Keep money in bank post extension not needed?

[Susco]

I did my yearly retirement extension at Jomtien the other day. I use the money in bank method.

 

When I picked up my passport no document was attached which would tell me I have to show funds still in bank in 90 days, neither was I told anything.

 

Does that mean this is no longer required?

 

That said, if it is still required to keep 800K for 90 days and 400K for the rest of the year, how would it be possible to change banks during the year?

[Martyp]

Yes you have to keep the 800k in the bank 3 months and not go below 400k. They will check a year's worth of bank records next time you apply for an extension.

[Susco]

4 minutes ago, Martyp said:

Yes you have to keep the 800k in the bank 3 months and not go below 400k. They will check a year's worth of bank records next time you apply for an extension.

So what if I want to change bank during the year. Money now in a fixed account which ends in July

[jacko45k]

7 hours ago, Susco said:

So what if I want to change bank during the year. Money now in a fixed account which ends in July

Renew it. If it does not happen automatically. 

[ubonjoe]

7 hours ago, Susco said:

So what if I want to change bank during the year. Money now in a fixed account which ends in July

Not a problem if you transfer the money so it is shown in both accounts on the same day.

[ToS2014]

8 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Not a problem if you transfer the money so it is shown in both accounts on the same day.

Just a side question about 400K/2months for a married extension.....how long do I need to maintain the 400K threshold after my initial renewal visit (...come back in 30 days)?  I'm just curious as I'll ask my Jomtien IMO when I go drop off my 6th stack of paperwork.  Thanks in advance.

[n210mp]

32 minutes ago, ToS2014 said:

Just a side question about 400K/2months for a married extension.....how long do I need to maintain the 400K threshold after my initial renewal visit (...come back in 30 days)?  I'm just curious as I'll ask my Jomtien IMO when I go drop off my 6th stack of paperwork.  Thanks in advance.

FRom RAW experience until you have the approved application in your hand !!!!!

[orchidfan]

Not a problem at my IO. (PT)

For marriage extension,  Never asked about the 400k again.

Just returned on the day of stamp day and boom. Done.

[userabcd]

19 hours ago, ToS2014 said:

Just a side question about 400K/2months for a married extension.....how long do I need to maintain the 400K threshold after my initial renewal visit (...come back in 30 days)?  I'm just curious as I'll ask my Jomtien IMO when I go drop off my 6th stack of paperwork.  Thanks in advance.

At CW for my extension renewal last August: when collecting the extension renewal after the 30 day consideration period, they asked for a photocopy of my bank book which they kept and they took the original bankbook and my passport for a short time whilst issuing the renewal extension stamp.

Edited March 1, 2020 by userabcd

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

On 2/28/2020 at 9:52 PM, ubonjoe said:

Not a problem if you transfer the money so it is shown in both accounts on the same day.

WILL it not be a problem if they will not see that the money did not come from

abroad? or is it not neccasary to show that money came from overseas is

you extend an existing extention?

[ubonjoe]

5 minutes ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

WILL it not be a problem if they will not see that the money did not come from

abroad? or is it not neccasary to show that money came from overseas is

you extend an existing extention?

There is no requirement to prove the funds came abroad for a extension of stay application.

[pagallim]

Given that the 800/400 baht bank deposit requirement for Retirement extensions is now one year old, there are those who having last year obtained their extension with the new criteria, and who will be coming up for a repeat extension.   It's going to be interesting to hear the stories from those who have not managed to meet the minimum balances requirement, and the action their Immigration office has taken.

[n210mp]

notwithstanding different points of view on the OP!!!!

 

My advice is not to transfer any money from your sole account back into a joint account  until you have the application approved and in your hand! 

 

After lodging  my "Marriage extension  application" at Jomtien Immi  in  2018 thought, that is it now, I can transfer the "seasoned" money back into our joint account

 

Imagine my "shock horror" when just before going into the immi office at the appointed time to collect said application  I was summoned/telephoned  by Jomtien Immi and asked to go into the office with my Bank book!

 

Needless to say my application was refused despite me showing them that I had simply transferred the money back into another joint  account in the same bank in Pattaya !

 

You can draw your own conclusions from what took place with me (Or the reasons for their actions) 

 

The last application I did was 2019 and had no similar problems but "you never know" and better to be safe rather than sorry!

[Andrew Dwyer]

1 hour ago, pagallim said:

Given that the 800/400 baht bank deposit requirement for Retirement extensions is now one year old, there are those who having last year obtained their extension with the new criteria, and who will be coming up for a repeat extension.   It's going to be interesting to hear the stories from those who have not managed to meet the minimum balances requirement, and the action their Immigration office has taken.

Already read a couple of posts regarding this, apparently IO’s will ask for a 12 month statement.

Of course not all banks provide a 12 month statement immediately and some require a couple of day.

My advice would be to enquire at your bank before your extension is due to be able to time it accordingly.

[Max69xl]

2 hours ago, pagallim said:

Given that the 800/400 baht bank deposit requirement for Retirement extensions is now one year old, there are those who having last year obtained their extension with the new criteria, and who will be coming up for a repeat extension.   It's going to be interesting to hear the stories from those who have not managed to meet the minimum balances requirement, and the action their Immigration office has taken.

If you don't meet the financial requirements,what do you think will happen at Immigration? 

[n210mp]

2 hours ago, pdtokyo said:

n210mp i will add you to my list of random IO victims for whom i offer a tiny prayer ???? before i go to bed each night ...

 

My run of the gauntlet is ahead of me ... i will not marry until later this year but i'm curious as to what happened after your 2018 refusal ... did you have to abandon the marriage extension application for that year and flee the country or did you find some way of resolving it?

I protested! and the lady at Jomtien Immi didn't like it one bit, She said that the Bangkok people thought I had borrowed the money and that was the reason for their refusal.

 

 This was In Spite of me wanting to show her all the copies of the "transfer entries"  from the other bank accounts at the same Pattaya bank, in other words all the transfers from "joint to sole and sole to joint"  were within the same bank in Pattaya! 

 

I said "I Wish to appeal" she said then go to Bangkok office  because they made the decision and then started to deal with the next customer completely ignoring me.

 

Pointless to say I didn't lose my temper or start shouting in spite of the complete injustice of the situation.

 

If an IO refuses to talk with you then you just have nowhere to go so my wife and I decided to go  home to think things over.

Just before we left though  it occured to me that I didn't have any visa cover at all with this situation and so I asked or "butted in" to  the same lady that served us,  "What do I do now with no Visa to stay, please could you advise me?"

 

Her attitude changed a little with a forced smile she gave me a 21 day extension of stay so "You can sort things out"!

 

Luckily for me the usual agent was able to get me a "retirement extension" at the usual price and accordingly as usual there were no problems.

 

This last application for the  "Marriage (2019) or spouse extension went smooth as silk with no problems but I did make sure that I did not transfer any of the funds back  to our joint account until I had the approval in my hands.

 

Long ago I stopped getting angry or frustrated with Thai officialdom and I can understand why the Immigration need to check "marriage extensions" so thoroughly because of  all the scams but I do not understand why the Law does not allow a "joint account" in this specific spouse  Extension?

 

My rush to get the 400K back into our joint accounts was that at that time of application  I wasn't too well and at 75 thinking of my wife and her ability to use the funds in that sole account if I wasn't around.   

Edited March 1, 2020 by n210mp

[n210mp]

7 minutes ago, pdtokyo said:

Thank you for the post-mortem results, i've been reading as many posts as i can around the subject and while we try to learn as much as possible about what to avoid, it's equally valuable to know what to do next if things do go pear-shaped, given the apparent random nature of some decisions.

 

From your experience, i will add to my list the pros and cons of using an agent ... may i ask, in your case did the agent provide any "special" service or did they just handle the retirement extension (B800k i assume) as a normal application?

 

It seems you are all sorted now, but i guess i have similar concerns to yours about my partner's ability to get access to the B400k marriage deposit ... a while ago i started a thread titled Are all Thai bank accounts equal(ly bad) ?  ... which morphed into a discussion of how to 'share' a sole account ... amid a bit of dross there are a few interesting suggestions there regarding 'silent partner' accounts which meet IO requirements but still allow spouse easy access to funds in event of my demise or insanity ...

 

Thanks again for your great response.

In answer to your question in the 2nd para., of your last post, without prejudice.  ha ha ha aren't most of them  "special" )                                                            I will read with interest the link to your thread  Are all Thai bank accounts equal(ly bad) ? 

Edited March 1, 2020 by n210mp

[pagallim]

2 hours ago, Max69xl said:

If you don't meet the financial requirements,what do you think will happen at Immigration? 

That's why I raised the subject.   After 12 years of Retirement extensions, last year I changed to a Marriage one, so the consequences of not maintaining the required minimum balance throughout the year is immaterial to me, and precisely the reason I chose to change.

[narisarasgroove]

I did my yearly retirement extension at Jomtien the other day. I use the money in bank method.

 

When I picked up my passport no document was attached which would tell me I have to show funds still in bank in 90 days, neither was I told anything.

 

Does that mean this is no longer required?

 

That said, if it is still required to keep 800K for 90 days and 400K for the rest of the year, how would it be possible to change banks during the year?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I have to admit to being a bit confused by this post and wonder if someone can clarify for me.

 

The reason being that when I do my yearly retirement extension but I have never had a document attached telling me I had to show funds in 90 days. I have always made sure the cash in the bank was at the correct amount (800,000) three months before my extension was due and have been told at immigration that the photocopies of the bank book need only go back three month and they did not require a full years worth of copies. I am wondering what makes the difference to have different rules.

 

My extension is based on a Non-O visa and is done at Chaengwattana. 

[Martyp]

I continue to get a retirement extension even though I was married last year. A couple of years ago I asked Kasikorn what happens to my account if I die. They said there is a procedure for family members to claim the account. I assume it would take some time. For an account with over a million baht it would probably be worth the time and effort for my wife to pursue the process. Since we got married we opened a joint account the primary purpose of which is to provide her with funds if I am temporarily incapacitated or, I guess, to support her for a while if I die. 

[jacko45k]

16 hours ago, n210mp said:

Luckily for me the usual agent was able to get me a "retirement extension" at the usual price and accordingly as usual there were no problems.

I suspect that appeased her, maybe she got a share!

[Martyp]

43 minutes ago, pdtokyo said:

... might I ask why continue with retirement extension if married extension would presumably free up B200,000 ? Is converting from retirement to marriage extension a hassle? or some other factor?

I can afford to keep the 800k in the bank and the extension process is same day and very simple though complicated with the insurance requirement now (which I have not had to do yet though I have qualifying Thai insurance). For the  marriage extension you apply and then are under consideration for about 30 days and it may involve a home visit and questioning the neighbors to verify that we are really married. I know lots of people do the marriage extension and are happy with the process. I'm not judging anyone. I'm just doing what I am used to and it is not about the money.

 

Regarding insurance, if it becomes a problem then I could switch to an extension based on marriage and that would eliminate the insurance requirement or I could go through the process to  get a non-O and then a retirement (or marriage) extension. This is my plan B.

[JackThompson]

On 3/1/2020 at 4:00 PM, n210mp said:

I can understand why the Immigration need to check "marriage extensions" so thoroughly because of  all the scams

Scams?  People from the West are not running "marriage scams" to get visas - especially when old enough to Buy Off Immigration through an Agent for a retirement-extension, at a fraction of the cost of a "fake wife."  A handful were busted from India and such.

...

 

On 3/1/2020 at 4:00 PM, n210mp said:

Luckily for me the usual agent was able to get me a "retirement extension" at the usual price and accordingly as usual there were no problems.

Oh, THAT Scam - the one They Were Running Out Of Their Office with their agent-partners.  Yes, that's par for the course here.

 

I'd like to quit the Non-O-ME Visa-Runs and switch to a Non-O based-on-Marriage extension, but won't put my wife through immigration's interrogation-hell for my not paying them off.  If someone knows a good Bangkok agent who handles marriage-extensions, please PM me.

Edited March 2, 2020 by JackThompson

[fforest1]

31 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

Scams?  People from the West are not running "marriage scams" to get visas - especially when old enough to Buy Off Immigration through an Agent for a retirement-extension, at a fraction of the cost of a "fake wife."  A handful were busted from India and such.

...

 

Oh, THAT Scam - the one They Were Running Out Of Their Office with their agent-partners.  Yes, that's par for the course here.

 

I'd like to quit the Non-O-ME Visa-Runs and switch to a Non-O based-on-Marriage extension, but won't put my wife through immigration's interrogation-hell for my not paying them off.  If someone knows a good Bangkok agent who handles marriage-extensions, please PM me.

The marriage visa has to win the prize for putting the most people through the ringer.....Pictures in bedrooms, maps to houses,Surprise request for documents it just goes on and on...

[Martyp]

3 hours ago, pdtokyo said:

Ah thank you again Marty for the detail, at the risk of sounding Zen ... the individual picture becomes clearer but the overall picture remains vague ... some folk here report intrusive marriage inspections, bed-sniffing and holding hand out for petrol money etc ... others report no inspections at all.

i am rapidly learning the need to accept what will happen to me in Thailand as predictable as the weather.

Or less so.

I've heard that in Bangkok they do an inspection first time but then no so much.

[Max69xl]

On 3/1/2020 at 5:31 PM, pagallim said:

That's why I raised the subject.   After 12 years of Retirement extensions, last year I changed to a Marriage one, so the consequences of not maintaining the required minimum balance throughout the year is immaterial to me, and precisely the reason I chose to change.

You can't complain about immigration if you don't meet the financial requirements. They have been almost the same for a long time except for the "never below 400k" if the extension is based on retirement. Every time a person here at TV doesn't have enough money,then it's immigrations fault. Go figure. 

[Susco]

7 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

They have been almost the same for a long time except for the "never below 400k" if the extension is based on retirement.

In the past there was also no requirement to keep 800K in the bank for 3 months past the extension granted

[Why Me]

On 3/1/2020 at 6:15 PM, narisarasgroove said:

I have to admit to being a bit confused by this post and wonder if someone can clarify for me.

 

The reason being that when I do my yearly retirement extension but I have never had a document attached telling me I had to show funds in 90 days. I have always made sure the cash in the bank was at the correct amount (800,000) three months before my extension was due and have been told at immigration that the photocopies of the bank book need only go back three month and they did not require a full years worth of copies. I am wondering what makes the difference to have different rules.

 

My extension is based on a Non-O visa and is done at Chaengwattana. 

Yep, got my non-O retirement extension at CW last month with agent help. I had 800K in my bank for 2 months prior to that which is what the agent asked when I contacted him last  year.

 

After the visa was stamped I repeatedly asked the agent (based on accounts here on TV) about what minimum I should keep and how long. Nothing. Just make sure you have 800k for 2 months before your next renewal. See you next year.

 

So I am guessing there is no requirement to verify a minimum X for a period Y after renewal in their IO rule book. However, again guess, there is something there to the effect use your judgment/discretion to decide if the money was temporarily borrowed ...

 

[Susco]

11 minutes ago, Why Me said:

After the visa was stamped I repeatedly asked the agent (based on accounts here on TV) about what minimum I should keep and how long. Nothing. Just make sure you have 800k for 2 months before your next renewal

And this should tell you something

 

11 minutes ago, Why Me said:

See you next year.

 

Don't forget to go see him next year, and let him rip you off for another 10K or more, otherwise you better keep that money in the bank

Edited March 2, 2020 by Susco

[Why Me]

2 minutes ago, Susco said:

And this should tell you something

 

 

Don't forget to go see him next year, and let him rip you off for another year, otherwise you better keep that money in the bank

That wasn't the point of my post. But if you must the agent fee is not a lot of money for me and, particularly since this was my first renewal, I appreciated the whole process being quick and stress-free.

 

Next year I might try on my own just for the heck of it though the CW lines did not look appealing. Or I might just pay the fellow again and roll over and go back to sleep.