OJAS

Equates to around 40,700 THB a month by my reckoning at present exchange rates. Well short of the 65,000 THB monthly minimum requirement for an annual retirement extension, of course!

The Government Gateway did at one time include a useful secure messaging facility - but, unfortunately, HMRC in their infinite wisdom subsequently saw fit to withdraw it without providing any advance warning or explanation. So we are left with the options of having to deal with HMRC on issues of concern to us by making lengthy phone calls or sending letters by snail mail to them. Yep, HMRC really are pioneers at the cutting edge and forefront of advanced technologies in our ability to communicate with them, aren't they????? That said, there is still one way in which you can communicate with them online if you have a Government Gateway account, and that is through submitting a complaint: https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-hmrc If you don't have a Goverment Gateway account you might wish to consider setting one up for the purposes of making a fact-finding "complaint" to HMRC regarding your State Pension issues. To go about doing this, click on "Create sign in details" under the "New users of Government Gateway" heading in the following link: https://www.access.service.gov.uk/login/signin/creds Good luck!

Another possibility if you have the time and means to do it - albeit equally aggravating, though - would be to book yourself into an extended stay at a Bangkok hotel who are prepared to issue a TM30 form in your case. This will then enable you, after you have undertaken a border run to cancel your original non-OA visa, to apply for a non-O conversion at Chaengwattana Immigration who have been reported on here as playing strictly by the rule book when it comes to non-O conversion applications. IMHO any stay at a Bangkok hotel should also cover the period when you need to apply for your first annual extension of stay within the lifetime of your new non-O visa - which it would probably also be prudent to apply for at Chaengwattana. Thereafter you can return to Mae Sai and submit a fresh TM30 at the local office, to enable you to resume conducting immigration business (90-day reports, subsequent annual extensions of stay, etc) there.

When it comes to crass stupidity, nothing - not even Immigration procedures - can IMHO surpass the bureaucratic nonsense we Brits are required to suffer at passport renewal time here in LOS. This entails a considerable paper-generating exercise which I would hardly describe as "a formality" for even routine renewals - on top of which are then the 2 physical trips to an office in Bangkok or Chiang Mai which we are forced to make in person or pay an agent extra to make on our behalf.

One thing which those planning to switch from marriage to retirement (or vice versa) as the reason for their annual extensions of stay need to bear in mind, though, is that the 365 days extension at the time the switch is made will be determined by Immigration from the date when you submit your application rather than when your existing permission to stay expires. The difference could, in theory, amount to up to 30 days - or even 45 days in some instances, depending on what leeway your office allows in submitting extension of stay applications ahead of the expiry date of your current permission to stay.

Unfortunately there have been quite a few on here over the years who have seen absolutely no problem in using inaccurate "visa" terminology to refer to extensions of stay - which IMHO only serves to generate unnecessary confusion as graphically illustrated by this thread, I think.

https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/9.FOR-RETIREMENT-PURPOSES-50-YEARS-OLD-NON-O.pdf Or to anywhere else in Thailand where a non-O for retirement can be obtained without the need for the 800k to be seasoned for 2 months.

You're the one giving duff advice on here! The OP won't be denied permission to re-enter Thailand when checking in for his return flight on the strength of the re-entry permit stamped in his passport.

The 6-month validity rule does, indeed, apply in the case of tourists planning to stay in Thailand visa-exempt for up to 30 days. However the OP is intending to re-enter Thailand on the basis of a non-immigrant extension of stay for retirement as supported by a re-entry permit, so this requirement would not apply in his case.

No problems with re-entering Thailand with your existing passport at the end of September. However, assuming that you'll be staying in your home country, I would strongly advise you to take the opportunity of renewing your existing passport while you are there since this will probably prove a lot more straightforward than doing it from Thailand. That is most definitely the case IMHO if you're a Brit! Then, upon your return to Thailand, you would need to show both cancelled previous and new passports to the immigration officer at BKK Arrivals, and they should stamp your new passport with a permission to stay date expiring on 29 January 2024. There would also be no need for you to obtain a letter from your home country embassy in Bangkok, as part of the subsequent process of transferring existing stamps from old to new passports at your local immigration office.

Better to obtain it sooner rather than later IMHO.

In that case you should be OK. There is no 2-month seasoning requirement for the 800k in the case of non-O visa conversions (as opposed to annual extensions of stay) for retirement. Suggest that you obtain a statement from them itemising the overprinted transactions in your passbook. If these only date back 6 months they should be able to issue a statement on the spot. If any longer, however, they will need to obtain the statement from their Head Office, which could take several days. In this connection please don't forget that the deadline for submitting a non-O visa conversion application to Immigration will, in your case, expire on 18 May, as stated by @Red Phoenix above.

You can obtain an account confirmation letter at any Bangkok Bank branch and not just at the one at which your account was opened. Can vouch for this on the basis of personal experience. That, I think, is the easy part. However, assuming that you are, indeed, talking about a non-O conversion for retirement, it strikes me that the major difficulty with which you're going to be faced is in proving the foreign origin of both your deposit on 17 March and of all previous deposits which all together make up a total balance of 800k, as required by Immigration:- https://www.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/9.FOR-RETIREMENT-PURPOSES-50-YEARS-OLD-NON-O.pdf In these circumstances, it strikes me that you probably have little choice in practice other than to enlist the services of an agent.

Even if implementing this suggestion were a feasible proposition, it does, unfortunately, beg the question IMHO as to how long ubonjoe's words of wisdom would remain current owing to goalpost-shifting on the part of the Immigration Bureau and individual offices.

To the best of my knowledge quoting the following link (which a Google search has unearthed) is acceptable under forum rules - although I'm not sure whether it is the source you had in mind:- https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/economy/40027355

What tremendously sad news. With his formidable grasp of matters immigration-related across the board, he will truly be a hard act to follow on this forum. Like several others I had noticed that he had apparently gone MIA on here in recent weeks. But I had never suspected until now that it was for a reason which led to his untimely passing.

It has always been a mystery to me as to why people on here get into a huff about what they perceive as being totally ignored by Immigration. If their annual marriage extensions are at the end of the day successfully granted without the need for any verbal input on their part, then what really is the problem? You were, I think, extremely lucky in being able to deal with a member of that endangered species called "a Thai immigration officer with more than a passing grasp of the English language"!

What is the telephone number referred to in the DM article? According to the GOV.UK website, the International Pension Centre's contact number is +44 (0) 191 218 7777: https://www.gov.uk/international-pension-centre I attempted to claim a temporary increase by snail mail last year, but ended up having to call the International Pension Centre anyway before their timeframe for lodging this claim expired.

His teacher's pension is covered by the UK/Thailand Double Taxation Agreement. That leaves the State Pension which isn't - but, if the Thai Revenue Dept were seriously to think that taxation of our perpetually frozen State Pension payments would make a significant contribution towards easing Thailand's national debt, they really are living in cloud cuckoo land, I think!

The recent change in your annual extension of stay reason from marriage to retirement does not have any bearing on the paperwork needed for your next 90-day report in person - i.e. notification slip stating the next reporting due date and completed TM47 form in addition to your passport, as presumably hitherto.

Only one thing in your case as I see it - HMRC's Statutory Residence Test: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rdr3-statutory-residence-test-srt/guidance-note-for-statutory-residence-test-srt-rdr3 But as already said that won't in itself affect your entitlement to the personal allowance.

IMHO Harry should be made to stand in some remote corner with his head bowed in shame, instead of given a seat in the 10th row.

A question which could, I think, be equally posed for most major cities on this great planet of ours (if we are talking about public service, as distinct fron tourist, vehicles) - save for Singapore and KL as you have stated + Hong Kong and, of course, London.

It's certainly true that a snail mail report needs to be received by no later than 15 days before the due date in the case of Chaengwattana. But a snail report I sent to my local office (Rayong - which I gather is also now yours!) a couple of years ago was duly processed despite it not being received there until 11 days before the due date. I have always been under the impression that acceptable time frame for the receipt of snail reports at local offices is 7-15 days before the due date. But requirements can (and do), of course, vary between individual offices in practice!

The speed at which I frequently witness minivans thundering their way along Highway 3 near to where I live in Rayong Province indicates to me that a one-way trip between Pattaya and the Cambodian border taking only 3 hours is perfectly feasible!