Hi all,

 

I've been seasoning cash in the bank to extend my visa based on marriage. Its a bit of a pain having to do this. Now I am thinking of changing to using a British Embassy letter confirming monthly / annual income. This  ( pension ) income is paid to my UK bank account and I then transfer as needed to Thailand, not necessarily the whole or even any of the monthly amount. 

 

My question is whether the IO ( I go to Sakhon Nakhon who then send everything to Bangkok for approval) will ask to see evidence that the monthly amount is actually hitting my Thai bank account each month ie: bank passbook / bank statement/ bank letter  as is required for the seasoned cash sum. Rather hoping not!

Thanks for your help

You can use gross income on the income letter. Immigration do not expect to see all of your income to be coming into the country.

I cannot recall any reports of Sakon Nakhon asking for a bank book as backup proof for what is on the letter.

I get a retirement extension at Sakon Nakhon, based on an embassy letter. In ten years they have only ever asked me for a bank book once, I think about four years ago, and they sure didn't check to see if money had been transferred into the account on a monthly bases, it hadn't, there was only I think about five to ten thousand baht in the account. If you are over 50 and meet the 65,000 baht monthly income requirement, a retirement extension is a lot less hazel to get than a marriage extension, no going to Bangkok, or wherever they send it, for one thing.

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A good strategy is to transfer a set amount every month from an oversees bank to a Thai bank in case they every ask you for your bank book.  For US bank, it can even be automated through Bangko bans using ACH. (not sure about other countries). This is good for expense control and a safe guard against the vagaries of Thai immigration's demand

The income letter is a pain that has to be done every year and costs money to get while 'seasoning' funds costs nothing and is much simpler. Deposit the money in your account and essentially 'forget' about it. Consider it as an emergency fund. 

I am Aussie and use the income method.  Do everything myself,  easy. One trip to BKK per year is easy.   As people have said its gross income you receive and there is no check on what comes in and no requirement (as far as I am aware)  to bring your money here. 

 

Have Brit friends who do the seasoning and they always seem stressed about timing etc etc. 

 

Try it and see how it suits YOU. 

 I at this moment use the sit and forget strategy. 400K is only a small amount of money. I like to think it is there for when the time I die and my wife will need some cash on hand as my will go through probate, and that will take around three-four months back in Australia. 

 

I keep around another 400K in her name under a term's deposit once again for the same reason. In my head, you got to care for the wife after death until things are sorted out. So, to me, the 400K is a good idea just seasoned. I use to use earnings per annum but know, the older I get cannot be bothered, and I don't want to be quizzed or if any rules change on earnings, find out I am going to be short. 

21 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

The income letter is a pain that has to be done every year and costs money to get while 'seasoning' funds costs nothing and is much simpler. Deposit the money in your account and essentially 'forget' about it. Consider it as an emergency fund. 

this is good idea..i will use my deposit as 'insurance' if ever i need funds for medical treatment..iinvest on 6mthly terms @1%--pathetic,but better than nothing.

3 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

The income letter is a pain that has to be done every year and costs money to get while 'seasoning' funds costs nothing and is much simpler.

Not that good if you have to report your bank accounts to your home country and file every year. Plus I have read many reports of people having problems because of a mistake the money was not in the bank long enough.

Not sure that having a bank account is free since you has to be kept it in semi liquid account. If you can hold your money in a higher yield account it is better.

I prefer the income option. Paying 1700 to 1800 baht for the proof at the embassy is not much. 

 

4 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Not that good if you have to report your bank accounts to your home country and file every year. Plus I have read many reports of people having problems because of a mistake the money was not in the bank long enough.

Not sure that having a bank account is free since you has to be kept it in semi liquid account. If you can hold your money in a higher yield account it is better.

I prefer the income option. Paying 1700 to 1800 baht for the proof at the embassy is not much. 

 

Ubonjoe.. my income falls short of the 65K  .about 60 at the moment... what are my chances of getting extension on OA visa with combined income & cash?  

5 minutes ago, Laza 45 said:

Ubonjoe.. my income falls short of the 65K  .about 60 at the moment... what are my chances of getting extension on OA visa with combined income & cash?  

I use the combined method and my monthly pension adds up to around 500k baht pa, so I just keep 300k in the bank for 3 months and that does just fine, and never had a problem at immigration.

 

OOPS...…...was meant for Ubonjoe, so I hope I am correct!!!!!

1 minute ago, Laza 45 said:

Ubonjoe.. my income falls short of the 65K  .about 60 at the moment... what are my chances of getting extension on OA visa with combined income & cash?  

Embassies and official Thai consulates will accept a combination of income and money in the bank to reach the equivalent of 800k baht to apply for a OA visa.

Immigration will also accept a combination of the 2 to reach a total of 800k baht to apply for an extension of stay based upon retirement. At many offices now the will want the money to be in the bank for 60 day for the first extension and 3 months after that.

With an monthly  income of 60k baht you would only need about 80k baht in the bank to do it. Best to keep more in the bank than needed to allow for exchange rate fluctuations.

 

3 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

The income letter is a pain that has to be done every year and costs money to get while 'seasoning' funds costs nothing and is much simpler. Deposit the money in your account and essentially 'forget' about it. Consider it as an emergency fund. 

There is an opportunity cost. The banks are paying only 1.5% interest here. So that's 12,000 baht a year in interest.

My income Stat dec from the Australian Consulate costs about 1900 baht. On the other hand, the 800,000 baht back in Australia, conservatively invested, is earning 5% pa. 40,000 baht, with zero income tax. Interest in the Thai banks is taxed.

Edited May 17, 20188 yr by Lacessit

14 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You can use gross income on the income letter. Immigration do not expect to see all of your income to be coming into the country.

I cannot recall any reports of Sakon Nakhon asking for a bank book as backup proof for what is on the letter.

Mr. Joe..I was thinking or moving my direct deposit of my pension directly to Bangkok bank. If I use the NY office will it still have to be transformed to my branch in Pattaya or just go directly in my account.

3 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

The income letter is a pain that has to be done every year and costs money to get while 'seasoning' funds costs nothing and is much simpler. Deposit the money in your account and essentially 'forget' about it. Consider it as an emergency fund. 

A PAIN? Email gross income evidence to British Consulate, give them 52 quid. DONE. 

6 minutes ago, JRUSA said:

Mr. Joe..I was thinking or moving my direct deposit of my pension directly to Bangkok bank. If I use the NY office will it still have to be transformed to my branch in Pattaya or just go directly in my account.

When the direct deposit is done via the branch in NY it is deposited directly into your account. You can set up a SMS alert that will inform you money has been credited showing the amount and the exchange rate used.

Info about setting up the account is here. http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/TransferingFunds/TransferringIntoThailand/ReceivingFundsfromUSA/Pages/ReceivingFundsfromUSA.aspx

47 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

A PAIN? Email gross income evidence to British Consulate, give them 52 quid. DONE. 

Not only that, I used the previous years confirmation letter and it was still accepted (but may have been lucky!).

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Embassies and official Thai consulates will accept a combination of income and money in the bank to reach the equivalent of 800k baht to apply for a OA visa.

Immigration will also accept a combination of the 2 to reach a total of 800k baht to apply for an extension of stay based upon retirement. At many offices now the will want the money to be in the bank for 60 day for the first extension and 3 months after that.

With an monthly  income of 60k baht you would only need about 80k baht in the bank to do it. Best to keep more in the bank than needed to allow for exchange rate fluctuations.

 

Thank you Joe .. appreciated..

 

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

I use the combined method and my monthly pension adds up to around 500k baht pa, so I just keep 300k in the bank for 3 months and that does just fine, and never had a problem at immigration.

 

OOPS...…...was meant for Ubonjoe, so I hope I am correct!!!!!

..it was my question.. but thanks for your reply.. it sounds right by Joe's reckoning.. It will be much easier for me not having to go back to Oz to renew my OA.. Thank you.. 

16 hours ago, onera1961 said:

A good strategy is to transfer a set amount every month from an oversees bank to a Thai bank in case they every ask you for your bank book.

I transfer different amounts each month or quarter depending on my needs here. Immigrations has never been bothered by that.  Sometimes the monthly amount is less than Baht 65,000. More often it's more on average. As Ubon Joe said, you're income letter is to show your gross income and not necessarily the amount you're bringing into Thailand.

 

If you transfer a set amount of foreign money per month, the deposit in baht will differ anyway according to the exchange rate.

Kalasin Jo, your thread has been hijacked so be careful of the post that have been listed here as a lot of people have caused some confusion because they are not talking about an extension based on marriage as you have quoted. The extension based on marriage you must have either 400,000 baht in a Thai bank account or you must have an income of 45,000 baht per month, you cannot have a combination of both. I have an extension based on marriage and I do a trip to the Australian embassy and get a statutory declaration on my income and I have not had any problems with that

3 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

Kalasin Jo, your thread has been hijacked so be careful of the post that have been listed here as a lot of people have caused some confusion because they are not talking about an extension based on marriage as you have quoted. The extension based on marriage you must have either 400,000 baht in a Thai bank account or you must have an income of 45,000 baht per month, you cannot have a combination of both. I have an extension based on marriage and I do a trip to the Australian embassy and get a statutory declaration on my income and I have not had any problems with that

Should be 40,000 per month, not 45.

3 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

or you must have an income of 45,000 baht per month

It is 40,000 baht not 45,000.

Sorry, Kalasin Jo, my mistake, yes it should have read 40,000 baht per month.

5 hours ago, xylophone said:

Not only that, I used the previous years confirmation letter and it was still accepted (but may have been lucky!).

Don't know which Imm Office you use, but they take mine off me each year.

You need to keep in mind exchange rates. They have not been flash for Australians.

 

My Australian pension does not give me the 40,000 required a month at 23.50. Still, give me some interest thrown in and my dividends; it covers it easily, but I suppose I have always been a cash man.

 

However, with many companies stripping dividends down and a 2.8% cash rate from places like ING or having your cash in bonds, it is not certain. I want my stay in Thailand to be permanent, so hence I use cash. My investments for a few years can go South until a recovery, and I got no pressure on me to make my trading perform now.

 

I don't want to stress about trading anymore. 

 

Say, if in 2012 I was getting 40,000 a month at a rate above 30 to the AUD (you need around $AUD 670 per fortnight), my pension now would be many %'s points short in 2018 (you need around AUD$ 851 now per for night). Just about all my friends do not make more than the $1390 dollars need a fortnight for retirement, and I don't know how they do it.

 

I think the income and cash method is the only way they can do it.

 

I am well ahead of interest rates by previously bringing in cash. I was pretty lucky I guess in bringing money in. Still, for those with loads of cash back home and have a good dividend or business, etc., etc., income is a great way to do it.

Edited May 17, 20188 yr by totally thaied up
spelling and tidying up

42 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

Don't know which Imm Office you use, but they take mine off me each year.

I made a good quality laser print of mine, which you couldn't tell from the original!! 

 

7 hours ago, xylophone said:

Not only that, I used the previous years confirmation letter and it was still accepted (but may have been lucky!).

Really?  You mean the one that Immigration keep for their records?  You don't get the original of that Embassy letter back so how did you manage to use it the next year, exactly?

2 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Don't know which Imm Office you use, but they take mine off me each year.

He clearly uses an imaginary IO.

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

I made a good quality laser print of mine, which you couldn't tell from the original!! 

 

Is it a 3D laser print because it needs the embossed seal on it.