onera1961

I got hammered here on TV for paying 15K plus I believe 1900 to have mine done. Had to go to BKK first time to get income Doc. Don't remember any certification on the back. Gave my lady income doc, lease, pp and two photos. Picked up my extension I recall a few days later. Now I just renewed last month, took ten minutes of my time plus I can call her anytime if I have a question or problem. Bargain for me because I have no patience with that crap, I just want it done. I have residency in both Brazil and Costa Rica and each cost me thousands and years to complete. Here it basically took one trip to BKK and if my funds had been seasoned it would have taken less than an hour on my part. It is good though that you got the experience!

That swung it - I had a search and found an agent for much much less than the taxi fare in the end. Am going the agent route.

18 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

you have to get the deposit verification amounts from your Bangkok Bank here in Thailand in the actual US cents not baht

Agreed. But CIti and ally both the bank sent me emails that Bangkok bank rejected trial verification deposit. 

I tired to initiate a deposit verification (for interbank ACH transfer) from my US Ally bank and citi bank account to Bangkok Bank savings account. Ally bank and citi bank both informed me they Bangkok bank rejected deposit verification. I used the routing number Bangkok bank new York number 026008691 and my savings account number. What could be going wrong? 

On 5/25/2018 at 12:04 AM, Rob4 said:

We have:

1. proof of a lot of money in her account

2. proof of work for her in vietnam

3. hotels

4. flights tickets go and back

Go to a local travel agent and he will sort out the visa issues for you Vietnamese friend. You should not have any issue getting a TV to Thailand that you can extend for an additional 30 days.

On 5/16/2018 at 10:39 PM, JRUSA said:

Mr. Joe..I was thinking or moving my direct deposit of my pension directly to Bangkok bank. If I use the NY office will it still have to be transformed to my branch in Pattaya or just go directly in my account.

It will directly go to your direct deposit account. Direct deposit account has certain restrictions, e.g. only teller withdrawal. However, you can open a second account that is not direct deposit account. And set up recurring online transfer from direct deposit account to normal savings account for ATM withdrawals. 

A good strategy is to transfer a set amount every month from an oversees bank to a Thai bank in case they every ask you for your bank book.  For US bank, it can even be automated through Bangko bans using ACH. (not sure about other countries). This is good for expense control and a safe guard against the vagaries of Thai immigration's demand

10 hours ago, Pilotman said:

I am here on a Non Immigrant O visa on marriage to a Thai National.  I want to get an extension of stay based on retirement.  I have the Embassy letter proof of income and I'm clear about the rest of the documentation needed, but  I do not have a Thai bank account.  I just use money from the ATM when I need it.  Is this a show stopper on getting the extension?  

As many posters have posted it depends on the Immigration office. Using an ATM to draw money from an oversees bank for daily expenses for a long period of time is a very expensive proposition. My strategy is to move $2500 every month from US banks to Bangkok bank and use the money for daily expenses when I am inside Thailand. It gives me more control over my expenses (kind of my expense limits and budgeting) and provides a safe guard in case immigration ever asks to check my bank account even though I will be using embassy income letter for extension in the future. I'm on a Non O-A long stay visa now.

I think IO's assumption is anybody living in Thailand on Tourist visa for long time is either working illegally, engaged in criminal activities, or panhandling. Could they be wrong? OK, you may be stock trading and a great stock trader in the World. Why don't you work a few months in Wall street, save up enough money and get an Elite Visa?

2 hours ago, elviajero said:

Maybe a sack of rice and a tent would also satisfy this?

It just cracked me up. How about panhandling?

1 minute ago, moe666 said:

Someone I knew here in Chiang Mai had a small restaruant and she went to labor department and told them give my husband a work permit I need his help and they gave it to him

Good. I think if somebody is married he should have wok permit. Deporting married people on the flimsy excuse of illegally working in their own establishment is very uncivilized.

2 hours ago, OmegaRacer said:

Then stopped and Immigration just changed the reason for the visa to 'marriage'. 

I think this is the classic confusion we see again an again about visa and extension fo stay,

Your extension of staying was changed to marriage. It used to be business with work permit.

I think a good test is to ask yourself if you can you enter Thailand without a reentry permit? If not, you don't have any visa. You just have an extension to stay in Thailand. If you can enter, it means you multiple entry visa that us still valid or it has not expired yet.

It is a global phenomenon. Europe is global hub of child pornography and has recently replaced North America.

27 minutes ago, sbaker8688 said:

If my visa expires while I'm in Thailand, I have to leave the country.

Absolutely not true. May be that is the confusion you have. I am not sure anywhere in the world, you have to leave the country if visa expires while you're inside the country. You have to leave the country when your permission to stay will expire. May be the confusion comes because people are yet to grasp the concept of visa expiration date and permission to stay date.

Take a simple example of US visa that are frequently valid for 10 years multiple entries (expiration date 10 years from the date of issue). However, each time you enter the US, you will be stamped how long you can stay in the US. Even if the visa is still valid, you have to leave the US on or before your permission to stay date.

Similarly, when you Enter Thailand before the visa expiration date, your visa may expire when you're inside the country but you are able to stay in Thailand based on your permission to stay date (not visa expiration date).

Again, visa expiration date and permission to stay date are different. The date may be the same for some countries. But the concepts are always different for every country

7 minutes ago, sbaker8688 said:

Then you are refuting what was said by those who chimed-in before you.

UK/Shenzhen Visas say From date Until date. May be they copied wordings from them. They should have copied American visa which says expiration date. Still I don't find any confusion in the wordings. All are the same.

4 minutes ago, sbaker8688 said:

Valid-from / valid-until doesn't tell you exactly what the thing is that is valid.  It's ambiguous.

Yes, it is the visa that is valid until date xxxxx. That means you can present yourself to an IO and seek permission to enter the country on or before date xxxxx. Still can't comprehend where is the confusion. All visas throughout the world count down right away, and you are losing time every day you aren't in using the visa to enter the country. How about expiration date? Is it less confusing? That's what US visas use. Not sure about UK and Shenzhen visas

If you're world traveler or travel to multiple countries every year, Google's Fi is a good option. $10/Gig of data through out the world and $20 for unlimited calls inside US. And anybody in the US can reach your US number (for voice and SMS) no matter where you are in the World.

4 hours ago, sbaker8688 said:

Because it is ambiguous.  The go-to interpretation for most people I know (including me) was that "valid from-until" pertained to the validity of the VISA ITSELF, i.e. the VISA ITSELF was valid from whenever to whenever.  Since it always pays to be pessimistic rather than optimistic, that was also the more pessimistic interpretation.

Not sure what is the confusion about Valid From (a date) and Valid Until (a date) unless someone has nor grasped the meaning of a visa. All visas have a Valid Until date. They may call it expiration date (like in a US visa) or Enter before date. Whatever they call it (expiration date, valid until or enter before), you must present yourself to an IO at the port of entry to seek permission to enter the country on or before that date.

On 5/8/2018 at 11:31 PM, webfact said:

hell money

What's is hell money?

On 5/8/2018 at 8:23 PM, Peterw42 said:

I am more concerned about the high number of posters who claim they work for the Thai police. 

ha ha

3 hours ago, burner2014 said:

fresh bank statement.

I have a Bangkok Bank account. How do I get a Bangkok statement? Do they send to my home address?

Is there an app like that?

Sent from my BND-L34 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

2 hours ago, sbaker8688 said:

So what exactly is the valid from-until?  Is it sort of like the enter-before?

I wonder why so much confusion for a simple concept. A visa is a document to seek permission to enter a country at a port of entry. In the above example, Valid UNTIL is 23 Feb 2018. That means you can go to any Thailand's port entry on or before 23 Feb 2018 and seek permission to enter the country . After 23 Feb 2018, you cant use the visa to seek permission to enter the country.

The second part is permission to stay in a country until a specified number of days or a date. This information is stamped in the passport. For Thailand with a tourist visa, it is 60-days. So, if you present your visa on 23 Feb 2018 at a Thai port of entry, you will be allowed to stay in Thailand till 22 April 2018.

Elite visa is the only hassle free option for people under 50 to stay for long time.