Hi. I just read the warning that my embassy will not give the affidavit of income needed for extension of my Thai marriage visa. I do not work. I am on government pension. It is not a retirement visa, so I think if I am reading this right, monthly deposits to my Thai account is not proof. I do not have 400k THB in my account.

 

UMMMM... What do I do, please?

When does your current permission to stay end?

As it stands monthly deposits to a Thai account are not generally accepted as proof by immigration. There have been exceptions reported. You would need to ask at your local office if it is acceptable to them.

 

If not and you don’t have 400K in your bank you could go to the Thai consulate in Savannahket, Laos and get a Multiple Entry Non ‘O’ visa (5,000 baht). That would allow you to stay nearly 17 months, but you’d need to exit/re-enter every 90/150 days. No financials required.

 

It could be a short term fix until this embassy letter situation is resolved.

16 minutes ago, elviajero said:

It could be a short term fix until this embassy letter situation is resolved.

Don't think the 4 embassies which don't issue l.o.I. anymore, will change their mind.

Don't think that  T.I. consider there is a situation with the L.o.I..

 

Will see.

8 hours ago, elviajero said:

As it stands monthly deposits to a Thai account are not generally accepted as proof by immigration. There have been exceptions reported. You would need to ask at your local office if it is acceptable to them.

 

If not and you don’t have 400K in your bank you could go to the Thai consulate in Savannahket, Laos and get a Multiple Entry Non ‘O’ visa (5,000 baht). That would allow you to stay nearly 17 months, but you’d need to exit/re-enter every 90/150 days. No financials required.

 

It could be a short term fix until this embassy letter situation is resolved.

Not a bad idea but there is no reason to have any confidence that it will ever be resolved. There is the bank method and that is unchanged.

14 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Not a bad idea but there is no reason to have any confidence that it will ever be resolved. There is the bank method and that is unchanged.

Yes, just do it the KISS method. Put the money in the bank and forget about it. 

Edited December 20, 20187 yr by Boon Mee

9 hours ago, luckyluke said:

Don't think that  T.I. consider there is a situation with the L.o.I..

Of course they recognize that there will be " a situation."

 

There have been various announcements from some individual offices and the central authority ( of varying degrees of coherency or consistency or certainty) regarding accepting embassy letters or accepting evidence of monthly deposits to a Thai bank etc.

 

Nothing concrete or official, but the fact that various offices have been speculating on what would or would not be acceptable means they're well aware that "there is a (pending) situation."

 

 

This is a bit off topic. I plan on putting 800,000 TMB in an account and leaving it there. does need to be solely in my name or can I have someone else as well? I want them to have access in case of a emergency , etc.

 

Thanks.

2 minutes ago, Jeffkp said:

This is a bit off topic. I plan on putting 800,000 TMB in an account and leaving it there. does need to be solely in my name or can I have someone else as well? I want them to have access in case of a emergency , etc.

 

Thanks.

It must be in your name only.

2 minutes ago, Jeffkp said:

This is a bit off topic. I plan on putting 800,000 TMB in an account and leaving it there. does need to be solely in my name or can I have someone else as well? I want them to have access in case of a emergency , etc.

 

Thanks.

Sole name.

Don't hold your breath for any future change in the amount of money that needs to be in the Thai Bank for a retirement Visa.  Response to my email to British Consul was, "it's your problem to sort it out with your local Immigration Office".  I presume that with this vast reduction in work in the Consul Department, that there will be a considerable down sizing of that Department........starting with the Consul Him/Herself!

15 hours ago, SailingHome said:

Hi. I just read the warning that my embassy will not give the affidavit of income needed for extension of my Thai marriage visa. I do not work. I am on government pension. It is not a retirement visa, so I think if I am reading this right, monthly deposits to my Thai account is not proof. I do not have 400k THB in my account.

 

UMMMM... What do I do, please?

Basically Sailinghome, sit tight, prepare for proving monthly income by having 40k THB or higher deposited in a Thai bank account and wait and see what develops.

 

Despite what you've been reading, there is NO EVIDENCE that the monthly income method has become defunct. And both the Brit and the US embassies have indicated that this will be the way forward for those who do not have the 800/400k capital to deposit.

 

Closer to the time that you are due for renewal, seek guidance from you TI office as to how they will want you to prove your income.

 

The Savannakhet option is available as mentioned by Elviajero above, if all else fails but personally, I think you'll ok to continue with your normal extensions. And I'm not the only one who believes that by a long way.

Edited December 20, 20187 yr by Moonlover

Not knowing when your current extension expires it is hard to give any advise except that if your current extension expires before the end of July 2019 then get your fanny down to your embassy before the end of December and get your income affidavit which is good for 6 months from date of issue plus you can apply for your new extension 30 days early which will give you until the end of June to renew if your extension expires before the end of July

The Danish embassy in Bangkok stopped earlier this month issuing income verification letters without any warning. They said, that the embassy cannot guarantee the income for the coming year, based on income statements from a previous year, and that the Thai authorities wish an income gurantee for the year to come.

 

However, and the might be of interest for others, the Danish embassy yesterday stated, that if a Danish citizen has a steady income in form of a for example governmental retirement pension, and the department paying that pension would send a verification letter for the coming years retirement pension directly to the embassy, then the embassy would translate it to English and verify the translation.

 

Perhaps that might be a possibility for other nationals with a steady governmental retirement pension also, i.e. that their national embassy would do a similar thing.

 

The question is if the various Thai immigrations will accept such a letter. A Dane today posted in a Danish language forum, that he had checked with immigration in Udon Thani, and they had said that they would accept a letter like that as proof of income – however, no guaranitie if that is official, and that other immigrations might have similar view – but it might help people having a steady retirement pension of 40k baht a month, for extension of stay based on marriage, or as part of a total of 800k baht with mixed funds for extension of stay based on retirement, if that would be the case.

 

Could be worth checking by other nationals and report back on Thaivisa forum.

????

Sorry you are under such stress.  You might try contacting the bank in your home country that processes your pension every month and see if they will give you a loan of any type to cover some of all or the requirement.  After all they know exactly what your income is and where it comes from.  I had the same problem with a government pension that would only deposit into an American bank and my bank surprised me and approved an online signature loan application in 2 hours. 

Government pensions are actually the most stable form of income a person can have.  You can't get laid off or fired from a pension.  

Whatever you do, good luck to you.  

Edited December 20, 20187 yr by Robins
can't type

For the benefit of the O/P, (and others of course) please go visit the following topic which has some very interesting information regarding monthly incomes.

 

 

15 hours ago, Jeffkp said:

This is a bit off topic. I plan on putting 800,000 TMB in an account and leaving it there. does need to be solely in my name or can I have someone else as well? I want them to have access in case of a emergency , etc.

 

Thanks.

Obtain a card that from your bank that allows the account to be accessed from an ATM then give the card to the person concerned, that’s what I have done,

22 hours ago, robertson468 said:

Don't hold your breath for any future change in the amount of money that needs to be in the Thai Bank for a retirement Visa.  Response to my email to British Consul was, "it's your problem to sort it out with your local Immigration Office".  I presume that with this vast reduction in work in the Consul Department, that there will be a considerable down sizing of that Department........starting with the Consul Him/Herself!

The downsizing has already occurred, the visa staff moved to India earlier in the year. I suspect that the majority of the staff left in Consular Services are Thai nationals that may be unable to deal with UK financial paperwork.