BREAKING NEWS British Embassy Bangkok to Stop Certification of Income Letters

[Jonathan Fairfield]

British Embassy Bangkok to Stop Certification of Income Letters

 

 

From 1 January 2019, the British Embassy Bangkok will no longer be providing British Nationals with letters confirming their income.

 

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.

 

 

 

Notes

 

A)      Requirements for a retirement visa:

 

Must be at least 50 years old;

Must have an amount of at least 800,000 THB in an account in Thailand for no less than three months prior to the application for a visa, or a monthly income of at least 65,000 THB;

Further information: https://www.immigration.go.th/content/service_22

 

B)      Requirements for a marriage visa:

 

Must be legally married to a Thai national;

Must have an amount of no less than 400,000 THB in an account in Thailand for two months prior to the visa application, or an average annual income of no less than 40,000 THB per month;

Further information: https://www.immigration.go.th/content/service_18

 

[mok199]

My Canadian embassy told me they too will stop, I went for my letter of income lastweek and the woman at my Canadian embssy  BKK ,(who has been their for years) told me this was coming ,I asked why ,she replied ''too much paper work''.2 days latter when I went to immigration in Pattaya(with my letter of income) to renew my visa, my wife was approached by an immigration officer ''next year when your husband needs his retirement visa ,come and see me '' and he quoted her a price.. hmmmm

Edited October 8, 2018 by mok199

[colinneil]

British embassy are a total waste of space.

 

[vogie]

Everybody seems to be blaming the British Embassy, but in the other thread it stated that it is Thai Immigration that has instigated this, so won't this directive affect all?

It also said that the last income letter will be issued on the 12th of Dec, I was thinking would Thai Immigration honour that letter if the reporting was in, lets say March, probably no one will know the answer, but it is certainly food for thought.

[bluesofa]

Ha ha ha!

I see that joke about how how open a bank account in Thailand requires only three items.

They deliberately miss out the details about how you need to visit many banks (often the same bank but different branch) in order to maybe get lucky and be 'allowed' to open a bank account. Each branch makes up its own rules - we all know that from experience.

 

I bet within five years they'll probably completely stop renewing passports too - via outsourcing or other means.

<end of sarcasm mode for those with no sense of humour>

 

[sqwakvfr]

I’m going to the US Consulate next week to get my Income Affidavit.  Of course the US never certifies anything(it is just an Affirmation Under Oath). I will ask if the US Consulate has plans to terminate this sevice?  In my case the 800K deposit is a no-go and direct depositing my pension into any Foreign Banks is also a no-go.  Maybe my time in LOS is coming to end soon?  

[Esso49]

6 minutes ago, vogie said:

Everybody seems to be blaming the British Embassy, but in the other thread it stated that it is Thai Immigration that has instigated this, so won't this directive affect all?

It also said that the last income letter will be issued on the 12th of Dec, I was thinking would Thai Immigration honour that letter if the reporting was in, lets say March, probably no one will know the answer, but it is certainly food for thought.

But have they really ?   It was always required that a certified letter in support of monthly income was provided.    Is't it the fact of the matter that maybe, just may be the Thais have not changed the rules but rather insisted that they are followed by requiring that the income letter is indeed certified something that perhaps BE never did ? By us sending letters from our pension providers in support of the income letter, was convenient, but if as it has been claimed, these were never checked on, then how in all honesty could they (BE) have ever provided a certified letter ?

[alphason]

Going by the notice posted by the embassy, under what do I do now? it says you need to show the income by transferring the minimum funds into a Thai account.

So are they saying just make a 80/40K transfer into a Thai account to prove the income, rather than show the 800/400K balance? Who verifies it, how many months income need to be shown? A lot of questions that I guess we will find out about in time?

Edited October 8, 2018 by alphason

[Joe Mcseismic]

10 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Ha ha ha!

I see that joke about how how open a bank account in Thailand requires only three items.

They deliberately miss out the details about how you need to visit many banks (often the same bank but different branch) in order to maybe get lucky and be 'allowed' to open a bank account. Each branch makes up its own rules - we all know that from experience.

 

I bet within five years they'll probably completely stop renewing passports too - via outsourcing or other means.

<end of sarcasm mode for those with no sense of humour>

 

Errrrrm.........all British embassies in Asia have outsourced passport renewals for many years now.

[KhunBENQ]

33 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Further information: https://www.immigration.go.th/content/service_22

The link is in Thai and very slow to open or does not open at all.

The site does not have a time stamp, so can't say whether is has been revised or is new.

 

What I find interesting that under documents there is proof of income required like pension, interest etc. (point 3. in the last section).

But there is no mention of an income letter from embassy.

 

Was this income letter mentioned in previous orders/policies?

I simply don't know.

Edited October 8, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[Luckysilk]

I bet the rest will follow, this is most likely a request by the Thais to scrutinize the monthly income.

 

Knowing a few Brits who did 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".

[garyk]

This is just the beginning, US embassy is next if not already. Then you will see land seizures! IMO the laws will then start getting really tough. 

We ain't seen nothing yet!

[Pilotman]

25 minutes ago, colinneil said:

British embassy are a total waste of space.

 

They are worse than that, they are useless, incompetent, ineffective morons.  Well done the Brits, thanks for your support for your Citizens. So now we have to deposit our hard earned money into an incompetent Thai banking system, aided by our own Embassy.  I am beyone angry 

[Pilotman]

11 minutes ago, alphason said:

Going by the notice posted by the embassy, under what do I do now? it says you need to show the income by transferring the minimum funds into a Thai account.

So are they saying just make a 80/40K transfer into a Thai account to prove the income, rather than show the 800/400K balance? Who verifies it, how many months income need to be shown? A lot of questions that I guess we will find out about in time?

I doubt that. I imagine that we are all going to have to deposit the 800K. Thanks to a useless Embassy 

[mfd101]

It's pretty obvious that, whatever it was called and whatever the Thai authorities thought or think (assuming they do), the annual declaration of income could not possibly be verified by ANY embassy even though you produce documents in support. Embassies are not a detective force. All ANY of them have ever done in reality is to witness YOUR signature on some form of affidavit or statutory declaration, with or without some supporting doco.

 

If the Thais NOW want REAL proof of income, then demonstration of funds moving more or less regularly into Thailand will be the only way to do it, I should think. Whether those funds have to touch down in a Thai financial institution is an interesting question. In my case, since my large-scale movement of funds for house building ended 18 months ago, I almost invariably use BKK Bank atms to debit from my Australian accounts for daily living funds. These rarely go into my BKK Bank account - I just take the cash & run. When I'm in BKK, I use Citibank atms so no cash touches down in a Thai institution.

 

But of course, I'm still bringing funds into Thailand & spending them here ...

[garyk]

How do i show proof of 65K baht / mo. income. Can I just show my bank statements showing monthly deposits of at least that much?

 

[MUSTYJACK]

....and for those who need to renew their visas in December/January, they don't even have the three months necessary to meet the bank account regulations.

[Expattaff1308]

Spoke to them on the phone, asked the question whether as for visa's only but the response was no and it Includes extensions of stay.

Advised to keep checking the Embassy website for further info, was told they are still speaking to the Thai authorities. I pointed out that the BE was one of the few to require evidence before issuing a letter.

He seems to think the Thai authorities want to see the income of 65,000/40,000 a month coming into your Thai Bank Account if you are not using cash in Bank.

[alphason]

3 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

I doubt that. I imagine that we are all going to have to deposit the 800K. Thanks to a useless Embassy 

Yes me to, but that's how it reads to me as an alternative to having the 400/800k on deposit.

 

 

[Phuket Man]

1 minute ago, Expattaff1308 said:

He seems to think the Thai authorities want to see the income of 65,000/40,000 a month coming into your Thai Bank Account if you are not using cash in Bank.

Problem is that the UK state pension is paid every 28 days.

Not monthly.

[doctormann]

2 minutes ago, garyk said:

How do i show proof of 65K baht / mo. income. Can I just show my bank statements showing monthly deposits of at least that much?

 

I can easily get electronic statements from my bank (Kasikorn) but will Immigration accept these of will they insist on 'original' hard copies?  Who knows!!

[Esso49]

10 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

I doubt that. I imagine that we are all going to have to deposit the 800K. Thanks to a useless Embassy 

Hard issue here to resolve but just spoke to my friendly IO , his English was quite good but still was a bit confused, but got there in the end ( I think).   He of course is aware that over the years I have always provide the British Embassy letter  as proof of income for my extension based on marriage.

 

It would be good if someone could corrobarate this also but his reply was "no problem, just show us your bank books showing all the credits in the last year , next time".

 

Well not having gone that route before has others here, ever used the monthly income route  just by showing a tally of all the credits in their Thai bank book ?  Of course if that is true then basically it will save me the cost of an embassy letter because all of my pensions eventually get transferred from the UK bank  to Thai Bank anyway.  So if it is that easy why have I and many others I suspect been stupid enough to waste money on the British Embassy letter previously?

Edited October 8, 2018 by Esso49

[ubonjoe]

17 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

The link is in Thai and very slow to open or does not open at all.

The site does not have a time stamp, so can't say whether is has been revised or is new.

You have to click "Eng at top right side of the page for the english version. It appears immigration is having problems with their server today. Normally much faster.

Same it has been the a long time. it says the same thing in the police order.

[alphason]

6 minutes ago, MUSTYJACK said:

....and for those who need to renew their visas in December/January, they don't even have the three months necessary to meet the bank account regulations.

Apply for the letter before Dec 12, isn't it valid for 3 months? Assuming they immigration are still accepting them at the time

[CharlieH]

Seems to me that its just hand the same statements over that you gave the Embassy to produce the letter and saves you £50 !

 

Be interesting to see how many now switch to "thai wife" for lower figure ?

[Phuket Man]

Just now, alphason said:

Apply for the letter before Dec 12, isn't it valid for 3 months? Assuming they immigration are still accepting them at the time

Letter is valid for 6 months.

[Joe Mcseismic]

Maybe Thai banks can issue official letters confirming that a minimum of 65,000 Bt each month has been deposited in your account with them. This will be the same kind of letters that the bank issues for the seasoned 800K.

[vogie]

1 minute ago, alphason said:

Apply for the letter before Dec 12, isn't it valid for 3 months? Assuming they immigration are still accepting them at the time

The letter is valid for 6 months, but will Immigration accept them after Dec 2018.

[Esso49]

2 minutes ago, Joe Mcseismic said:

Maybe Thai banks can issue official letters confirming that a minimum of 65,000 Bt each month has been deposited in your account with them. This will be the same kind of letters that the bank issues for the seasoned 800K.

even easier if like my previous post 22.   But maybe they will no longer accept letters ( due to the dodgy scams) rather want to see actual bank books to witness the history of all credits ?

Edited October 8, 2018 by Esso49

[doctormann]

2 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Seems to me that its just hand the same statements over that you gave the Embassy to produce the letter and saves you £50 !

 

Be interesting to see how many now switch to "thai wife" for lower figure ?

Except, of course, that Immigration will want translations of your original documents into Thai!

That will mean a trip to MOFA in Bangkok and that place is a zoo!!