Get and Activate Retirement Visa

[SailingHome]

I live in Thailand, am USA citizen, and married to a Thai. I will be 50 years old 10 days before my current marriage-based visa ends.

 

My wife and I are great friends, but not in love. She is going over seas for her business.

 

Do I have time to get a retirement visa? If I get it do I have to exit and re-enter Thailand to activate it?

[DrJack54]

You would be applying for 12 month extension based on retirement. (not a visa).

You do not need to exit/re-enter Thailand.

You would require 800k in Thai bank in your name only 2 months prior to applying for extension.

[SailingHome]

Can't I just show my Social Security statement of income and the direct deposits?

[ubonjoe]

On 11/15/2020 at 4:06 PM, SailingHome said:

Can't I just show my Social Security statement of income and the direct deposits?

You would need to show at least 65k baht transferred into a Thai bank from abroad for 12 months to do the application. 

[overherebc]

1 minute ago, SailingHome said:

Can't I just show my Social Security statement of income and the direct deposits?

Believe the figure for that is 65,000 per month.  Different offices might have different time scales, ie 6 months records, 12 month records etc.  Your local office is your best bet for info' on that.

[SailingHome]

Anyone know Bangkok's rule? I only started direct deposit 8 months ago.

[Peter Denis]

40 minutes ago, SailingHome said:

I live in Thailand, am USA citizen, and married to a Thai. I will be 50 years old 10 days before my current marriage-based visa ends.

...

In your case it is especially important to be sure that you used the correct terminology in your query  as it will affect the requirements you will have to meet when applying for the 1-year extension based on your Non Imm O Visa for which you want to apply for reason of retirement.

So the question is.  Are you currently on

a) a 90-day Non Imm O Visa issued for reason of marriage

b) a 1-year Multiple Entry Non Imm O marriage Visa

c) a 1-year permission to stay from your 1-year extension of stay based on a Non Imm O Visa for reason of marriage

[DrJack54]

11 minutes ago, SailingHome said:

Anyone know Bangkok's rule? I only started direct deposit 8 months ago.

I read report of requiring 12 months of monthly deposits in your situation. That was upcountry. Don't know about CW.

I assume your aware that using money in bank method the 400k is only required to be in bank 2 months prior to application plus under consideration period. Then you can withdraw it as you want. Bullet proof.

[SailingHome]

2 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

In my case 

c) a 1-year permission to stay from your 1-year extension of stay based on a Non Imm O Visa for reason of marriage

Extension ends 26 Dec.

 

Ubon Joe mentioned that my wife will have to come with me to ok it. 

 

Also note there is no way I can show 400k in the bank or borrow it. I maybe have 200k.

 

I'll have 8 direct deposits to one of the special Bangkok Bank accounts for such. Before that I was using ATM and having my USA bank transfer as needed through New York, but Thailand shut that down.

[Peter Denis]

1 hour ago, SailingHome said:

Extension ends 26 Dec.

 

Ubon Joe mentioned that my wife will have to come with me to ok it. 

 

Also note there is no way I can show 400k in the bank or borrow it. I maybe have 200k.

 

I'll have 8 direct deposits to one of the special Bangkok Bank accounts for such. Before that I was using ATM and having my USA bank transfer as needed through New York, but Thailand shut that down.

When your permission to stay expires 26 December, that's the very last day you can apply for the 1-year extension of stay.  And it requires that you would have evidence of funds seasoned on your personal Thai bank-account for at least two months at the moment of application.

Those funds would be 400K when applying for the 1-year extension for reason of marriage, and 800K when applying for reason of retirement.

Since you indicate that you did not have such amounts on your personal Thai bank-account since latest 26 October, your only option left is to  make use of a Fixer Agent that could take care of the financial requirement.  The fee for such fixer agent would be somewhere between 14.000 and 25.000 THB for a 1-year retirement extension application based on your current Non Imm O Visa.

[ubonjoe]

15 hours ago, SailingHome said:

Anyone know Bangkok's rule? I only started direct deposit 8 months ago.

Is that 8 months this month or last month. If you did the 9th one the month and applied for a 60 day extension in December you could have 12 months in February to apply for the one year extension.

 

[SailingHome]

On 11/16/2020 at 8:21 AM, ubonjoe said:

Is that 8 months this month or last month. If you did the 9th one the month and applied for a 60 day extension in December you could have 12 months in February to apply for the one year extension.

 

8th will be 4 Dec.

 

Since we have done two one-year extensions on marriage, will the direct deposits let us extend on marriage then go retirement later? Again, not enough savings in any case. 

[Peter Denis]

10 hours ago, SailingHome said:

8th will be 4 Dec.

 

Since we have done two one-year extensions on marriage, will the direct deposits let us extend on marriage then go retirement later? Again, not enough savings in any case. 

If your 8th monthly income transfer will be 8 December, and your permission to stay expires 26 December you will NOT be able to meet the financial requirement using the same monthly income transfer method, even if you apply for the once-per-entry 60-day extension of stay to provide you with more time.  On top of that the +40K transfers would have to be transferred in each of the 12 months preceding your application, so if you missed out on one or more months midway, you won't be able to meet the requirements anyway.

Furthermore it is not even sure that you would be able to use the 400K Funds-in-Bank method, even when you apply for the 60-day extension of stay and use that time to season the funds for 2 months. The reason being, that when you apply again for the 1-year extension of your current permission to stay, that the Imm Officer will FIRST check whether you did meet the conditions for that 1-year permission to stay till 26 December that was granted to you.

And that will not be the case.  But having seasoned 400K for two months at moment of application, you would have met the requirement when using the Funds-in-Bank method.

It would therefore depend on the interpretation of the Imm Officer whether he would be OK with you not having met the conditions for the monthly income transfer method during the past 12 months, and accept the two-month seasoned 400K Funds-in-Bank method.

 

But since you wrote that you don't have the funds and thus won't be able to season the 400K for two months (even if you still have time to do so when combining it with a 60-day extension), it looks that a Fixer Agent is your only option left.

The fee for such fixer agent would be somewhere between 14.000 and 25.000 THB for a 1-year retirement extension application based on your current Non Imm O Visa.

If you are not over 50 years of age, it would have to be a 1-year marriage extension application, but the fee for such service is significantly higher (as the marriage extension requires divisional approval, and thus involves two 'brown envelopes' to overlook that you do not meet the financial requirements).

 

 

[SailingHome]

Let's hope I have at least 2 FTT preceding these 8 in my other account so the extension will buy me time.

 

Will transfers from USA through NYC show up as FTT?

[SailingHome]

Funny after 10 years here I am not wanted because they suddenly stopped taking direct deposits into a normal account and I had to scramble to set up another way. I never could get Transferwise to work.

[Peter Denis]

12 minutes ago, SailingHome said:

Let's hope I have at least 2 FTT preceding these 8 in my other account so the extension will buy me time.

 

Will transfers from USA through NYC show up as FTT?

The required 12 (some IOs require 13) monthly income transfers of +40K, do not need to be transfered to one and the same personal Thai bank-account.

The requirements are:

- an unbroken chain of monthly income transfers during the 12 (or 13) months preceding your date of application;

- transfers to be done on a personal Thai bank-account (a joint one with your wife is not accepted);

- evidence of the foreign origins of these monthly income transfers;

- on request by the Imm officer handling your application evidence of the SOURCE of those monthly foreign income transfers (e.g. a pension statement).

= = =

When you transferred the monthly income funds to your Bangkok Bank account, it will depend which method you used as how these transfers will be coded.  If the transfer is coded as FTT on your BangkokBank pass-book that means it is indeed coded as an 'international transfer'.  Any other code would not be accepted by IO, and that would mean you would have to contact your Bangkok Bank branche to get hold of the necessary evidence that the transferred funds indeed originated from abroad.

[ubonjoe]

23 minutes ago, SailingHome said:

Will transfers from USA through NYC show up as FTT?

Yes they do.

[SailingHome]

Assuming the worst, what other way can I get a few months of stay after the 60 day extension then go retirement?

 

After all these years, why wasn't I ever told I have to receive monthly FTT to renew a marriage visa?

 

I did not save the filled passbook on the other account when they gave me a new one... what is the fastest method of contacting Bangkok Bank FTT department to ask for a list of FTT deposits Dec 2019 to April 2020? Calling the normal hotline got me squat.

 

I am not in the best of health... having to suddenly uproot and move to USA is nearly impossible alone.

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, SailingHome said:

I did not save the filled passbook on the other account when they gave me a new one... what is the fastest method of contacting Bangkok Bank FTT department to ask for a list of FTT deposits Dec 2019 to April 2020? Calling the normal hotline got me squat.

Ask your local branch about it getting from the main office in Bangkok. The did a year and half for me due to a mix up of the dates I wanted.

[SailingHome]

I can change to retirement without a divorce, yes?

[ubonjoe]

14 minutes ago, SailingHome said:

I can change to retirement without a divorce, yes?

Yes you can.

[SailingHome]

Anyone want to recommend an agent? Mine wants 25k, says I must divorce first, and can not be done in Bangkok.

[Peter Denis]

49 minutes ago, SailingHome said:

Anyone want to recommend an agent? Mine wants 25k, says I must divorce first, and can not be done in Bangkok.

Whether you are married to a Thai national is irrelevant.  What matters is that you meet the requirements for your application.  When applying for reason of 'retirement' you need to be +50 years of age and comply with the financial requirements for such retirement application.

[jacko45k]

10 hours ago, SailingHome said:

Anyone want to recommend an agent? Mine wants 25k, says I must divorce first, and can not be done in Bangkok.

I respectfully suggest that is bunkum and would look elsewhere too. 

[notnaff]

I hope it is ok to ask this here but since Dec 2019 I’ve been transferring money from a UK account to a Thai bank using Tranferwise and the deposits are listed as ‘Trade Finance Deposit’. Will these deposits count towards getting a retirement visa?

 

Thanks

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, notnaff said:

I hope it is ok to ask this here but since Dec 2019 I’ve been transferring money from a UK account to a Thai bank using Tranferwise and the deposits are listed as ‘Trade Finance Deposit’. Will these deposits count towards getting a retirement visa?

 

Thanks

If you support them with printouts from Transferwise to show they originated from overseas very likely, providing you have one each month and all are 65,000 bhat or more. (Income method for a retirement extension). 

Never heard of 'Trade Finance Deposit'....

[ChristianBlessing]

On 11/15/2020 at 2:06 AM, SailingHome said:

Can't I just show my Social Security statement of income and the direct deposits?

You indicate that you're just short of 50 years of age. I'm curious about how you are collecting Social Security already. 

[ubonjoe]

7 minutes ago, ChristianBlessing said:

You indicate that you're just short of 50 years of age. I'm curious about how you are collecting Social Security already. 

It think he is getting SSDI payments if I recall correctly form earlier topics he posted.

[SailingHome]

Ok... got the bank statement. I only have 8 direct deposits. I know I can get a 60 day extension on the marriage visa, which by then would get me to 10 DD.

 

Any idea how to get another 60 days after that? I think the old border run system is dead and flying out for 2 months, while doable using savings, how would I get back? I would have my marriage certificate, but not a visa.p

[ubonjoe]

13 minutes ago, SailingHome said:

Ok... got the bank statement. I only have 8 direct deposits. I know I can get a 60 day extension on the marriage visa, which by then would get me to 10 DD.

You could apply for the 60 day covid 19 extension first and then the 60 day extension to visit you wife.