rexall

58 minutes ago, EricTh said:

In the past, those 'flexibility' means that those agent could get their clients application approved by paying under the table money to some corrupt immigration officers.

 

I thought we have a cleaner immigration nowadays.

We have a lot of  discussion, proclamations and pronouncements about a quote-unquote "cleaner" immigration nowadays. To what extent, if any, that reflects the actual situation on the ground is an entirely different matter.  

43 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

Is corruption still rampant?

 

If not, what could an agent do if all the rules and conditions are adhered to?

 

Some so-called monthly transfers are suspicious because the money can be recycled by the applicants either inside Thailand or outside Thailand. After all, you need only a maximum of 65k in Thailand at any one time versus 800k.

 

Unless there are other proofs like government pension fund etc, that method might not be acceptable.

 

That's why some immigration officers prefer the 800k method as it is less vulnerable to manipulation. 

 

There are just too many loopholes and immigration is trying to close each one.

An agent relies on personal relationships with I/Os and the flexibility built into the system to accomplish their "magic."  I seriously doubt that Pornthip McGillicuddy could just open an office, call herself a "agent" and expect to do business with Imm.  Agents work apologetically out in the open, they have offices, they advertise. They operate in the midst of official pronouncements to "crack down" on agents. This has been going on for a very long time.  No one can say whether it will continue to in future. 

Maintain your own opinions, make your own evaluations and judgments about the process.  Everyone does, of course.

Have you been reading this thread?  It began 8 pages ago with a report of two applicants were were recently denied retirement extensions by the B65K/month option.  Certainly, there could be things we don't know about those interviews.  That is what we are trying to find out. However, I/Os in the same and in other offices are allowing the B65K/month.

As to the the method of demonstrating that deposits are offshore, I am not aware of any directive that says the only way to prove that deposits are offshore is via a FTT notation in the bankbook, yet that seems to be what some I/Os are insisting upon even when other proof is offered.

Finally, it is hardly a secret that I/Os have discretionary authority, so the idea that some would be ore flexible than others his hardly a matter of controversy.

5 minutes ago, john terry1001 said:

I am not talking about supplying the Transferwise receipt to show it it came from overseas.

 

The transfer I am referring to went from Transferwise to the TMB, then from TMB to my Bangkok bank account. I contacted the TMB International Department in Bangkok and supplied them with the relevant Transferwise transfer information plus my Bangkok Bank account details and TMB supplied me with an official credit advice receipt certificate instructing Immigration that the transfer did actually originate from overseas. Took them about three days and they sent it to my local TMB branch for me to collect.

 

Speaking to TW and BKKB a few months ago, when TW set up their procedure for transfers into Thailand they had discussions with immigration and their three partner banks when it was agreed that should a 'rogue' local transfer occur, the relevant bank would, if asked, supply a certificate that was acceptable to immigration to prove the transfer originated from overseas.

 

To my knowledge, so far there have been two people, one in Chang Mai and one in Pattaya, who have used this process and both were successful. 

Thanks for the update and filling in all those blanks.  Very interesting. I guess it establishes what we already knew; some I/Os in some offices are going to be more flexible than others, and some are going to whatever they want regardless.  Good luck with your extension.

1 hour ago, john terry1001 said:

Thanks for the information. Sad to see Khon Kaen appear to be saying all monthly transfers must exceed 40k and are ignoring what the Police order actually says about average. Hope you can get things sorted via Savannakhet. It'll be interesting to post your progress.

 As I said, my transfers all average nearer 50k pm. I tend to make two transfers a month. The two 4weekly ones come on the same day and I transfer them as and when. The monthly one comes on the 1st and I transfer that one to pay all the monthly bills. I use Tansferwise and my only concern is that in February, before they'd got anything organised, one transfer arrived as a local transfer. I've got a credit advice slip to prove is was an international transfer so I'll have to wait and see if that is acceptable.

I refer to a similar situation in an earlier post. The OP had 12 deposits via TransferWise, but one was entered as domestic rather than FTT (International Transfer). He was denided even though he provided the TransferWise receipt proving that the deposit was from offshore.  The I/O was only interested in what notation appeared in the bankbook. The "good news" was that he was granted the extension after making "special arrangements" with the I/O. I suppose that is better than an unplanned trip to Laos and starting the visa process over.  The annoying thing about it is that the original scuttlebutt on ThaiVisa from a year ago was that Imm was going to show quote-unquote "leniency" the first year owing to the fact that it might take a few months for applicants to get their finances organized.

3 hours ago, Thailand said:

Private pensions plus perhaps state pensions or other acceptable income.

I am not aware that the income must be from a "pension," only that it be from offshore.  Of course, I/O can make up the rules as they go along, but there is nothing official that I know of saying it has to be a pension. I used the income affidavit form the U.S. Embassy for many years, and that letter said only quote-unquote:

"I affirm that I receive a monthly income of $_________________ from sources in the United States..."

37 minutes ago, billsmart said:

My eight yearly extension is due in mid-Dec. I intend to go into my local Immigration office in Phetchabun with two sets of application papers.

One is based on Retirement showing 12 monthly deposits of my pension of about THB 85K apiece. The one's for last Dec and Jan, however, were done via TransferWise and show up as domestic transfers from Thai Military Bank. In Feb, I switched to a direct wire transfer from my US bank to my Thai bank which show as international transfers. It costs me about THB 2K more per transfer.

 

The other set is based on Marriage showing multiple months of a balance of over THB 400K. I do not have THB 800K.

 

During my last eight extensions, I have switched back and forth between Retirement and Marriage before with no problem (other than the additional paperwork for Marriage and the added one-month wait for it to be approved by the regional office in Chiang Mai).

 

The visa I used to last enter Thailand 9 years ago was an OA visa. I have considered changing that to an O visa, but I'm going to wait and see what happens in Dec. I am 73 and have no health insurance and can probably not get any.

 

Wish me luck... ????

 

Have a backup plan because there have been more than one report of extensions being denied on the basis of one or two deposits showing as domestic rather than foreign. In one incident, the OP was able to show receipts from TransferWise proving that the transfers were from offshore.  He was denied.  I/O wanted to see that FTT notation in the bankbook.

3 hours ago, KeeTua said:

In September I was successful with getting my 1 year extension at Khon Kaen based on 65K/month for 12 months.

 

At first the IO said I needed 800K deposit in the bank. I said that 65K/month was allowed. We went back and forth politely until the IO got up and went to the IO in the small office at the rear, the one that signs off on the extensions.

 

Came back and said OK but they were very firm that it needed to be 12 months which I was able to prove. All clearly international transfers.

 

My suggestion is to dress and speak politely. If there is some problem, trying to convince the IO to ask the boss will go better if they have some respect for you.

 

Is it OK if I post this on the Khon Kaen Forum?  I won't use your name if you don't want.

19 minutes ago, fourpack said:

I believe there is a fair bit of fancy wording in the OP. "Claim"

I notice that when new things come along there is always "claims" of xy and z the recent spate on here of "I was refused" . Just seems a trend to me for "Claims" to come to the fore over changes people don't like or have not researched before going to Immigration thus not getting there required extension and spitting out there proverbial dummy's.

Everyone takes it as read that it's the whole truth honest.

I take it all with a pinch of salt. 

I was the one who used the word "claimed" and I used it deliberately to be clear that I was reporting what the OPs said, and not something I could absolutely establish as a fact. I was not suggesting I thought there was something suspect in what the OPs said. Quite the contrary, I consider their reports to be reliable.  This thread has been fun, but the point of starting it in the first place was to try to get a feel for how reliable the information actually is (or isn't) and to what extent, if any, there are similar incidents out there. This is not complaining, it is something that potentially has an impact on the lives a lots of people.

5 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

 

Not by intention on the part of policy makers.  It is clear that both should still be possible. It is implementation insome provinces (not all by any means) that is flawed. And the overall ability of TI to introduce new rules and ensure they are understoof =d and followed, that is and long has been, very sub-optimal.

 

May not matter to those affected but I think it helps to understand that a lot of this is not in fact part of a systemic plan to push us out, as some people have come to feel.

No, of course it isn't a "systematic plan" as in a bunch guys sitting in a smoke filled room brainstorming ways they can slowly turn the screws to reduce the presence of retirees. Stuff like this is rarely a conspiracy in so many words. However, you are correct, it doesn't matter to those affected, nor should it.  Oh, wll, I am not going to hold anyone responsible because it is just the system out of control.  Phooey on that!

1 minute ago, Peter Denis said:

Somewhat off-topic > but OP wrote: The other guy had to revise his plans and go to another Imm office and apply for an extension based on marriage.

Is it indeed possible to 'shop around' for friendly IOs to apply for an extension of stay?

That would be interesting to know when there are differences between provinces in how the OA health-insurance requirement is interpreted.

Technically not. However, in practice it happens, so I have heard. I am not sure, but possibly the wife of they guy I mentioned owns a house in the other jurisdiction.  Although, nothing would stop him from returning to Khon Kaen to apply for marriage. Again, I dunno, but assume it has someting to do with the fact that he can come up witht he B400K, but not B800K.

I am admin for an expat forum in Khon Kaen. There have been three disturbing reports recently about failures to obtain retirement extensions via the monthly B65K method.

The first involved a person who had his 12 B65K deposits, but on his bank statement, only 11 of them showed as foreign transfers even though he was able to prove that the 12th deposit was from offshore using something other than his bank book.  He was eventually allowed after making special arrangements with the I/O.  

Just the past week two applicants were flatly refused the B65K method even though they claim they complied with all the regulations and that their paperwork was in order.  The I/O insisted that they use the B800K method instead.  One guy happened to have the B800K, and so was able to get his extension after regrouping and sorting out things with his bank.  The other guy had to revise his plans and go to another Imm office and apply for an extension based on marriage.

This is disturbing as for the past year, these threads have made it quite clear that B800K or B65K monthly were both acceptable options so long as you complied with all the regulations.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

Recently had very positive experience and successful renewal of my retirement extension with My Thai Visa 
mythaivisa com. 

Yeah, clean would be good alright.