Clarification on 40k Baht Income

[utalkin2me]

I am married to a Thai and have historically always just border hopped in/out and visited immigration for extensions to take care of my approval to stay.

 

I am currently looking to change over using the 40k baht income requirement.

 

I sell digital items to various parties. I am wondering if this is not a usable form of income to show them? I usually m paid via paypal. 

 

Thank you for any clarification on this. 

[ubonjoe]

For foreign earned income you must prove it by way of a document (letter, stat declaration, affidavit and etc) from your embassy stating your income. Immigration does not ask for proof of the source of your income.

[roobaa01]

what about the bank savings passbook showing regular monthly 40k entries with the code funds came in from abroad ?? that should satisfy immigration.

 

wbr

roobaa01

[utalkin2me]

14 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

For foreign earned income you must prove it by way of a document (letter, stat declaration, affidavit and etc) from your embassy stating your income. Immigration does not ask for proof of the source of your income.

Ok, I understand. That actaully makes it easier.

 

Thank you for the replies! 

[ubonjoe]

7 minutes ago, roobaa01 said:

what about the bank savings passbook showing regular monthly 40k entries with the code funds came in from abroad ?? that should satisfy immigration.

No it will not be accepted by immigration. They require a document from your embassy for proof of income.

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, roobaa01 said:

what about the bank savings passbook showing regular monthly 40k entries with the code funds came in from abroad ?? that should satisfy immigration.

 

wbr

roobaa01

That evidence is only useful if the IO asks you to provide evidence to support the income stated on the required embassy letter.  In other reported cases, applicants have also used statements from pension services, foreign-bank deposits, etc. 

 

IOs do not always ask for evidence beyond the embassy-letter, but best to bring something like this along, in case they ask.

[utalkin2me]

1 hour ago, JackThompson said:

That evidence is only useful if the IO asks you to provide evidence to support the income stated on the required embassy letter.  In other reported cases, applicants have also used statements from pension services, foreign-bank deposits, etc. 

 

IOs do not always ask for evidence beyond the embassy-letter, but best to bring something like this along, in case they ask.

Would they accept payments on paypal for items sold as digital goods as evidence? This stuff makes me just want to keep doing border runs, which I do not mind actually. 

[utalkin2me]

The thing that drives me crazy, is it is possible for me to make $0 usd in January, and $15k in February. They always want to see these stable paychecks everywhere and it just seems noone wants to realize the world is not that simple. I even get fined by the govt for not guessing my income properly. 

[ParadiseLost]

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

No it will not be accepted by immigration. They require a document from your embassy for proof of income.

Now I am confused - UJ you told me exactly the opposite just a few days ago...

 

 

[ubonjoe]

26 minutes ago, ParadiseLost said:

Now I am confused - UJ you told me exactly the opposite just a few days ago...

I think I replied to your entire post when I replied to the snipping of this post.

" In my case, I have a bank account outside of both Thailand and my passport country which is effectively my retirement fund. Could I simply transfer 40k baht into Thailand every month and use a bank statement showing this in place of 400k deposit, with no supporting documents?"

You would need a letter from your embassy to do it.

[ParadiseLost]

25 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I think I replied to your entire post when I replied to the snipping of this post.

" In my case, I have a bank account outside of both Thailand and my passport country which is effectively my retirement fund. Could I simply transfer 40k baht into Thailand every month and use a bank statement showing this in place of 400k deposit, with no supporting documents?"

You would need a letter from your embassy to do it.

Good thing I didn't rock up at immigration and tell them Ubonjoe said it was alright!

????

[JackThompson]

2 hours ago, utalkin2me said:

Would they accept payments on paypal for items sold as digital goods as evidence? This stuff makes me just want to keep doing border runs, which I do not mind actually. 

Up to embassy-policy for the letter.  For many countries, you provide a statement of your income and swear to it.  Others do it differently. 

 

For immigration, maybe the paypal-statement would work.  But without a work-permit, you cannot legally be working here (even online), so I would not do this.  Better would be to show the deposits (originating from your paypal company-account) into a personal account.  If pulling over 40K/mo into your personal account (averaged), that could work.  Even better if the xfers are direct to a Thai bank. 

[Suradit69]

On 10/18/2018 at 11:12 AM, roobaa01 said:

what about the bank savings passbook showing regular monthly 40k entries with the code funds came in from abroad ?? that should satisfy immigration.

 

wbr

roobaa01

Whether or not is "should be" accepted, it is not accepted by immigrations.

Income claims must be supported by some form of document from an embassy ... in most cases your home country's embassy.

 

If immigrations asked for evidence to support your claim on the embassy's document, your Thai bank book showing deposits from abroad might help ... or not, depending on the I/O, but you still need the embassy document.

 

Although keep tuned in.  There seems to be some turmoil in the whole "income verification" approach to extensions of stay.

 

 

 

 

[robertson468]

This morning I renewed my Retirement Visa at Koh Samui Immigration and decided to ask what proof they needed of income next year, as the British Embassy (at the moment) had cancelled the service of certifiying people's income.  I said that the Embassy had published (via Thai Visa) that one of the options was to prove monthly income to your Thai Bank Account of either 65,000 baht if not married to a Thai, or 40,000 baht if married to a Thai.  Koh Samui Immigration categorically denied that this would be accepted by them and one had to either have deposited in the individual's Bank Account 800,000 baht if not married to a Thai or 400,000 baht if married to a Thai and it must be in the account for at least 6 months!  I have discussed this with our, hopefully about to be appointed, Honourary Consul and asked for her to raise this with the Embassy who must either get confirmation that the monthly deposits may be made and to ensure Immigration publicises this through all their Immigration Offices or to rescind their original notification and publish THE FACTS.  Watch this space all you Brit Wrinklies!

[maprao]

If you have 400k Baht put it in an account and leave it for extensions based on being married to a Thai. Report every 90 days (easy if you have the funds available). Then use another account with other monies should they ask you what you live on. Ensure the 400K has been allowed the appropriate "seasoning" I belive 2 months on the first extension and 3 months on subsequent extensions.

[JackThompson]

53 minutes ago, robertson468 said:

Koh Samui Immigration categorically denied that this would be accepted by them and one had to either have deposited in the individual's Bank Account 800,000 baht if not married to a Thai or 400,000 baht if married to a Thai and it must be in the account for at least 6 months! 

They are known for being so very helpful and friendly there (/sarcasm off/). 

 

But it is the case that embassy-letters are always required for income-based extension qualifications.

 

32 minutes ago, maprao said:

Ensure the 400K has been allowed the appropriate "seasoning" I belive 2 months on the first extension and 3 months on subsequent extensions.

Per the rules, it's only 2 months seasoning every year if married to a Thai.  For retirement-based, it's 3 months seasoning for subsequent extensions, but only 2 months for the first one.

 

But, as we know from many reports, a local office can invent fake-seasoning or other rules if they want (unless you pay them off through an agent), and their superiors won't lift a finger to make them follow the actual published rules.  Similar invented-rules are reported by many at entry-points.  It's a systemic problem.

[Saladin]

Digressing a little but I had a phone call from Australian Social Security (at 6am) earlier this year, enquiring as to whether I intended to be domiciled in Thailand in the future, which I affirmed. They sent me a form to fill in with my Thai bank account details (Bangkok Bank) and told me that henceforth they would pay my age pension directly into that account in full and without bank fees, but every 4 weeks rather than fortnightly. This works great but I need to be more disciplined with my spending or the pattern becomes Dining at the Ritz for the first two weeks and living on the bones of my bum for the remainder of the month. But this direct payment arrangement must surely be worth something as documentary evidence.

[Russell17au]

1 hour ago, Saladin said:

Digressing a little but I had a phone call from Australian Social Security (at 6am) earlier this year, enquiring as to whether I intended to be domiciled in Thailand in the future, which I affirmed. They sent me a form to fill in with my Thai bank account details (Bangkok Bank) and told me that henceforth they would pay my age pension directly into that account in full and without bank fees, but every 4 weeks rather than fortnightly. This works great but I need to be more disciplined with my spending or the pattern becomes Dining at the Ritz for the first two weeks and living on the bones of my bum for the remainder of the month. But this direct payment arrangement must surely be worth something as documentary evidence.

The easiest way to do it Saladin is to only take out of your bank account the same amount that you did when you were paid every 2 weeks. You still need to do a Statutory Declaration from the Australian Embassy when you are renewing your extension to stay and it is only if immigration ask you for further proof of income that you could submit a statement from either Centrelink or from your Bangkok Bank account. Just remember that when you are doing your Statutory Declaration you are paid 13x4 weekly payments, so remember to multiply your 4 weekly payments by 13 then divide that by 12 to give you your monthly payments. Many people make the mistake of claiming their 4 weekly payments as monthly payments and that is not correct. Your payments are made direct from the Reserve Bank in Australia into your Bangkok Bank account at a better exchange rate than it is if you go through an Australian bank account plus you have no fees with the Reserve Bank to Bangkok Bank system and you have no fees with the Bangkok Bank ATM withdrawels.

[Phuket Man]

3 hours ago, maprao said:

.Ensure the 400K has been allowed the appropriate "seasoning" I belive 2 months on the first extension and 3 months on subsequent extensions.

Nope.

Money in the bank for 2 months every extension.

[Sir Dude]

Looks like the way forward is just having 400k or 800k in the bank for 3 months beforehand for the respective visa as they are tightening the screw on many fronts. Also, the useless embassies of the world are ducking out of helping their citizens due to pressure from Thai authorities about income letters etc.  

 

Better just to do the lump sum or get yourself a work permit really imo...assuming you actually want to stay as apposed to the many that are bailing.

[Phuket Man]

22 minutes ago, Sir Dude said:

Looks like the way forward is just having 400k or 800k in the bank for 3 months beforehand for the respective visa as they are tightening the screw on many fronts. Also, the useless embassies of the world are ducking out of helping their citizens due to pressure from Thai authorities about income letters etc.  

 

Better just to do the lump sum or get yourself a work permit really imo...assuming you actually want to stay as apposed to the many that are bailing.

2 months for marriage extension.

[darksidedog]

Some bickering and baiting posts, and replies, all of which contained inaccuracies of their own, have been removed.

Accusing others of writing BS, or being a troll is against the forum rules.

Cut it out right now, and stick to the topic.

[sandyf]

19 hours ago, robertson468 said:

This morning I renewed my Retirement Visa at Koh Samui Immigration and decided to ask what proof they needed of income next year, as the British Embassy (at the moment) had cancelled the service of certifiying people's income.  I said that the Embassy had published (via Thai Visa) that one of the options was to prove monthly income to your Thai Bank Account of either 65,000 baht if not married to a Thai, or 40,000 baht if married to a Thai.  Koh Samui Immigration categorically denied that this would be accepted by them and one had to either have deposited in the individual's Bank Account 800,000 baht if not married to a Thai or 400,000 baht if married to a Thai and it must be in the account for at least 6 months!  I have discussed this with our, hopefully about to be appointed, Honourary Consul and asked for her to raise this with the Embassy who must either get confirmation that the monthly deposits may be made and to ensure Immigration publicises this through all their Immigration Offices or to rescind their original notification and publish THE FACTS.  Watch this space all you Brit Wrinklies!

This issue may or may not be under discussion at the higher levels of Thai authority but at the moment there is little chance of any front line IO having any idea of a future policy. The reason I never bothered to ask when I was there last week.

The letters do not stop until December and are valid for sometime after. The first casualties are likely to be those entering Thailand after mid Dec on a 90 day Non O with the intention of doing an extension in March. We may not see any positive information until that comes about.