Are you about to throw shade at your IMO?

[JustAnotherHun]

14 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

If the Thai police arrest you there must be a reason, if they don't I would be out in no time and make sure they lose their job.

Wishful thinking IMO

[FritsSikkink]

2 minutes ago, JustAnotherHun said:

Wishful thinking IMO

That is wouldn't be possible for you, doesn't make it impossible for me.

[BigStar]

8 hours ago, dick turpin said:

the lady IMO spent a considerable time staring, rather blankly, at the copy of my

bank book. She seemed rather perplexed that the farang could park near on a million baht for 12 months without, it would seem, any worries.

Farang love to bolster their sense of self-importance by imagining that Thais are so impressed and envious about how much money they have and about what beautiful, highly desired Thai women they steal--in their dreams.

 

Sorry, lady wasn't in the slightest perplexed about the amount. She could not possibly care less about your level of worry; the thought of your "no worries" state never entered her mind. For all you know, she and her husband have a net worth that far exceeds your own. Lots of rich Thais about--including at Immigration itself.

 

Quote

My thought is that these rather lowly-paid civil servants are going to be seeing a good few more of these million baht farang accounts over

the coming months. How is that for a morale booster?  

Indeed, how is it? You mean, other expats are also going to bolster their sense of self-importance by comforting themselves that they have more the inferior "lowly-paid civil servants" of Thailand?

[connda]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I'm completely legal with Non-os from Laos/Vietnam.

However, a Non-O from Laos/Vietnam may soon become a non-option should Covid-19 become more of an issue.  At this point in time the ASEAN counties seem to be respecting their neighbors, but if the genie gets much further out of the bottle and infection rates go up - all bets for cross-border visa extension would be off.  Would Thai immigration start to be more lenient?  What's their option going to be when they try to deport 'evil farang overstays' when their home-countries refuse flights originating from Thailand?  Maybe construct concentration camps for farangs and foreigners who don't meet the 'marriage/retirement' requirements but whom they can longer deport to countries who will not accept their citizen living in Thailand back home.  Nyah, more likely to use a shoe-horn to pack more overstays into IDCs <cough, cough> Fire up the crematoriums!
We're not there yet, but something to mull over.  

[BritManToo]

28 minutes ago, connda said:

However, a Non-O from Laos/Vietnam may soon become a non-option should Covid-19 become more of an issue.

We can all go the corrupt agent/IO route ....... if we have to.

[mikebell]

Having to keep 800,000 in a Thai bank impacts on my spending in Thailand; same with the mighty baht.  I've had to make drastic economies which has hit lots of local service industries/tradesmen/restaurant owners/supermarket profits/ cinema owners/clothing retailers etc.

[tifino]

21 hours ago, chainarong said:

Everyone starts keeping 800 grand Bhat in their bank accounts for twelve months the price will go up to 2 million Bhat.

the only downfall of that thinking;

is that it would be meaningless to do the increase,

as no one in immigration will get anything out of it. - it is still 'your' money, in 'your' acct!

[Olmate]

20 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Of course, if that is another way to qualify, then no need to have the money in a Thai bank account, my point was more so on farangs using agents as opposed to monthly transfers, I mean if they had the monthly income, or the 800,000 baht, they wouldn't require the agent.  

If you can,t afford 1k month for an agent don,t blame those that do!????

[jackdd]

43 minutes ago, Olmate said:

If you can,t afford 1k month for an agent don,t blame those that do!????

Using agents does cause a tightening of the rules, so people who use an agent can be blamed for it.

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, Olmate said:

If you can,t afford 1k month for an agent don,t blame those that do!????

Afford, r u serious, why would I waste 1k a month on an agent when I can do it myself, in other words what your trying to say is, don't blame those that can't show 65k a month or 800,000 a year in the bank who can only stay here by bribing the agent/immigration to turn a blind eye, ok then, whatever floats your boat, don't don't say "can't afford"....lol....chicken feed 1k a month !  

[pmarlin]

On 2/29/2020 at 11:56 AM, jackdd said:

Only the junior IOs are lowly paid.

The Senior IOs 50+ probably make more than 800k per year, plus all the civil servant benefits, so hardly a reason to be envy.

Having 800k in the bank often means that you spend less than 65k per month, or you could just show proof of your money transfers into Thailand. Maybe they don't envy, but instead pity foreigners who come from rich countries but seem to have less money than the IOs?

https://www.salaryexpert.com/salary/job/police-officer/thailand

very senior ones make that starting is about 15,000 THB a year but the do get a yearly bonus.

[Olmate]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

Afford, r u serious, why would I waste 1k a month on an agent when I can do it myself, in other words what your trying to say is, don't blame those that can't show 65k a month or 800,000 a year in the bank who can only stay here by bribing the agent/immigration to turn a blind eye, ok then, whatever floats your boat, don't don't say "can't afford"....lol....chicken feed 1k a month !  

What your trying to say is it upsets you! Too bad ...lol. 

[Olmate]

2 hours ago, jackdd said:

Using agents does cause a tightening of the rules, so people who use an agent can be blamed for it.

How exactly, the insurance was ,t the agents forte, nor the Embassy letters.

[albertik]

2 hours ago, jackdd said:

Using agents does cause a tightening of the rules, so people who use an agent can be blamed for it.

That same thinking was part of the reason they tightened up the Monthly income affidavits. People were playing the system; and as a result, everything became a bit more difficult for many people.

Ergo  the 800k option is more convenient, at least for me. Can earn a bit of interest and upon my demise, my wife can have the remainder. She is well worth it after all of these past 12 years.

[vogie]

6 minutes ago, albertik said:

That same thinking was part of the reason they tightened up the Monthly income affidavits. People were playing the system; and as a result, everything became a bit more difficult for many people.

Ergo  the 800k option is more convenient, at least for me. Can earn a bit of interest and upon my demise, my wife can have the remainder. She is well worth it after all of these past 12 years.

But surely it was not the IO that changed the rules, it was the relevant Embassies that decided that route was no longer available as an option.

[sanemax]

2 hours ago, jackdd said:

Using agents does cause a tightening of the rules, so people who use an agent can be blamed for it.

Could be that they tighten the rules so that people then use agents and the money flow goes back to them ? 

[4MyEgo]

25 minutes ago, Olmate said:

What your trying to say is it upsets you! Too bad ...lol. 

I am not sorry to disappoint you, as they say, having money does make your life much easier, add to that, happier, less stress, less worries, but then again, you gotta work for it, plan and invest as opposed to sit on a bar stool spending it away and then having to use agents....booo....hooo

 

On a more serious note, good luck to you, if you can pay an agent and are allowed to stay in Thailand albeit "legally" just keep an eye out for the smart car when they need those numbers for the month, never know what they might do, because the way I hear it, nothing is guaranteed using an agent, oi ????

 

Edited March 1, 2020 by 4MyEgo

[dabhand]

23 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Of course, if that is another way to qualify, then no need to have the money in a Thai bank account, my point was more so on farangs using agents as opposed to monthly transfers, I mean if they had the monthly income, or the 800,000 baht, they wouldn't require the agent.  

Ahh, if only life was that simple. 

 

Imagine, if you like, someone who receives, by way of a one off payment, a yearly pension of well over the 800k requirement. So income should be covered. Except, the outflows are rather lumpy, for a myriad of reasons, with education costs being just one. So, whilst the yearly total is well covered by multiple FTT  evidence, the minimum monthly requirement is not met.

 

Previous years no problem as genuine evidence of sufficient yearly income enabled the issuance of an income letter by an embassy that is no longer bothered to provide that service.

 

Keeping cash in the bank is an option, as maybe a yearly trip to HCMC (married to Thai) followed by 90 day border excursions,  but why should that be needed when yearly transfers invariably total double the 800k, as can be proven by FTT's.  

 

So, add about 1k/month to outflows and it gets sorted, or so I have been told..........

 

[jackdd]

5 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Could be that they tighten the rules so that people then use agents and the money flow goes back to them ? 

Yes.

In Thai government most decisions are done to increase the income of certain people.

Tightening the rules results in more people using agents, which means more money for IOs, thus further tightening.

If people would stop using agents there would be no reason for IOs to tighten the rules or to give some people extra trouble, because they wouldn't profit from it.

 

[Don Mega]

3 minutes ago, dabhand said:

Ahh, if only life was that simple. 

 

Imagine, if you like, someone who receives, by way of a one off payment, a yearly pension of well over the 800k requirement. S

 

do people actually get a one off yearly pension payment ?

[vogie]

3 minutes ago, jackdd said:

Yes.

In Thai government most decisions are done to increase the income of certain people.

Tightening the rules results in more people using agents, which means more money for IOs, thus further tightening.

If people would stop using agents there would be no reason for IOs to tighten the rules or to give some people extra trouble, because they wouldn't profit from it.

 

What rules have they tightened?

[4MyEgo]

15 minutes ago, dabhand said:

Ahh, if only life was that simple. 

 

Imagine, if you like, someone who receives, by way of a one off payment, a yearly pension of well over the 800k requirement. So income should be covered. Except, the outflows are rather lumpy, for a myriad of reasons, with education costs being just one. So, whilst the yearly total is well covered by multiple FTT  evidence, the minimum monthly requirement is not met.

 

Previous years no problem as genuine evidence of sufficient yearly income enabled the issuance of an income letter by an embassy that is no longer bothered to provide that service.

 

Keeping cash in the bank is an option, as maybe a yearly trip to HCMC (married to Thai) followed by 90 day border excursions,  but why should that be needed when yearly transfers invariably total double the 800k, as can be proven by FTT's.  

 

So, add about 1k/month to outflows and it gets sorted, or so I have been told..........

 

I hear government policy all around the world is rigid, one size fits all, that said, at least you have options ????

 

[soalbundy]

On 2/29/2020 at 10:46 AM, luckyluke said:

In 15 years no I.O. was/is surprised that I have monthly income in my homeland higher than the equivalent of 65000 ThB.

That's one of the conditions to obtain an extension, when one is not American, Australian, British.

My IO asks the missus every year whether the statement from the German embassy could be true, he seems perplexed that a pension could be so high, I don't know what an IO gets as a pension but it can't be much, on the other hand they get free top medical treatment for themselves and their family.

[ChaiyaTH]

35 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

My IO asks the missus every year whether the statement from the German embassy could be true, he seems perplexed that a pension could be so high, I don't know what an IO gets as a pension but it can't be much, on the other hand they get free top medical treatment for themselves and their family.

They would be lucky and one of the few to get 10-15K as a high rank. If you would tell the other people to save at least 20% of their income, as most do not have a pension, the financial picture is even much worse than it already is. Part of that makes the Thais think it is normal to require 400-800K as they assume everyone saved up some cash for their retirement rather than having a social welfare system etc.

My parents in law have at least a few M baht in the bank but will get no retirement at all, neither did they ever earn much. 
First I thought it was a lot but when knowing they also need to use most of that eventually, it is nothing. They never understood they could gained interest over all the years too, aside of the small amounts the bank paid (hardly covered inflation). No financial education at all...

Compare that to those with just a 30K social welfare plan X 20 years and it is much better (7.2M value already). 

Have to say, now I near 30 and plan pension myself + used to live here, one must have failed pretty much to not save up at least the 400K at 40 years up.
By the time of hitting 50-60 one should at least have a good couple of million baht saved aside of generic pensions IMO,
merely saving 200-300 euro a month and getting 5% returns over 20-40 years is a boat load of baht already.

Edited March 1, 2020 by ChaiyaTH

[jackdd]

1 hour ago, vogie said:

What rules have they tightened?

Did you sleep the last few years?

- They require embassies to verify the income affidavits, so some embassies stopped issuing them

- You may no longer withdraw the 800k after getting your extension

- If your landlord did not report you with a TM30 it could happen that they don't give you an extension

Edited March 1, 2020 by jackdd

[Thingamabob]

On 2/29/2020 at 12:34 PM, CGW said:

"Introduced" has been an option for over twenty years, I have been using the 800k option for 15 years and never had an IO look in the least surprised.

Me neither, for 30 years. Never gone near an agent, never had any problem whatsoever.

[vogie]

20 minutes ago, jackdd said:

Did you sleep the last few years?

- They require embassies to verify the income affidavits, so some embassies stopped issuing them

- You may no longer withdraw the 800k after getting your extension

- If your landlord did not report you with a TM30 it could happen that they don't give you an extension

No I havn't been sleeping for the last few years, but awfully decent of you to ask.

 

The point being the Thai Immigration did not change anything untill the British, American, Australian and Danish Embassies changed the way they did things. It was the Embassies that moved the goal posts and not IO.

 

As for the TM30 that has been in operation for donkeys years, maybe they are beginning to enforce it now, I thought you liked everything to be done legal?

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, Don Mega said:

do people actually get a one off yearly pension payment ?

I'm getting a one off 50,000+ pound pension payment this month.

(Supposedly)

[jackdd]

16 minutes ago, vogie said:

The point being the Thai Immigration did not change anything untill the British, American, Australian and Danish Embassies changed the way they did things. It was the Embassies that moved the goal posts and not IO.

According to the official statement of the US embassy, immigration changed their requirements, which the embassy couldn't meet anymore: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1065147-just-received-some-bad-news-for-us-citizens-no-more-income-affidavits/

In your opinion they are lying? Can you provide any evidence for this?

 

16 minutes ago, vogie said:

As for the TM30 that has been in operation for donkeys years, maybe they are beginning to enforce it now, I thought you liked everything to be done legal?

I would be ok if they would do it legal. But denying an extension to somebody who didn't do anything wrong, or trying to fine such a person, is not what i consider legal. If the position of the foreigner does not oblige him to do a TM30, he should be able to get an extension, even if the landlord didn't report him.

[Don Mega]

15 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I'm getting a one off 50,000+ pound pension payment this month.

(Supposedly)

That a once a year thing ?