GuyDow

I too have had regular payments from a family member.

The British Embassy accepted my bank statements over a period of three months showing these payments as sufficient proof to be included in the "income letter". This was in December 2010. I had other supporting documents but these were not asked for.

Not quite sure what is going on here, the payer of the pension wants something certified by the Thai authorities? Sounds a bit odd.

Anyway, I would suggest you proceed as follows.

1) Contact your embassy and ask them for a list of approved translators.

2) Pick someone from the list and phone them. Describe your requirements.

3) Repeat #2 until you find someone you can work with.

4) Post/EMS original documentsto translator. Find out if you need Ministry of Foreign Affairs certification of the translation. If you do, the translator will be able to arrange this.

5) Sort out payment to translator and get them to post/EMS all documents back to you.

You should be able to arrange all of this by telephone and post. Not really necessary to travel to Bangkok just to get documents translated.

If the story is true as stated....

1) How did he keep managing to get passports in Thailand that were totally empty? No entrance/exit stamps of any kind or permission to stay? You would think the people issuing at least 2 new passports would have red-flagged him for at least a chat.

Not their business to do immigration's job for them.

There could be a legitimate explanation. For example, he may have been entering and leaving Thailand on another country's passport. Plenty of people have more than one passport.

Your laziness in not wanting to go to the Emporium is as nothing compared with the laziness of the posters here who can't be bothered to read past the first line of your post .

I think there is one on the Landmark between soi 4 and the BTS - might be expensive though. Have looked for affordable ones ourselves and not found anything between Central World to the West and soi 22 to the East. Usually end up in Fuji in Siam Centre.

There is one in the basement of the Ploenchit Centre called Rengaya Robata. It's OK but nothing special. It's also dead in the evenings.

There is also one about 200 metres into Soi 11 on the right (don't know the name) but I wouldn't recommend this one.

Interested to hear you've had no more luck than I on this one. Looks like I'll be giving Fuji in Siam Paragon a visit.

It seems you have two options.

1) Go to the airport with your old, full passport. Pay the overstay fine, exit stamp goes with entry stamp. Go back to the UK, no entry stamp hence full passport not an issue. Get a new passport in the UK. End of story.

2) Anywhere other than the UK will want to put an entry stamp in your passport. Hence full passport a problem. Get a new passport in Thailand and chose what course of action you prefer from the other posters suggestions. Story continues......

I know what I'd do, but I am very cautious on these matters since I do not want to prejudice in any way my ability to stay in Thailand.

Can anyone out there suggest a Japanese restaurant in the Soi Nana area. Given the number of eateries in the area there probably is one, I just haven't been able to locate it.

I know there are such places up near the Emporium but I can't be bothered trekking out there.

Any suggestions most gratefully received.

The last 3 times I have got a letter from the British Embassy to confirm my income for a retirement extension they have given the income figure in both Sterling and Thai Baht. I provided the Thai Baht figure and had evidence to justify the exchange rate used (e.g. credit card transactions, ATM withdrawals). The British Embassy did not debate the figures I provided or ask me to justify them. They just typed them up as I had given them.

When I took the letters to Thai immigration, which I do as soon as I can once I have them, the officers there just read off the Thai Baht figure in the Embassy letter. Again, no questions were asked about exchange rates. This was the case in Suan Phlu previously and now in my new local office in Nakorn Pathom.

Drove through the Tobacco Monopoly on Friday about midday in my 5-year old, needs a wash Toyota Hilux pickup. Entered from Rama 4 and exited in Soi 4. Had every intention of buying one of those passes mentioned in previous post. But when I wound down my window to ask about it, the guard just waved me through.

You can drive through the Ploenchit Centre from Thanon Duang Phital to Soi 2 for no charge. You don't actually enter the carpark. The entrance from "Soi 0" is easy to spot and quite close to Sukhumvit. You emerge in Soi 2 opposite the Marriot carpark.

From there you can access Soi 4 by turning right and driving through the Rajah Hotel carpark. They'd probably charge you 20Baht to do this.

If it's in the bin, there's nothing to show you have been following the 90 day cycle,  

Yes there is. There is the top half of the TM47 form in your file at immigration. 

Assuming of course that immigration file it rather than just chucking it in the bin!!

When you turn up on Dec 19 (actually you can't since that day is Sunday) with a newly completed TM47 showing an arrival date of Oct 21 you are likely to be told to go away and come back at the right time. Bit of a waste of time, don't you think?

I'd just chuck the old 90-day slip out and go and report on the correct date.

Don't forget the application fee of THB1900.

The IMM offices also want to see some proof of residence i.e. rent receipt or home ownership papers.

Never been asked for this on my last 4 extensions.

However you do need copies of relevant pages of your passport (id page, last visa, entry stamps, arrival / departure card, etc.).

 Best I've found is the pre-paid CAT PhoneNet card which you can use on all networks including AIS. I usually get mine from the CAT office in Times Square next to Asoke BTS but I  believe you can get them from Tesco-Lotus, etc. Call quality is acceptable and it is about 1 baht a minute to phone UK landlines. 

Interested to hear if anyone has a better option than this.

I think it's a bit strong accusing the staff in the Nakorn Pathom office of rudeness. Some of them might be a bit off-hand, but most of them are fine and I have been there at least half a dozen times since it opened last year.

The most important thing is that they are efficient at doing their job and usually I can get in and out of there fairly quickly. It is definitely a big improvement over the service I used to get at Suan Phlu.

Thought they kept the original ?

Quite, they've always kept my originals. Previously at Suan Phlu, now at Nakon Pathom. 

The letters I have been getting from the British Embassy to confirm income for retirement extensions only show the Baht amount. The officials at the  Embassy have been happy to do this and I'd rather debate exchange rates with them than with Immigration.

Immigration have so far accepted these letters without any objections or questions.

But if Immigration notice that your Embassy letter is, say, 3 months old and that your native currency has plunged by, say, 20% against the THB in the meantime, they are bound to say something, are they not? Might not this then lead to them insisting that future Embassy income confirmation letters stating the amount in THB (rather than in your native currency) are no more than a week old, as in the case of the bank confirmation letter alternative?

Possibly, however I usually go to immigration as soon as I have the letter.  My Sterling income fluctuates from month to month therefore the figures quoted in the letter are only correct at the time the letter is issued. There is no point in either getting the letter early or hanging about once I have it.

 The letters I have been getting from the British Embassy to confirm income for retirement extensions only show the Baht amount. The officials at the  Embassy have been happy to do this and I'd rather debate exchange rates with them than with Immigration. 

Immigration have so far accepted these letters without any objections or questions.

Most Dept of Land & Transport Offices will accept a letter from your local Amphur detailing your address. Much less fuss than going to Immigration or your home country embassy.

Depends on how much fuss dealing with your amphur is. My amphur made such a song and dance about giving me a yellow tabian baan I gave up. Their requirements were, to put it mildly, extremely onerous. 

On the other hand dealing with my local immigration office has always (up until now) been very straightforward.

As previously noted, most farangs here arrange a lease or usufruct on land and then build a house on it. The alternative is buying from a developer who has made his legal arrangements in such a way that foreigners can lease the land and buy the house as separate transactions. Such developments are plentiful in farang-popular areas like Pattaya and Hua Hin.

You really need to separate the house from the land if you want to buy. Leasing is a different story.

Being married or not makes no difference to your situation. You are still a farang.

A post on another thread had a link to a meeting held in Chaing Mai by the Minister of the Interior ( http://www.chiangmai.../news.shtml#hd6 ). This link held the following statement "the spouse of a Thai person can inherit one rai of land for residential or commercial purposes or 10 rai of agricultural land if their Thai spouse dies." Can anyone confirm this is correct? If it is then my plans for the future need drastic revision.

I did hear if you go into the branch of any bank and use your foreign ATM card to make a cash withdrawal over the counter, then there is no charge. Can anyone confirm this?

Yes I have been doing this for years with my Nationwide Flexi Account debit card, always ask for the amount in baht not your home currency, they give an exchange rate but when it hits my a/c Nationwide uses the offshore rate which is higher than the banks here so it does save you the fees whilst getting a good exchange rate. In addition the Aeon bank atm s do not charge a fee as they are a Japanese Company.

The Flex account card is, presumably, a VISA debit card !?

That being the case, the exchange rate will be set by VISA.

Do VISA charge the standard 1% fee on these manual transactions, and do Nationwide pass them on ?

I also bank with Nationwide. The Baht amount is converted to Sterling using a competitve exchange rate by Nationwide and there are no additional charges. By competitive I mean it is a lot better than the rates used by other banks or card issuers I have experience of.

The Flex account card has a Visa logo on it but they do not appear to be involved in processing the payment. I guess they just provide the communications infrastructure.

Be careful you may get to avoid the fees but what about the exchange rate?

The conversion from Baht to Sterling is done by my bank in the UK. The rate is competitive.

The majority of the Thai banks introduced charges last year if you used a non-Thai ATM card to draw cash from their ATMs. After a bit of hunting around I found out that Bank of Ayutthya was not making a charge and I merrily took advantage of their ATM services.

This week the Bank of Ayuttya has introduced a charge of B150 if you use a foreign ATM card in their machines.

Are there any other ATMs out there that are still free of charge?

I did hear if you go into the branch of any bank and use your foreign ATM card to make a cash withdrawal over the counter, then there is no charge. Can anyone confirm this?

I went to the Embassy this week to request my letter and supplied the proof from my pension provider which has the gross pension and the taxes deducted in the last year. I didn't ask which figure they would use but the young lady marked the gross figure with a highlighter, and this was the figure that was typed on my letter.

Very interesting. I think I'll try this approach myself next time.