jeffandgop

39 minutes ago, Pib said:

Review the link given in post #22 of this thread....extensive IDD info and your questions answered in that post link. 

 

But to give you some semi-short answers, the currency rate used for IDD is determined by the US Treasury or a contractor bank the US Treasury uses for the IDD payment...the rate is determined several business days before the actual payment date.  The IDD rate used is not published anywhere but can be easily calculated by knowing how many USD "net" (i.e., after taxes, Medicare Part B, or other deductions) you are paid along with review of a Thai bank credit advice or the Thai bank SMS notice of the payment like how Bangkok Bank provides a free SMS notice of international transfers if you are signed up for their free SMS Remittance Alert.  

 

The only IDD fee is the Thai bank "Bahtnet" receiving fee which is typically Bt100 but could be higher if your acct is at an upcountry Thai bank (i.e., outside the metro Bangkok region). 

 

As with the Thai bank "ACH" receiving fee of 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) which is "not" reflected on your passbook or ibanking but is reflected in a credit advice or SMS notice, the Bahtnet receiving fee is also "not" reflected on your passbook or ibanking but is reflected in a credit advice or SMS notice. 

 

And here's some updated info to the link given in post #22 regarding IDD use, exchange rate, fees, etc.  The below chart shows info for the 3 Feb payment via IDD or ACH along with an "eight month" average of payment via IDD or ACH.   I have a family member receiving SSA pension via IDD since Jul 2019 so I've been tracking payment data like exchange rate, fees, etc.  But see the link in post #22 for more info.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pib- My bad....I read the post #22 but did not read the full linked post.....thanks for taking the time to still point the info already being on that linked post and your add info in your reply to me.....

Regards,

J

On 1/13/2020 at 5:51 PM, Pib said:

Two methods/payment systems now exist....a person can use either one.

 

1.  Your SS payment is paid via the ACH funds transfer system which uses ACH/ABA routing number such as the Bangkok Bank New York Branch routing number of 026008691 and then relayed to your in-Thailand Bangkok Bank restriction direct deposit account.  By restricted I mean you must physically visit a branch to withdraw/transfer money, no debit card, acct can only be in your name.  This payment method has been around for decades.

 

2.  Your SS payment is paid via IDD which uses the SWIFT system/codes.  This payment can go to any Thai bank, a regular Thai bank sayings acct with no restrictions, can have debit card, can be a single or joint owned acct.   IDD for Thailand went operational in mid 2019.

 

In re to the IDD payment method:

1.  What is the basis for the currency conversion rate the SSA uses to determine the baht amount the SSA is depositing into a Thai bank?

2. While the SSA may not be applying a fee to send your benefit to your Thai bank, aren't Thai banks assessing a fee to receive the deposit?  My experience with Bangkok Bank in the past when transferring money from my US bank to Bangkok Bank via SWIFT, a fee was assessed by Bangkok Bank- and no, this had nothing to do with the NY branch at that time...

Anybody using the IDD method have insight?

1 hour ago, cnxgary said:

I have recently received my Affidavit to Marry and today I used a Visa Agent to translate and remit to D.F.A for certification the cost B3000. During my time in the office I asked about doing my next 1 yr. extension. My visa is OA based on retirement and I have been doing extensions the last 10 yrs based on retirement. Knowing I must show insurance if I extend based on retirement the next time. I asked the agent this- Does a person need insurance when applying for a 1 yr. extension based on marriage from a original OA visa and she said Yes! Many posts on this forum have argued the exact opposite! Many posts about being successful changing to marriage. Who is correct?

Agent is WRONG. I went to IMM a month ago and went over with the officers what are the requirements to extend a permission to stay on the basis of marriage from an original O-A visa based on retirement. I posted on this topic the document IMM provided to me #11).  No insurance is required for extension of stay based on marriage for the O-A visa. 

Also I recommend AIT..I sent op a pm

PM sent

I’ve used Charlie and his team for years. Cleaning , repair, and when he observed that the original installers hadn’t grounded the compressor units, I had him do that as well. If it doesn’t need cleaning or service, he’ll tell you too. 

15 minutes ago, tomdfc said:

We were also asked for a "statement" when applying to extend our retirement/dependent permit to stay a few weeks back, using the 800k method.  We had a letter from the bank dated that day and a complete/correct pakage of hard copy backup..  The obervation that a statement would show nothing more than the pass book itself cut no ice with the immigration officer.  He actually "explained" it was because there was no transaction entry in the calendar month of November.  And so we were sent there and then to buy such a statement from the bank for 200 baht and waste what remained of the rest of the day while being repocessed.  Wonderful ......................

Was this for a Fix Deposit account?

7 hours ago, roo860 said:

Ok cheers, but I wanted to know if anyone has recently done the 800,000 deposit, and what's now required from the bank.

I have never had to supply printed statements when using an 800,000 fix account for my extension of retirement permission nor when the account was a savings account when I did that early on (later using the fix account). Just the bank book with copies of its pages and the bank letter. 

Coincidentally, I filed mine a few hours ago...I used 30B=$1USD as it was CLOSE ENOUGH...been doing this for years and never any objection by Treasury.....

5 hours ago, cnxgary said:

In JeffandJob"s post they mention in section 7 that IO requires a bank statement, updated bank book and a bank certificate. What is a bank certificate and how is that different from a bank letter?

I don’t know the answer to that. Best to check with Immigration.

50 minutes ago, racinkc1 said:

Do you withdrawal Us dollars or Thai Baht? If you exchanging the money directly into Thai Baht is there another fee for the currency exchange?

I declare my amount to withdraw in $$ and receive funds in baht. The exchange rate used is imposed by YOUR bank, which you'll see on your statement.  In my case, there is a "preliminary" exchange rate which is what decides your baht amount you receive and then in a few days a "settlement rate", and your bank uses that rate to ultimately decide what $$ amount to deduct from your account.  As an example, when I go into Bangkok Bank, I'll give them my debit card and ID, and tell them I want $100.  They run the card and hand me, say, 3000B.  The preliminary rate being applied at that moment is $1= 30B.  Now in a few days you look up your account and you might see $99 withdrawn- meaning your 3000B was received at an exchange rate of $1= 30.30B.  You will find that the exchange rate you ultimately pay is better than the published rate to exchange dollar currency into baht.

Now I need to correct what I said about fees.  Bangkok Bank does charge a small fee but it appears on your US bank statement and is not a fee deducted from the baht you receive.  In my case , my bank refunds the Bangkok Bank fee back into my account AND does not charge me a fee either.  CHECK with your bank to find out about fees, daily and monthly withdrawal limits, etc.

The answer is Yes.  I have a Bangkok Bank account and routinely withdraw from my US Bank savings account at the Bangkok Bank counter.  The amount you may withdraw via your Debit Card is subject to your US Bank's limit; so know what that daily limit may be.  There may be a fee imposed by your bank

Frankly I'm not sure that you even need a Thai bank account to go into Bangkok Bank and use this service.  Also there is no fee imposed by Bangkok Bank (there may be a fee imposed by your bank) when you do your withdrawal inside the bank at their teller window.  Also, don't withdraw from an ATM as you will pay n ATM fee; and the amount that you wish to withdraw is limited to the ATM machine's limit as well as your bank's limit.

Note I use the term "withdrawal" and not "transfer".  You're not moving funds from one bank to another; rather your removing funds from your US bank electronically and putting it in your pocket- just as if you were in the US at another bank.  

1 hour ago, steve187 said:

not really commonly referred to as “registration renewal“. unless you come from some countries

 

how would you get your name in a green book registered in surat thani, when you live in chang rai, without changing the bike to local plates

The real point here was to address the OP’s Q. I believe he was looking to know how many days in advance of when an annual fee is due could he make the payment. You want to say registration renewal is common to some countries or not, fine. 
 

As to your second para, contact your Transport Office. I was addressing that selling a vehicle does not absolutely require the new owner to change “registration” “when the vehicle...has a new owner” (If the new owner remained in the same province); and that anyone can take their own vehicle originally registered in province A and move to province B and not have to change the license plate nor any other registration information (as I have done). 

I read the OP question as being about the annual fee required to be paid for the renewal of the license plate assigned to the vehicle- commonly referred to as “registration renewal“. This payment is recorded in the applicable section of the car ownership book.  Payment of this annual fee also results in the Transport Office giving the payee a sticker to be affixed to the car windshield as evidence of payment.  Note that this sticker includes the identification of the license plate details assigned to the vehicle per the ownership book. Selling the vehicle to another party (which sale is required to be recorded in another section of the car ownership book), does not require any change in the license plate identification nor affects the vehicle’s current registration. Further, the new owner’s name is recorded in the same car ownership book and becomes the property of the new owner to continue to be used (as this is the vehicles historical record). (BTW, nor is it a mandatory requirement to obtain a new license plate from the Transport Office in a different province you might move to.)
Only by paying this annual license plate registration renewal fee (also referred to as “car tax”)- up to 90 days before the registration renewal is due- is the vehicle legal to operate on Thailand roads. 

The answer is you may renew your car registration up to 3 months before it is due

PM sent

1 hour ago, saengd said:

"Is there anyone in chiang mai who has O-A visa from the beginning. There after several retirement extension. Changed to spouse extension after 2019 10 31 and got it approved?"

 

As said in a separate thread: I have held an extension to an O-A visa based on retirement since 2005. An established CM agent confirmed this week that Immi. will allow me to change to an O visa extension based on marriage, without leaving the country and that is now work in progress. I guess this is possible because of the agents connections, I have no idea what would happen if I'd tried to do this directly, I imagine it would be disallowed. The cost is circa 15k, split between agent and Immi. fees, for that I will get a 30 days under review followed by one year.

Directly from the retiree applicant is the question here...not agent nor what people think would happen if the retiree applied.....

16 hours ago, JimGant said:

If you haven't already, check this related thread (this involves CM Immigration):

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1136904-getting-rid-of-non-o-a-specific-case/page/4/?tab=comments#comment-14829935

 

I can't find a single report by an individual who has applied at CM Immigration based on the specific criteria of the question in this thread.

8 hours ago, cnxgary said:

So by doing so by altering ones extension based on retirement to a extension based on marriage avoid insurance?

Yes

14 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

OP asked > Is there anyone in chiang mai who has O-A visa from the beginning. There after several retirement extension. Changed to spouse extension after 2019 10 31 and got it approved?

Imo there is no reason to limit the question to applications done after Oct 31.  On that day the new health-insurance requirement for Non Imm OA - retirement Visas became effective, but that should have no effect on how the conversion was done earlier and how it will be done now.

It is also not a change of Visa, but an application for extension of your stay based on the original OA Visa but for a different reason, i.e. marriage instead of retirement.

There IS a reason- the basis for the OP's Q and my elaboration- what have been ANY ACTUAL experiences after 31Oct this year when applying for an extension of stay based on marriage for those who have previously extended based on retirement..whether it should or should not have any effect IS NOT the question here

I see this as a 2-part question:

1.  On 1 November 2019 and onwards, has CMM IM accept an application for an extension of stay based on marriage from an applicant who had previously applied and received approvals of annual extensions of stay based on retirement (i.e., based on their OA Visa by which the applicant originally entered Thailand)?  

(Reports abound that retirees are being told by IO's that they must leave Thailand and return for (90 days) entry on the basis of an O Visa based on marriage and begin the process to apply for an extension of stay based on marriage if the retiree does not have the required health insurance)

2.  Then the second part of the question is did the CMM IMM approve the extension of stay based on marriage; or if not, why?

I noticed my pool water splashing around and asked my wife if she had felt any earthquake. Neither of us had felt the tremor which occurred just before 7am

21 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Depends where you are plus could play the 9 hole courses without caddy to save money but if you are planning to play proper 18 hole courses like Khoa Keow, Green Valley, Pattavia in Pattaya area 3 times a week expect 25k-40k a month, top end with cart, green fee, caddy fee, caddy tip, transport

 

For me in Pattaya golf is 10x the price of my course in UK

I’m a member at Maejo, which is a fine course used for professional tournaments. I play twice a week and walk the course. 
 

If I played 3x a week and “with cart, green fee, caddy fee, caddy tip” the cost per month would be less than 18,000 per month (inclusive of the membership cost amortized over 144 rounds per year). 
 

So if one plays semi-frequently a membership could reduce your overall cost. 

10 hours ago, CMBob said:

I keep the 800k in a dedicated account (term account...usually for 10-13 months per term) at Siam Commercial Bank and that passbook cannot be updated regardless of whether I or a bank teller sticks the passbook in the machine.  When I obtained the new-one year extension a few months back, I simply presented the bank letter and a copy of the passbook (which showed that the current term began in December of 2018) and there was no question or issue about any updating.

However, from what I gather from some posts, some people have claimed that they've been required to update the passbook the day of application and I believe that most or all of these involve people who have kept their 800k in a regular savings account that is able to be updated (and able to be altered by small deposit or withdrawal) on the day of application.  If posters have personal experience with this issue at CM Immigration (please don't post here about Nakorn Nowhere), please advise.

I'd also note that based on recent experiences of friends, you really don't need to get to Immigration early any more.  Some....even for annual extensions....have gone in the early afternoon and been out of there in less than an hour.  I arrived for my annual extension at 11:05 and was finished (including a new re-entry permit) at 12:25PM....not too shabby.  

Based on some reports, you might want to avoid going out there on the day before or after a Thai holiday (one where Immigration is closed) as the office could be very busy. 

When I renewed my extension of stay based on retirement in May earlier this year, I was told by the IO processing my extension that an update to my fixed deposit account passbook was not required- just the bank letter- as his rationale was that so long as the term of the deposit account had not expired, the account holder wouldn't be withdrawing any funds prior to application for the extension; the bank letter attesting to the minimum (or more) amount of 800K was sufficient.