ?

 

HI Finnsk I just PM-ed you some recent and detailed information I compiled on those thai embassies/consulates where you can apply for the 1-year Multi-Entry Non Imm O - marriage Visa, including the requirements (slight differences depending on where you apply) as well as practical details like logistics.

To access your PM-messages just click the letter-icon next to your Profile when logged in to the Forum.

[dinger]

13 hours ago, steve187 said:

i think you would be better going for a one year multi entry non immigrant 'O' visa in either savannakhet or HCMC, both places require no financials and both require an overnight stay, each entry will give you a 90 day permission to stay stamp, which can be extended by a 60 day visit Thai wife extension at local immigration office 1,900thb, in the final 30 days of any entry you can do a 1 year extension once you have sorted out the financial requires of either 40,00thb per month or 400,000thb in a bank account, in your name only for 2 months prior to the application

Hoping someone can help me with this point of the process.

In the past I have used an Embassy letter for my extensions so no bank account used.

I will be using the 400,000 thb in bank account method for my next extension. So I take it I can not use money in an account that has my wifes name on it (joint account) correct? Which will mean that I will need to open a separate account my name only to make this work.

Thanks for the assistance.

[Russell17au]

3 minutes ago, dinger said:

Hoping someone can help me with this point of the process.

In the past I have used an Embassy letter for my extensions so no bank account used.

I will be using the 400,000 thb in bank account method for my next extension. So I take it I can not use money in an account that has my wifes name on it (joint account) correct? Which will mean that I will need to open a separate account my name only to make this work.

Thanks for the assistance.

The money must be in an account in YOUR name only

[dinger]

Thank You

One more thing to add to the to do list

[Russell17au]

53 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

HI Finnsk I just PM-ed you some recent and detailed information I compiled on those thai embassies/consulates where you can apply for the 1-year Multi-Entry Non Imm O - marriage Visa, including the requirements (slight differences depending on where you apply) as well as practical details like logistics.

To access your PM-messages just click the letter-icon next to your Profile when logged in to the Forum.

Peter, this is an open forum and there are many members that read the information that is posted here but you continually PM your information to one person only and that way no one else can see that information and your information could be a little different to the information that a person who has had the actual experience with. I know that since I did my Multi-Entry Non-Imm "O" visa in Savannakhet that there have been a couple of others that required some extra documents to me and it only appears that it is only one person at the consulate is asking for that document and it is not listed on their website. So please make your posts public and not private to one person

[Russell17au]

1 minute ago, pdtokyo said:

With respect, while this site is obviously an open forum and a valuable source of information ... it equally obviously this site supports the valuable ability to direct message between members ...

 

surely ...

 

(a) we are all mature enough to know that any DM'd information originates from one person and accept that is not peer-reviewed

 

(b) if someone prefers to assist others by a private DM, they may have their own private reason for wanting to do so. 

and unfortunately they could be passing on incomplete information that someone else has had the experience about which could mean the difference between getting your visa approved or rejected. We are all here to try and help everyone.

[Russell17au]

3 minutes ago, pdtokyo said:

sure sure ... but there's masses of dodgy and incomplete information in the open forum too!

 

We all suck up information from open forums, private DMs, general internet, official sources etc etc and then need to make our own judgements before hitting the Submit button and rolling the dice. 

 

Let's wrap up this side-discussion eh?

 

I'd prefer to focus on the OP (and my) problem!

OK, your problem is you must

1: have the 400000 baht seasoned in a Thai bank account for 2 months before your extension application and then you can withdraw the whole amount until it is time for your next extension when you must top up the 400000 baht again.

2: have a minimum of 40000 baht deposited into a Thai bank account from a foreign source every month. That is 12 monthly payments of 40000 baht proven from overseas.

Problem: If you are going to have your pension paid into an Australian bank account and then you transfer it to a Thai bank account unless you use someone like transferwise then you will get the lowest exchange rate there is from any commercial bank in Australia plus you will be paying high transfer fees in Australia. The other way that you can do it which is what I did and it does not work because the Australia pension is paid if overseas every 4 weeks thus you will be paid 13 x 4 weekly payments and the Australian pension is below the required amount of 40000 baht per month. My total for the year divided by 12 was above the required amount but it was below the required monthly amount.

The only other alternative that you have is the Multi-Entry Non-Imm "O" visa from a neighbouring country which has no financials required

 

[Peter Denis]

1 hour ago, Russell17au said:

Peter, this is an open forum and there are many members that read the information that is posted here but you continually PM your information to one person only and that way no one else can see that information and your information could be a little different to the information that a person who has had the actual experience with. I know that since I did my Multi-Entry Non-Imm "O" visa in Savannakhet that there have been a couple of others that required some extra documents to me and it only appears that it is only one person at the consulate is asking for that document and it is not listed on their website. So please make your posts public and not private to one person

Thanks for showing interest!

But one of the reasons my response on some topics is that I PM-ed the relevant information rather than copy-paste it, is that the documents I compiled on various topics are quite comprehensive.

E.g. the Roadmap I compiled to apply for or convert to a Non Imm O - retirement Visa, contains all details and options you might possible encounter when embarking on that road, and is a 10-page document (with 4 attachments).

Also the information to apply for a 1-year Multi-Entry Non Imm O - marriage Visa (a compilation of recent and fully detailed posts from TVF members applying at Savannakhet, HCMC and Yangon) is rather lengthy.

Many recipients have suggested me to 'pin' the information on the Forum.  But another reason I refrain from doing so is that the direct interaction with those reading it allows me to continually review and update the document based on the questions, comments and suggestions I receive on the information provided.

>> So anyone also interested in the information on the topic I PM-ed, can just let me know and I will send over. 

 

[stouricks]

22 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

A combination of income and money in the bank is not allowed according to the police orders.

Does the combo method still apply for Retirement extension please?

[ubonjoe]

8 minutes ago, stouricks said:

Does the combo method still apply for Retirement extension please?

Yes it does.

[Russell17au]

7 minutes ago, pdtokyo said:

thanks for the response Russell ... to be clear ... my Plan B is to depend on the Australian government pension being paid directly into my to-be-established Thai account. When i move here i will be registering with CentreLink* as married and living overseas ... this is pretty compulsory if you are outside country for > 6 weeks.

 

Yes you are correct I could expect pension to be credited monthly (as opposed to fortnightly in Oz) direct from CentreLink to my Thai account.

 

You say your attempt did not work because i guess the Oz monthly married overseas pension transfer is only worth about B28,000 a month ... but my plan is to top that up with B12,000 a month imported from my own Oz account to meet the B40,000 a month.

 

So .... to re-state my question ... can the B40,000 per month be achieved using more than one source? 

 

or in other words ... is the requirement for exactly 12 payments with each > B40,000 or will any number of monthly payments be accepted as long as the total each month is > B40,000 ?

 

 

 

*however the exchange rate works i am resigned to getting slightly screwed ... I do not imagine CentreLink will go to any trouble to make sure that i get fair value!

The Australian pension is not paid monthly it is paid every 4 weeks and that is where there is a big problem. You will not get 12 monthly payments, instead you get 13 x 4 weekly payments. One month you get 2 payments and it is this system that causes problems using the income system with your pension being paid directly into your Thai bank account. The only way you could overcome this problem would be to use a commercial bank in Australia and do a transfer of 40000 baht on the same day every month which would mean that you can top up your monthly transfers from any source you want and it would show as an international transfer of 40000 baht into your Thai bank account but that will cost you money with transfer fees and a lower exchange rate. You do not have to show where your money comes from only that it comes from overseas.

[Peter Denis]

2 hours ago, pdtokyo said:

Hmm, this is bad news for me and a bit of surprise ... i'd read elsewhere that B400,000 or annual income of B400,000 or a mix of the two was allowed ... but i bow to UbonJoe ????

 

I was planning to transfer Australian age pension (married overseas annual rate approx B340,000 per annum), top that up with B60,000 account balance and use most of my cash to build house, buy sweets etc. Quarantining B400,000 will be tricky.

 

PLAN B ... can i still use the income method by transferring a one-off B60,000 from my Australian account at beginning of year and then depending on the Australian age pension transfers to supply the remaining B340,000 ?

 

In other words ... can the overseas income stream come from more than one source ... in this case .... 12 monthly Australian government transfers and one transfer from my Australian bank account?

 

Naturally a bit of fat will have to be added to the B60,000 to allow for exchange rate movements. 

 

I'm aware of the border-run alternative but i'd rather keep that as PLAN C ... reading many other posts doesn't give me a lot of confidence that option will be open long-term.

Hi @pdtokyo

The information provided by @Russell17au is fully correct.

Some additional comments of possible relevance:

 

* You wrote Quarantining B400,000 will be tricky.

Be aware that you only need to 'quarantaine' that amount in the 2 months preceding your application both for the Non Imm O - marriage Visa and its 1-year extensions.  So you are free to use these funds in the intermittent 10 months, and would have to top up again to 400K two months before your next application for 1-year extension.

 

* Your Plan B would NOT work (combining funds is possible but not in the way as described in your plan B)

When using the monthly-funds-transfer method, you IO will want to see when you do your initial application of the 90-day Non Imm O - marriage Visa at your local IO, that you made at least 1 monthly transfer of 40.000 THB with foreign origins proven.  When you apply for the 1-year extension of stay in the last month of those 90-days, you would then need to show that you continued those monthly-fund-transfers of minimum 40.000 THB (once again with foreign origins proven).  And you would need to continue those foreign origin proven monthly-fund-transfers in order to be in compliance for your NEXT extension of stay (where 12 months of transfers will be required).

Please note that it is recommended to contact your local IO, when embarking on this road as some IOs require more transfers than the minimum 1 -3  transfers when doing the initial Visa application and first 1-year extension of that Visa.

It is also worth mentioning when you are considering the monthly-fund-transfer method, that the funds do not need to come from one source only but can be combined.  But you would need to be able to show to your local IO that EVERY month a minimum of 40.000 THB was transferred (in one or more transfers) with foreign origins proven. 

* You are correct that there are strong rumours that the 1-year Multi-Entry Non Imm O - marriage certificate might not be available for long anymore.  However, when you apply for that Visa (no financials required) while it is still available, it will provide you with almost 17 months of IO worry-free stay in Thailand.  So that should normally be sufficient to clear your financial situation should that Visa not be issued anymore in the future.

Also be aware that at the end of each 90-day period that Visa allows you to stay in Thailand, that you can apply for an extension of stay of 60 days.  So you do not have to do border-runs every 3 months but can extend these periods to 5 months when applying for a 2 month extension at your local IO.

And finally you can also - when you are tired of doing border-runs - apply for the 1-year extension of stay using either the minimum 40K monthly-fund-transfer method or the 400K money-in-bank method.

 

[SoSoCNX]

Do not forget that Chiang Mai immigration is different and they are always changing. I would go and ask for a current requirements print out and ask for officer signature on it. Looks like as of march 2nd, there will be Immigration office at Promenada Mall.

[Russell17au]

13 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Hi @pdtokyo

The information provided by @Russell17au is fully correct.

Some additional comments of possible relevance:

 

* You wrote Quarantining B400,000 will be tricky.

Be aware that you only need to 'quarantaine' that amount in the 2 months preceding your application both for the Non Imm O - marriage Visa and its 1-year extensions.  So you are free to use these funds in the intermittent 10 months, and would have to top up again to 400K two months before your next application for 1-year extension.

 

* Your Plan B would NOT work (combining funds is possible but not in the way as described in your plan B)

When using the monthly-funds-transfer method, you IO will want to see when you do your initial application of the 90-day Non Imm O - marriage Visa at your local IO, that you made at least 1 monthly transfer of 40.000 THB with foreign origins proven.  When you apply for the 1-year extension of stay in the last month of those 90-days, you would then need to show that you continued those monthly-fund-transfers of minimum 40.000 THB (once again with foreign origins proven).  And you would need to continue those foreign origin proven monthly-fund-transfers in order to be in compliance for your NEXT extension of stay (where 12 months of transfers will be required).

Please note that it is recommended to contact your local IO, when embarking on this road as some IOs require more transfers than the minimum 1 -3  transfers when doing the initial Visa application and first 1-year extension of that Visa.

It is also worth mentioning when you are considering the monthly-fund-transfer method, that the funds do not need to come from one source only but can be combined.  But you would need to be able to show to your local IO that EVERY month a minimum of 40.000 THB was transferred (in one or more transfers) with foreign origins proven. 

* You are correct that there are strong rumours that the 1-year Multi-Entry Non Imm O - marriage certificate might not be available for long anymore.  However, when you apply for that Visa (no financials required) while it is still available, it will provide you with almost 17 months of IO worry-free stay in Thailand.  So that should normally be sufficient to clear your financial situation should that Visa not be issued anymore in the future.

Also be aware that at the end of each 90-day period that Visa allows you to stay in Thailand, that you can apply for an extension of stay of 60 days.  So you do not have to do border-runs every 3 months but can extend these periods to 5 months when applying for a 2 month extension at your local IO.

And finally you can also - when you are tired of doing border-runs - apply for the 1-year extension of stay using either the minimum 40K monthly-fund-transfer method or the 400K money-in-bank method.

 

Be careful on the can be combined because some IO's want to see 1 single deposit of 40,000 each and every month. My extension application was rejected because of the Australian pension payment system and a separate deposit because the IO wanted 1 single deposit per month. I chose your plan C to give me time to sort out my financials for the future. The one thing is that you will never get the Australian Reserve Bank to pay monthly instead of every 4 weeks and that is one of the biggest problems. If you read the official police order you would see that the income system is on the average annual income but the IO's do not work by that, they want the easy way of just simple 1 deposit of 40,000 per month and that is it. Each IO interpret the laws differently to suit themselves even in the same office.

[ubonjoe]

17 minutes ago, SoSoCNX said:

Looks like as of march 2nd, there will be Immigration office at Promenada Mall.

Correct but it is only for TM30 forms, 90 day reports and 30 day extensions of tourist visa and visa exempt entry extensions.

[steve187]

57 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Be aware that you only need to 'quarantaine' that amount in the 2 months preceding your application both for the Non Imm O - marriage Visa and its 1-year extensions.  So you are free to use these funds in the intermittent 10 months, and would have to top up again to 400K two months before your next application for 1-year extension.

some offices require the 400,000thb to remain in the bank account while the application is under consideration for 30 days.

[orchidfan]

Interesting to read that some members here mention getting their Australian pensions paid (albeit every 4 weeks) directly into their thai bank accounts.

I receive a "Commonwealth Superannuation Pension" every 2 weeks, BUT it most strictly can only be paid into an Australian bank account,  in my name only, IN Australia.

CSC as they're known will not entertain the notion of paying it into an overseas account.

So, in that vein, to pass on (the portion of) this pension to my thai wife when I pass away, I am forced to open an Australian bank account in her name!

 

Another small point of possible interest is that I use the B400K in the bank 2 months in an account in my name only, and guess where the 400K comes from ? A direct local transfer from my wife's bank account.

No questions asked!

Crazy !

[Peter Denis]

1 hour ago, orchidfan said:

...

Another small point of possible interest is that I use the B400K in the bank 2 months in an account in my name only, and guess where the 400K comes from ? A direct local transfer from my wife's bank account.

No questions asked!

Crazy !

Hi Orchidfan,

When using the money-in-bank method (400K) you only need to prove the foreign origin of the funds once, and that is when applying at your local IO for the 90-day Non Imm O - marriage Visa.  But there is no need to prove the origin of the funds when applying for the 1-year extensions of stay based on that Visa. So it is perfectly normal that you are not queried about it.

Note: When using the monthly-funds-transfer method you do need to prove the foreign origin of the funds both when applying for the Non Imm O - marriage Visa as when extending it.