Retirement Extension Differences Chiang Rai vs. Bangkok

[mojaco]

Differences in Retirement Extension Chiang Rai vs. Bangkok

 

We are a USA couple in Thailand 24 years and are well over 70 years of age.  We have been on annual extensions for retirement for many years in Bangkok as "husband-retired, wife-dependent".  We always use the USA affidavit of income method.  Here is a summary of the Chiang Rai Experience along with some differences from Bangkok.  We used the Thai Immigration Office near the Chiang Rai airport.  That office only does retirement extensions on Monday and Wednesday.  It is a fairly small, new office with a total of five, quite pleasant, officers.  

 

(1) Income affidavit - accepted without proof both Bangkok and Chiang Rai.  The TM7 Extension form was also the same in Chiang Rai as in Bangkok.

 

(2) Copies - Bangkok only wants copies of important pages (face page, original visa or notation thereof in a passport, latest entry stamp, Departure Card, current extension stamp). Chiang Rai wants every used page in the passport copied.

 

(3) TM30 address proof - Bangkok not needed.  Chiang Rai requires a new TM30 along with the house owners signed tabien baan and citizen card every time an extension is done.  On the original TM30 when I moved to Chiang Rai two months before the extension I had the house owner with me also.  I don't know if there is a requirement for the owner to be present for a new arrival though.

 

(4) Marriage license copy and translation copy required by both offices.  But Chiang Rai also wants a copy of a USA consulate "Affidavit of Marital Status" as "proof" of our 43 year long marriage, so we had to travel to Chiang Mai and pay $50 to have them notarize our "self-verified" marriage affidavit statement.

 

(5) Bangkok does both extensions simultaneously and apparently makes their own copies of the husband's extension to add to the wife's dependent extension.  In Chiang Rai they do the husband's extension first, and then required us to take that passport to get copies of the face page and husband's new extension before they would process the wife's extension.  When I tried to find out where a close copy place was and began to take my wife with me to go find a copy place, the officer took pity on my ageing wife and did the copies herself.  They are very nice people in that office.  I still don't know if there is a copy place within easy walking distance though.

 

(6) Personal Information Form:  Because it was my first time in the office the officer filled out a personal information form on me by asking various questions (my birth date, education, avocation, father's name, mother's name, and etc.)  This is only done for a new arrival.

 

(7) Items not asked for:  Map, copy of bank book, proof of monthly income other than the USA affidavit.

 

(8) Additional papers signed:  One affirming the extension as being for "retirement" and another one listing the penalties for overstay.  

 

(9) 90-Day report.  Although we didn't ask them to, during the extension they created a new 90-Day report and put in our passports, which was nice of them as it saved us coming back to do that in about 3 weeks.  They mentioned we could mail in 90-day reports.  I forgot to ask it the they process online 90-day reports but will try doing that first.

 

(10) Time needed for processing extension.  We arrived when the doors opened at 8:30 and there were 13 ahead of us, but we were done by 10:00 on the day the extensions were given.  

 

(11) Other:  The officer said (if I understood her correctly) that new TM30 reports are not needed for domestic travel because the hotel(s) report online.  I didn't ask about what to do if one doesn't stay in a hotel during domestic travels.

[BritTim]

Good report. Bangkok is better for immigration matters than most provincial offices, as your report illustrates.