No more Income Letters from British Embassy

[clifric]

This letter has previously served as a supporting document for obtaining a Thai retirement or marriage visa. The British Embassy Bangkok is stopping the certification of income letters because it is unable to fulfil the Thai authorities’ requirements to verify the income of British Nationals.

British Nationals should now demonstrate that they have an amount of at least 800,000 THB in an account in Thailand for no less than three months prior to the visa application, or a monthly income of at least 65,000 THB transferred into an account in Thailand for a retirement visa. For a marriage visa, the amounts are 400,000 THB in an account in Thailand for no less than three months prior to the visa application, or a monthly income of at least 40,000 THB transferred into an account in Thailand. A bank statement should be used as the supporting document for obtaining a Thai retirement or marriage visa.

All British Nationals concerned should note that the last date for income letter applications is 12 December 2018.

[The Fat Controller]

Life is going to get more difficult next year

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-embassy-bangkok-to-stop-certification-of-income-letters?utm_source=665424a0-f53b-4a18-ad69-d8d1a7fdda1f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

[Jingthing]

That's pretty shocking.

Will other embassies being doing the same?!? 

[Esso49]

So no doubt this will open up the dodgy visa agents portfolio somewhat.  So two friends of mine, on marriage extensions for donkeys years are screwed by the sounds of it.  Neither of them have wanted a Thai bank account instead relying on ATM withdrawals only.

[ubonjoe]

When posting  such information you should include the source of it. I found it and it is here. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-embassy-bangkok-to-stop-certification-of-income-letters

My gut feeling is that this will get sorted out before the deadline.

[Jingthing]

Horrible news.

But I'm wondering about a detail.

There is no requirement for income qualifying people to import that full amount monthly.

Are they saying that Thai immigration will accept income based applications showing full monthly import if it is WITHOUT the letter?

Combo applications too?

I've been under the impression that a LETTER is always a requirement for income methods (including the combo method) and beyond that only sometimes some immigration offices might want to look at bank account imports as an extra thing.

[Joe Mcseismic]

Does any embassy of any country actually check and verify the claims of its citizens? Can't think of any.

[ThreeEyedRaven]

14 minutes ago, clifric said:

The British Embassy Bangkok is stopping the certification of income letters because it is unable to fulfil the Thai authorities’ requirements to verify the income of British Nationals.

Nothing to do with laziness or cutting back services any further then?

Having sold the land for a fortune, to further inconvenience us is pretty poor.

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, Joe Mcseismic said:

Does any embassy of any country actually check and verify the claims of its citizens? Can't think of any.

Yes, I think most embassies require documents to back up the claim. A few don't. If you're saying they don't do a lot of work to qualify those documents as being real, well, probably not. 

 

I also wonder if this is a British only thing and this might be just an excuse to stop doing the letters for some reason, shifting the blame on the Thai authorities. For the sake of other nationals, I hope so!

[wgdanson]

Will the US, and Australians, and others follow suit I wonder?

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, wgdanson said:

Will the US, and Australians, and others follow suit I wonder?

That's the 65,000 dollar question, ain't it? 

[Esso49]

15 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

When posting  such information you should include the source of it. I found it and it is here. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-embassy-bangkok-to-stop-certification-of-income-letters

My gut feeling is that this will get sorted out before the deadline.

The letter from BE states that it is ceasing income letters in support of Marriage or Retirement VISA applications.  Extension of stay based on marriage or retirement is not a visa application. Any thoughts on the wording here pls ?

[elwood]

11 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

When posting  such information you should include the source of it. I found it and it is here. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-embassy-bangkok-to-stop-certification-of-income-letters

My gut feeling is that this will get sorted out before the deadline.

Joe - After I posted a similar report on this subject, I saw that I had been beaten to it. Therefore, could the Mods please delete mine, to avoid further forum clutter?

Thanks.

[doctormann]

A very salient point here is that bank statements will not show gross income!

Previously, the figures required, when using the income route, were for gross income, not income after tax which, of course is what actually goes into the bank.

This is going to be problematic for those who are already near the limit.

 

[JackThompson]

3 minutes ago, Esso49 said:

The letter from BE states that it is ceasing income letters in support of Marriage or Retirement VISA applications.  Extension of stay based on marriage or retirement is not a visa application. Any thoughts on the wording here pls ?

The rules they list are for extensions.  For a "Visa," there is no seasoning-rule.  It seems they are swapping "visa" for "extension" - a common error.

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, Esso49 said:

The letter from BE states that it is ceasing income letters in support of Marriage or Retirement VISA applications.  Extension of stay based on marriage or retirement is not a visa application. Any thoughts on the wording here pls ?

Just another case of a extension of stay being called a visa. It is done all the time.

[Esso49]

1 minute ago, JackThompson said:

The rules they list are for extensions.  For a "Visa," there is no seasoning-rule.  It seems they are swapping "visa" for "extension" - a common error.

Sorry but for monthly income proof that is irrelevant, it is the same for either visa application of extension of stay so my point still remains a question.

[Luckysilk]

This is to target the guys doing the two bank money transfer scam - transfer funds from bank A to bank b account or from the wife's account monthly and showing the Embassy they have the "income".

[wgdanson]

https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/british-embassy-bangkok/office/consular-section.  I have just spoken with the Consular Division who, at first, had no knowledge of this change, but after I directed him to the correct website, that of the British Embassy, Bangkok, he confirmed it. He explained that it is the Thai Immigration Authorities who have changed it all. Sh.................t!

[Jingthing]

5 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Just another case of a extension of stay being called a visa. It is done all the time.

Do you have any information that might indicate whether this shocking change is going to also be done at OTHER embassies? 

[Vacuum]

31 minutes ago, The Fat Controller said:

Life is going to get more difficult next year

 

Not for the ebassy workers. Wonder how they can spend their working hours, Fakebook checks, email....who knows

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, wgdanson said:

https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/british-embassy-bangkok/office/consular-section.  I have just spoken with the Consular Division who, at first, had no knowledge of this change, but after I directed him to the correct website, that of the British Embassy, Bangkok, he confirmed it. He explained that it is the Thai Immigration Authorities who have changed it all. Sh.................t!

If that's really true, yes, very bad for all nationalities here.

There may have been some clues about this in the last months. I recall reading some reports of some provincial offices saying they weren't accepting income letters any longer, only 800K in the bank but they seemed to be weird outliers not reflecting any global change.

[worgeordie]

They keep providing less and less services,only thing

left for them will be garden parties,does the Embassy 

still have a garden ?

regards worgeordie

[ubonjoe]

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

Do you have any information that might indicate whether this shocking change is going to also be done at OTHER embassies? 

None at all.

I suspect this is a knee jerk action by the UK embassy for some unknown reason.

[Jingthing]

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

None at all.

I suspect this is a knee jerk action by the UK embassy for some unknown reason.

Well so many of us certainly hope this is a British thing only!
Not to minimize the impact of this change to British expats. I'm really sorry to hear this news for their sake, but of course hope it doesn't spread. 

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Please continue discussion here: https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1061149-british-embassy-bangkok-to-stop-certification-of-income-letters/