RoninTech

On 2/16/2024 at 10:16 AM, Jimi007 said:

The income has to be from a pension. I do believe a Government pension. My income is mainly from my several rental properties. I have been doing retirement visas since 2006 and it was easy to do. Get a letter from my consulate. When the USA, Canada, UK and Australia said they don’t certify anything pretty much, Thailand said we are not going to allow you to use the affidavit from your Embassy/consulate any longer.

To any Canadians that read this, Canada did not stop issuing affidavits of income like the US, UK and Australia did a few years ago. After making an appointment, simply show up to your local embassy/consulate with your Revenue Canada proof of income statement downloaded from their website for free.  It can be any income, not just "from a pension".  This info is based on experiences at the Canadian consulate in Chiang Mai and the Chiang Mai immigration office where my Canadian wife and I both apply for annual Non-O extensions based on retirement (me) and trailing spouse (missus).  Since my wife is a trailing spouse, only I have to show statement of income while she shows marriage license, also confirmed by consulate/embassy.  Easy peasy and no need to transfer large sums of money into Thailand that you don't want to.  I'm pretty sure other countries also allow this, but definitely not US, UK and Australia.

On 5/30/2023 at 11:26 AM, tariikjamiil said:

I know this is probably not the exact issue. I can find a slot. but i'm not getting the OTP to verify, no matter what number i use, i tried mine, my friends and so many others, same.

 

anyone else faced that same issue?

No luck with either my Canadian VOIP number or my current Australian SIM.  Trying to make a visa appointment for when I arrive there in 10 days .  Even though it lets you enter numbers from all over the world, maybe it requires a Malaysian number to work? 

Awesome, thanks Joe.

We got lucky and they accepted our on line check in, even though I have no idea about the village number and so didn't provide it.  Took a screen shot and will always use the same values for future 90 day check ins.  Thanks all!

For the record, here is what I entered for the non-pull down fields based on my address above:

Building Name/Owner Name: The S Condo Unit 519

Address No.: 5

Soi/Road: Siri Mangkalajarn Rd Lane 1

29 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

The the first 5 is village number and the 2nd one is the number assigned to the condo building.

How did you determine that my village number was 5?

Apologies for the questions.  I'm trying to get enough info to where I can figure out the correct address myself no matter what building I live in.  Might help future searchers as well.  ????

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

 

Not an error. Normally they are written as 5/5 for village number and then house or building number for example. Mine has 3 digit numbers for village and house number (xxx/xxx).

Ok, so in my case where does the second 5 come from?  Did you just duplicate the road number?

Thanks Joe,

The field doesn't accept the '#' character so I used: The S Condo Unit 519.

For the Address no. did you mean "5" and not "5 5"?  I'm guessing the second 5 was a typo?

Hi,

Looking for some input from someone who lives in a condo and has successfully filled out an online 90 day report.

Trying to fill out my first 90 day online report.  I live in a condo building and some of the address fields aren't obvious to me.  My address is:

#519 The S Condo

5 Siri Mangkalajarn Rd Lane 1

Tambon Su Thep, Mueang Chiang Mai District

50200, Thailand

The available fields are:

Building Name/Owner Name:

Address No.:

Soi/Road:

State/Province:

City/Amphur:

District/Tambon:

So,

Building Name: The S Condo

Address No.: ???

Soi/Road: ???

State/Province: Chiang Mai

City/Amphur: Mueang Chiang Mai

District/Tambon: Suthep

Any idea what I need to use for "Address No." and "Soi/Road" based on my condo address above?  I'm assuming they do want to know my room # in the building but no idea where it should go.

Thanks!

3 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

First, top up your account to say 500 baht. Use 10 baht top ups at a machine to increase expiry to 365 days.

 

Enable international roaming.  https://www.ais.th/roaming/en/register.html

 

Consider WiFi Calling.  https://www.ais.th/4g/vowifi/en/

 

No need for a package, unless you want one. Simply turn on your phone, get a signal (or use WiFi calling), then request an SMS OTP, it should come through. 

 

According to AIS's info:  https://www.ais.th/roaming/en/package.html

 

Receiving SMS while abroad is Free of Charge.

 

Sending an SMS from the U.S. to thl would be 9.63 baht.

Brilliant, thanks @mtls2005!  I've done all this except for WiFi calling which AIS doesn't support on my phone (Pixel 1).  That's really cool that OTP SMS's come through for free.

I am with Bangkok Bank and have an AIS pay as you go SIM (300THB for unlimited data for 30 days at 20Mbps).  After doing a few 20THB top-ups the SIM is good until December and the BB app and internet banking is setup and working great in Thailand.  I need to go back to Canada for the summer and may need to access my Bangkok bank account.  Both internet banking and mobile app banking end up sending an SMS to my Thai number for information and in some OTP cases, verification.

How are people getting SMS's sent to their Thai SIM while in another country?  Are you paying for expensive roaming packages or does it just work if you have the Thai SIM in your phone?

Thanks for any info.

We just finished our first extensions.  Made online appointments yesterday for the Canadian consulate in Chiang Mai and the immigration office.  At the consulate I showed my Canadian Tax return with total income being above 65K THB x 12.  Also showed our original marriage certificate.  1250 THB and 20 mins later we had 2 stamped affidavits of income/marriage.  When we first sat down at the consulate I showed our bank and investment statements.  The lady would not accept these as they don't show 64K THB/month "income" no matter how big the balance is.  Fortunately I had my annual tax return showing total annual income which she did accept.

We took these affidavits to the immigration office along with TM7 stating "retirement"  for me and "spouse" for wife, TM30 plus a copy, passport pages, 1 passport photo each, TM47, copy of TM6, copy of marriage license and 2 x 1900THB.  Arrived at 1pm and left at 2pm including 20 mins getting our TM30s.  No under consideration, and other than 90 day reports we are good until 45 days before January 7, 2023 when we will repeat the process.  As we were basking in the glow of successful extensions we forgot to ask about getting a single re-entry permit for 1000 THB so will go back for that to avoid extra hassle on departure from Bangkok.

Very happy to avoid having to move 800K x 2 here so if your embassy/consulate still gives out these affidavits I'd highly recommend looking into it.

21 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Is there not a certain limit? I notice smaller CC deductions are not flagged to me, I believe under 1000baht (Bangkok Bank). These sneaky multiple small deductions might well go unnoticed. 

I just opened a Bangkok Bank account yesterday and I am receiving SMS messages for all transactions.  For example a 10 baht tip on Grab.  Had to pay 30THB per month for the feature though and they told me no option to receive emails instead.  Maybe if you don't pay you only get notifications on larger amounts?

Found it.

9 minutes ago, Bruno123 said:

Old promo. 

 

New promo offers 4 Mbps for 150, 10 Mbps for 200 and 20 Mbps for 300.

 

 

Cheers Bruno.  Don't suppose you have an image of the new deal that I could show when I go the store?

Are packages like this still available from AIS?  Just about get out of ASQ and there's an AIS store around the corner.

Thought I'd post an update for future searchers of this topic.  We both applied for Non-Immigrant O (over 50) visas from Canada via the thaievisa.go.th website.  We simply uploaded our last 3 months of bank and investment statements.  No guarantee letter and/or signed/stamped statements were required by the Thai consulate in Vancouver.  We called to confirm this before we applied.  We now have our Non-Immigrant O visas.  We also spoke with the Canadian consulate in Chiang Mai who confirmed that they will supply an affidavit letter of income for my 1 year extension and we will have our original Marriage Certificate so wife can get an extension based on being my dependent.  So no 800K transfers to Thai bank required.  Thanks again for all the advice!

19 minutes ago, BritTim said:

It is plausible that you can only get a Non O-A from the embassy in Ottawa, but able to get a Non O from the consulate (it is not an embassy) in Vancouver. The reason for this is that the consulate is not empowered to issue the long stay Non O-A visa. Thus, they are able to offer the Non O instead.

That makes sense.  Any thoughts on the consulate person saying there is no "trailing spouse" reason for a Non Immigrant O visa and that we should both just specify the reason as "retirement"?

Trying to come into Thailand on a Non-Immigrant O retirement visa for me with my Canadian wife on a Non-Immigrant O trailing spouse.  Thanks to the info in another thread, we definitely prefer O vs OA as we would not need criminal and medical checks and the insurance requirements are lower.  Other advantage of O vs OA is only I would need proof of income with her as a trailing spouse. 

We are getting conflicting info from our embassy in Ottawa and consulate in Vancouver.  Embassy says no Non-Immigrant O for us, only Non-Immigrant O-A.  Consulate says we can both apply for Non-Immigrant O via the new thaievisa.go.th website but there is no "trailing spouse" and we should both give "retirement" as the reason.

Would love to hear if anyone has gone through something similar and managed to get wife in on an Non-immigrant O trailing spouse visa.  Thanks!

3 minutes ago, BritTim said:

However, it is not surprising that those who are extremely risk averse would plan to do things strictly by the book. Using an agent is very low risk, but it is not zero risk.

Just to be clear, doing it by the book will save us a couple of grand Canadian a year over WhiteBuffalo's suggestion in exchange for some of our time, which we have lots of.  ???? 

11 minutes ago, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

What a Performance. 

 

It doesn't actually seem that big of a deal to us, especially if we can use the Canadian embassy for an income affidavit.  To each their own.

11 hours ago, skatewash said:

Suggestions to consider:

1.  Since you are Canadians and your Embassy will issue you an income verification letter (something that US, UK, and Australian citizens can no longer get) I would definitely go that route.  There are basically two routes to meeting the financial requirements of a retirement extension of stay:  the lump-sum method and the income method.  The lump-sum method is parking 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account for a year subject to various minimum balance requirements throughout the year.  The income method is where you demonstrate to your embassy's satisfaction that you have at least 65,000 baht income per month.  The Canadian Embassy issues you a letter to that effect and you use that letter to satisfy the financial requirements for a retirement extension.  The advantages are probably obvious, you don't have to bring the money into Thailand or keep a large sum of money in Thailand.  What money you bring into Thailand and keep in Thailand is entirely up to you and not dictated by immigration requirements.  No one who can easily meet the income method would want to use the lump-sum method, in my opinion.

2.  I believe you do want to acquire Non-O visas for purpose of retirement in Canada because when in Thailand you would then be able to use one of you (doesn't particularly matter which one) can be the primary applicant (who needs to meet the financial requirements) and one of you can be the dependent applicant (who doesn't need to meet the financial requirements).  This way you don't need two 65,000 baht/month income streams but only one.  (The same argument would apply to the lump sum method.)  The reason you want to do this from Canada rather than inside Thailand is that inside Thailand they won't allow one to apply for a Non-O for purpose of being a dependent upon another's Non-O visa, whilst in Canada that should be possible.

3.  Were you to choose the lump sum method the money would need to be in an account in one person's name only.  The reason is that immigration dislikes having more than the applicant's name on an account for the lump-sum method and even if your office would accept that they would very likely want to see twice the amount of the minimum balance, 1,600,000 baht rather than just 800,000.

4.  Proceeding under the income method would mean that each year you would need to procure from the Canadian Embassy (or perhaps from the Consulate in Chiang Mai) a income verification letter proving you have 65,000 baht or more of income per month.  Don't know what the Canadian Embassy charges for this letter but for comparison purposes the US Embassy charged $50 USD per letter.  Remember you would only need one letter for the primary applicant.  The dependent doesn't need an income letter only evidence of the relationship to the primary.

Awesome info again skatewash.  Here is what I *think* we should do.  ????  Please point out any issues or improvements if you see a weakness with the strategy:

From Canada, I apply for a Non-O based on retirement and my wife applies for a Non-O based on being a trailing spouse.  We would not need to open up a Thai bank account for this.  Just prove that we have access to Canadian equivalent of 800K or 65K THB/month.  This will give each of us 90 days in Thailand.

Once we arrive in Chiang Mai after getting out of ASQ in BKK, we start the process of opening a Thai Bank account. 

Worst case scenario: After we open the Thai bank account, use Wise to move 800K plus living expense $ into it.  After the 800K THB has been in the account for 2 months, I apply for a 1 year extension based on retirement providing the bank account info to immigration.  At the same time my wife applies for a 1 year extension based on being my trailing spouse using our Canadian marriage certificate.  Do they need the original marriage certificate?

Best case scenario: After we open the Thai bank account, use Wise to move living expense $ into it.  Using my T4 (Canadian tax statement) contact the Canadian Embassy in BKK (assume have to physically go there?) or maybe the Canadian Consulate in Chiang Mai to get an affidavit of income for myself.  I use the affidavit of income letter to apply for a 1 year extension based on retirement and my wife applies for a 1 year extension based on being my trailing spouse with our Canadian marriage certificate.

Every year we either get a new affidavit of income letter from Canadian embassy or make sure 800K is on our Thai bank account and then I re-apply for 1 year extension based on retirement and wife re-applies for 1 year extension based on being my trailing spouse (again with our Canadian marriage certificate).

If we were both to come in on either visa exempt or a tourist visa, wife would not be able to use the trailing spouse technique and we would both have to show 800K in a Thai bank account or get 2 affidavits of income from the Canadian embassy.

How does that sound? ????

OK, I think we are slowly getting there. ????

15 hours ago, Salerno said:

Arrive visa exempt: currently gives you 45 days, open bank account and deposit 800K once you've finished quarantine/sandbox if still applicable, hassles opening bank account, get an agent to help if needed.

Show up on a visa exempt which is currently 45 days but *may* drop to 30 days on Oct. 1st.  Either way, it can be extended for 30 days if necessary.  As soon as we are out of ASQ and in Chiang Mai, open up a bank account.  Use an agent to do this if pounding the pavement and knocking on doors doesn't work.

15 hours ago, Salerno said:

Apply for Non-O: Costs 2000 Bht - need 15 days left on your stay which is tight but doable (get 30 day extension on your visa exempt for 1900 Bht if necessary). The 800K has to be in bank the day you apply. Gives you 90 days.

Good to know about the the rule requiring 15 days left on your current visa to apply for a Non-O.  Is that just because they don't issue them same day and they need that time to prepare the new Visa?  Definitely need to make sure Wise would have finished the transfer into our new Thai account before showing up at immigration to apply for the Non-O.  This approach would require each of us to show 800K right?  We have a joint bank account in Canada, is it acceptable for us to have a joint Thai account containing 1600K or would we each need our own Thai account with 800K in it?

15 hours ago, Salerno said:

Apply for extension of stay: Costs 1900 Bht. Money has to be in the bank for 2 months at this point. Extension gives you 12 months and you then renew the extension annually (1900 Bht). Get a reentry permit at the same time (1000 Bht for single, 3800 Bht for multiple) so you can come and go as you please or pick one up at the airport on the way out.

So apply for an extension based on retirement as soon as the money has been in the Thai account for 60 days.  Is the extension still considered a Non-O?  I really need to wrap my head around the timeline of all this so it lines up with when we would like to be entering and leaving Thailand.

16 hours ago, Salerno said:

From then on, no more hassles getting visas etc. you just have to coordinate your travels so you are in Thailand when the renewal is due.

Worth the effort to get us to this point!  Are you saying that Mrs RoninTech should get the Non-O and extension and I should slide in as her spouse because women statistically live longer than men?  I'll have to make sure I don't <deleted> her off then.  ???? 

I just read that they will not issue an in country 90 day Non-O visa for the reason of being a spouse of someone on a retirement visa. Which jives with:

16 hours ago, Lite Beer said:

Yes your wife can apply as your Wife with nothing in the bank needed but she would need to apply for the Non Imm O Visa outside of Thailand.

To avoid both of us having to independently show the 800K in a Thai bank account, would it make more sense to apply for the Non-O based on retirement from Canada?  It's $50 more expensive for the Non-o from Canada but if it means we can keep 800K working for us in Canada vs. stuck making nothing in a Thai account then that would be preferable.  

8 hours ago, Tony125 said:

You are Canadian so can get an income afadavit at the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok. No need to transfer money into Thailand but still should open a Thai bank account while here and have online banking with Canada bank so can transfer funds here.

Very interesting.  Haven't read that anywhere but awesome if true.  Is this documented online anywhere?  Would a current statement from our investment account be sufficient to give the Canadian embassy to get this affidavit?  Also, does the Canadian consulate in Chiang Mai also provide these affidavits?

6 hours ago, skatewash said:

This is to say that you should give some thought to when you apply for your first extension of stay because you will need to apply for the same extension of stay at the same time (or up to 45 days before) every year thereafter.  Pick a date that you are reasonably certain to be in Thailand each year.  This will make it more convenient to maintain your annual extensions of stay year after year.

Thanks skatewash, will definitely put some thought into the timeline of all of this so that it matches up with what we need to do.

Thanks to everyone who has chipped in on this!  When we started yesterday it was overwhelming but with all of your help, a way forward seems to be coalescing out of that chaos.  ???? 

25 minutes ago, Salerno said:

That said, here's the info from the Vancouver Consulate re the Non-O (retirement). If you entered on that visa you could go down the 800K in a Thai bank to get the ongoing extension of stay.

Thank you so much for steering us in the "wisest" direction Salerno and others.  Until now we have always used this Vancouver consulate.  When we browsed there today they now have this on the front page, pointing Canadians to the new thaievisa.go.th page that I have been quoting above in this thread.

So we just used that link to the Thai gov page instead of using the links below this image.  I completely agree that the Non O looks easier to setup for the 90 days based on the PDF you linked to.

15 minutes ago, Salerno said:

Again though, if intending to go the extension of stay route, IMO easier to just rock up visa exempt. It adds an extra step (applying for the Non-O in Thailand) but you don't have the hassle in Canada (getting bank statements for the visa, and getting the actual visa @ $130 - cheaper in Thailand).

We will likely be in Chiang Mai after we get out of ASQ and have no issue going to the Airport Immigration office there.  It has been good to us in the past for sure.  Is a Non immigration O visa extension a no brainer?  If so that would give us 30 + 30 on an exempt then 90 days on the O and another 90 on the O extension which would work great for hopefully minimal effort.  How much is a Non O and it's extension when you are in Thailand?

1 hour ago, ourdon said:

Not made up.  It should be on bank letterhead.  I also do send a copy of one of my accounts that has more value in it than Thailand requires

Well that sucks.  We asked Tangerine "Do you provide guarantee letters for account holders and how do we get one?".  They replied: "Thanks for reaching out.  Unfortunately this is not a letter that Tangerine is able to provide clients".

May I ask what Canadian bank you were able to get one through?

1 hour ago, Swiss1960 said:

What you need to do is apply for the Non-Imm-O Visa on the base of "retirement". That is how I entered the country once I was ready to retire.

1 hour ago, Salerno said:

You can get a Non-O for reason of retirement and then get an annual 12 month extension of stay based on that visa.

It is so hard to find the applicable info on the official website.  There is no mention of "retirement" on their Non immigrant O visa page.  Under requirements it also states: "4. Proof of relationship to a family in Thailand." which is what I meant above when I said that I thought the Non Immigrant O visa required a Thai persons involvement (spouse, child, parent).

I absolutely believe you guys who have obviously been through this.  It just brings in a bit of the fear factor when the Thai government website requirements conflicts with actual people's experiences. ????