Update: New Thai immigration rules for income!

[scubascuba3]

You wouldn't be able to use any of the 800.000 baht for hospital bills within 3 months of applying for an extension. 

Of course he can. He would just need to use the agent method for the next one, or get a tourist visa. Any other problems you can think of?

[eggers]

From what was posted "...to show 65,000 b going into a Thai bank account each and every month...." .

 

I currently transfer funds every 2 -3 months, so in future won't be able to do that? Is that correct based on info provided? 

[kannot]

3 hours ago, onera1961 said:

If you're more than 50, Thai elite is wastage of money. You can get an O-A and come and go easy for two years. No questions asked. 

even if  they start adding on their crazy insurance scheme?

[kannot]

1 hour ago, jackdd said:

This was never possible and isn't possible now

Only a foreigner wife can rely on the income of her Thai husband (not foreigner husband with Thai wife)

Crazy eh so between us we'd have way  more than they ask but as i dont earn it split us  up.............nuts!!

[simon43]

It starts and ends with the sixth letter of the Greco-Roman alphabet.

 

Flameproof???? ????

[crazykopite]

And with currency fluctuations a daily occurrence it is going to be very difficult to have the exact income every month . When I send sterling to my Thai account it comes into the Kingdom in Sterling and then the bank converts it in baht on top of this there is a charge. I have decided to use the 800,000 and once having obtained the extension of stay I will use that money for living expenses and top it up 3 months before my next renewal . I live on 40,000 baht a month so it’s pointless bring in 65,000 every month the big question is would we be allowed to take our Thai money out of the Kingdom if we decided to move on. When I purchased my property I had to obtain a form from the bank which stated the reason for bringing it in. Just a thought !

[Sheryl]

This same info has (also unofficially) been related by others, and it makes sense from a TI standpoint.

 

While it may be a disappointment to those who for whatever reason object to putting money into a Thai bank account it does have the advantage of not requiring the income to be from any specific source (there was some scary talk of only govt pensions, for example) and also being quite simple to document.

 

For those who claim they have income of 65K or above per month but compelling reason to need to spend  or invest part of it outside of Thailand, note that coming into the account does not have to mean all of it staying here. You can transfer I believe 15K at a time by Dee Money back to an account in your home country, for example.   Easy to set up and do online or via smart phone.  While I expect transferring out the whole thing or majority of it would raise eyebrows (and indeed - what then are you living on??) regular monthly transfers of a portion of it should be OK.

 

It is understandable IMO that the Thai government  would want to see money coming into Thailand and being spent there, as that  was the whole rationale for allowing a retirement category of extension to begin with. Some of us may have ways of increasing our incountry spending that won't really make a big difference. For example, I have never bothered to get a local credit card and still use my home country credit cards and then pay the bills out of a home country bank account....but I could make most of the same purchases using a Thai CC paid out of a Thai bank account.

[Suradit69]

16 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

Maybe the expat just deposited money in their home bank.  Maybe the expat's income comes from various sources and not all are directly put in their one home bank. Goodness I myself use 3 financial institutions for various reasons and each with a different purpose. 

That's why referring to it as "income" is a misnomer, although I expect that will continue to be its name.

 

It may all or partially come from a steady income source paid to the applicant or it could be all or in part from some other source, but it will only "prove" that during the prior 12 months he or she managed to shift Baht 65,000 or 40,000 a month into a Thai bank account.

 

It certainly offers no assurance that that money will continue to be available during the upcoming year for which the new extension would be granted ... unless there was some indication that monthly deposits were being directly deposited from a source such as Social Security or other pension type source.

 

The now ending income affidavit supposedly implied that the applicant was receiving, and presumably would continue to receive, an amount adequate to support him/her in future.

 

I realize that for most people the money they deposit monthly will come from continuing source such as a pension or Social Security, but this method seems to be no more reliable than sworn affidavits or stat declarations when it comes to proving someone will have sufficient financial support in the year for which a new extension would be granted.

 

I wonder if income letters from those embassies that have not announced they would stop will still be accepted or if everyone has to shift to the monthly deposit in a Thai bank account method.

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2019 by Suradit69

[kwak250]

I just did a 90 day report and the officer there said there are no changes to my usual marriage visa application and i still only need to keep the 400k in a thai bank for 3 months before i apply.

Is this correct as i also have seen you have to show 40k a month which as i have a visa based on marriage i would have to keep sending back and forth to show 40k.

 

 

[Sheryl]

5 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

...I realize that for most people the money they deposit monthly will come from continuing source such as a pension or Social Security, but this method seems to be no more reliable than sworn affidavits or stat declarations when it comes to proving something will have sufficient financial support in the year for which a new extension would be granted.

Well, it will likely weed out those who have never had anything close to the required income and were obtaining Embassy letters based on false declarations. And there are some such.

 

True, it actually proves in retrospect not prospectively, but the odds of someone who had 65K a month come into a Thai bank annually for the past 12 months being able to continue to do so are arguably better than the odds that what someone told their Embassy is their income, really is.

[Suradit69]

6 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

Interesting, people on other threads complaining about it getting more and more difficult to live in Thailand and that the rules keep changing.  Then on this thread people are talking about juggling money between bank accounts so it appears the minimum income is received when in fact it is not.

 

I wonder why the rules keep changing?

Very true, but it seems that the "new improved method" will be no more reliable than the suspect embassy letter method.

[Suradit69]

3 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

True, it actually proves in retrospect not prospectively, but the odds of someone who had 65K a month come into a Thai bank annually for the past 12 months being able to continue to do so are arguably better than the odds that what someone told their Embassy is their income, really is.

Possibly, or it may mean that those who fabricated their claims on the embassy letters will have to find new ways to achieve the same ends.

 

I agree that for some this could mean the end of the road. Unfortunately at least some affected may be those who have been here for decades and whose financial resources, once adequate, have dwindled over time. I expect many of that sort will not have a Plan B.

[jacko45k]

3 hours ago, sumrit said:

What Thai Bank do you send money to?

Bangkok Bank.

[SooKee]

Like a number of others I have money sent over every month using TransferWise and mine goes to Kasikorn. Plan to go for my extension this month with a letter and will take a statement from Kasikorn showing the incoming (albeit shown as local transfers) together with a TW print out of the same transfers over a year and see if that will wash for next year.

If not, guess I'll be scratching around for a BKK Bank account or maybe try a transfer to whichever of my accounts I can transfer to using HSBC without getting intermediary charges (last time I tried I found it depended on the BIC of the Thai bank - using the new 13 digit code I got hit, using an old account set up with the old 8 digit BIC didn't). Never tried HSBC since the problems arose and I switched to TW a couple of years ago. Just opening a BKK Bank account might be easier, IF I can.


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[sumrit]

13 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Well, it will likely weed out those who have never had anything close to the required income and were obtaining Embassy letters based on false declarations. And there are some such.

 

True, it actually proves in retrospect not prospectively, but the odds of someone who had 65K a month come into a Thai bank annually for the past 12 months being able to continue to do so are arguably better than the odds that what someone told their Embassy is their income, really is.

 

And I suspect that banning all use of agents to assist in obtaining extensions, whether via income or money in the bank options would weed out many. many, many more people who have been lying and cheating to stay in Thailand.

 

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[Suradit69]

4 hours ago, kannot said:

IS  Thai  Thai  Elite 20 year visa  now  looking a  better long  term  prospect?

If you have the money for that you could easily deposit Baht 800,000 or Baht 400,000 in a Thai bank and have a more or less permanent solution and still have that money in the bank to use for 9 months of the year until it needed to be topped up or in an emergency.

[sumrit]

4 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Bangkok Bank.

Thanks. Others have also confirmed payments to a Bangkok Bank Account show up as an International Transfer.

[Suradit69]

4 hours ago, Longcut said:

PDF copies of the transfer can be printed out showing the money came from your foreign bank. That along with a bank book might suffice as proof. At least I hope so.

 If this is not accepted then it looks as though everyone would have to have a BKK bank account. Bangkok Bank would have a monopoly on the foreign transfer scheme

"it looks as though everyone would have to have a BKK bank account."

 

Or transfer their money using some other method than Transferwise.

[Chicken George]

5 minutes ago, sumrit said:

And I suspect that banning all use of agents to assist in obtaining extensions, whether via income or money in the bank options would weed out many. many, many more people who have been lying and cheating to stay in Thailand.

 

• I see Thsi visa here are adverizing agsin the agent route.. Yeo I thought it was ilegal now too..  1
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[Sheryl]

21 minutes ago, kwak250 said:

I just did a 90 day report and the officer there said there are no changes to my usual marriage visa application and i still only need to keep the 400k in a thai bank for 3 months before i apply.

Is this correct as i also have seen you have to show 40k a month which as i have a visa based on marriage i would have to keep sending back and forth to show 40k.

 

 

It is, and always has been, either/or: 400K in the bank or 40k/month income. Not both. Although 40k/month adds up to more than 400K it  gives some leeway to those who live month to month  and can't afford to pre-fund their annual living expenses.

 

Same for retirement but higher amounts (800k and 65k/month).

[OJAS]

May I temper all the apparent optimism on this thread with some words of caution? It should not IMHO be taken as a given that each and every immigration office (or, indeed, each and every officer within the same office) will comply with the requirements of any new Police Order or directive straight away. There could well be those officers who, in the short term at least, will still insist on seasoned 400k/800k bank balances being the only way forward in the absence of Embassy income confirmations, and no amount of waving new Police Orders or directives under their noses will necessarily cause them to budge.

 

In this connection it should not be forgotten that not every office complied straight away with the Immigration Bureau directive issued in 2013 authorising a maximum validity period of 6 months for Embassy income confirmations, for instance.
 

[dsj]

I have a question, what happens if you sell a Condo , which you used foreign funds to pay for it, and the funds from the sale stays in Thailand, will you still be able to use if you have 800K in your bank for 3 months.

[ubonjoe]

3 minutes ago, dsj said:

I have a question, what happens if you sell a Condo , which you used foreign funds to pay for it, and the funds from the sale stays in Thailand, will you still be able to use if you have 800K in your bank for 3 months.

Yes you can.

There are no changes for the money in the bank option.

[Suradit69]

3 hours ago, JLCrab said:

the bulk of the discussion is how the bunco artists can put in the fix.

And probably many of those "artists" are the most vocal complaining  on TV about how Thais fall short of the supposed noble farang when it comes to integrity.

[JLCrab]

27 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Well, it will likely weed out those who have never had anything close to the required income and were obtaining Embassy letters based on false declarations. And there are some such.

That's where you'll find me
Along with lovers, muggers, and thieves (aw, but they're cool, too)

 

From Muddy Water by the Standells (1965)

[Sheryl]

13 minutes ago, SooKee said:

Like a number of others I have money sent over every month using TransferWise and mine goes to Kasikorn. Plan to go for my extension this month with a letter and will take a statement from Kasikorn showing the incoming (albeit shown as local transfers) together with a TW print out of the same transfers over a year and see if that will wash for next year.

If not, guess I'll be scratching around for a BKK Bank account or maybe try a transfer to whichever of my accounts I can transfer to using HSBC without getting intermediary charges (last time I tried I found it depended on the BIC of the Thai bank - using the new 13 digit code I got hit, using an old account set up with the old 8 digit BIC didn't). Never tried HSBC since the problems arose and I switched to TW a couple of years ago. Just opening a BKK Bank account might be easier, IF I can.


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I'm not sure what the concern is using TW into Kasikorn bank. What is posted here and has been said elsewhere is just 65K a month coming into an account, not anything about showing it came from abroad.  Which will be good for those who fund their retirements through passive income (rentals income or investment income etc) inside Thailand.

 

If however there is a need to show foreign source if the fund, each transfer into Kasikorn generated something called a "Credit Advice" and you can arrange to get copies of them. I believe you can also arrange to get a copy on a standing basis. Call the central number and ask about it.  Even if (as seems likely) it will not be necessary for extension of stay purposes it is IMO a good idea to have the records to show that your funds came from abroad just in case. For example, if yo uever needed to send a large amount out of the country.

[jacko45k]

16 minutes ago, sumrit said:

And I suspect that banning all use of agents to assist in obtaining extensions, whether via income or money in the bank options would weed out many. many, many more people who have been lying and cheating to stay in Thailand.

 

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And who will be shooting that Golden Goose?

[Suradit69]

3 hours ago, mikebell said:

A monthly bank transfer is more expensive in fees than what I do now; transfer 5K UKP; when it runs out, repeat.  The total for a year always surpasses 800,000.  Surely a list of these sporadic payments in each visa year would serve the same process?

Yes, it seems that coming up with a total of Baht 800,000 for the prior 12 months ( or 12 x 65,000 = baht 780,000) ought to be acceptable. Not saying that it will be. Probably involve too much calculator use or make it easier for those who plan to use musical bank accounts.

[Lemonltr]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

1 hour ago, Lemonltr said:

You wouldn't be able to use any of the 800.000 baht for hospital bills within 3 months of applying for an extension. 

Of course he can. He would just need to use the agent method for the next one, or get a tourist visa. Any other problems you can think of?

OK. You want to be exact. He would have to abandon his plans to do it by the 800.000 method 

You are nitpicking. 

[Pib]

3 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

I'm not sure what the concern is using TW into Kasikorn bank. What is posted here and has been said elsewhere is just 65K a month coming into an account, not anything about showing it came from abroad. 

Oh you can bet an "incoming international" transfer will be required. Otherwise, the individual could just be transferring money from one Thai bank account to another...like from say K-bank to Bangkok Bank.  Then go to a Bangkok Bank branch/ATM, withdraw the money....deposit it back in K-bank so you can then transfer/deposit it to Bangkok Bank a month later.   

 

And just like the opening post stated which states in incoming transfer from the home country however I expect it can be from "any" country outside of Thailand....just has to be an international transfer.

Quote

In the future you will have to show 65,000 b going into a Thai bank account each and every month from your home country.