whophant

Thanks so much to both of you - @Upnotover & @DrJack54. This is exactly the information I needed, and I feel a lot more clear and less concerned. If anybody can recommend a cheap guest house that they know will definitely file a TM30, and can provide it to our pet-sitter - and maybe one close to CM immigration - that would be wonderful. Thanks again!

Hi all, I have a bit of a concern, and would love to get some clarification from all of the experts in the room. ???? My wife and I are leaving Thailand for a vacation, and are having a British tourist come to our house for those 28 days to watch our darling little cat. My concern / question is about our pet-sitter's visa - he has just been to Thailand, and got the "new normal" 45 day visa on arrival, and then left the country without needing to get an extension. Now he will arrive in a couple of weeks for his second visit - about a month after his first visit - and this time will apparently get only 30 days, and so will need to get his extension (from Chiang Mai immigration, BTW). Since he's not done any extensions in the past, I assume he will have no problem getting a 30 day extension this time, and I believe he can do it pretty much as soon as he's registered in a guest house in Chiang Mai. He has been researching, though, and the articles he's read seem to indicate that he will need to get a TM30 and bring it to the immigration office in order to obtain his extension. So my question (finally!) is, is this the actual case? Will he need to obtain and bring a TM30 to get his 30 day extension? If so, can he just get that TM30 from the guest house - a copy of it, at least? I have been on a retirement visa for so long now that I don't know the current rules, but I don't remember ever having to provide a TM30 for an extension, and google searches sure do lead to a wildly unclear and contradictory set of "facts"! So please if somebody has the real story on the most recent requirements I would be so very appreciative - it's late in the game, and our vacation kind of depends on it... Thanks a million - this is a fantastic and valuable forum!

Fantastic, thanks to all of you for this very helpful information! I guess one more question would be, does anybody know how long the bank letter is actually valid for? I googled it, but get only "1 year" and "90 days" as answers... Thinking out loud, if it really is only valid for two or three days, it makes no sense to get, or even order, the letter tomorrow, since I will not apply for my extension until April 24 - still 3 weeks off. And since I want to get to Immigration as early as possible, and live 2 hours north of Chiang Mai (in wonderfully empty Phrao), I should probably come in the day before, get the letter and spend the night? Again, thanks to everybody - this is an unusually kind forum!

Good morning all, I should have posted this in the immigration section, but this site doesn't let me select any immigration topics to post under - they're all grayed out, perhaps because I just signed up today... I would wait, but I am visiting Chiang Mai tomorrow and I need to go to a Bangkok Bank branch to inquire about the account statement / letter I will need for my retirement visa extension in a couple of weeks. My question is, can anybody recommend the best Bangkok Bank branch for doing this? I went to one last year - I don't want to say which - and though they spoke excellent English they had no idea what I wanted or needed. I realize this is all on me - that is, if I had better Thai, or even a more clear idea exactly what to ask for from the bank, it would be a lot easier for everybody. But I don't, and I haven't, and I would love to find a Bangkok Bank branch that has experience with this and will know what I need - I believe it is a letter saying I have an account, and proof of at least 800,000 baht for (to be safe) at least one year. So, please, I would greatly appreciate any recommendations. Thanks very much in advance!