Retirement Visa Extensions At Chaeng Watthana?

[DrJack54]

6 minutes ago, JimMorris said:

Thank you. I did that. It all worked this time and I received the confirmation email now.

Ha! When I see you soi 4 one pint we all good.

Joking.

Could you report back your appointment experience CW.

Good luck.

[JimMorris]

Sure. Will do. 1 pint of Guinness coming up. Thanks again.

[samtam]

I'm happy to read the appointment process is working, and that you had a short time of it, (at CW). Last year I think it took about 9 hours door to door including lunch break, and being too late for re-entry permit, (which I ended up never buying, and because of covid have not needed). This year I'm paying an agent, who guarantees me 1 hour at CW. I'm just so sick of the hanging around, especially during covid. Anyway, not yet committed to the agent, so will be very interested in JimMorris's experience. (I'm due to do the EoS in May, and there are quite a few holidays around the dates I would go, so that creates a back up to the applications.)

[ChomDo]

On 2/25/2021 at 4:50 PM, DrJack54 said:

Here is what confirmation email looks like.

 

 

So this is interesting. I know the topic here is about retirement visas, but I was going to go and try to extend my STV without a booking this week at Muang Thong Thani. Does anyone know if that's fine? I mean they do take walk ins too right? Just thinking that the booking confirmation seems to clarify what is needed for extension (which in the case of STV nobody seems to know). There reason I would prefer not to book a time is that it's not easy to estimate how long it takes for me to drive to Muang Thong Thani. Can be 30min or 1.5 hrs. 

[DrJack54]

51 minutes ago, ChomDo said:

Can be 30min or 1.5 hrs. 

Heck of a difference. Perhaps not so big if you book a time where traffic not so busy.

My appointment was for 90 day report and I was extremely early. I was able to be seen long time prior to appointment slot. Might not be possible for STV extension. As you would have seen the option for booking is available for STV. I would make a booking. Up to you

[ChomDo]

41 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Heck of a difference. Perhaps not so big if you book a time where traffic not so busy.

My appointment was for 90 day report and I was extremely early. I was able to be seen long time prior to appointment slot. Might not be possible for STV extension. As you would have seen the option for booking is available for STV. I would make a booking. Up to you

Thanks. Maybe I'll give it a try. Any idea what happens if you're late?

[ChomDo]

5 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Heck of a difference. Perhaps not so big if you book a time where traffic not so busy.

My appointment was for 90 day report and I was extremely early. I was able to be seen long time prior to appointment slot. Might not be possible for STV extension. As you would have seen the option for booking is available for STV. I would make a booking. Up to you

So got my appointment done. The system is surprisingly easy and fast to get a confirmation ticket. The funny think is that for STV, no documents are mentioned so as we've been talking endlessly in the STV extension thread, nobody really knows what they want to see. I hope nothing except normal TR visa form, one pic and passport – who knows. Would suck to have to go twice but there's always that possibility when it's a mystery what's needed.

[DrJack54]

25 minutes ago, ChomDo said:

So got my appointment done. The system is surprisingly easy and fast to get a confirmation ticket. The funny think is that for STV, no documents are mentioned so as we've been talking endlessly in the STV extension thread, nobody really knows what they want to see. I hope nothing except normal TR visa form, one pic and passport – who knows. Would suck to have to go twice but there's always that possibility when it's a mystery what's needed.

I would suggest you go ahead of time for your appointment slot. You will attend a desk for ticket number. The lady will check your docs and if something else required she will advise and you can go photocopy. 

I'm not up with STV extensions so I can not advise on that. 

I have noticed your previous questions and also noticed not much advise from folk.

Ubonjoe is very busy but if you don't get first hand advice from someone that has obtained extension for a SEV, you could send him a pm.

Hopefully someone can advise.

Good luck. 

Thinking you making appointment was good move.

[ChomDo]

35 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

I would suggest you go ahead of time for your appointment slot. You will attend a desk for ticket number. The lady will check your docs and if something else required she will advise and you can go photocopy. 

I'm not up with STV extensions so I can not advise on that. 

I have noticed your previous questions and also noticed not much advise from folk.

Ubonjoe is very busy but if you don't get first hand advice from someone that has obtained extension for a SEV, you could send him a pm.

Hopefully someone can advise.

Good luck. 

Thinking you making appointment was good move.

Thanks I'll try to go early. There was a lot of discussion in the STV visa extension thread and there's absolutely no consensus or guidelines on what's needed. Ubonjoe's opinion was actually that nothing out of the ordinary TR stuff should be required, but then there was this guy who was asked for an extended covid insurance for the next 90 days which costs around 10,000b (at least the one I got for the first 90 days from my entry date till now) and also a rental agreement etc. That was in Nonthaburi tho. Reports from Pattaya/Jomtien claim no extra documents were asked. Well, I'll know in a few days ????

[DrJack54]

1 hour ago, ChomDo said:

That was in Nonthaburi tho. 

Based on many reports...Nonthaburi is one of the worst imm offices.

Good luck.

[Kiujunn]

On 2/23/2021 at 8:59 PM, JimMorris said:

Great, thank you. All excellent info.

 

Just refreshing my memory on the docs I will need to bring for the renewal of extension. This is what I had saved:

 

1 - Form TM.7 Filled In

2 - 1 Photo

3 - A letter from the bank showing account balance and dated the same date as when applying for the extension of stay.

4 - Account passbook that has been updated by the bank the same day as applying for the extension of stay. Plus a photo copy of the passbook.

5 - Photocopies of all related visa and entry stamps in my passport and a photocopy of my T.M.6 entry form.

6 - Copy of the latest 90 day report in my passport.

 

Did I leave anything out?

 

Plus a handful of newly invented nonsensical forms,  changing daily, e.g.:

- the form "Statement STM 2" stating you are a nice person,  old form, sometimes they want it

- another form stating you really want the extension  (I am not talking about the application form)

- acknowledgement of rules of your visa (form invented about 3 years ago)

- acknowledgement of penalties for overstay (from Big Joke AFAIK)

They like to see your rental contract,  and if you can bring your landlord's ID ir makes them really happy. 

[mangkorn]

On 2/23/2021 at 8:48 PM, DrJack54 said:

 

When walk into imm area walk straight past main queue desk. 

On your confirmation email they list a desk. Think L32 from memory. .......

 Good advice. If this works it will be a game-changer. But here's a question: I received my booking confirmation by email. The pertinent entry reads: 
 

Counter No.: L1-32

 

So, it does not list a desk, but the whole row of desks. What to do? How shall I know who will honor the appointment time? Do I still need to get a number at the main queue desk?

 

Confused...

 

 

[DrJack54]

14 minutes ago, mangkorn said:

 Good advice. If this works it will be a game-changer. But here's a question: I received my booking confirmation by email. The pertinent entry reads: 
 

Counter No.: L1-32

 

So, it does not list a desk, but the whole row of desks. What to do? How shall I know who will honor the appointment time? Do I still need to get a number at the main queue desk?

 

Confused...

 

 

That is a desk number 32. There is designated desk for appointments.

Walk past the "reception" queue desk. You walk to left of it. You will see desk numbers.

#32 is almost at the end. The L1 is just means extension.

Make sure your 15 mins early as they may be available to process you.

Take a seat and keep eye on imm officer.

When she is not busy approach entry to desk. No need say anything, just be holding the print out of your appointment. Don't just sit outside office as they don't call your name etc.

Don't be late it runs to schedule.

[mangkorn]

Thanks, Dr. That's a relief to hear.

 

I thought it meant L1 through L32.

[DrJack54]

1 minute ago, mangkorn said:

Thanks, Dr. That's a relief to hear.

 

I thought it meant L1 through L32.

Nup. It's only the one desk that's for appointments. I can imagine that may increase in the future. 

Another small tip. The io (not just for appointments) like to look at the bank details first. Obviously along with pp. Hand those over first. 

As I have already mentioned a hard copy print out of your appointment confirmation is required. If you don't have a printer there is media stall downstairs that can print that. You just forward the email to them and bingo 2 minutes your done and have printout in hand.

I arrived one hour prior to appointment slot.

Did my bank letter etc down a level where the banks are. Arrived L32 15 mins early. Was seen early and out the joint total 40 mins later.

 

[Kiujunn]

When you hang out near desk L1-32 (above descriptions are correct) a trainee may approach you,  see your email print-out, make sure you got all the documents and hand you the forms du jour to fill out (those nonsensical forms that you used to sign at the IO's desk without even reading them,  like "Statement STM 2", "Acknowledgement of penalties for overstay", whatever. 

IO will take your picture (remove mask).

Then they let you wait about an hour. 

Altogether much faster than before. 

 

Reentry permit takes 5 minutes (without appointment),  nobody wants one these days, and I really mean nobody. 

[JimMorris]

The online queueing was a real time saver in terms of waiting. It definitely saves you the few hours of waiting to be called that it did in the past.

They now also want a copy of your current 90 day reporting slip showing that you are not past due on your 90 day reporting. 

But on retirement visas, in addition to providing the letter from your bank and your updated passbook as evidence of having the required 800,000 Baht in the account, they also now ask to see bank statements showing your full account activity over the prior 12 months.

Since you must maintain a minimum balance of 400,000 Baht in the account at all times for the full term of the 1 year visa extension, and since it is possible to deposit and withdraw money from an account without it always appearing in the passbook ledger, they now require 12 months worth of statement activity be printed out by the bank and submitted to them too. 

I ended up obtaining and providing 12 individual monthly statements from the bank, but I am wondering if anyone knows if immigration will also accept a 12 month consolidated statement that is printed out by the bank and which shows all of the account activity for the prior 12 months in one single document? A consolidated statement would be faster for the bank to print and probably be less cost to obtain as well.

[JimMorris]

On 3/3/2021 at 6:08 AM, mangkorn said:

 Good advice. If this works it will be a game-changer. But here's a question: I received my booking confirmation by email. The pertinent entry reads: 

Counter No.: L1-32

So, it does not list a desk, but the whole row of desks. What to do? How shall I know who will honor the appointment time? Do I still need to get a number at the main queue desk?

Confused...

 

As others have mentioned, you don't need a separate queue number and you just go to desk/counter number L1-32 with your printed booking confirmation email. So when you arrive, you walk past the main counter where they are handing out general queue numbers, but then you stop first at the very first desk/counter in the row of counters/booths in that section for family visa extension. This is where there is an IO whose sole duty is to check that you have all of your correct documents before you proceed to Counter L1-32 for the online appointment made to apply for your visa extension.

This first desk/counter is where you may also be asked to show that you have statements from your bank printed out that same day which show 12 months of prior account activity, this assumes you are there to apply for a 1 year visa extension of your existing 1 year extension on the basis of retirement.

If you don't stop at this document checking counter first, and you proceed right to L1-32, then you might be standing around for a while until you can catch someone's attention who can check your documents and for you to be able to proceed with your appointment at L1-32. So it is best to stop at the very first counter as soon as you arrive to get your documents checked before proceeding on to L1-32. 

[DrJack54]

22 minutes ago, JimMorris said:

Since you must maintain a minimum balance of 400,000 Baht in the account at all times for the full term of the 1 year visa extension, and since it is possible to deposit and withdraw money from an account without it always appearing in the passbook ledger, they now require 12 months worth of statement activity be printed out by the bank and submitted to them too. 

I ended up obtaining and providing 12 individual monthly statements from the bank,

Have not read similar account previously to this. Do you use an everyday account with many many transactions per month. There are daily reports of  extensions done at CW stating clearly that bank statements are not required and that photography of previous 12 months is all that's needed along with bank letter. 

Also you state to not got straight to counter 32. Why has noone else stated this. Did you try and go straight to 32 or just attended main counter on a hunch.

[JimMorris]

9 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Have not read similar account previously to this. Do you use an everyday account with many many transactions per month. There are daily reports of  extensions done at CW stating clearly that bank statements are not required and that photography of previous 12 months is all that's needed along with bank letter. 

Also you state to not got straight to counter 32. Why has noone else stated this. Did you try and go straight to 32 or just attended main counter on a hunch.

I have a normal passbook account. It is a foreign currency account and virtually no transactions in the account during the year except for interest postings because I don't use this account for anything other than the visa requirement. I don't think the type of passbook account you have makes any difference though. They explained to me that the statements are required to show all the deposits and withdrawals over the 12 months as the full account activity may not all show up in the passbook as I said. Perhaps they don't ask everyone for 12 months of statements, but this was my own personal experience and you can take it FWIW.

I went straight to 32 and a junior staffer asked me if I had my documents checked yet at the first counter. Then they took me back to that first counter to have my documents checked first. This isn't the 'main counter", but a counter for document checking for that section of counters and I had walked right by it without seeing it when I first arrived. 

[JimMorris]

They also mentioned to me that the letter from the bank verifying your account balance can be up to 7 days old, but that the passbook still needs to be updated to show the same date as the day that you are applying for the visa extension. This however wasn't my experience in the past. There was one year when I had a letter from the bank which was obtained one day prior to going to Immigration. That time the letter was rejected and I had to go back to the bank the next day to obtain a new letter and then return to Immigration again the same day as the date of the new letter.

[JimMorris]

51 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Have not read similar account previously to this. Do you use an everyday account with many many transactions per month. There are daily reports of  extensions done at CW stating clearly that bank statements are not required and that photography of previous 12 months is all that's needed along with bank letter. 

Also you state to not got straight to counter 32. Why has noone else stated this. Did you try and go straight to 32 or just attended main counter on a hunch.

Also worth noting is that when I was asked if I had brought the 12 months of prior bank statements with me, there hadn’t been any discussion yet of the type of bank account I had. So it seems this wasn’t a relevant aspect of the request.

. 

[DrJack54]

25 minutes ago, JimMorris said:

Also worth noting is that when I was asked if I had brought the 12 months of prior bank statements with me, there hadn’t been any discussion yet of the type of bank account I had. So it seems this wasn’t a relevant aspect of the request.

. 

So it's strange that yours is only report I have heard re statements for CW money in bank method.

Also who asked you for bank statements. The Io at counter 32?

[JimMorris]

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

So it's strange that yours is only report I have heard re statements for CW money in bank method.

Also who asked you for bank statements. The Io at counter 32?

Yes, hopefully they don’t start requiring it from everyone. But as I said, the document checking IO at the first counter asked me for it before we even discussed anything about my account type or the extension renewal. Then it came up again at counter 32. 
 

If it is a new requirement at CW then it isn’t really a big deal though. When your at the bank getting your account balance verification letter that morning then you can just get a 12 month statement printed on the spot at the same time. Just have them print the statement starting from the date of your last extension  

Usually the fee from the bank isn’t more than 200 Baht for a 12 month statement. I’d say better to get it and have it just in case they ask for it so that you don’t have to make an extra trip back to the bank and then back to CW again later. If they don’t ask for it then all you have wasted is an extra 200 Baht (or less maybe depending on your bank) and no extra time spent running around. 

[DrJack54]

2 minutes ago, JimMorris said:

I’d say better to get it and have it just in case they ask for it so that you don’t have to make a an extra trip back to the bank and then back to CW again later.

And I would say that I would like some other posts to confirm your experience. There are current threads stating the opposite experience. Also I may have you mixed up now re appointment, however you do not attend doc check at main counter where you would normally queue #. You go straight to counter 32.

Frankly I think your confusing folk and giving incorrect advice on how to apply for annual extension (retirement) using money in bank method at CW.

[DrJack54]

2 hours ago, JimMorris said:

There was one year when I had a letter from the bank which was obtained one day prior to going to Immigration. That time the letter was rejected and I had to go back to the bank the next day to obtain a new letter and then return to Immigration again the same day as the date of the new letter.

Again I have never heard of this at CW or in fact anywhere. 

[dddave]

5 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Again I have never heard of this at CW or in fact anywhere. 

I did my Retirement renewal at CW this past Tuesday and only the updated passbook and bank letter were required.

I did not receive an email confirmation for my 1:15 appointment.  I did check spam filter.

At L-27 appointment check-in (1st cubical on right), they were able to find my name on the list.  Started process at 1:20, out the door at 2pm.

BTW: Best new BTS stop for access to CW, "Wat Sri Prasi Mahathat"  B55 taxi to Building B entrance.

[DrJack54]

9 minutes ago, dddave said:

I did my Retirement renewal at CW this past Tuesday and only the updated passbook and bank letter were required.

I did not receive an email confirmation for my 1:15 appointment.  I did check spam filter.

At L-27 appointment check-in (1st cubical on right), they were able to find my name on the list.  Started process at 1:20, out the door at 2pm.

BTW: Best new BTS stop for access to CW, "Wat Sri Prasi Mahathat"  B55 taxi to Building B entrance.

Thank you for some sanity to this thread. Perhaps the OP could read your account and explain that you need bank account statements. 

BTW when did you obtain bank letter? On the day of application or previous.

[dddave]

3 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

BTW when did you obtain bank letter? On the day of application or previous.

At Bangkok Bank CW branch in basement just prior to my appointment.  I had checked at my local branch (Phra Khanong) the day before but they didn't have a clue what I was asking about.  Language barrier didn't help.

[DrJack54]

1 minute ago, dddave said:

At Bangkok Bank CW branch in basement just prior to my appointment.  I had checked at my local branch (Phra Khanong) the day before but they didn't have a clue what I was asking about.  Language barrier didn't help.

Good work. I did exactly same. Appointment at 10.45am. plenty of time to arrive early to allow time for deposit into account followed by bank letter. Walk in the park. Immigration officer looked at my 12 month bankbook levels. Of course no bank statements required. Just the bankbook and photocopies of pages.