soisanuk

For my last 3 retirement extensions, I have obtained both bank letters (verification of account required for all and listing of foreign deposits for the previous 12 months used for the monthly income method) from Bangkok Bank's service counter at Tesco Lotus South in Pattaya. Since I don't keep my passbook updated on a regular basis, I firs order bank statements for the previous 12 months which they have to obtain from HQ in Bangkok and takes about 5 business days. I then return and they prepared both bank letters for Immigration for me, using the bank statements for the listing of foreign deposits which I then presented to Immigration the following morning along with my TM.7 and other required documents. Next year I will need to use a different customer service location as Bangkok Bank closed their counter at Tesco Lotus South last month.

You should able to get the bank letter from any branch bank. The branch bank where I opened my account is in South Pattaya. As it is more convenient, I have been obtaining the letter from Bangkok Bank's customer service counter at Tesco Lotus South (just recently they have closed that counter). I know several others that use the Bangkok Bank branch on Jomtien 2nd Road located near the Immigration Office.

Bangkok bank charges the 0.0025% as a conversion fee, but it has a minimum of 200 baht and maximum of 500 baht for this fee. It is not charged if funds are received in Thai baht. Because it is usually cheaper than using their US bank to do the transfer. Some banks do not offer international wire transfers as part of their online banking. My US bank charges US$45 for international wire transfers in US dollars. Wise's fees are much less. My bank's online system will do international transfers for a fee of US$5, BUT require the funds be converted to Thai baht at a very lousy exchange rate - when they introduced that service, I did a comparison with Wise using US$2,500 as the transfer amount. The result was while my bank's fee was US$5 they deposited 1,600 baht less baht into my account than that provided by Wise.

Correct. As I read the OP, the money has already been transferred by the foreign bank in Thai baht, thus the sound advice to better have had it sent in foreign currency is moot. The question was whether sending it in baht vs foreign currency will be acceptable for Thai Immigration. It should be, as they want to see the funds are in the bank in Thai baht and that the funds came from outside of Thailand, the fact it was in baht should not be a problem. I use the monthly income method for my extensions which requires 65k be transferred monthly to my Thai bank from outside of Thailand. I use Wise for this purpose and they they do the conversion and supply the funds in Thai baht - Immigration has no problem with it being in baht instead of foreign currency. However, as mentioned, if Pattaya Immigration (Jomtien) is the location where you plan to apply, then it will need to be seasoned for 2 months before applying for the Non O Visa (it is contrary to the rules as seasoning is only required to obtain the later extension, not the Visa itself, but that is what Pattaya Immigration is now requiring.

Most new wills will include a statement that all previous wills are revoked, which should be sufficient. If you put that statement in your latest will, that should be sufficient for the probate judge to bar any claims to your estate based on the prior will.

The Pattaya City Expats Club has the following on their website regarding getting a Residence Certificate form Pattaya Immigration Office:

That is assuming one has sufficient funds to make a second transfer of 65k for that month. I suspect that many may not be able to do this. However, if you can do two such transfers in a month, it is good advice. I use the 65k per month method for my annual retirement extensions, have a Bangkok Bank account, and have been using Wise ever since the Bangkok Bank New York Branch had to quit accepting domestic ACH transfers which they forwarded on to Thai accounts, leaving only international ACH transfers as acceptable (most US banks do not provide for retail customers to send international ACH transfers). As mentioned, Bangkok Bank, if Wise sends the transfer through them, records the transaction as FTT (foreign source). On two separate occasions, one a few years ago, Wise did send my transfer through Kasikorn - not only mine, but many others. Based on the uproar that caused, Wise added the Long Stay Thailand option in the reason for the transfer drop down menu. This was supposed to assure that the transfer went through Bangkok Bank. And it did for a long period of time. Then, a about a year or so ago, there was a glitch and one month many using that reason, including myself, received the transfer through their other partner bank, Kasikorn, and it was recorded by Bangkok bank as being domestic. It was apparently fixed after a month or so and since then all my transfers from Wise have been recorded FTT. When the glitch happened this last time, I still had sufficient funds to send a second transfer. To ensure FTT coding, I used Bangkok Bank New York Branch's "Baht remittance service" (does not involve ACH transfer and you transfer funds by snail mail). You email an application to the NY Branch and send a check using your USA bank online service - they will accept those, but not a personal handwritten check. When they receive the check and it clears, they then transfer the funds in baht to your Bangkok Bank account in Thailand - the exchange rate was the same as if converted by Bangkok bank here and the NY Branch fee was same as they charge for ACH transfers - in my case, US$10. It took about 11 days to receive the funds in my account here, but it was guaranteed to have the much needed FTT code for Immigration. I usually receive my Wise transfers on the same or following day unless a weekend or Thai government holiday intervenes. Because of the potential for another glitch, I choose to do two separate transfers through Wise - the first for at least 65k. I then send a second transfer which may or may not be 65k depending on my need. But, if there is another glitch, I still have sufficient funds to send another 65k+ through Bangkok Bank's NY Branch.

The construction is for the second stage of improvements per a recent article in a Pattaya Newspaper. When it is completed, the area remaining of the car park area will be a fully covered and self-contained area for those waiting for service.

Not an issue at Chonburi (Pattaya) Immigration. They have accepted the TM.7 single sided from me at least for the past 10 of the 20 years I have been doing my extension renewals there.

I can only speak for doing my annual retirement extension at Pattaya Immigration (Jomtien). I usually get two photos taken at the shop adjacent to the Immigration Office and they know the size to of photo needed. Jomtien Immigration has always only required one photo. So I save the second one and used it the following year with no problems. They also attached it to the TM.7 which I handed to them separately. I have never seen them look up paperwork from the previous year or look up anything on their computer screen for me or anyone else they were processing ahead of me - so I would say they are not comparing the current photo with the previous one. This year in June I was using the second photo I obtained last year. This year the Immigration Officer kept all the documents, but gave the photo back to me. She did take my photo with her phone camera.

I know the person that provides the information on Immigration matters for their website. He relies on reports from expats of their first hand experience to keep the site updated. I did my renewal in mid-June at Jomtien Immigration office using the 65k monthly income method (from USA, so no Embassy letter) - I used the checklist from their site for the documents needed (as I have done for the past several years) and encountered no problems at Immigration in doing my renewals.

When I did my first renewal after the US Embassy quit providing the monthly income letter, Pattaya Immigration would not accept my certified bank statements. Instead, as mentioned, they wanted a letter from my bank listing the foreign source deposits to my account for the past 12 months (I use Bangkok Bank, so they were all coded FTT on my statements, which the bank branch used to prepare the letter). The listing showed I had met the requirement for transferring at least 65k baht per month into my account. For all my subsequent renewals, I have used the bank letter listing the FTT deposits (which is in addition to the one from the bank verifying the account that is required by Immigration for both 800k in bank or 65k monthly income). As I understand it, the bank staff could prepare the letter from my passbook provided it has been kept up to date. Since I do not regularly update my passbook, the bank branch needs my account statements to prepare the letter. I went yesterday to Bangkok Bank's customer service counter at the Lotus on Sukhumvit Road and ordered the bank statements for the past 12 months - the fee was 200 baht (if for more than 6 months, they have to order them from the main office in Bangkok which takes at least 5 business days to arrive). Next Monday, I will go back and get them to prepare bank letters and do my renewal on Tuesday (Pattaya Immigration wants the account verifying letter to be on the day of application or the day before if renewing early before the banks open).

From several reports I have seen, you cannot use the online service to make an appointment. As mentioned, visit in person to get an appointment time. No, you do not watch the video there. They now require you to watch it online beforehand and, as mentioned, bring proof of "completion" with you. Note, you can't just set the video to play and ignore it, there is some interaction required during the playing of the online video. The Pattaya City Expats Club has information about watching the video at: https://pcec.club/Video-for-Driving-License

Why is it many posters with information on Immigration issues never state the Immigration Office where it occurred? Although the overall rules are supposed to apply to all, each Immigration Office has their own policies. From reports I have seen, it appears that most Immigration Offices have no such requirement, but a few do such as the Chonburi (Pattaya) Immigration Office. However, Pattaya Immigration in Jomtien requires a report back with bank book only one time - 90 days from date if extension, but even that has been hit or miss as some are told to do so and others are not. Further, as noted by other posters, not complying with the report back has no consequences as they have no tracking system to record who does or does not report back. Also as mentioned, which appears to be the policy at all Immigration Offices, your bank book will be examined at the time you apply to renew your extension to verify that you met the requirement to keep 800k for 3 months and before renewal application but never letting it fall below 400k in the interim period.

I have been using the online system for my previous 4 reports. I did my 5th one yesterday receiving confirmation of successful delivery almost immediately and the receipt about 3 hours later. When I did my first report, it was about 3 days before I rec'd the receipt. Since then it has usually taken about 2 to 3 hours. However, this time I did not receive an email reminder as in the past that it was now due (6th April was due date shown on last report).

It is possible that the term "Residency" means someone who has obtained Thai permanent residency rather than those residing here on the basis of continuing annual extensions of stay.

As mentioned by Dr Jack 54, a dependent spouse or child must have entered Thailand on a Non-Immigrant Visa in order to be granted an extension of stay based on your having a retirement extension. It is my understanding that the dependent cannot apply for the Non Immigrant Visa within Thailand.

I use Turbo Tax and, as mentioned, they advised me I needed to file a FBAR report when I answered "yes" to having had more than the US$10,000 threshold for such reports. However, when I answered "no" to having foreign financial assets of more than US$50,000 they said no report was necessary - that threshold applies to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) - a different law from the one that requires the FBAR report - the $50k is the lowest of several thresholds that vary depending on filing status and how long you have been outside the USA during the calendar year. The FBAR report is done online and filed with Fincen (a part of the Dept of Treasury, but separate from the IRS). If required to report under FATCA, it is done on a form included with the Form 1040 income tax report, which I presume would be incorporated into the Turbo Tax filing.

As others have mentioned, if extension is based on retirement, work is not permitted - thus no work permit. As to the American Treaty of Amity, there are special rules. I know one person who obtained a work permit under its terms and didn't have any Thai employees. He did need a Thai lawyer to assist in setting everything up as he said the rules were a bit complicated, but it can be done.

Someone I know that is usually knowledgeable about Jomtien Immigration requirements a few weeks ago told me they were going to start requiring a map from those getting retirement extensions. HOWEVER, a friend of mine went to renew his retirement extensions a few days later and said no map was required - I have not received or seen any reports of a map being required when renewing a retirement extension. As to TM.30, I have seen at least 3 recent reports, but none were firsthand experiences, saying they are now requiring a new one even if returning to the same address. They now have 3 desks outside - to the right of the parking lot entry gate for (1) retirement extensions, (2) 90 day address reporting, and (3) TM.30 address reporting. If going for any of those services, you can avoid the long lines to the entry door. So, you should be able to check at the TM.30 desk to see if a new one is required before going to the retirement extension desk next to it.

About 8 years ago, I bought a rollator through lazada and it still works fine. The advantages to a rollator is that unlike a walker, it has a seat where you can sit if you get too tired when walking with it. There are many choices with low to high price. The one I bought, link below, was a more expensive kind but had the features I wanted - higher weight capacity for sitting, large wheels for using outside, and lockable hand brakes. It was worth the price as it has held up well - it also folds to a more compact size for transporting. https://www.lazada.co.th/products/0-10-wheelchair-rollator-circlife-2-in-1-alp3300-1-bcosmo-the-pharmacy-i173724234-s217577069.html?clickTrackInfo=query%3Arollator%3Bnid%3A173724234%3Bsrc%3ALazadaMainSrp%3Brn%3A77327aed2e477d53a9f98a21c888952a%3Bregion%3Ath%3Bsku%3AAL676HBABMNLVVANTH%3Bprice%3A11190%3Bclient%3Adesktop%3Bsupplier_id%3A100049194%3Basc_category_id%3A4794%3Bitem_id%3A173724234%3Bsku_id%3A217577069%3Bshop_id%3A5737&fastshipping=0&freeshipping=1&fs_ab=1&fuse_fs=1&lang=th&location=กรุงเทพมหานคร&price=1.119E 4&priceCompare=&ratingscore=3.0&request_id=77327aed2e477d53a9f98a21c888952a&review=1&sale=12&search=1&source=search&spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.i120.2f452c9a4n4ghC&stock=1

With those documents, you shouldn't have a problem at any of the Bangkok Bank branches. For convenience, you may want to open the account at one close to where you live OR the Branch on Jomtien 2 Road near Soi 5 which would be convenient near to Pattaya Immigration.

If you are renewing your retirement extension at Jomtien, you do not have to join the queue. They now have a desk outside - to the right of the entry gate - where you can obtain a queue number for Desk 8 then bypass line to enter when number is called. Apparently you have to look for it as the sign is small. I have had a couple of folks tell me they were not aware of it, but they just went to the exit door and told the Immigration person they were there for retirement extension and were admitted. Jomtien Immigration also has an outside desk for 90 day & TM.30 reporting where you turn in your passport, get a claim number, and wait while an Immigration Officer takes them inside for processing and brings them back. There are chairs available to sit in while you wait.

The Pattaya City Expat has posted the following on their website: