Rayong Immigration and Pension Income Method

[longball53098]

Hey anyone done a annual extension at Rayong Immigration in the last few weeks? Did you use the income letter method?

 

I am getting a report that the IO's are asking for a bank book as verification of money coming in to Thailand.

 

I am not trying to start any rumors here. I just did my annual about a month ago using the pension letter from US Embassy and all was  normal. They asked no questions about any of the paperwork submitted and no requests for any books or any other proof of income. A friend was there a few days ago and he said they asked for a bank book. When he said he would go home and return with the book he left and while on the road home the IO called him to say they decided not to renew his extension so please return and get the paperwork. His passport had only 7 months left before expiring. So was the issue the passport or the letter?

[ubonjoe]

I would say it was the passport not the letter.

There is no requirement to have 12 months remaining on the passport but if they do the extension it will only be valid to the date the passport expires.

[elviajero]

1 minute ago, ubonjoe said:

So was the issue the passport or the letter?

Anyone's guess! Usually immigration would issue an extension for the remaining 7 months so I doubt that was the problem. Asking for proof of income isn't unusual if they aren't happy with the application.

[JackThompson]

Did your friend show any outward displeasure at the request for bank book proof of income?  I have seen a few stories where individuals were essentially "banned" from immigration services at a particular office for daring to show displeasure at their treatment.  In one case, the applicant tried using an agent after such an incident, and the agent was told that that office would never process his client's paperwork. 

 

If this occurred, this may be one of those cases where your friend has to move to a new area (or use an agent in another area) to get another extension.  With an agent-laundered-corruption payout, the financials are optional, so he might get a reduced-rate from an agent for actually having the proper letter.

[pearciderman]

27 minutes ago, elviajero said:

 

34 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

So was the issue the passport or the letter?

Anyone's guess! Usually immigration would issue an extension for the remaining 7 months so I doubt that was the problem. Asking for proof of income isn't unusual if they aren't happy with the application.

 

 

Something odd here, in your quote it says that Ubonjoe said " so was the issue the passport or the letter?", yet that was actually written by the OP and is not in Uj's post at all. Very strange, it would appear that TVF is wrongly attributing quotes ?

[ubonjoe]

14 minutes ago, pearciderman said:

 

Something odd here, in your quote it says that Ubonjoe said " so was the issue the passport or the letter?", yet that was actually written by the OP and is not in Uj's post at all. Very strange, it would appear that TVF is wrongly attributing quotes ?

Just an error by the person doing the post.

[Eff1n2ret]

1 hour ago, longball53098 said:

A friend was there a few days ago

Nationality of friend?

[OJAS]

I applied (and obtained) my latest retirement extension at Maptaput on the basis of a British Embassy income confirmation letter a couple of months ago, and can confirm that I was definitely NOT asked to provide a bank book as well.

[longball53098]

22 hours ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Nationality of friend?

Friend is a retired American man

[longball53098]

16 hours ago, OJAS said:

I applied (and obtained) my latest retirement extension at Maptaput on the basis of a British Embassy income confirmation letter a couple of months ago, and can confirm that I was definitely NOT asked to provide a bank book as well.

I also extended using the income letter from the US Embassy about 30 days ago with no issues or questions of proof of income

[longball53098]

23 hours ago, JackThompson said:

Did your friend show any outward displeasure at the request for bank book proof of income?  I have seen a few stories where individuals were essentially "banned" from immigration services at a particular office for daring to show displeasure at their treatment.  In one case, the applicant tried using an agent after such an incident, and the agent was told that that office would never process his client's paperwork. 

 

If this occurred, this may be one of those cases where your friend has to move to a new area (or use an agent in another area) to get another extension.  With an agent-laundered-corruption payout, the financials are optional, so he might get a reduced-rate from an agent for actually having the proper letter.

To the best of my knowledge my American friend did not "show" displeasure towards anyone at Immigration but I was not present to witness it.

[longball53098]

I was only inquiring to see if anyone encountered being asked for proof of income when using the pension letter method of extending their permission to stay. My friend is now back to the states for 3 months and will end up starting all over again with a new visa. He made the mistake of not renewing his passport before applying for his extension in my opinion and that is what I told him and this is what keyed them to not give him the extension. Not being there to hear the actual discussion I only have what he told me. He does not speak Thai so there may have been some mis-understanding also. His disposition may have come in to play also.

[OJAS]

47 minutes ago, longball53098 said:

I was only inquiring to see if anyone encountered being asked for proof of income when using the pension letter method of extending their permission to stay. My friend is now back to the states for 3 months and will end up starting all over again with a new visa. He made the mistake of not renewing his passport before applying for his extension in my opinion and that is what I told him and this is what keyed them to not give him the extension. Not being there to hear the actual discussion I only have what he told me. He does not speak Thai so there may have been some mis-understanding also. His disposition may have come in to play also.

Their grasp of English is not the greatest in my experience, which is 1 of the reasons why I always take my wife along with me at annual extension of stay time (the other being that, since I don't have a Thai driving licence, I am reliant on her being my chauffeur). So it might, as you say, just be a question of a simple misunderstanding caused by the language barrier.

 

It seems to me that they might actually have done him a favour by hesitating to give him only a 7-month extension on account of the imminent expiry of his passport. As you intimate, it was inexcusable for him not to have renewed his passport beforehand - particularly since this seems to involve a far more straightforward process for you Americans when compared to the dreaded "With-It Tower Passport Renewal Experience" we Brits are required to endure and suffer.

Edited September 14, 2017 by OJAS

[Eff1n2ret]

52 minutes ago, longball53098 said:

Friend is a retired American man

I only asked because as far as I am aware there are some countries, the USA included, whose embassies will certify an applicant's income without any evidence, a declaration suffices. If the Thais believe this system is being abused, it's quite conceivable that they might require further evidence from nationals of those countries.

However, your other posts suggest some confusion by the applicant about what actually happened, so maybe we should treat the  OP as rumour rather than fact. Having dealt with Rayong Immigration for the last 7 years I would say they are pretty straightforward in their dealings, and are not given to imposing unreasonable demands.

[OJAS]

3 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

I only asked because as far as I am aware there are some countries, the USA included, whose embassies will certify an applicant's income without any evidence, a declaration suffices. If the Thais believe this system is being abused, it's quite conceivable that they might require further evidence from nationals of those countries.

However, your other posts suggest some confusion by the applicant about what actually happened, so maybe we should treat the  OP as rumour rather than fact. Having dealt with Rayong Immigration for the last 7 years I would say they are pretty straightforward in their dealings, and are not given to imposing unreasonable demands.

And by way of a further example of their poor grasp of English to which I have referred, I recall you mentioning a couple of years ago that you were unable to tease out of them the precise reasons for their only giving you an "under consideration" stamp for your then retirement extension initially - which you eventually put down to the Big White Chief who signs the stamp not being around at the time for some reason. 

[Ace of Pop]

And by way of a further example of their poor grasp of English to which I have referred, I recall you mentioning a couple of years ago that you were unable to tease out of them the precise reasons for their only giving you an "under consideration" stamp for your then retirement extension initially - which you eventually put down to the Big White Chief who signs the stamp not being around at the time for some reason. 

Friday is the worst day for that.!.


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