jesimps

18 minutes ago, theoldgit said:

What used to be a simple process for many of us to transfer sufficient funds to live on, whilst meeting the required level of income, has now become a logistical nightmare for many.

 

In my case I transfer whatever I need monthly from my Santander Intenational account online, via TransferWise, it's quick, easy and very cost effective.

 

The fact that as I bank with Kasikorn and the deposit shows up as "Dummy branch" shouldn't be an issue, it's a regular deposit, it comes from overseas and have the additional paperwork to support the fact.

 

To be fair if I were a Thai Immigration Officer doing these sort of applications day in and day out, I wouldn't want to go through reams of evidence to satisfy me that the applicant met the latest requirement, as they or their superior decided were needed, maybe my local office will be satisfied with the paper trail, maybe they won't and I'll be waved away when I come to apply again for my extension next year.

 

So what are my options, I could open an account with Bangkok Bank, continue to use TW and hope that they mark the next twelve months transfers as FTT, if they don't mark one as such I'm probably scuppered.

 

I could get Santander to transfer the required amount every month and hope thay don't use an intermediary bank as that may not show up as a deposit from overseas. You can't initiate a transfer in Sterling to Thailand online, you have to call Jersey, the bank costs are higher, you don't get the same rate as TW and you have to pay a receiving fee, and of course if there's an intermediary bank they'll take their cut and it may not show up as an International Transfer.

 

As I've said before, why does such a simple task need to be so difficult.

Agreed. I guess that's why they demanded the embassy letter in the first place, which stands to reason. Goodness knows how it's been allowed to get into this state, guess it's just a mixture of the famous four embassies not giving a stuff and the lack of forethought by TI. I'd prefer to do the retirement visa income method, but I'm settling for the marriage 400,000 in the bank route.

For the first time in 12 years, I'll be doing my yearly extension via the marriage visa route using 400,000 baht in the bank. I'd like to know please, how recent do the following documents have to be? 1) kor ror 2 marriage entry; 2) Letter from bank verifying seasoning and updated bank book.

Thanks.

37 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Cant abide the "F" for flip flops guys I'm a "C" for crocs man????  

When I was in Oz they called them thong

13 hours ago, vogie said:

If the aitch is silent you use 'an' and I'm from Yorkshire where we drop all our atches, so it's an ammer. ????

In Liverpool it's a nammer.

The reason I understand perfectly.

16 hours ago, JTXR said:

My online statement just says BAHTNET.

I know it's no help but I made a transfer last week from UK to my newly opened BB account using Transferwise and it's shown as international transfer. So far so good.

I have an excellent use for this book and it involves tearing out the pages, threading a piece of string through them and hanging in the smallest room.

I suppose for the fanboys this'll become their new bible.

20 hours ago, stevymac said:

Sounds like I dodged a bullet then. Pardon the pun as they all had a gun on them as well. Weird thing is my mate that I was with said let’s just go police station then when he said 5000 baht and looked like he wasn’t going to budge on price and I said to cop 2k or that’s it and he quickly took it and put it under his book so maybe the cop didn’t wanna go station either. Was probably just happy to make the easiest 2k of his life. The fine and punishment like a few guys said above no where near matches the crime when u consider u can beat someone up and pay 500baht. Sometimes this country makes no sense.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

"Sometimes this country makes no sense."

Wrong! This country NEVER makes sense. Still prefer to live here rather than the old country.

1 hour ago, mikosan said:

So having read this and the other posts, am I to assume that immigration will not accept printed receipts of monthly exchange of GBP to THB and transfer to my Kasikorn bank account, using something like Transferwise, because as it goes through Bangkok Bank, it shows as a local transfer on my Kasokorn bank statement?  So I now have to go to my Kasikorn Branch, get the transaction numbers for all the transfers, then travel to Bangkok to go to the BB International Department?  That's a pain.  Maybe I should open a BB account, I assume then the transfers will show as international? 

I opened a BB account last month for this reason. I plan on doing a 400,000 deposit in the bank for my next extension, but thereafter may go to the monthly income method again. I'll be monitoring my statements for the next year or so to see how it goes.

9 hours ago, Spidey said:

Unfortunately, you can see this in every country in the world, to a greater or lesser extent. Common in the UK.

 

Teenage mother, no father.

I've never seen this in the UK where I come from, must've started in the 12 years that I've been living in Thailand.

There's only one thing worst than a person neglecting a kid like this, it's the apologists who try to excuse it. Especially by comparing it to things which they claim happen in other countries as though that makes it ok.

1 hour ago, Jim7777 said:

Do not use Bahtnet, transfer wise or any of that crap.  Just call your bank in your home country and have them make the International wire transfers manually.  Then ask for the Credit Advice at the bank the day after your wire transfers posts.  The Credit Advice is free I never pay anything for it and it perfectly verifies everything such as your name, address in Thailand, the origin of your wire transfers including the name of the bank in your home country that it came from, the amount of each transfer in Thai Baht, and your Thai bank account name and account number which will match your pass book.  

 

The Credit Advice is free and it verifies everything you need I have them printed every month at my bank and it doesn’t cost me anything.  When you actually get your extension you’ll probably need a letter from your bank which verifies the same information for all of your International wire transfers but according to my bank they are free as well and can also be easily produced by the bank.  Of course that’s my branch but as far as the Credit Advice I know any bank in Thailand can provide those for free you just have to specify the Credit Advice, and I think it’s best to make your International wire transfers manually over the phone with your bank in your home country because that way can be easily verified by your Thai bank.  

 

I’ve looked into transfer wise and other apps that people have advised me about and I’m not liking the transfer apps very much if it’s to good and easy to be true it probably is.  

TW from UK saves me 2000 baht a month, but your choice as to what you use.

4 minutes ago, OJAS said:

I think that you should be OK given that you will be relying on the 400k seasoning method for your marriage extension. As I understand things, the "international transfer" requirement will only come into play if you are proving finances on the basis of minimum monthly transfers of 40k (in your case).

Yes I was just trying to emphasise that even if you use TW and have a Bangkok Bank account, you still have to be carefull that your transfer didn't come via TMB or Kbank.

1 hour ago, connda said:

2020 is going to be an interesting year for many retirees.  It will be sad story time on Thai Visa's "visa, residency, and work permit" forum probably starting the first week of March 2020

 

Ironically, the Machiavellian 'new rules' put in place to stop unqualified retirees from gaming the system by using an agent will in turn stimulate the growth of a cottage industry of agents working with corrupt IOs to supply extensions to retirees who used to qualify financially in the past but due to an emergency or unexpected draw-down of funds or issues with international money transfers or simply due to bureaucratic bumbling, these retirees will be forced into the waiting arms of agents who will get their extension processed for a price - or - these retirees will be denied an extension, and if lucky, will have the necessary time to liquidate all their assets in Thailand and leave the country.  So sad, too bad if they are unmarried yet supporting Thai families. So sad, too bad if they have condos, homes, vehicles, and other assets that they used their retirement funds to purchase and that now will need to be disposed of at fire sale prices as the immigration police unceremoniously show them the door.  But we will no doubt hear those stories starting March 2020 of next year. 

...as well as the preferred method of the Thai banking industry and their lobbyists.

So in BJ's eyes, job done!

1 hour ago, dick turpin said:

Did my retirement extension at Korat on Friday and for the first time in nine years got pulled up because my bank letter was dated the previous day. Very friendly about it and said "next time" has to be same day.

 

Struck me though, that with the new regs, they must realise that I am not going to mess up my next extension by letting the account drop below 800K for the next three months.

 

Heck of a logistical exercise for people who have a long treck to the bank, which might not open until 11am. Then may have to pick up Mrs from work and maybe even witnesses. Then drive to immigration. Lucky if you get there before closing time. As if anyone would risk going below the limit the day they extend their visa.

It's up to the individual of course, but in my opinion it'd be really helpful if when you post on the subject of visas, you let us know which office you use. 

13 hours ago, OJAS said:

Many thanks for your comprehensive report, Steve. I suspect that they weren't too fussed about the overseas provenance of your recent TransferWise payment because you were using the 800k bank balance method. However I got the distinct impression from your subsequent comment that they would, indeed, probably insist on 65k+ monthly transfers being specifically coded FTT or similar.

 

I plan to apply for my next retirement extension at Maptaput in mid-July based on the 65k+ monthly transfer method and specifically: (1) a 6-month bank statement I obtained a month ago including the 65K+ FTT's which I had, purely fortuitously, credited in August, September, October, November, December and January, (2) the standard bank letter as per the 800k method which I plan to obtain the final working day before my trip to Immigration, along with (3) a subsequent 6-month bank statement including the 65k+ FTT's credited in February, March, April, May, June and July. The problem with a 12-month bank statement listing only the FTT's, as I understand it, is that this can take 2-3 weeks to obtain, whereas a 6-month statement can be produced while you wait (based on my experience a month ago).

 

To guarantee the required FTT classification I have reverted to using the Bangkok Bank London branch method (which, unlike its New York counterpart, does not appear to be going away any time soon) for processing my monthly transfers, given that it appears to be in the lap of the gods as to which bank TransferWise use at the Thai end in a particular instance (they have previously routed a couple of my transfers through TMB and Kasikorn, which have ended up coded SMT in my passbook).

Same with me using TransferWise. Oct and Nov went to Bangkok Bank, then bang! December's went to TMB. This means that I'll be kicked back at immigration for not having 12 months proof of international transfers under the present rules. Luckily I'm in a position to transfer the 400,000 in time for the seasoning of my marriage extension. 

Just now, RichardColeman said:

..........and these people want high speed trains ?

God forbid!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Thais seem to lack common sense on a national scale. I can't think of another reason for all this stupidity. Poor kids, RIP.

What! Chiang Mai is sleepy town. You go there for afternoon naps and early nights. Don't forget your smog mask.

Did a tour there with the British Army 1963/4 and loved the place, very old fashioned oriental city, cheap and still lots of jungle on the island. Stayed for a week in 1969 and hardly recognised the place it had become so built up. Stayed over again in 1976 and it had become a modern concrete jungle and was fantastically expensive. Have no wish to visit again.

I bet fatboy Kim hasn't reduced his calorific intake. Half rations is only for the peasants.