Proof Of Pension Income

[melbat]

I have been on a retirement visa here for 4 years now but never needed to show about a pension because

had enough funds in the bank to qualify. Now I am just taking my pension from UK pension fund and this money is being paid into my UK bank account monthly. Question is will Thai immigration take this a proof of income for me to qualify for my future visa or do the amounts have to be paid into a Thai Bank Account. If they do how do other retired people manage about transfering funds from UK? It can be quite expensive to do this.

[lopburi3]

You have to use your pension information to obtain a letter from your Embassy. That letter is accepted by Immigration (along with the proof) as your pension income. There is no need to transfer any funds to meet immigration requirements but if you do not meet the 65k per month with pension you will need enough in account to compensate for the shortfall.

Most people use SWIFT wire transfer a couple of times a year to bring in money as required. As large transfers are less expensive you have to work out what is best for you based in loss of interest and fee charges.

[melbat]

You have to use your pension information to obtain a letter from your Embassy. That letter is accepted by Immigration (along with the proof) as your pension income. There is no need to transfer any funds to meet immigration requirements but if you do not meet the 65k per month with pension you will need enough in account to compensate for the shortfall.

Most people use SWIFT wire transfer a couple of times a year to bring in money as required. As large transfers are less expensive you have to work out what is best for you based in loss of interest and fee charges.

Thanks for your quick reply... I will contact the Embassy in bkk to see what proof they require. I am still waiting for all the documentaion to arrive from UK from my pension provider, so when it does I will go to bkk. Just on other thing do u happen to know if residents here with retirement visa are subject to the new currency controls? Thanks once again for all your valuable infomation.. you are very kind.

[lopburi3]

If you are thinking about the 30% thing that only applies for transfers used for a small list if investment type activities. But if you transfer amounts that could trigger withholding it is better to talk with Thai bank first so they know the reason and will not do so. Even if they did it you could get returned but extra paperwork. Best to keep transfers below the trigger amounts.

[JohnC]

I had a letter from my pension company which I showed to the Honary Consul here in Pattaya, the next day he gave me a letter confirming my income etc, I was told to take a copy show both original and copy to immigration, this I did and was told to keep original for next year (now this year) they kept the copy no problems at all.

As for transfering money I opened a Nationwide Building Society account in UK before retiring and have my pensions paid into that, I use an atm every month to draw what I need for living expences at no charge by the bs. I have also transfered a large amount for car purchase via swift but this attracts a £20 charge in the UK and I think I just missed the clampdown as I had no problems getting a cashiers cheque from the bangkok bank. I have also been told on this forum if you take your UK bank card to your thai bank with passport you can transfer any amount over the counter although to be fair I have not yet tried to do this.

Hope this helps.

JohnC

[tomallison]

For JohnC:

You say you have a Uk Nationwide Account. I am interested to know if you have to have a Uk address to keep this account.

Thanks.

[Artisan]

For JohnC:

You say you have a Uk Nationwide Account. I am interested to know if you have to have a Uk address to keep this account.

Thanks.

I don't know about the Nationwide Bank but certainly a UK address is not needed for the Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Bank and First Direct Bank. I use BoS Phoneline and Internet banking with the Bank of Scotland and a friend uses First Direct.

[Tafia]

For JohnC:

You say you have a Uk Nationwide Account. I am interested to know if you have to have a Uk address to keep this account.

I have made these enquiries with Nationwide as I plan to retire to LOS next year. They do not need a UK address. They will need informing of your address in LOS.

You will need a UK address if you want your state pension to be index linked

[Artisan]

You will need a UK address if you want your state pension to be index linked

What about proof that you actually live at that UK address?

Edited February 9, 2007 by Artisan

[Thanyaburi Mac]

You have to use your pension information to obtain a letter from your Embassy. That letter is accepted by Immigration (along with the proof) as your pension income. There is no need to transfer any funds to meet immigration requirements but if you do not meet the 65k per month with pension you will need enough in account to compensate for the shortfall.

Most people use SWIFT wire transfer a couple of times a year to bring in money as required. As large transfers are less expensive you have to work out what is best for you based in loss of interest and fee charges.

Lopburi3

Don't know about the "most," above, the several people I often see eyeball-to-eyeball only use the personal check deposit method, or the bank wire transfer method only when a large enough sum is required, thus justifying the large bank 

charges.

Just yesterday I wrote my monthly personal check on my U.S. account to the local Siam Commercial Bank branch out here at Klong 10.  Charge?  Baht 203 total, and got baht 38.58 to the US$ for the rate, current for yesterday:

https://www.scbbusiness.com/exchange/bk-pvsexchange.htm

There was a long thread on this a month or so ago, looked but I couldn't find it.

Mac

[lopburi3]

If you are using a deposit method for immigration reasons there should be clear evidence of money source from outside Thailand and the wire transfer (SWIFT) method provides this with the simple passbook entry code. I agree you only want to do this for large amounts if your bank charges the normal high fees. Now that marriage requires 40k income it may not be as important. Look in the jobs/banking forum as there is normally a long thread every other month or so.

[wpcoe]

Just yesterday I wrote my monthly personal check on my U.S. account to the local Siam Commercial Bank branch out here at Klong 10.  Charge?  Baht 203 total, and got baht 38.58 to the US$ for the rate, current for yesterday:

https://www.scbbusiness.com/exchange/bk-pvsexchange.htm

Did you really get more than B38???

Or, was that a typo, maybe B35.58?

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Just yesterday I wrote my monthly personal check on my U.S. account to the local Siam Commercial Bank branch out here at Klong 10.  Charge?  Baht 203 total, and got baht 38.58 to the US$ for the rate, current for yesterday:

https://www.scbbusiness.com/exchange/bk-pvsexchange.htm

Did you really get more than B38???

Or, was that a typo, maybe B35.58?

Ah, yes, another case of the fingers just a typing away faster than the eyeball.  I took typing in high school lots or years ago, 60 wpm on an old Royal manual machine.  Might not be quite so fast today but close to it.

Also, for Loburi3, attached is a copy of the "foreign deposit" receipt, altho it doesn't seem to be called that, that I get from SCB each time I write a personal check for deposit to my baht account.  Seems to be acceptable to Immigration as proof of income, whether from a pension or other sources.

Mac

[Tafia]

You will need a UK address if you want your state pension to be index linked

What about proof that you actually live at that UK address?

That Im unsure of, but if you are registered as a resident at a uk address be it son daughter brother sister and you continue to use that address for banking purposes who can prove otherwise?

[Dave the Dude]

For JohnC:

You say you have a Uk Nationwide Account. I am interested to know if you have to have a Uk address to keep this account.

Thanks.

Hi All

I have openned a N'wide flexaccount prior to an Early Retirement to LOS. There are many threads on this subject as Nationwide are the only Bank/B.Soc in the UK who do NOT charge for overseas ATM withdrawals. A UK address is needed and proof of one utility bill for that address is also needed to open an account (creative thinking re family members can get round this! Once account is open then they will accept Thai address.

So small regular cash withdrawals can be done FREE using Thai ATM and larger cash transfers can be done by completing a downloaded form of Nationwide Internet banking site,then posting it to UK for processing. As an Ex-Bank Manager, I think thats the best plan of actoin for me.

Hope this helps

D the D

[naka]

For JohnC:

You say you have a Uk Nationwide Account. I am interested to know if you have to have a Uk address to keep this account.

Thanks.

I don't know about the Nationwide Bank but certainly a UK address is not needed for the Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Bank and First Direct Bank. I use BoS Phoneline and Internet banking with the Bank of Scotland and a friend uses First Direct.

It is my personal experience, with a number of UK banks that if you

do not have a UK address then they will not open an account for you

if you do not already have a UK account.

Invariably they will ask for proof of residence in the form of a recent utility bill,

credit card statement etc. etc.

Rather they will advise you to open an account at their offshore branches

in Jersey, Guernsey or Isle of Man where a UK address is not required.

Having said that, there are no questions asked (in my experience)

if you subsequently advise the bank that you have moved overseas

and request a change of address.

Naka.

Edited February 10, 2007 by naka

[Penkoprod]

You have to use your pension information to obtain a letter from your Embassy. That letter is accepted by Immigration (along with the proof) as your pension income. There is no need to transfer any funds to meet immigration requirements but if you do not meet the 65k per month with pension you will need enough in account to compensate for the shortfall.

Most people use SWIFT wire transfer a couple of times a year to bring in money as required. As large transfers are less expensive you have to work out what is best for you based in loss of interest and fee charges.

When you say "There is no need to transfer any funds to meet immigration requirements but if you do not meet the 65k per month with pension you will need enough in account to compensate for the shortfall." i take that to mean you dont need to ACTUALLY have the money in Thailand, but just proof of having it somewhere(or am i reading you wrong, here?)?

If i am reading it right, then that would be great in as much as one wouldnt need to ship in the requisite 65,000THB a month, but, just what was needed to live on.

Also, is this just "pension" or can this income be from, say, interest on investments?

Penkoprod

[lopburi3]

You need proof of 65k monthly pension/income (that does not mean in Thailand). You obtain that proof from your Embassy and have supporting proof such as pension statement. There has never been any requirement to transfer money into Thailand in any set amount or frequency. The 65k proof serves to show you can afford to support yourself during the one year extension of stay.

If you need bank deposit money to meet requirements then that money must be in a Thai located bank account. And the new requirement is that it must be in account for a period of 3 months prior to each extension application.

[JohnC]

For JohnC:

You say you have a Uk Nationwide Account. I am interested to know if you have to have a Uk address to keep this account.

Thanks.

Sorry for the delay in replying, I have been otherwise engaged this week. I opened my Nationwide Account whilst still living and working in the UK and then informed my pension providers of my new details, some time later I opted for internet banking and no paper statements. When I retired last year I changed my address to my eldest daughter, when my visa card is renewed it will be sent to her address and she will then send it recorded delivery to me. I had not thought of giving the bank my Thai address as I prefer to keep the UK link for state pension etc. I did however give my Thai address to another pension company that I have an investement with and they quite happily send me my annual statement here. Hope this helps.

[blackadder]

I have a ATM-cart from a internetbank - thay give me 3.25% from the start and thay let me take money out for free outside contry, from ATM . Move money for free over the net to other bank - also to a 2 contry and bank (yes, my other bank take 180 bath to take out money from ATM outside contry - so they ar on the way out. Last year - 5 time 180 bath a month = 900 thb =10800 thb TO TAKE MY MONEY)

Look after a clean internetbank - and make the accont before you move out of the contry. Thats what i did.

Good Luck

Blackadder

[coppywriter]

If you are using a deposit method for immigration reasons there should be clear evidence of money source from outside Thailand and the wire transfer (SWIFT) method provides this with the simple passbook entry code. I agree you only want to do this for large amounts if your bank charges the normal high fees. Now that marriage requires 40k income it may not be as important. Look in the jobs/banking forum as there is normally a long thread every other month or so.

My bank in Thailand could not accept direct payments from my UK account so the cash was sent via a 3rd party Thai bank. In thier letter to Immigration it only stated that the money was there and not where it came from. This was not a problem for the immigration officer. Since then I have now been told that the immigration no longer look at where the cash comes from (inside or outside Thailand) just as long as its there 3 months prior to the new visa being obtained.

[Maestro]

I have now been told that the immigration no longer look at where the cash comes from (inside or outside Thailand) just as long as its there 3 months prior to the new visa being obtained.

Immigration knows from looking at your savings account book if the money came from abroad.

--

Maestro

[coppywriter]

I have now been told that the immigration no longer look at where the cash comes from (inside or outside Thailand) just as long as its there 3 months prior to the new visa being obtained.

Immigration knows from looking at your savings account book if the money came from abroad.

--

Maestro

Yep correct but, if it has come first from a UK bank to a Thai bank then from a Thai bank to another Thai bank then the indication on the pass book shows an ordinary transfer from a Thai bank to a Thai bank.

[Artisan]

Yep correct but, if it has come first from a UK bank to a Thai bank then from a Thai bank to another Thai bank then the indication on the pass book shows an ordinary transfer from a Thai bank to a Thai bank.

But doesn't the record of the original international transfer hold good....or am I missing something?

[Dave the Dude]

Yep correct but, if it has come first from a UK bank to a Thai bank then from a Thai bank to another Thai bank then the indication on the pass book shows an ordinary transfer from a Thai bank to a Thai bank.

But doesn't the record of the original international transfer hold good....or am I missing something?

Hi ALL

I think there could be no Banking agreements between Uk Bank and 'final' destination Bank, so an alternative Thai bank is used to get funds into Thailand and they then electronically send it to 'final' destination Bank. Its not that unusual ( I used to be a Commercial Foreign Clerk in a UK Bank in a previous life) to transfer funds this way, just like mail going thru various sorting offices. IF and only IF proof is needed, a remittance advice would be automatically produced by remitting Bank or maybe a letter can be obtained from Thai account holding branch.

Regards

Dave the Dude

[coppywriter]

Yep correct but, if it has come first from a UK bank to a Thai bank then from a Thai bank to another Thai bank then the indication on the pass book shows an ordinary transfer from a Thai bank to a Thai bank.

But doesn't the record of the original international transfer hold good....or am I missing something?

Hi ALL

I think there could be no Banking agreements between Uk Bank and 'final' destination Bank, so an alternative Thai bank is used to get funds into Thailand and they then electronically send it to 'final' destination Bank. Its not that unusual ( I used to be a Commercial Foreign Clerk in a UK Bank in a previous life) to transfer funds this way, just like mail going thru various sorting offices. IF and only IF proof is needed, a remittance advice would be automatically produced by remitting Bank or maybe a letter can be obtained from Thai account holding branch.

Regards

Dave the Dude

Yeah Dave!!!! my UK bank does not have the financial agreement you describe, hence the 3rd party bank.

Thats exactly what I was trying to say so, that seems to be the reason why immigration have stopped looking too closely at where the cash originated. They are now more interested in you having it in the first place and that its been there for 3 months or more.

Of course its always handy to have as much proof as you can when you go to get your visa as we all know, what was correct yesterday will not always be correct tomorrow.