JDGRUEN

OP - to get clear answers you should clarify - are you on an Extension of Stay from a non immigrant visa you once held. Or are you here on a Non Imm. O-A Visa issued in your home country at a Thai Consulate? If O-A Visa are you here in the first year or second year?

The new IDD International Direct Deposit for S. S. and other government payments can work with most any Thai Bank if as other have said the bank manager signs a form. Contact S. S. in Manila or direct to THE U.S. S.S. Baltimore / D. C. by telephone late at night.. Use Skype for calling with a credit balance (no Skype needed on the receiving end).

Or I strongly encourage setting up a My Social Security Account online (works Great). 

On 1/13/2020 at 9:41 PM, Roy Baht said:

Don't know if everyone read the full article. Seems like many haven't. Phuket Immigration has said:

 

“As for this [American] man, and anyone else who has had this problem, please come back to the Phuket Immigration Office so we can resolve this.

“Under this type of visa, all that is required to prove your income are bank statements and your bankbooks [plus copies of the relevant pages to file with the application]."

 

So all this guy has to do is go back to Phuket Immigration and show he has the money.

Not sure why so many people--including people who don't even live here--are getting so hysterical over it.  Patience and the ability to read are two basic requirements of living in Thailand. Not having those, it is indeed just as well that you left.

 

 

I agree with you mostly but the first part of the article IMO is written very poorly. I read it several times and still did not really understand what the thrust of the article was. Your explanation and the last part of the article makes much more sense. I keep up with Immigration issues on a frequent basis but never cease to be amazed at the inconsistencies. Again IMO the biggest problem with Thai Immigration is inconsistency with rule interpretation different in every office or even among I/Os in the same office. And to top it off I have read that the top dogs in Immigration promote local interpretation of the rules. Crazy in my opinion especially in the age of the Internet. 

I have a B Visa and WP and choose to get my annual new One Year Multi-Entry B Visa in Penang due to this same arbitrary and capricious I/O behavior. I have met and still meet every qualification for an Extension of Stay for the B Visa but refuse to deal with the local office with their fun and games plus graft. 

Last year a fellow American friend of mine applied for his second Extension of Stay but was not allowed to show his 12 months of 65K baht from International Transfers. He was told that since he was an American (no Income Affidavit) his only option was to show 800K in the bank. We made a plan for him to go home to get an O-A Visa.  He arranged his U. S. Bank account to have 800K for 3 months. Applied in person in LA - presented his one year Travel Insurance ($110.00 total) as proof of insurance and was granted the O-A Visa on November 1, 2019.  IMHO, I believe there are way too many I/0s on Power Trips or are ignorant of actual policy or are just inserting obstacles to elicit bribes. 

As far as the guy in the story, if he goes back meeting the 40,000 a month documented as an International Transfer could prove to be a problem.  It is a very common problem these days. 

1 hour ago, Bluespunk said:

No, he just orders the bombing of generals from other countries in a third country...

Even field Generals in a declared war are targets to be hit and removed - a long standing part of war. Generals are not off-limits.  Soleimani was an instrument of death and destruction directing proxies to take over Lebanon - destroying a large part of that country and killing thousands. He was a Terroristic General operating under no semblance of the rules of land Warfare. Soleimani was an interloping master terrorist. 

14 minutes ago, Centrum said:

aha....the Special Forces guy.

Yes and quite real - not an armchair expert like some

I may have missed it but what is the year made, model type, engine size, etc. Send me a private message here on TVF. I am interested. 

There Is a lot of misinformation posted on this thread

Op - If you want the FTT encoding on International transfer deposits to your Bangkok Bank Account every month - then as said before - Use TransferWise and the Send Code "Funds for Long Term Stay in Thailand"... My FB Group of 700+

Expats has shown it works 100% of the time since last August. Easy to do. 

19 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

Hi Lawrence,

It's appalling that your IO doesn't accept the foreign origin of the funds on your bank-account, even though - as you rightly mention - every reasonable person can see that the money was deposited from the same source to the same account in the same amount as it had been. Unfortunately, reasonable people aren't employed at CM Immigration.

You have time till end of January before your permission to stay expires.

So I would suggest you go back with the additional documentation your BKK Bank source provided you with.

Chances are you have a different immigration officer handling your case, and that might make all the difference in the world.

If that still doesn't work, you could do the following:

1. Exit Thailand and re-enter VisaExempt which will give a 30 days permission to stay.  That VisaExempt entry can be extended with an additional 30 days at any IO (cost 1900 THB), in case you would be short on time for the next steps.

2. Send the equivalent of 800.000 THB over from your foreign account to your thai bank-account, and make sure that the transaction will be coded as coming from abroad on your thai bank-book.

3. Apply for a 90-day Non Imm O - retirement Visa at the IO of the place where you want to stay long-term in Thailand.  This has to be done 15 days (some offices require 21 days) before the permission to stay from your (extended) VisaExempt entry expires.

Attached the requirements below.  

Please note that Clause 8 of the requirements asking for evidence of a Rental Agreement between the Applicant and the Landlord, as well as a Location map of the house is ONLY applicable when you apply at Chiang Wattana (CW government complex in Bangkok).

However it might be useful to enquire at your local IO whether they impose additional requirements not mentioned in the document linked above.

4. In the last month of that 90-day Non Imm O - retirement Visa, you can apply for a 1-year extension of stay at the same IO where you made the 90-day Non Imm O - retirement application.

The origins of the 800K in your thai bank-account don't need to be proven again, but the money has to be at least 2 months in your thai bank-account before doing the application for extension.

That will be no problem as you needed to have the 800K already on your thai bank-account when applying for the 90-day Non Imm O - retirement Visa 2-3 months earlier.

5. Once your 1-year extension of stay has been granted, you actually have same status as you had previously.

Because the conditions and requirements for an extension of stay based on an OA - retirement Visa or on an O - retirement Visa are the same.  But with a nice extra bonus, because when applying for the Non Imm O - retirement Visa there is no need to subscribe to the bogus thai-approved health-insurance scam.

 

Note: If you are married to a thai national, you can follow the exact same steps as outlined above.  But instead of applying for a 90-day Non Imm O - retirement Visa and subsequent extension, you can do it for reason of marriage (instead of retirement).  The requirements are somewhat different (you would of course have to provide proof of being married) , but the bonus there is that you only need to provide evidence of 400K on your thai bank-account.

 

Hope this helps!

 

 

1551323081128 - Non Imm O retirement requirements.pdf 136.82 kB · 5 downloads

BTW - I did not intend to reply to a particular comment but I could not find a way to make a general comment) 

Never The Less...

OP - the suggestion (for the coming year - not for this current Extension Application) to consolidate your pension funds in the U. S. at one bank or use the TransferWise Borderless Account. - either way is a good suggestion. By using TransferWise to transfer your funds - to a Bangkok Bank Account from the U. S. is easy using TW's online interface or their App on a phone or Tablet. When using TW all you have to do is choose the Reason for sending option - "Funds for Long Term Stay in Thailand". You will get the money fairly quickly, at an excellent Exchange rate (USD to THB) at a modest fee. The transfer deposit will be labeled "International Transfer" in the account ledger and the same transfer will be encoded as FTT (Foreign Telegraphic Transfer) in the updated printout in the Bankbook. This labeling and encoding alleviates the need to hunt down an FET Form or get, a Credit Advices Letter. 

I have TransferWise Facebook Group of over 700 Expats that have tested the procedure I just described above since last August having a 100% success rate of correct labeling and encoding that meets Thai Immigration's expectations. 

By the way - this same group of Expats report that getting an actual FET Form is becoming quite difficult and instead they are given a "Credit Advices" Letter instead (which provides much the same info as a FET Form. 

One last thing... The TW Borderless Account provides a easy method of consolidating funds from your USA bank or banks and a pension fund. You can see the funds as they arrive and consolidate in the Borderless Account. Then - with the touch of a button you can send the funds on to your Thailand B.B. Account using the TW App and the procedure I outlined above with the assurance that your next 12 monthly transfer deposits will be properly labeled and encoded to comply with the International Transfer required by Thai Immigration. There is even an automatic method of sending the separate funds to the Borderless Account. 

You are invited to join my FB Group TransferWise Solutions to find out more about how this works. 

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/TWSOL/

19 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

The only requirement is that you have a transfer every month to show next year. No need to do it after your new extension starts.

And each monthly 65K Transfer Deposit has to labeled as "Internation Transfer" and the same deposit encoded as FTT (Foreign Telegraphic Transfer) in the updated Bankbook printout. *Bangkok Bank terminology. Other Thai banks may use different terms and codes but they would have to be the same in meaning. 

A friend of mine recently sent several million baht to where he was relocating - Malta. It took about 3 days and the fee was reasonable. I do not know the method used but it seemed to be nothing unusual. 

It seems that most posters here failed to read or hear that Senate Leader McConnell has stated that there is not actually going to be a Senate Trial... If the House (Pelosi) ever does send the Articles to the Senate McConnell has stated he will open a trial - take a vote - record acquittal and close the vote and go home. No Senate Trial, no Witnesses, no Testimony... Nada, Zero, Zilch... It's over. 

The information I have about collected plastic bottles and other plastics is this: After the local  collectors retrieve them from the trash (and there are many thousands of of collectors across Thailand - a small army actually). Next there is a chain of brokers / middlemen involved. These middlemen consolidate the plastics into larger and larger bundles / truckloads. Relative to the large amounts of plastics collected there is not a lot of remanufacturing creating new plastic items going on in Thailand. The bulk of the plastics are compressed and bailed - then shipped to other countries to be used in the process of making new plastic items. 

The headline of this article is "over the top" inaccurate. All it seems they did was to do what President Trump asked them to do.  Headline writers trying to achieve what was not done. 

HOUSE REPUBLICAN REPORT OF EVIDENCE IN THE DEMOCRATS’ IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

https://republicans-oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2019-12-02-Report-of-Evidence-in-the-Democrats-Impeachment-Inquiry-in-the-House-of-Representatives.pdf
 

OP, I belong to several FB Groups that receive posts about immigration and course here at TVF. One FB Group is extremely active in Visa discussions with thousands of posts a year. Plus I have an excellent memory - so I can easily spot trends.  Therefore, I can say without reservation that Immigration at Thailand borders and International Airports have been highly active in the past year in steadily increasing enforcement of their policy of denying people the ability to live in Thailand on a string of Visa Exempt Entries and even including Tourist Visas. And it is even noticeable that METV stays are denied entry if they follow on a string of Exempt Entries, Tourist Visas or ED Visas. It simply does not matter that there is no stated limit on fly in Exempt Entries and Tourist Visas. This last year's track record shows a very high rate of denials just based on the evidence that one is LIVING in Thailand without the correct visa.  Plus in many of these cases Immigration equates evidence of living in Thailand, without the correct visa, as probable cause to suspect working illegally.  Not only suspect but rather that one is highly likely to be working even if not present 9 to 12 months a year. Bottom line (as has been strongly suggested here) if you want to continue staying in Thailand for half a year (even in broken up segments) you will have to get a legitimate Visa / Extension that fits your age and budget. And ED Visa / Extensions are no longer good choices when stacked upon a pattern of using many Visa Exempts and Tourist Visas. I have a friend today who was denied a land entry and a fly in entry (both in one day). So - as said by many in Thailand "up to you".  Best Wishes. 

I have posted the following 3-4 times on various TVF threads, but from reading certain posts - it bears repeating... When using TW to transfer funds to a Thailand Bank wanting to get "International Transfer" in the Account register for that Transfer Deposit AND getting FTT encoding in the Bankbook update printout for the same transfer ONLY works with a Bangkok Bank Account and using the option for sending "Funds for for term stay in Thailand". 

I am 100% sure of this claim due to extensive testing by several hundred TW customers who are members of my Facebook Group. 

This method described above does not work with the two other TW banking partners in Thailand Nor with any other Thai Bank. 

The best you can get with another bank beside B.B. is a FET (a Foreign Exchange Transaction Form) denoting that the transfer indeed originated from a foreign source. Obtaining the FET is a bit of a bureaucratic hassle however and it has been reported that some less than enlightened I/Os will not accept FETs as proof of an International Transfer. 

My FB Group is TransferWise Solutions. 

On 11/5/2019 at 3:16 AM, madmen said:

Thats the problem as expats here keep harping on about visa changes when in fact the big damage was done by their embassies.

 

so lets keep it real, being pushed out because they dont have and never did have 800k or 65k

You are misinformed. The big Embassies were told by Thai Immigration that they MUST verify each Expat's monthly income. The Embassies tried to explain the cost and complexities of verifying each and every income claim (and NO it is not simpke under Western Laws. Thai Immigration stiffed the Embassies - insisting that they must do as commanded. So the Embassies said - Sorry No Deal...