Income Verification UK Passport Holder

[anon467848]

I need an income verification letter from the UK Embassy in BKK for my retirement extension.

 

I have a letter from my employer confirming my monthly salary (it's more than the 65,000 baht threshold), do I also need to enclose copies of my UK bank statements, or will employer letter suffice. If statements required, how many months 3 or 6?

 

Cheers, Merlin...

[Jip99]

The due diligence is not great. They generally accept minimal information.

 

A P60 would suffice.

 

 

I scan over a P60 and  one month bank statement.

[berybert]

Probably best to give them as much as you can. I sent in my rental income for 9 months as proof of income. 

It must have taken me an extra few seconds changing the date on my bank statement to find said proof. 

Or do as many people do which is send in the bare minimum and then come on here and tell us all how upset you are that they didn't give you a letter.

[attrayant]

You say this is for your retirement extension, but you also mention your monthly salary (suggesting that you’re working remotely). I’m just curious if this caused any eyebrows to be raised by immigration officials.

[Tanoshi]

8 hours ago, attrayant said:

You say this is for your retirement extension, but you also mention your monthly salary (suggesting that you’re working remotely). I’m just curious if this caused any eyebrows to be raised by immigration officials.

You don't have to be retired to get a retirement extension, just aged 50 or over.

 

The Thai Embassy in London no longer issues the ME Non Imm O Visa to those not married to a Thai, unless you are currently 65 and receiving a State Pension. It would therefore be a wise choice for someone between 50 - 65 who frequently visited Thailand for vacations to apply for the extension at local Immigration, rather than VEE, or repeated TV applications.

[OJAS]

15 hours ago, merlin2002 said:

I have a letter from my employer confirming my monthly salary (it's more than the 65,000 baht threshold), do I also need to enclose copies of my UK bank statements, or will employer letter suffice.

I would definitely opt for the employer's letter if I were in your shoes, particularly if it includes details of your gross monthly salary income. Bank statements, of course, only indicate net amounts after the jolly old taxman in HMRC has taken his PAYE cut. Immigration are perfectly happy to calculate compliance with the 65,000 THB monthly minimum on the basis of gross figures (as are the Embassy to issue income confirmation letters on this basis, in my experience).

Edited July 29, 2018 by OJAS

[OJAS]

1 hour ago, Tanoshi said:

The Thai Embassy in London no longer issues the ME Non Imm O Visa to those not married to a Thai, unless you are currently 65 and receiving a State Pension. It would therefore be a wise choice for someone between 50 - 65 who frequently visited Thailand for vacations to apply for the extension at local Immigration, rather than VEE, or repeated TV applications.

I do, however, wonder whether people in this position might be better off applying for OA visas, each of which they could keep going for up to 2 years - with the assistance of re-entry permits in the second year. In that way their only interraction with a local immigration office will be with obtaining re-entry permits (unless this is done this on departure at the airport) and 90-day reports (for longer individual stays). Although the likelihood of being asked by Immigration to provide evidence in support of a British Embassy income confirmation letter at annual extension of stay time is exceedingly remote, it would IMHO still be better to eliminate the risk of attracting unwelcome Immigration attention altogether.

[attrayant]

On 7/29/2018 at 9:05 AM, Tanoshi said:

You don't have to be retired to get a retirement extension, just aged 50 or over.

 

I was thinking about the occasional discussions that come up about people on retirement extensions and whether or not they're allowed to work remotely without violating the terms of their extension.  It seems to be a question the law doesn't explicitly address, which usually results in a stalemated discussion.

 

So any time somebody mentions they're still receiving salary from abroad while being on a retirement extension here, it's good evidence that such situations are - at least in practice - permitted.

[anon467848]

On 7/29/2018 at 10:44 AM, OJAS said:

I do, however, wonder whether people in this position might be better off applying for OA visas, each of which they could keep going for up to 2 years - with the assistance of re-entry permits in the second year. In that way their only interraction with a local immigration office will be with obtaining re-entry permits (unless this is done this on departure at the airport) and 90-day reports (for longer individual stays). Although the likelihood of being asked by Immigration to provide evidence in support of a British Embassy income confirmation letter at annual extension of stay time is exceedingly remote, it would IMHO still be better to eliminate the risk of attracting unwelcome Immigration attention altogether.

How do you get up to 2 years?... surely the max you can get is 15 months... before your visa expires you exit/re-enter and get another 3 months .....so I year plus 3 months giving 15 months?

[Phuket Man]

An O-A Visa would give up to 2 years stay.

12 months with each entry.

Edited July 31, 2018 by Phuket Man

[Tanoshi]

19 minutes ago, merlin2002 said:

How do you get up to 2 years?... surely the max you can get is 15 months... before your visa expires you exit/re-enter and get another 3 months .....so I year plus 3 months giving 15 months?

Your describing the Non Imm O ME Visa, valid 1 year, each entry 90 days.

Each 90 days can be extended by 60 days to visit Thai wife.

If used correctly you can stay for almost 15 months with only 3 border crossings.

Available at local Thai Embassies/Consulates.

 

The Non Imm O-A ME Visa, valid 1 year, each entry 1 year.

Can make 90 day reports at Immigration.

If used correctly you can stay almost 2 years.

Need a re-entry permit after the Visa expires (1 year) for entry/exit 2nd year.

Only available from Thai Embassy/Consulate from Country you have permanent residency.

[Tanoshi]

On ‎7‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 10:44 AM, OJAS said:

I do, however, wonder whether people in this position might be better off applying for OA visas, each of which they could keep going for up to 2 years - with the assistance of re-entry permits in the second year.

Why? Record of criminal convictions, medical certificates and cost of Visa add up and time consuming.

It has it's purpose if you want to use Thailand as a base and travel Asia, but for retirement there are cheaper, less time consuming options.

 

On ‎7‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 10:44 AM, OJAS said:

In that way their only interraction with a local immigration office will be with obtaining re-entry permits (unless this is done this on departure at the airport) and 90-day reports (for longer individual stays).

No difference to a retirement extension.

 

On ‎7‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 10:44 AM, OJAS said:

Although the likelihood of being asked by Immigration to provide evidence in support of a British Embassy income confirmation letter at annual extension of stay time is exceedingly remote,

You have to show the same financial requirement for the O-A.

 

On ‎7‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 10:44 AM, OJAS said:

it would IMHO still be better to eliminate the risk of attracting unwelcome Immigration attention altogether.

Why would you worry about unwelcome Immigration attention if you have nothing to hide.

 

I know a couple of American and Australian expats who obtained the Non Imm O-A purely because it was described as a 'Retirement Visa' on US/Australian websites. Had they known then, what they know now, they would have made an alternative choice to retire permanently in Thailand.