Cardano

I should read AN topics more often? Please accept my humble apologises on behalf of myself and everyone else who failed to spend enough of our free-time trying to find your unique post in amongst all the garbage thats posted on here each and every day.

Typical response from you, always trying to portray that you know better than us lesser mortals. I have been doing this for 25 years and never before experienced anything like this.

Well she'll be forever hoping then.

Exactly right, there's no useful information at all for you! The post is for the attention of intelligent people.

If you deem my post as "useless to you" why do you keep commenting? and as for your condesending explanation of how to get a bank statement I would have expected better from a "global moderator"

Check all you want gamb00ler is 100% correct.

Whose "They" exactly?

I assume you have an issue with this? Do you expect the bank to do this forex for free? The bank is a business and needs to generate profit and it needs to pay Visa a commission. But when alls said and done if you withdrew 30,000 baht then the 250 baht fee is a measly 0.8%.

Skype Teams is designed for B2B video conferencing and calls using VOIP and both parties must have the software installed. It does not facilitate calls to landlines or mobile phones that don't have Teams installed. The best replacement I've found is MyTello which is integrates with your phone contacts list, is extremely cost effective (cheaper than the old skype) and call quality so far has been perfect. As a typical example of cost I called my bank in UK, call duration was 18min 31sec and cost was 6.7 baht.

Downloaded bank statements are provided by the banks head office and are fully locked and protected against any tampering attempts. The post wasn't put up thinking you would only find it useful if the immigration office was named. I have explained why I am not naming the office and if you cannot understand that reason then you're very naive.

Bank statements issued electronically by the bank always accepted before, and to be honest why are they even needed when your updated pass book is proof definite of your transaction history and balances.

it might be in their interests but sue as hell isn't in mine.

Ok first she wasn't making up any rules her boss confirmed to me these were all new requirements from head office and second there is a complaints procedure it is advertised in the immigration office but I'd hate to see the consequences if you tried it.

Due to the details given in my post it wouldn't be prudent to say which office for obvious reasons. As to your opinion regarding bank statements what is your reasoning behind this?

So after spending the prior 4 weeks prepping all my documents exactly in accordance with what I had supplied over the last several years the time for my annual extension based on marriage finally arrived last week, here's the sequence of events of the application day and subsequent events thereafter; 1. My bank now does real-time account updates and statements so first thing in the morning logged on to my bank app and transfered 20 baht in to my savings account then requested 3 month statement sent as email attachment, 5 minutes later received statement (showing 20 baht deposit and balance updated), printed out 2 copies. 2. Took bank book and passport to my bank and update the book, (again showing 20baht deposit and balance updated) then asked for the confirmation of funds letter. Bank takes copy of passport bio page, last entry stamp and last permission to stay stamp (3 A4 pages) I was then given 4 different forms (all in Thai) to sign, paid 100 baht and got my letter, all good except for the fact that it took a total of 7 A4 pages to result in 1 A4 letter. 3. Got home, made a coffee and proceeded to scan and print a copy of the letter and copies of bank book bio page and the pages showing the last 4 months of transactions, happy that everything was in order we set off for immigration. 4. Got my queue ticket and within 5 minutes my number was called, great I thought, be back home inside an hour, boy was I wrong! 5. So did the grovelling smiling wai routine and hand over my passport and paperwork, immigration lady starts going through the documents saying ok, ok, then she stops at the copies of the wifes house book and says "need another copy" to which I reply there's 2 copies included, to which she replies "need 3 copies now, new rule". I informed her that I will go home and get another copy. 6. As I am about to get up and rush home she says "just a moment" and pulls my bank statement document, confers with another person and says "no good cannot accept, no stamp". I explain that it has been good enough for every other year and also as you can see it aligns perfectly with the bank book and the balance aligns with the bank letter. To which she responds " you must go bank and get statement with stamp also I want copy of every page of bank book. I said bank book goes back to 2021 why do you need a copy of every page, to which she replies "new rule". At this point I lost the plot but managed to politely tell her how bureaucratically inane and archaic their system is, to which she resonds "it's no different to anywhere else and if you not happy can leave", I then realised these people live in their own little bubble and that it's completely pointless trying to reason with them. 7. So I collect all my documents, drive like a lunatic to get to the bank before it closes, send the wife home to get the house book and bring it back to the bank. After another 7 pages of A4 paper and 100 baht I get a stamped single A4 statement (which is identical to the one sent by email). When they ask for another 100 baht to photocopy the statement and the house book I have to threaten to close all our accounts before they agree to do it gratis. 8. So back at immigration with my new queue ticket and its packed, however the immigration lady sees me and asks for my ticket number and tells me she'll see me next. So after waiting 45 minutes I'm sat infront of her again and she ok's the bank stuff and house book 3rd copy, at which point I breathe a heavy sigh of relief only to be completely slapped down again when she pulls the STM2 and STM9 forms and says "no good, old form, you do new form" so she gives me the new versions and at the same time gives me forms STM10 and STM11 and proceeded to inform me these are new requirement. I responded by asking her how are people supposed to know about updated forms and new forms and new requirements to which she responds "website" I informed her that the official immigration website does not mention any of this as a document requirement, she responded "you go local immigration website". (when I got home I did and guess what! there's absolutely nothing there in respect to extensions based on marriage or retirement). 9. So any way the STM11 form is a consent form to where you allow immigration to carry out any investigation it deems necessary in to your personal affairs and the STM10 form is a legal afidavit to be completed by your Thai spouse stating the reasons why you should be granted an extension of stay. 10. After completing all these additional requirements she finally said ok all good now and took my 1900 baht. So what I thought was going to be a quick visit ended up taking over 3.5 hrs. 11. As expected a few days later the wife gets a call to arrange the immigration police visit and instuction to have a witness in attendance. I thought here we go again repeating the exact same thing we've done year after year after year. So he arrives as arranged and we do the rinse and repeat, he talks to the witness and takes his usual 4 photo's (which are the same as the photo's I submit with my application except the witness is included). He then says to me "now I want photo's just you and me" I though ok this is another new one as he proceeded to take an extra 6 photo's. I thought ok well at least it's over and done now. Wrong again! 12. The following day I get a phone call from the lady at immigration who handled my application and when she explained what she wanted I had to really count to 10 otherwise I would have had a dicky fit and said something I shouldn't. She explained that it is now a new requirement that applicants provide copies of all previous passport pages starting with the page where the original Non-O visa is placed and every consecutive passport page thereafter. I explained that my last Non-O visa was issued in 2013 and that that passport had expired and replaced with a new passport in 2020 with all stamps transferred. I also told her that I wasn't sure if I had already destroyed the passport as instructed by the UK passport office. Her response was " if you have destroyed it you must file a lost or stolen report with the police or if you still have it then you must provide copies of each page from and including the visa page". I responded by saying if I destroyed an expired passport how can I claim it lost or stolen that would be making a fraudulent claim, her response was "you must follow immigration procedure". I ended the call saying I will either find it and copy the pages you want or I will go to the police and explain the situation and tell them what you have asked me to do, I then hung up before she could respond. 13. I was able to locate said passport, duly copied and signed all 41 relevant pages and delivered them to immigration the next day. However I was totally astonished with the manner of the immigration lady, she was apologetic and thankful for all I had done and quietly said "you are right the paperwork required really is too much, maybe next time use an agent". I was so gobsmacked I just walked out. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions!

Exactly the bank letter is purely confirmation of funds in the account at the time and date the letter is issued. It has no relevance to how long funds ahve been in the account,

There are no VPN providers specific to Hua Hin, it is a web based service. Sign up and pay a monthly subscription to ExpressVPN, NordVPN, SurfShark etc., and you'll be fine.

and another fake news poster......the popcorn lung myth was debunked years ago. Do some actual research before posting drivel.

I have news for you........some people don't fact check they just believe everything they read and then post it on forums thinking everybody else will believe it as well.

and pay the requisite fees

Utter rubbish

What it should say is that the number of working age people learning how to scam the system and claim PIP has risen to 23% from 18% 10 years ago. My waste of space SIL is now claiming PIP for agrophobia although he works as a part-time shop fitter and cannabis dealer, YCMTSU!

FBMP is a total sham it is completely unregulated and full of scammers, resellers and time wasters. Yes you may get lucky and sell your goods but for every genuine interested enquiry you'll get 20 idiots wasting your time or even some Thai No Mark copying your Ad and photo's and reposting with a 10% mark-up.

and at the same time get inundated with 100's of hoax messages and "add me to your line" requests, use FBMP at your peril.

Probably because most people aren't stupid, even the majority of those who drink alcohol.