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

[elviajero]

30 minutes ago, inthanet said:

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

There’s no change to the requirements for getting visas outside of Thailand.

[Suradit69]

11 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

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

Seriously you need to read a few posts in the thread.

[janclaes47]

1 minute ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

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

Sheryl asked a question, please tell me that you're joking that you don't know the meaning of a question mark.

 

The 400/800K option isn't mentioned in the OP, which can be interpreted in 2 ways.

 

A : it hasn't changed and therefore isn't mentioned.

 

B : It is not considered anymore and therefore isn't mentioned.

 

It is waiting for the complete and official statement from immigration before anyone with surety can say which of the interpretations is correct

[MJCM]

12 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

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

No it hasn't according to @ubonjoe but it just wasn't mentioned in the OP that's why the confusion and the many remarks about it.

[Pappap]

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Posted 9 minutes ago

  40 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.

 

Presume they will accept the Income into a Thai bank on a monthly basis, calculate the year total and expect to see the balance in the bank seasoned as usual?

[David Walden]

38 minutes ago, Justin Side said:

The UK State Pension can be paid into your Thai Bank every 28 days.

This means that one month you will get 2 payments.

 

You can have your Australian Aged Pension paid into a Thai bank if you live in Thailand, 13 payments of 4 weeks pension per year at about Bt39,000 each time or presently about Bt510,000 for the year upon request, the govt pays the fees, you put up with the exchange rate.  Using the combo method which may turn out to be doable and popular in the future an Aussie would need Bt290,000 in a Thai bank for 2/3 months to get your retirement visa legit.  This way of doing things has been available for 15+ years or more in Thailand.  I can see the money lenders even the banks or me for that matter lining up to lend the money to retirement visa applicants which requires the money be kept in a Thai bank for 3 months only (1st time only 2 months).  The money lenders will require the lendee to sign a co-signed withdrawal form so that after your visa is issued they get their money back.  Maybe 5% fee with interest for 2/3 months which amounts to about $20% return for the lender over 12 months or maybe more, maybe a million percent because the money never leaves the bank, it's loaned out over and over again, it does not exist, now that is smart banking management...My God how the money rolls in rolls in my God how the money rolls in.  And all above board.

  This good news for those that are struggling.   

[inthanet]

3 minutes ago, elviajero said:

There’s no change to the requirements for getting visas outside of Thailand.

OK, but the 60-day extension are effected?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 minutes ago, zydeco said:

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?

 

it may come down not only to Immigration, but also/instead, your local bank staff who's going to have to decide whether a person qualifies for them issuing a bank letter confirming that you had the required "monthly" foreign deposits during the prior year.  Without the confirming bank letter, I don't think Immigration will accept a monthly deposits application, no matter what the actual bank book shows.

 

[janclaes47]

Just now, Suradit69 said:

13 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

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

Seriously you need to read a few posts in the thread.

 

Can you point us to a few posts from immigration officers in this thread which clarified that issue?

[MJCM]

1 minute ago, janclaes47 said:

 

Can you point us to a few posts from immigration officers in this thread which clarified that issue?

aren't all Thaivisa Members Immigration officers of some sorts ? ????

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, Suradit69 said:

Retired persons and those married to a Thai may have sufficient income to qualify for an extension but still be too young to be receiving a pension. Pretty sure most pensions don't kick in until one is in his 60's but you can get married or obtain an extension based on retirement below that age.

 

 

And in some parts of the world, like the US, pensions are pretty much a thing of the past.

 

Retired Americans have interest/dividends from investments; they may have an annuity funded out of an IRA; they may have rental income, and those over 62 can have Social Security (but rarely as long source of income). Very, very few people have pensions. Even if one regards SS as a pension (which strictly speaking it is not), most people have income in addition to that and the average SS payment is under 65K.

 

Let us hope the word "pension" is not meant literally. In any case it may not matter as documentation will seemingly be limited to Thai bank letter and bank statement.

[fouryesrs]

5 hours ago, Darrren said:

It,s highly possible that they will accept evidence of a 65,000k Baht arriving in a Thai bank account, so a bank account in your home country and one here may suffice with allowances for the 12 month time frame - they may accept less than 12 months due to it be a new rule. If that’s the case then start transferring now. As for the source of the funds.. if they just accept evidence of 65k fine, if they want to see an actual confirmation that your pension actually pays 65k + then a serious problem for those who receive less than that. There no mention of accepting any other supplementary income from other sources?

how about the pensoon arrives in your account oversee and here u use an atm card to withdraw how much and when u need it ..? and this pension income can be prooved to immigratiion..? will that be acceptable...? exchange rates change often a wiser way than send the lump sun every month here for that exchange rate on this eat ...

[Srikcir]

51 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. 

They can log in if you want to give the Thai government your log in to your account with ID and password to the VA and SSI web sites. Probably NOT something you want to provide.

But it's not necessary in any event as you can download from VA an Official Benefits Letter ( https://www.va.gov/records/download-va-letters/ ) and from SSI an official Summary of Monthly Social Security Benefits.

As with your copies of your passport signed with your name in blue ink on each copy for your extension, why shouldn't immigration also accept these official government letters with your blue ink signature as evidence?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 minutes ago, janclaes47 said:

Sheryl asked a question, please tell me that you're joking that you don't know the meaning of a question mark.

 

The 400/800K option isn't mentioned in the OP, which can be interpreted in 2 ways.

 

A : it hasn't changed and therefore isn't mentioned.

 

B : It is not considered anymore and therefore isn't mentioned.

 

It is waiting for the complete and official statement from immigration before anyone with surety can say which of the interpretations is correct

 

The status of the 400 and 800K bank deposits method being unchanged has been posted on by Joe and others a dozen or more times previously in this thread over its 20+ pages...  Though admittedly, that detail was lacking from the OP post.

 

No one needs to wait for the next, better translation version to be assured on that point.

 

 

[bizboi]

Evidence of annual income that equates to no less than B40,000 per month of alien father, mother or spouse such as.

 

Does this mean that they will accept joint income - if the wife earns 30,000 and the foreign husband the same?

[Maestro]

5 hours ago, janclaes47 said:

I did read was was already said, but don't see any proof of it anywhere.

You can find the proof in the text of the Police Order dated 26 December 2018, mentioned in the OP. Presumably, this has been published in the Royal Gazette.

[jaiyen]

If I have 1 million baht in my bank account at all times which will remain untouched, will I be exempt from all the new rules saying I must deposit money every month into my account ? I am married to Thai lady.

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

 

I think what TI means in terms of "pension" is best translated as "funds from an overseas source" as described in below closed thread basically talking the new requirements which supposedly come from a police colonel in TI.

 

I hope you are right. It is certainly an unfortunate choice of words.

[ubonjoe]

5 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

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.

Mine are from the SSA and they are diligent to send them so you always get them on or before the 3rd of the month (if using a foreign address). They send them on the 2nd or the last banking day before the 3rd.

You probably could have yours sent to a Bangkok Bank account via their New York branch as long as the do the IAT format for international ACH transfers. The SSA has recently approved direct to deposits visa SWIFT to Thai banks and I read somewhere that they are preparing to do it for military retirement payments.

[sambum]

5 hours ago, johnjohn2 said:

Evidence of a pension. Letter of certification from a Thai bank supported by bank statements showing a pension being transferred to the pensioner’s bank account every month for at least 12 months.

 

I wonder if this means that you have to have your pension being direct deposit to the Thai Bank? Or you can just show deposits of which you transferred yourself from your bank to the Thai bank at minimum required amounts. 

Without trawling through 26 pages to find out if your question had been answered, My government pension in itself is not enough to qualify for the required amount (40k baht per month as I am married to a Thai national) However, factor in my private pension, and the 2 total almost 40k per month. Add in my rental income, and even accounting for fluctuations in the Exchange rate, the total would easily be sufficient. So since November, I have been withdrawing 40k baht per month from my UK bank account and paying it directly into my Thai bank account. I then make a couple of withdrawals a month (20k each) from my Thai bank account for my living expenses. The way I read it is that as long as you can get a letter/statement from a Thai bank to say that you have been paying in 40k per month (on average) over the previous year, and have a Bank book to verify this, then this is all that Thai Immigration are asking for - they are not asking for these deposits to be "seasoned", or left in for any length of time - only that "40k per month is deposited into a Thai bank account".

 

I may be missing something, but that is the way that I read it!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 minutes ago, fouryesrs said:

how about the pensoon arrives in your account oversee and here u use an atm card to withdraw how much and when u need it ..? and this pension income can be prooved to immigratiion..? will that be acceptable...? exchange rates change often a wiser way than send the lump sun every month here for that exchange rate on this eat ...

 

If you plan to apply for an extension based on monthly income, you can pretty much forget the idea of trying to show that income to Immigration with a pile of ATM receipts. Ain't gonna happen.

 

[zydeco]

4 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

it may come down not only to Immigration, but also/instead, your local bank staff who's going to have to decide whether a person qualifies for them issuing a bank letter confirming that you had the required "monthly" foreign deposits during the prior year.  Without the confirming bank letter, I don't think Immigration will accept a monthly deposits application, no matter what the actual bank book shows.

 

Remember, all these new rules were made by TI in consultation with the US embassy, supposedly. Now, let imagine this. Did the embassy just tell them, "don't worry, SS recipients receive a check every month." This, without knowing about the holiday early deposit because:

1) None of the people at the embassy receive social security and/or will receive federal pensions outside the SS system

AND

2) There is no expert at the embassy to ask because the US embassy Bangkok does not have a Social Security unit and now refuses to answer any questions related to social security, saying you must ask Manila.

 

[sambum]

1 minute ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

If you plan to apply for an extension based on monthly income, you can pretty much forget the idea of trying to show that income to Immigration with a pile of ATM receipts. Ain't gonna happen.

 

Plus have you ever tried to read the details on an ATM slip a few months after it has been sitting on a bulldog clip in your bedroom drawer?

[Spidey]

58 minutes ago, 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

I paid in for 44 years and will get the same.

[Sheryl]

2 hours ago, rexall said:

Bank statements will show that the deposit is an international transfer.  It would be much more complicated to specify the source of the transfer.  If the word "pension" is the sticking point, pensions come from all kinds or sources, not only government pensions.

Not all bank statements show this. Kasikorn does nto. It shows only transfer.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Mine are from the SSA and they are diligent to send them so you always get them on or before the 3rd of the month (if using a foreign address). They send them on the 2nd or the last banking day before the 3rd.

You probably could have yours sent to a Bangkok Bank account via their New York branch as long as the do the IAT format for international ACH transfers. The SSA has recently approved direct to deposits visa SWIFT to Thai banks and I read somewhere that they are preparing to do it for military retirement payments.

 

yep, mine is a state government pension, not SSA or military. And mine will NOT deposit directly to any foreign account, nor will their domestic ACH transfers meet the new IAT format that BKKB NY wants.

 

I could have been sending my state pension via regular ACH to BKKB NY in the past and up thru April 2019, but that ability's going to end in April 2019 when BKKB NY stops accepting regular incoming domestic ACH deposits/transfers and starts accepting only the IAT format, which pretty much no U.S. banks or CU's and few other financial entities actually do.

 

[bizboi]

5 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

Need to see as it unfolds more, but is too vague to know the details of how you are supposed to deposit the 40k and 80k into account every month.. This is another action pertaining to the embassy evidence of income problems just recently scaring everyone. As long as the 400k and 800k doesn't change then ok for me. The big problem coming next is the insurance. Hopefully they sort this out a bit better to where it is easier and backed by a government program. If they don't make things more easy, they are going to make a lot of expats destitute.

… and do you think the Thai Government will care if they are? "If you are destitute go home" they will tell them!!

[Rob1706]

Just a question if I may.

 

For retirement extensions of no more than 1 year evidence of average monthly income of B65,000 is required.

 

1.       Evidence of pension. Same as 2 above,

2.       Evidence of income from a foreign embassy or consulate.

 

My embassy still issues Evidence of income so for the time being no problem. What I would like to know when money from abroad is transferred to 2 different bank accounts, how would Immigration react to this? One account on my name and one account on 2 names (My partner - not married - and me). In case my embassy would stop issuing evidence of income then I would like to know beforehand if money can be  transferred to our mutual account and be accepted or not.

[David Walden]

32 minutes ago, sandyf said:

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

Proof of payment of a Govt or as good as pension into a Thai bank a/c calculated to a yearly amount i.e. Bt500,000 and the balance in cash in a Thai bank a/c which you can beg steal or borrow to make the amount required Bt800,000...OK for Aussies, the Aus gov will pay your pension into a Thai Bank a/c of your choosing 13 x 4 weekly payments per year by request if living in Thailand.  You'll have to beg steal or borrow the remaining Bt300,000 required if you have not got it.

  Centrelink, Aussie Social Security will allow you to download a detailed statement of as to where the money went any time you wish with full details.  If you require hard copy they will post it to you wherever you are by snail mail takes 2/3 weeks to Thailand.

   The US Consul's 2 IC at US Embassy in a recent interview on FM 103 said that Thai immigration had said there would be no change to the combo method.  It will remain as is   Nothing about change in recent Thai Immigration release.   I believe the US Consul.

Edited January 6, 2019 by David Walden

[JLCrab]

So given the verbiage as in the OP, when will be the first persons who will actually get an extension under the new 65K+ international-sourced monthly deposit scheme?