Raindancer

21 minutes ago, Chris.B said:

In English? I thought a Thai will needed to be in Thai?

 

No.   Mine was accepted as quite normal. 

And a point worthy of note.....the lady officers were signing to witness my signature and not the validity of the will.

It is lodged with the Amphur and not a solicitor for obvious financial control issues.

8 hours ago, Chris.B said:

I am interested in this as well? ☹️

Pm sent

PM sent

3 hours ago, skatewash said:

The requirements for getting a retirement extension of stay at Phuket Immigration are very strictly enforced.  So I make my life easier by finding out what the requirements are and following them strictly.  I find it very helpful to use the website set up by the Phuket Immigration Volunteers that contains very good information about what is required in order to get all sorts of extensions of stay including the retirement extension.

http://piv-phuket.com/long-stay-extensions/retirement/

 

For years Phuket Immigration has required two (2) documents from your Thai bank.  One is the standard letter that shows you are the owner of a bank account, details of the account, and the balance on the date the letter is written.  The second is a signed/stamped bank account statement for twelve (12) months.  I forget how much these two documents cost but is in the range of 200-300 baht depending on the Thai bank involved.  Note that some banks (notably, Bangkok Bank) cannot produce a 12-month bank statement on the spot but have to send the request to Bangkok Bank headquarters and it can take a week to actually receive that 12-month bank statement due to this.  So knowing this I try to apply for my retirement extension 45 days before my permission to stay expires.  Why wouldn't you want to do this earlier rather than later?  You have time on your side if there are any problems.

These are the requirements (as can be confirmed by reading the earlier link).  However, I usually try to understand the reason these are the requirements.  So what follows is my understanding of why we are asked to do what we are asked to do when proving that we have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account for 12 months. 

The standard bank letter establishes that the bank account exists, is in our name only, and that we are the owner of it.  The 12-month bank statement establishes that we have complied with the minimum balance requirements.  The minimum balance requirement for a banked lump sum method are as follows:

• At least 800k in the bank account for two (2) months prior to application for extension
• At least 800k in the bank account for three (3) months after application for extension
• At least 400k in the bank account for the rest of the year.

So, the 12-month bank statement is the means by which an immigration officer can determine if you followed these requirements.  But why is a bank signed/stamped bank statement required rather than just copies of pages in your bank account passbook?  I mean, aren't they the same?  Actually they are only the same if you have updated your bank passbook on a regular basis.  If you haven't then it is possible to get Combined Transactions in your passbook.  Combined transactions include numerous transactions that occurred without your passbook being updated.  The Combined transaction entry shows the net effect of all those undocumented transactions on your bank balance.  It is impossible to determine from this entry whether your bank balance dipped below the minimum balance requirements.  That is why they insist on a 12-month bank statement. 

Even then, they often want to see your bank passbook.  Sometimes, often actually, they will want to see signed copies of your passbook covering the last 12 months.  Why is this?  When you are trying to assess the validity of evidence you look at multiple sources for that evidence.  The standard bank letter says the balance on the date the letter was issued was such and such.  Does the bank statement say the same thing?  Does the bank passbook say the same thing?  The bank statement says that the balance never dipped below the minimum balances.  Does the bank book confirm that? 

I look at this process as getting the immigration officer to a place where he or she has a warm and fuzzy feeling that the evidence you present is valid.  Could it all be faked?  Of course.  There is nothing that can't be faked (including passports and true love).  But how difficult, how much work is it, to fake three separate things:  signed/stamped bank letter, signed/stamped bank statement, bank passbook? 

So, what happened to your friend?  I suspect he didn't bother to check the requirements for the retirement extension at the Phuket Immigration Volunteer's site.  I suspect he didn't notice that a 12-month bank statement is a requirement for Phuket Immigration retirement extensions (and has been for at least a few years).  I suspect that had he gone back to his Thai bank and obtained the 12-month bank statement he was supposed to have all along (it's one of the requirements) he might have gotten his extension approved.

You do NOT have to bring money into Thailand according to the rules for the monthly deposit method (65,000 baht/month every month), IF you are doing the lump-sum banked money method (800,000 baht in the account, subject to minimum balance requirements).  He would have known that if he had familiarized himself with the requirements.  Did he get a garbled, confusing, explanation from the immigration officers as to why he was being refused an extension?  Probably.  That's why your understanding of the process needs to be as good as an immigration officer, so you can comprehend what in the world they are trying to tell you.  So you can understand what the issues are, what their concerns are.

Also, it needs to be said that immigration officers can ask you any question they want to inform their assessment of whether you are going to get a retirement extension or not.  For example if your bank balances meet all the minimum balance requirements it's still in their investigative purview to ask questions like what are you living on?  Where does it come from?  Do you work in Thailand?  Sometimes they will ask to see a bank account that you are not using to meet the requirement for the extension to see what you are living on.  For example, my account for immigration purpose shows very little activity.  The money just sits there, earning interest every month.  I rarely put money in, I rarely take money out.  If that's all I show to the immigration officer it could raise the question about what I am living on.  For that, I have another account that shows money being transferred in on an irregular basis with international labeling.  Money being withdrawn on an irregular basis to pay my day to day expenses.  Money being debited by my internet provider, electricity provider, etc.  I usually will make copies of that bank passbook in case they want to see that.

To paraphrase Jerry McGuire, you need to help the immigration officers help you.  It's in your interest.  The easier their job is the easier it is for me to get what I want, a retirement extension.

Or you can pay 22,000 baht to an agent and they can do what you couldn't do.  The agent likes this and the immigration officers like this as they get part of that 22,000 baht.  It's a win-win situation.  Except I wouldn't be happy paying 22,000 for something that I know should cost exactly 1,900.  But it's Thailand, so up to you. ????

Excellent post and explanation of why immigration needs bank statements to verify balances and any withdrawals below requirements.

15 minutes ago, CMBob said:

I've gotten annual extensions based on retirement in Chiangmai more than 10 times and my bank letter has always been dated the day before.  Has never been

a problem or even questioned.

 

Ditto.  Even up to 7 days has never been queried. Just as long as the bank book update and statement printout date are the same as the bank letter date verifying everything. With, of course the usual bank blue stamps and signatures.

18 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Immigration does not know anything about requirements for a COE. Just as Embassies do nto know anything about extensions in-country. What they told you is applicable to in-country extensions as that is what they deal with.

 

All entries require a COVID test and COVID insurance (not a health certificate). Only entries on an O-A visa require 40/400K insurance but some Embassies apparently do not understand that.

Semantics!!  I was referring to the 40k/400k for existing westerners from Thailand returning to Thailand on a rentry visa with Non imm O

Visa as opposed to someone entering on a non imm O-A.

So, despite your assertions,  Immigration DO know what they are talking about. 

17 hours ago, Sheryl said:

 

I entered on a re-entry permit based on a Non-O and did not need 40/400K insurance. This seems to be something only some Embassies are asking for.

 

It is actually a requirement only for O-A, not O, visa holders. Some Embassies are unclear on the difference.

 

I have never heard of anyone, ever, be asked to show proof of 40/400K by immigration on entry with an O visa oir re-entry permit based on one. Only peopke with O-A.

 

Thank you.  I was also in the belief that reentry on existing non

"O" did NOT require a health certificate.

Immigration confirmed this morning that ONLY non O-A visas required this insurance.

1 minute ago, OneZero said:

Raindancer,

Thank you very much.

You're very welcome.   Hope you get it all sorted.????

10 minutes ago, OneZero said:

Thanks for your reply. 

1. Can you provide the link to book the appointment.

 

2. Does anyone have DLT Accepted experience using a substitute to Immigrations Certificate of Residence?

For example instead of COR taking a letter from a condo office &/or electricity receipts?

I do not think that anything other than a residence certificate is acceptable.  Except for of course a Tambien Bann with your name in it.

Here is the the item you need to download from playstore to book online appt for driving licence.

But please bear in mind that the drop down box to enter passport details does not work.

You will need a 13 digit id to use in the " id box option "

If you do not have one,  then try going along with the docs I mentioned and see if that gets you in.

Good luck

5 minutes ago, skatewash said:

ACH = Automated Clearing House, a network used for electronically moving money between bank accounts across the United States. 

It's difficult for me to see how the method used to move the money from your US bank account to a Wise account in the US would have any bearing on whether the transfer to Thailand is recorded as international or not.

Thank you.   

I am from UK and transfer my money from wise to BBL using long term stay etc.   I transferred money over the weekend and arrived as usual 2pm the following day as " international transfer".

Not that I use the income method for visa extension, just the 800k in the bank.

 Here is my experience on Monday 11 Oct.

I booked an online app last week for Thursday 14 October. 

Booking online was not available for foreign passports .  The drop down box did not open.

And so I used my 13 digit Covid-19 number, that I obtained from online covid booking.

This will take you to various options to renew 1,2 or 5 year licence renewal.    It is all in Thai, so you may need your wife to translate the options.

Once it is all approved, print it out and take it to your local DLT on the app day.

My case was slightly different.

I had received the residence certificate on Monday.

But, I also had all relevant docs for my driving licence renewal in the car.

On my way home I had to pass the DLT office and popped in to verify my docs were all OK and that my 14 October appt would be honoured.

To my surprise, the female officer asked me if I would like to do it immediately.   Obviously I said yes.

So, 50 minutes later I was on my way home with a 5 year 11 month driving licence,  because mine had expired one month previously.

Documents I had prepared:

1.   Copy of passport page

2.  Copy of current visa extension plus copy of passport re-entry stamp with relevant copy of TM6.

3....Doctors certificate

4   Proof of residence certificate.

5   Copy of e learning online test.

6.  Original passport.

No reaction test, just 3 traffic lights to be tested on.

There were about 40/ 50 people in the room and not one other farang as far as I could see.  

I hope this helps.

On 10/1/2021 at 7:01 PM, bbko said:

I think to get the FTT code we shouldn't chose the ACH option, last time I chose ACH the money was transferred from a Krung Sri bank to my SCB account, no international transfer.

ACH option?

4 minutes ago, domdom said:

Thank you but I prefer to do things myself and I don t feel it is worth paying 100 euros for a procedure which takes only a few hours to do

Have a very nice day..

I am not sure if your DLT office operates the same as mine here in Chiang Mai.

But here is my experience on Monday 11 Oct.

I booked an online app last week for Thursday 14 October. 

Booking online was not available for foreign passports .  The drop down box did not open.

And so I used my 13 digit Covid-19 number, that I obtained from online covid booking.

This will take you to various options to renew 1,2 or 5 year licence renewal.    It is all in Thai, so you may need your wife to translate the options.

Once it is all approved, print it out and take it to your local DLT on the app day.

My case was slightly different.

I had received the residence certificate on Monday.

But, I also had all relevant docs for my driving licence renewal in the car.

On my way home I had to pass the DLT office and popped in to verify my docs were all OK and that my 14 October appt would be honoured.

To my surprise, the female officer asked me if I would like to do it immediately.   Obviously I said yes.

So, 50 minutes later I was on my way home with a 5 year 11 month driving licence,  because mine had expired one month previously.

Documents I had prepared:

1.   Copy of passport page

2.  Copy of current visa extension plus copy of passport re-entry stamp with relevant copy of TM6.

3....Doctors certificate

4   Proof of residence certificate.

5   Copy of e learning online test.

6.  Original passport.

No reaction test, just 3 traffic lights to be tested on.

There were about 40/ 50 people in the room and not one other farang as far as I could see.  

You might be lucky and just walk in and have the same helpful experience I had.

On 9/28/2021 at 4:23 PM, skorts said:

This previous post of mine might help ….. links to the apps are included below. 

 

 

I have recently completed the e-learning, got my “pass” certificate (valid for 6 months) and booked an appointment at the DLT office for renewal of my 5 year Thai Driver’s License. Appointment not yet attended. 

if you need help with the Thai translation during the process the Google Translate camera option, where you hover the phone camera over the Thai text on the screen is great. 

A. DLT e-learning training

 

Link to e-learning - 1 hour video:

 

https://www.dlt-elearning.com/Home

 

As previously stated by another respondent you answer 3 simple questions at the beginning, again during the 1 hour video, and again at the end. You must answer the questions during the video to continue with the video. 

B. Booking your Driving License appointment at the DLT

 

Here is article (translated from Thai) on How To Book An Appointment at the DLT office. I attach a link to the original article so you can see the screen shots of the process below:

 

https://www.silkspan.com/online/article/auto/95/

 

Book your driver's license queue in advance with the DLT Smart Queue app for the convenience of license making, license renewal, vehicle tax payment and international driving license application. which can choose the date of service You will be informed of what documents you need to prepare. And there is an alert system when it's close to the queue.

 

1. The process of booking a queue through the DLT Smart Queue application. Download the DLT Smart Queue application for both Android and iOS operating systems.
 

Here are links to the apps:

 

iOS - https://apple.co/2PRGXr2
Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.DLT.SmartQueue

 

2. Sign-in

Select “ID card” > fill in personal information to apply for membership > create a password to log in.

 

The Passport Option did not work. I selected Thai ID and put in my Covid-19 13 digit ID number. The system accepted this ID number. 
 

3. Select the transport office you want to reserve the queue for your driver's license. I put my office in English in to Google Translate to identify it in Thai on the drop down list of offices on the app. 
 

4. Choose the type of service as "license work" - 2nd/middle option of three. 
 

5. Select the type of work that you want to receive the service. For example, renew your driver's license for 5 years to 5 years or 2 years to 5 years.
 

6. Select the date you wish to renew your driver's license - date you want to go to the DLT office. 
 

7. Choose the time you want to reserve. Then press the button to confirm the reservation > take a screenshot to keep as evidence to be displayed with the staff.

 

if you need to change the date you can log in, cancel your appointment and set a new one up. 
 

Many thanks.  Used my covid 13 digit number and got an appointment for next Thursday.????????

2 hours ago, stament said:

@Forza2002this one.

 

https://extranet.immigration.go.th/fn90online/online/tm47/TM47Action.do?cmd=acceptTerm

 

I followed the guide here that someone shared which is extremely useful.

 

https://www.thaiembassy.com/travel-to-thailand/guide-to-thai-immigration-90-day-reporting

 

I hope this helps, let us know how you get on.

Been trying for the past week or so.   And followed both your links above.            Not only me, but three of my colleagues also.    Always same result.....either a white page after completing page one , or "report to local immigration".   I have used the app/chrome/Firefox/Google and Safari. 

   I spoke with the 90 day reporting officer in Promenada this week..   He just said that the online site was having issues.   And yet some posters from other provinces do not have this problem. 

 I wrote to the app developer as well and phoned the mobile number given to me by the two helpline telephone numbers.    No answer from the mobile number and still no reply from the developer.

From the number large of cars queuing at the 90 day drive in on Monday, it seems we are not alone.  So much for the General who, a few months ago, said that they were bringing back the online  to avoid covid contact, or such words.

Maybe the online site has been so successful that some Imm officers are almost out of a job.   And so they need more reports to be done locally, other wise they will be out of a job or moved somewhere else that requires more manpower.

2 hours ago, stament said:

 

 

 

 

Oh! And yes, I have passed the online test.

So armed with a health certificate  and a proof of address one too it was off to the transport office.

That is confusing now.  I just rang the DLT and they said that I had to book an online appointment before turning up.  Did you just turn up without an appointment,?

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

I did a online 90 day report to the office here 2 weeks ago after applying for my extension without a problem. They have the system set to auto approval so no wait for a email confirming it.

Could you explain "They have the system set to auto approval so no wait for a email confirming it."   Thank you.

I and three colleagues have been trying to online reports for a few months now and it is not possible to get past the first page.  Either, a white screen or told to report to immigration.   Tried using Chrome,Firefox, Safari etc on their website.  Nothing.   I have spoken to some friends in 4 different provinces and they have had the same issues.

All these people are fully aware of the time frame for reporting online and have also tried the app.   Still nothing.

I spoke with Chiang Mai immigration on two occasions, showed them a copy of my attempts and the standard phrase to report (screencaptured).   They just said internet online must be down!!

I even sent an email to the webmaster/developer four weeks ago.   Strangely enough, they did not reply!

Thank you

1 hour ago, Shoeless Joe said:

Thanks, I Googled android set top boxes as you suggested. Not very helpful, although I did read a couple of reviews (but I don't know if those android boxes are available in Thailand, so not much use). Also I saw an ad for a Lazada android box.

Thanks for trying to help but on this occasion Google wasn't my friend. What would really help would be a response or responses from someone with personal experience.

Regards,

Joe

Hi

You need to be careful when buying an android set top box

There are two operating systems.  1.   Android TV and Android OS.  The android OS is the same as you get on your Android phone.  This system allows you to " sideload" many apks or apps from playstore.   Android TV set top box on the other hand is not as user friendly for playstore apps nor apks.

However, I prefer my Android OS set top box and use numerous film/ movie apks free of charge.  I also subscribe to an IPTV company and watch many channels from Uk/ Usa/Australia.  I have been using it for a number of years. 

If you want more info, send me a PM.  Because,  I do not really want to get into a debate with other readers over the pros and cons of both versions of android set top boxes. 

25 minutes ago, Thailand said:

Really, i would think that many people would like to know about the walk ins at Promenada in the coming week. It is all on that page.

I hope this helps those who need it.  Posted by Ben Svasti about an hour ago.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ChiangMaiNewsinEnglish/permalink/886369345352748/

Just a heads up on obtaining residence certificate for driving licences.    I went there this morning to immigration and handed over my paperwork, including a SAE.   The lady told me to come back on 11 October between 0830-1130am  to collect my residence certificate and handed me a slip of paper with my new collection date.   I asked why she would not post it out on the new date with the provided SAE and she just handed me back the envelope and said "come back 11 October".        Apparently the DLT is closed according to her.

45 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

It will only work on a mobile device such as a Ipad or IPhone.

There is not ap for a mac. On Mac you using Safari you may to install a user agent to emulate internet explorer.

See: https://www.dummies.com/web-design-development/how-to-activate-user-agent-switcher-in-safari/

Many thanks. 

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

That message can come up for many reasons.

The newest problems people have had is that they did a report in person and it was not recorded in the online system and they have applied for a new extension of stay since the last report and it was not entered in the reporting system that causes it to reject it for being on a overstay.

You could try installing the mobile app that gives different messages other than the one message. It will inform you are on a overstay or outside the reporting window (false if you did a report in person since the last one)

Links for them follow.

Android app is here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=th.go.immigration.immeSevice&hl=en

Apple app: https://apps.apple.com/th/app/imm-eservice/id1464624948

 

You are absolutely  correct.   Just been down there to renew 90 day report.  Asked for some help as to why on line was not working for me.  Simple....Renewed my retirement extension 43 days before due date.   90 day reporting fell some 16 days after the 43 days but well short of actual renewal of retirement,

Thus, did the 90 day report online before the actual retirement renewal and it worked.   So, now I know in future for next year what the procedure will be when renewing 90 day report online after my actual retirement date extension.   Thank you for all your help and  patience:-)

NB: the link  https://apps.apple.com/th/app/imm-eservice/id1464624948  seems to only apply for IPAD.  and not MAC......just tried it.