Thai immigration to show leniency to foreigners applying for retirement & marriage extensions

 

Police Lieutenant General Surachet Hakpal//File photo

 

Thai immigration has confirmed it will show some leniency to foreigners with regards to proving income when applying for retirement and marriage extensions.

 

In an order dated 22nd December, Immigration chief Police Lieutenant General Surachet Hakpal, acknowledges that some applicants may have difficulty in providing the now required 12 months worth of bank statements.

 

Where this is the case, the Pol Lt. Gen Hakpal has instructed immigration officers that from 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 they have discretion to accept evidence of less than 12 monthly transfers from overseas.

 

The applicants given leniency in this way are to be told by the officers that this is a one-off exemption and that their applications for the next renewal will not be accepted without a complete set of documents according to the order.

 

A translated version of the order No. 0029.173/Wor can be found below:

 

 

 

The order comes after it was announced in October 2018 that a number of embassies, including the UK, USA and Australia, would stop issuing income letters or affidavits, which had been used by expats to confirm their income when applying for a retirement or marriage extension.

 

As a result, some foreigners are now required to show 12 monthly transfers of either 65,000 THB or 40,000 THB paid into a Thai bank account.

 

Those affected by the new requirements had questioned if they would still be able to obtain a retirement or marriage extension even though they were not able to provide the 12 months worth of statements now required.

 

But this order now confirms that immigration will show leniency to those applying with less than the required 12 monthly transfers into a Thai bank, at least for the first application following the changes regarding income letters.

 

*Thanks to Ubon Joe and Arkady for the additional information.

  

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-01-22

the back peddling has begun.

Nothing stated for being a member of a Thai Family. Apparently Big J is either hearing the IO's complaints or is reading TV. 

19 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thai immigration to show leniency to foreigners applying for retirement & marriage extensions

 

And for 20k your worries will disappear.????

17 minutes ago, webfact said:

Police Lieutenant General Surachet Hakpal, acknowledges that some applicants may have difficulty in providing the now required 12 months worth of bank statements. 

thank you Farangs for helping us understand our mistake. we do not think past our nose. but we like to watch Farang turn red and go crazy in immigration office.

9 minutes ago, khwaibah said:

 

And for 20k your worries will disappear.????

12,900 if you know where to go ...

34 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

the back peddling has begun.

 

No, the news in the OP here is exactly what the original new police order said all along... that they could cut some slack just for the first year of applications... because the updated police order was issued without any advance notice that would allow folks to get the 12 months of documentation.

 

Immigration only announced the new rules in late Dec., and the last of the prior income letters are only going to be valid thru June 2019 for US, UK, Aussie, etc folks... So otherwise, there would have been 6-7 months worth of folks coming up for new extensions who would have had no chance to do and show 12 prior months of Thai bank foreign transfers.

 

Still, it's nice that BJ went on the record with a formal memo to his staff clarifying what should have been clear from the beginning.

 

 

 

This is all good, but what about the meaningless 90 day reports?

Sounds reasonable, and seems like what they mentioned early on for the transition period of 2019? One assumes that monthly foreign transfers, exceeding the minimus, beginning in January 2019 and continuing through to the date of application, be it June, July. August, September, October, November or December will suffice? (No clue what happens for those applying Feb-May though, will 2 ~ 5 months be sufficient?

 

Now how many IO's understand the legal term "mutatis mutandis" remains to be seen.

How do you say mutatis mutandis in Thai?

5 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

This is all good, but what about the meaningless 90 day reports?

Still meaningless.... 

Now...how about some clarity from BJ to his troops about the status and current rules for combination method applications for retirement extensions???

 

Unlike the official police report this statement doesn't mention that the funds have to be from a foreign source. Will they be lenient with that too? 

So here will come all the transfer wise people with their questions.  

10 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

How do you say mutatis mutandis in Thai?

 

I believe that roughly translates as... no tipping by Chinese tourists at the airport...

 

But visa agent under the table payments at Immigration Offices are gladly accepted.

 

6 minutes ago, keithet said:

Unlike the official police report this statement doesn't mention that the funds have to be from a foreign source. Will they be lenient with that too? 

 

 

Don't think so... The above letter update still says must present bank statements from Thai bank(s) showing the transfers....  The above memo isn't changing the prior order, just clarifying about 1st year enforcement.

6 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Don't think so... The above letter update still says must present bank statements from Thai bank(s) showing the transfers....  The above memo isn't changing the prior order, just clarifying about 1st year enforcement.

That's how I see it too. I suggest people should check with their banks now to see how transfers are recieved. I just switched to bangkok bank because my other bank shiws domestic. 

I'm glad I checked before my next transfer for February. 

28 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

How do you say mutatis mutandis in Thai?

มูตาติษ มูตันติษ ?

22 minutes ago, keithet said:

Unlike the official police report this statement doesn't mention that the funds have to be from a foreign source. Will they be lenient with that too? 

So here will come all the transfer wise people with their questions.  

One can expect the police order to be enforce next year.

 

I think the least we should withhold the negativity with the consideration is thank them for the break in 2019. It will help a lot of families and retirees. Direct deposits through the Thai Bank don't start instantly. Good luck to everyone in working out their individual situations. I thank Big Joke for the time to change my direct deposits that will satisfy the new requirements.

I need to renew my marriage extension in April. Last year I did it with 400k in account 3 months statement. Would this still work?

Hehe just another thread to get the worry warts in a uproar, Come on boys nothing has changed since last month start transfering your monthly amt. into the bank. I did my first transfer this month no big deal.

1 hour ago, NCC1701A said:

the back peddling has begun.

It was only a few months ago that there many TFV who were saying that the monthly income method was dead. Some even went as far as calling their embassy staff 'liars' when they broached this topic.

 

Many caustic comments were thrown at me when I came out in support of the embassy's statements.

 

They are the ones who are now doing the back peddling!

12 minutes ago, shady86 said:

I need to renew my marriage extension in April. Last year I did it with 400k in account 3 months statement. Would this still work?

 

Yes, 400k in a Thai bank is still good, assuming you meet all the other requirements for a marriage extension...  Though note, at least for BKK, there have also been some reports lately that CW is requiring people to keep the 400K balance in their accounts also during the 30-day under review period, and then show an updated bank book again on the 2nd visit back to obtain the stamp for marriage extensions.

 

I think the least we should without the negativity with the consideration is thank them for the break in 2019. It will help a lot of families and retirees. Direct deposits through the Thai Bank don't start instantly. Good luck to everyone in working out their individual situations. I thank Big Joke for the tire to change my direct deposits that will satisfy the new requirements.

Ubonjoe, what's your take in this information. Sounds they are trying to be reasonable for 2019.

1 hour ago, NCC1701A said:

the back peddling has begun.

Not back peddling in this case because this letter was issued the day after the first order which was, as is normal for national orders, more in note form. The letter seems to have been intended from the outset in order to provide instructions to officers as to how to interpret the order in the first year it is in effect. It is logical not to include this in the order as it is a temporary provision.

12 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

It was only a few months ago that there many TFV who were saying that the monthly income method was dead. Some even went as far as calling their embassy staff 'liars' when they broached this topic.

 

Many caustic comments were thrown at me when I came out in support of the embassy's statements.

 

They are the ones who are now doing the back peddling!

No one's back pedalling. Whichever way you want to spin it, twelve months of transfers into a Thai account (from 2020) is a far more onerous system than that which preceded it, where retirees were able to obtain an income letter based on just three months of UK bank statements, and limit bringing in actual living expenses to what they needed for living here.

8 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Yes, 400k in a Thai bank is still good, assuming you meet all the other requirements for a marriage extension...  Though note, at least for BKK, there have also been some reports lately that CW is requiring people to keep the 400K balance in their accounts also during the 30-day under review period, and then show an updated bank book again on the 2nd visit back to obtain the stamp for marriage extensions.

 

imo  Obviously that's the result of people trying to scam the system . Most of hoops we have to leap through generated here and everywhere result from folks who think they're smarter than the rules/regs. As people get caught systems are tweaked. Essentially, people cause their own problems and unfortunately everyone has to pay for their idiocy. 

1 hour ago, keithet said:

Unlike the official police report this statement doesn't mention that the funds have to be from a foreign source. Will they be lenient with that too? 

So here will come all the transfer wise people with their questions.  

Actually the Thai letter does specify that the transfers must come from overseas but that seems to have been lost in translation.  However, there is no requirement in the letter or the order that the transfers should be seen to be coming from a pension provider.  That seems to allow the flexibility to be paid into a foreign account and remit the necessary monthly amount from that account yourself.

1 minute ago, from the home of CC said:

imo  Obviously that's the result of people trying to scam the system . Most of hoops we have to leap through generated here and everywhere result from folks who think they're smarter than the rules/regs. As people get caught systems are tweaked. Essentially, people cause their own problems and unfortunately everyone has to pay for their idiocy. 

That is clearly the case.  Immigration must have seen all manner of scams designed to circumvent their rules.