BREAKING NEWS Thai immigration reveals new requirements for retirement, marriage extensions (visas)

[geoffbezoz]

Just now, DPKANKAN said:

Did not say it was a minimum or maximum. I said that I had paid in for 42 years and what little I get in return

But just to go off at a tangent, I use to pay in to the "earnings related" scheme."  Until we were cheated out of that also.. Sorry now back to topic

 

[onera1961]

11 minutes ago, jimmyyy said:

i never will understand why the Embassy can't log into the VA payment system or SSI for that matter and say yes this person is getting this. 

Again the same thing, completely ignoring people who don't have VA or SS payment.

[inthanet]

Quote

2.18 In the case of family member (mother, father, male or female spouse, child, adopted child or child of spouse) with Thai nationality. Can be authorized for not more than 1 year.

Is the ordinary Non-O (3 Month/90 Days) also affected or only the 1 year extension?

[4MyEgo]

10 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

you made condescending comments about was making a legitimate comment

Perhaps you didn't read his reply to mine previous, then perhaps you might have read who made what condescending remark to who, and my reply was not condescending, was merely quoting a saying as far as I can recall. 

 

Enough time wasted on this as I am going around in circles, each to their own, have better things to do with my time.

[snooky]

4 hours ago, problemfarang said:

all i see is... Thai Imm trying to do things more harder than now as if its not hard enough.

 

I have an American friend and gets his NON-O (thai wife) 1 year extension by a income letter from his embassy. His income is not real. He just tells the embassy and they give a letter, thats all. Now some might thing its ok, some might thing its not fair at all. I think IMM noticed this and decided to take an action, which is fair enough.

 

What i dont understand is... why your income should be 40K? I mean when thai ppl get married their income not even 30K (most of them) so why the law changes when it comes to farang... Also why both husband and wife income not count?! One of my friends income is 31K + 8K = 39K he cant get an extension... for 1K.

 

15

It used to be about half that amount, however, when Mr. T and his administration were in power, they wanted more affluent people coming here so requirements were just about doubled to their present amounts.

 

I had one of the old extensions but could not get back in time to renew so lost it and by the time I did get here at a time doable every year, they had put the increase in place  ???? !

 

I 

[onera1961]

1 hour ago, bluesea said:

WHEN WE STOP COMING HERE SUPPORTING FAMILIES ,BUYING CARS, HOUSES,CLOTHES ECT THEY MIGHT WAKE UP TO THEMSELVES.

There may be some initial hurdles but they will bounce backs and don't have to rely on individual migrating to their country. They can rely on multinationals investing in their country.

[4MyEgo]

5 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

or income ?

 

I would have thought either if working, or funds if not.

[ubonjoe]

7 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Yes you can as long as you have the funds in the bank.

Or if you can prove an income of 40k baht or more.

[DPKANKAN]

1 hour ago, NCC1701A said:

OK everybody I think 21 pages just about covers it. Why don't we break for lunch and meet back at the "Health Insurance Now Required" topic and we can drone on endlessly about that.  

I think we need to break until we get an actual certified copy in English of the TI's changes.... Obviously not certified by the UK, US, Aussie or Danish Embassies that is !!! 555????????????????????????

[onera1961]

16 minutes ago, inwardglee said:

I have decided to not worry. It is never useful to worry before a difficult situation has happened already. It is early enough to be angry or sad when the bad event has happened, but not just expecting it. 

Not to worry if it is not in your control. Worry if it's in your control and make amends to make it better.

[4MyEgo]

5 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Or if you can prove an income of 40k baht or more.

 

6 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

I would have thought either if working, or funds if not.

 

[inthanet]

Is the ordinary Non-O (3 Month/90 Days), In the case of a family member also affected or only the 1-year extension?

[overherebc]

13 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Updated requirements for the income option only.

The amendment does not include the money in the bank or combination options because it has not been changed.

I think you may have to post that in large red letters a few times more. ????????

[steve73]

I've not read the whole thread as yet as pages are being added faster than I can read them, so apologies if these points have already been raised...

 

Many pension can be paid 2 or 4-weekly, quarterly, or annually (or possibly other schedules), and if you transfer your own funds (either pensions, rental income, savings, or investment dividends or drawdowns) you can select whatever frequency you wish to optimize exchange rates.

 

If Thai Immigration want to see a MINIMUM monthly income of 65k, then some of these payment schedules will clearly be unsuitable; even the 2-weekly payment may fail in most months with only 2 payments, but averaging out the 3 payments would be sufficient. 

 

But IF Thai Immigration wants to see an AVERAGE monthly income coming into Thailand of 65k, then this can be achieved by ensuring a total of 780k over the preceding year.  This could be achieved by making a single payment of 780k at any time in the year before applying for your extension.

 

So the options for obtaining the retirement extension now become either to ensure a total of 780k is transferred from overseas during the year, or to ensure a minimum of 800k is maintained in your Thai bank for 3 months before applying (which suggest there is no requirement to show funds actually coming into Thailand from overseas). 

 

This "income" method also raises the possibility of using the SAME 780k payment for 2 successive extensions.  I.e. if your Extension is due say 31st Jan, then you can satisfy the income requirement by bringing in 780k on say the 25th, and then doing you extension.  Next year, you could do your extension up to 30 days early, and the 780k would still be in the preceding year.  Not sure if they would pick this up...?

[ubonjoe]

15 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

I would have thought either if working, or funds if not.

I am on my 11th extension of stay based upon marriage using the 40k baht income option.

You do not have to working to use the income option.

From clause 2.18 of the police order.

"5. Only for Criteria (5) paragraph 1 and (6), the applicant must attach a funds deposit certificate issued by a bank in Thailand and a copy of a bankbook, or attach documents proving that the parents or alien husband earns an average monthly income of no less than Baht 40,000 throughout the year, such as any particular individual income tax return together with payment receipt, evidence of receiving retirement pension, evidence of receiving interest from funds deposit, or evidence of having other funds issued by the relevant agency."

[zydeco]

5 minutes ago, steve73 said:

If Thai Immigration want to see a MINIMUM monthly income of 65k, then some of these payment schedules will clearly be unsuitable; even the 2-weekly payment may fail in most months with only 2 payments, but averaging out the 3 payments would be sufficient. 

 

But IF Thai Immigration wants to see an AVERAGE monthly income coming into Thailand of 65k, then this can be achieved by ensuring a total of 780k over the preceding year.  This could be achieved by making a single payment of 780k at any time in the year before applying for your extension.

Yes, this one of the keys to if this works. I keep posting about it, but neither Joe or anyone else has an answer, I guess. Americans getting only SS payments every month got two in August but none in September, meaning they do not qualify for an extension under your first scenario. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, NCC1701A said:

OK everybody I think 21 pages just about covers it. Why don't we break for lunch and meet back at the "Health Insurance Now Required" topic and we can drone on endlessly about that.  

 

People have legitimate questions and uncertainties after reading ONLY the original news report post, and not then reading all 20+ pages of follow up posts like I did, and perhaps you too. (And spending a good part of the day doing it....)

 

If the original post had made it clear that the current 400K/800K bank deposits methods were still going to be available and remain unchanged, and that the translation's use of the term "pension" probably doesn't mean ONLY that kind of income will be accepted under the new rules for monthly income, then probably about 3/4th of the followup posts would not have been necessary.

 

The original post could have been better articulated, and/or amended/edited along the way to make those kinds of things clearer once the obvious concerns became apparent, without forcing the entire reading population here to wade thru 20+ pages of often repeated questions and answers that could have been handled at the outset.

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[inactiveposter]

Zydeco - my American SS payments are on a specific date (3rd) each month, not by week(s).

[Suradit69]

52 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

as far as I saw it, he was referring to the 800,000 baht retirement extension

The 800,000 in the bank method means you keep a  BALANCE of at least baht 800,000 in a Thai bank account for at least 3 months before applying for an extension, NOT that you made deposits of 800,000 during the year.

 

Since the other poster was topping up his account quarterly for living expenses that had nothing to do with the money in the bank method..

[Sheryl]

No mention of the 400k/800k method? Has this been dropped?????

[sandyf]

27 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Updated requirements for the income option only.

The amendment does not include the money in the bank or combination options because it has not been changed.

Surely the combination option must change. How does one deal with the income portion if embassy letters are no longer available.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 minutes ago, zydeco said:

Yes, this one of the keys to if this works. I keep posting about it, but neither Joe or anyone else has an answer, I guess. Americans getting only SS payments every month got two in August but none in September, meaning they do not qualify for an extension under your first scenario. 

 

Perhaps wait and see how the forthcoming, better, official translation deals with some of the "problem" terminology.

 

But I'm guessing at this point, for monthly income applicants, that monthly will really mean MONTHLY, not quarterly or as suits their schedule.  Now, how that's going to deal with the vagaries of direct deposit monthly schedules as in your Aug/Sept  example above is going to be interesting to see.

 

I know for me, if I was going to be in that arena, I'd prefer to have control over the timing of my own monthly deposits to avoid those kinds of risks, instead of having them determined by the calendar of some payor who could care less about what Thai Immigration wants or what Thai banks will consider "monthly" foreign deposits in order to issue a certifying letter.

 

[Sheryl]

5 hours ago, Groodman said:

The 40000/65000 Baht has to be from a pension so rental income or over income from the UK cannot be counted. I hope I am wrong in my understanding.

Since the documentation will be letter from Thai bank and statement from Thai bank I don;t see how anyone   would know the difference.

[ubonjoe]

12 minutes ago, zydeco said:

Yes, this one of the keys to if this works. I keep posting about it, but neither Joe or anyone else has an answer, I guess. Americans getting only SS payments every month got two in August but none in September, meaning they do not qualify for an extension under your first scenario. 

I think immigration would understand the missing month if you showed them that normally the payment came in on the 3rd of the month unless there was a holiday or it was a weekend on the 3rd. And a calendar showing the US holidays for last year that caused the payment to come in 3 days early.

I remember that happening because I forgot labor day was on the 3rd and got a nice surprise on the 31st when Bangkok Bank sent me a SMS that it was credited to my account.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

No mention of the 400k/800k method? Has this been dropped?????

 

Are you joking???   Please tell me you are!!!!

[zydeco]

6 minutes ago, inactiveposter said:

Zydeco - my American SS payments are on a specific date (3rd) each month, not by week(s).

Go back and look at your September benefit. The 3rd was a Monday and it was Labor Day. In those circumstances, SS sends out benefits early. Since the 1st and 2nd were on Sat and Sun, they sent it on Friday, August 31. Anybody getting SS direct deposit into their Bangkok Bank account should have received September's benefit on 31 August. This is something that can continue to happen. Not only with Labor Day but with NY's.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 minute ago, ubonjoe said:

I think immigration would understand the missing month if showed them that normally the payment came in on the 3rd of the month unless there was a holiday or it was a weekend on the 3rd. And a calendar showing the US holidays for last year that caused the payment to come in 3 days early.

I remember that happening because I forgot labor day was on the 3rd and got a nice surprise on the 31st when Bangkok Bank sent me a SMS that it was credited to my account.

 

I have a U.S. government pension that cannot be direct deposited into a Thai bank account. But if it could, sometimes it gets credited to my account on the last few days of the month. Sometimes it gets credited to my account of the first day or two of the new month. Schedule is obviously set by the payor, presumably based on where weekend days and holiday days fall month to month. There certainly are variations month to month throughout the year.

 

[zydeco]

3 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I think immigration would understand the missing month if showed them that normally the payment came in on the 3rd of the month unless there was a holiday or it was a weekend on the 3rd.

I hope you are correct. But how do we explain all this to someone at Chaeng Wattana who has no idea of Labor Day or how SS processes payments early for holidays?

[finnishmen]

immigration law have bank ccount and income money wery stupid, today thailand need end all system have big faqil many family. how can stay whit family if pension salary have onky under 40 000b /month, wery stupid system has alltime. and alltime come more stupid. pension and marry foreign need stay free.same than normal countrys have no need income money or bank account has saved too lot money..thai not can newer move to european standard what PM say and want make. hahahaha

 

[MikeN]

49 minutes ago, overherebc said:

So if I have 5,000,000 in the bank they will refuse me an extension because I can't show 40/65,000 income a month.

Think about it.

Hey, I am just saying the OP was badly written, and that they should have also said the money in bank option is still available. Instead they wrote that a monthly deposit is a requirement, no mention of other options.

 Look at the headline  “ Immigration reveals new requirements” .

That is why so many people are worried.

Edited January 6, 2019 by MikeN