Balance

I was here on a retirement visa from 2011-2016. My wife and I got married in 2016 and then she applied for a Green Card at the Embassy. This was granted in July 2016. We then moved back to the states for 5 years which turned into six. This was to satisfy the five year joint residency requiremet for my wife to be my beneficery when I die. We returned to Thailand at the end of Septemer 2022. I came in visa exempt and they stamped a 30 day visa. I got a 30 day extention and at the same time started the process for a O based on marriage. In Chiang Mai, the first thing you have to do is deposit TB 400K in a bank (mine is BKB). There is no exception to this, save maybe if you are on an elite visa coming in. You then get a certication letter from the bank that you have the money in a "Fixed" Account." My current understanding that you have to leave the money in the bank for one year, After that there is no requirement since you have proved that you get at least TB40K every month. But it could change. As you wind through the process, make sure to bring your Thai wife with you every time you go to immigration. If she is familiar with the process, let her do most of the talking. They are trying to confirm that you are not in a "sham" marriage. The reason for the 5 year joint residency requirement is due to thousands of Vietnamese women paid Americans to marry them and get them to the states where they disapeared. I really am not sure why the Thais are so concerned about this, but money is at the root. Someone at Thai immigration told me that they would prefer if I applied for a retirement visa again (more money required in the bank). When we finally got our home vist from immigration, a lot of time was spent explaining a new rule, that I still do not understand, If you have no experience doing this, I would recommend that you have a law firm or other entitiy walk you through it and do all of the paperwork. It will run you TB20k to 30K. I used Siam Legal, and they got it done. Good luck

Keep it simple. If you can, get an invoice for the amount you need to transfer. Keep in mind that Thai banks generally froun on sending hard currency. I had a sea freight bill that had to be paid to get personal effects out of customs warehouse. Do it at your Thai bank. Bangkok bank probably has the most experience.

Don't forget about the noisey cats.

They don't stop because no one is ever punished for not stopping.

Your wife would have to have a 10 year green card to work in the U.S. It took me 4 months to get one for her at the U.S. Embasy in bangkok. USCIS would not give her an initial two year card because we have not been married for two years before going to the U.S.

My comments are based on my recent experience with Immigration in Chiang Mai. Yes, you only need ThB 40,000 per month, but first you have to deposit ThB 300,000 in a fixed account. I lived in Thailand for beginning in 2011 on a retirement visa. Then, the couselate would issue a letter that my U.S. Social Security benefit was a certain amount (greater that 65,000 per month, so I did not have to put 800,000 in the bank. We then moved to the U.S. after getting my wife a greencard and were there for six years. We returned two months ago and I came in on an exempt 30 day tourist visa as my retirement visa had expired. The first thing that was required is that I deposit 300,000 in a fixed account. But the important thing is that the process was easier because I came back in on the tourist visa. I have been told that generally immigration does not not look kindly on Farang getting to reduce the fixed account amount. I would also pay a good immigration law firm for an advice consultation. There is also a minimum amount of time you need to have been married and registered. And of course many of the rules change depending on where you are. Good luck.

I moved to Thailand include: I married a lovely Thai women in 2014; I could swim dalily in a nice 25 meter pool 10 months a year (setting aside the burning season here in CM); I would have time to read (I converted to digital whenever available becase I can't handle print in 9 point type, or 10 point for that matter, and they are cheaper.); Thai food; and finally and very important, being able to get therapudic Thai massage three hours a week. I can do all of those things and more because the only social media I use is gmail and Line (at the insistence of my wife), and going to visiting, in person, with friends. History will record that Facebook and the others did more to damage being social than anything I can think of.

No, I am not. But given the too bad things to do, it is most likely the lessor of the two. The point I was trying to make is that the cheap booze has to be done away with.

Get rid of all of the cheap rot-gut being MANUFACURED in Thailand and imported. Why? (1) to start with; It is probably responible for a over half of traffic deaths and serious injuries as well as domestic violence. It is not called rot-gut for nothing as it rips up your stomach, not to mention the damage done to kidneys, liver, and intestines, to name a few organs. Replace the rot-gut in the shops selling it with regulated and TESTED weed under 25% THC. Price it under going street prices. Weed does not cause an known problems with the body outside of alergic rare allergic reactions. It also slows down most drivers. No, I do not know how it does this, perhaps by reducing competitive urges. The government saves billions in health care costs, gets rid of truly dangerous booze, and initiates the first step in common sense regulation. At the same time it leaves in place canibus shops that generate tax revenue and create jobs. Just some thoughts

Does the use of the income method after the first year also apply to a marriage visa? Does it make a difference if Bangkok Bank could issue a letter stating that I had five years of monthly payments from U.S. Social Security before my Thai wife and I went back to the states for 5 years to satisfy requirement for her to receive survivor's benefits?

I seriously doubt that the government and private companies pay the same salaries regardless of where they live or what the cost of living is in the area. It does not work that way in the U.S. The only hourly rate I know of for sure in our massage person who charges TB200/hour and comes to our home.