BREAKING NEWS Foreigners now need to keep 800k in Thai bank for three months AFTER retirement extension is granted

[Jingthing]

Just now, jacko45k said:

Selfishly, I can but hope!

False hope. 

[ivor bigun]

False hope. 

More than likely,but the problem really is if there is an emergancy and you need the 400k straight away ,your in the do do,you will need to keep far more over here permanantly

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Spidey]

8 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

He's obviously confused. Be prepared for months and years of confusion coming from these new orders. The grandfathering is about people that have been here something like 20 years on continuous extensions when the financial levels were lower. 

I'm not sure about that. You can read the new police order that way. All very confusing. We shall just have to wait and see.

[madmen]

Dont know how true this is ,but was just told by a guy at immegration that it is only for new retirees not us older ones who have been here a long time.

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

More feedback like this is needed. Any body going to immigration should be asking.

[ivor bigun]

More feedback like this is needed. Any body going to immigration should be asking.

You ever tried asking anybody anything at immegration ,lol[emoji848]

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[jacko45k]

Just now, madmen said:

13 minutes ago, ivor bigun said:

Dont know how true this is ,but was just told by a guy at immegration that it is only for new retirees not us older ones who have been here a long time.

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

More feedback like this is needed. Any body going to immigration should be asking.

If that was the case, I would expect it to be in writing issued from Immigration.

[Fex Bluse]

19 hours ago, jacko45k said:

If under 50 and have no need to work, only  100k baht/ year for the ease it provides, it seems reasonable. 

I can agree, but let's be honest. There are almost no expats here under 50 without the need to work (somewhere). Under 50s with the cash would almost never pick a country like Thailand. One can hardly even find any Westerners at all who aren't near or in their 60s, excepting tourists. 

 

Thailand does not attract well off young or middle aged people.

[madmen]

I can agree, but let's be honest. There are almost no expats here under 50 without the need to work (somewhere). Under 50s with the cash would almost never pick a country like Thailand. One can hardly even find any Westerners at all who aren't near or in their 60s, excepting tourists. 
 
Thailand does not attract well off young or middle aged people.

Probably because those people are still working in their home country.

If your sub 50 and successful then you still have some good working /bussiness years left

[Tanoshi]

21 minutes ago, ivor bigun said:

Dont know how true this is ,but was just told by a guy at immegration that it is only for new retirees not us older ones who have been here a long time.

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Another personal interpretation by one IO, however there is nothing in the order to suggest the new rule only applies to first time applicants from March 1st. I would expect a grandfather clause if that were the case.

[luckyluke]

7 minutes ago, madmen said:

Any body going to immigration should be asking.

Fair enough, but it will be one opinion of one officer at one office.

6 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

I would expect it to be in writing issued from Immigration.

It would be nice, providing the writing isn't dubious or/and to be interpret in multi ways. 

[Vacuum]

On 2/3/2019 at 7:30 AM, notamember said:

my wealthy friend lived in Panama for a few years but moved to Uruguay for tax reasons

Obviously not wealthy enough.

[worrab]

On ‎2‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 5:27 AM, elliss said:

   Sympatise with  you  mate, i done  the same thing , nothing wrong last mounth.

     Now ,  a rule  change , starting next mounth , puts us in trouble . 

    LOS, land of suprises.  What next ?.

     

No it does not, The rule does not come in until March and will only affect any extensions done after that date, You have already done your yearly extension so this will not affect you until 2020. That is assuming the rule does actually come into force.

[Jimdandy]

Do I smell a smoggy unfriendly wind starting to blow...

[tropo]

On 2/4/2019 at 5:30 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

?????

I never took money out of the account with the extension money in it, so I don't understand how I would have been "inconvenienced". Sorry, but if one has to do something dodgy every year to have the money in the account, or if one can't afford to leave it there ( and it's a useful backup in case of catastrophe ) one should be seriously considering if they should be staying in LOS, or a cheaper alternative.

Did you not note the use of a determiner "many". Many are going to be inconvenienced a lot by this new change, even though it may not personally affect you.

 

But you are in the "whoopty doo" crowd anyway, purely because you're suggesting here that anyone using embassy income letters are scamming the system.

[David Walden]

3 hours ago, Roy Baht said:

I think they're just avoiding liability, no? Like if you make a claim about S&P 500 dividends, you're wrong because no one invests in the S&P 500 for dividends. It's for growth.  If you want dividends, buy the Vanuard High Dividend Index.

Yes well, that's was the point I was making.  If you have shares that just keep going up in value without any dividends sooner or later they will collapse.  As was the case in 1929.  The great depression.

[fforest1]

On 2/4/2019 at 3:37 PM, Golden Triangle said:

The other thing that concerns me about this whole affair is that it was announced by a smallish radio station on their daily news update, which I copied and posted on here for others to see, nothing from thaivisa or The Nation prior to this, no rumblings, no hints, no nothing, wham, out of the blue a pretty small radio station gets the scoop above the big boys!! How was that possible ?? J Fairfield closed my original post and opened this one.

 

So what else is in the air ?? I hate to think and who's gonna get the scoop on the next big change ?

This pattern has been going on for a while now of releasing news of visa tightening from a whole slew of different sources....Like the announcement that a appointment was needed in Vientiane to apply for a visa was announced on their Facebook page?? How often does ANYONE look at Vientianes visa office  official facebook page??  I would say between never and never....

Yet some one was on this el-pronto?? I say very suspicious my self......

The only benefit of random announcements from rarely used sources are that they are a useful weapon in the war to rid Thailand of westerners.....It just seems there is more and more layers of unsureness in what exactly the official visa goal posts are... 

[notamember]

7 hours ago, Pattaya46 said:

To be fair, he visited agencies Monday morning and new rules have been announced Thursday evening...

New rule will only start next month. They have time to learn about it and adapt.

my agent called me Thursday evening

his clients were calling him Friday after the broadcast and he was ready for them

he is always on the ball

[Spidey]

3 minutes ago, notamember said:

my agent called me Thursday evening

his clients were calling him Friday after the broadcast and he was ready for them

he is always on the ball

What did he say about the changes?

[notamember]

4 hours ago, Vacuum said:

Obviously not wealthy enough.

how long is a ball of string......

 

[stud858]

I think this was the thread where I said I would post back my result from checking about opening a bank account for purpose of condo purchase. Most users would follow the same related threads anyway if I've misposted.

In short, I wanted to test if "my friend" could open a bank account in order to buy a condo. Surprisingly , only 1 out of 4, (krungsri) said he could but I think it was because I was a long standing customer already and they wanted to help me.

3 others including Bangkok bank said I needed to show condo paperwork first plus other items.

So in my opinion it has become very annoying and near impossible to open an account unless you have a work permit. 

That was only my experience on the day. Yours may be different.

As you were....

[notamember]

7 minutes ago, Spidey said:

What did he say about the changes?

it will be business as usual

he said get it in before March 1st if you can

He said if they will fix it 3 months before now, then they will fix it 3 months after (for a fee)

he admitted it will give him and the IO opportunity to charge twice maybe even four times with the 400 too

he did not know what the fee would be but suggested it might be in line with 90 day ED visa reports

 

i thought that was pretty good within a few hours

[Pattaya46]

1 hour ago, notamember said:

He said if they will fix it 3 months before now, then they will fix it 3 months after (for a fee)

he admitted it will give him and the IO opportunity to charge twice maybe even four times with the 400 too

he did not know what the fee would be but suggested it might be in line with 90 day ED visa reports

It's very improbable that the money check will work this way. And BTW the 90-Days is not synchro with the extension.

More probably checking at the next extension, after 1 year.

Then they will have to prove money during 1 year... and we don't know yet what will be required for that.

[JackThompson]

3 hours ago, notamember said:

it will be business as usual

he said get it in before March 1st if you can

He said if they will fix it 3 months before now, then they will fix it 3 months after (for a fee)

he admitted it will give him and the IO opportunity to charge twice maybe even four times with the 400 too

he did not know what the fee would be but suggested it might be in line with 90 day ED visa reports

 

i thought that was pretty good within a few hours

That sounds like 15K + 5K + 5K + 5K in Pattaya, but 25K for the initial application in Bangkok, or 30K initial for Phuket, and Chiang Mai (assuming the initial fee remains constant).  But that indicates immigration-interaction every 3 months?  Maybe he and his IO are just guessing (like the rest of us), as to what the enforcement mechanism will be, and plotting accordingly.

 

If correct, given the IOs likely already bought new cars with the profits projected from many embassy-letters gone, they will be putting in swimming pools if this goes down as you describe.  The district-mgrs and up in the chain will be building new McMansions.

[gk10002000]

sorry folks, but this has all the makings of a potential cash grab.  And if one doesn't do cash balance method, now one has to incur monthly costs to transfer money monthly.  Getting hard to see how this welcomes one to the country.

[ubonjoe]

I just removed a few pages of off topic posts and etc. Time to get back on topic. The topic is about applying for extensions of stay not visas applied for at a embassy or consulate.

[Tanoshi]

12 hours ago, Pattaya46 said:

More probably checking at the next extension, after 1 year.

Then they will have to prove money during 1 year... and we don't know yet what will be required for that.

According to the order 800K for 3 months after, then maintain a minimum balance of 400K throughout the remainder of the year.

[ThaiPauly]

Can someone please confirm that if you go down the 65,000 baht a month income into your bank you don't have to keep a balance of any kind in your bank?

 

Thanks in advance

[ubonjoe]

11 minutes ago, ThaiPauly said:

Can someone please confirm that if you go down the 65,000 baht a month income into your bank you don't have to keep a balance of any kind in your bank?

You do not have to keep any money in the bank other than the day the 65k baht is credited to your account.

[ThaiPauly]

Just now, ubonjoe said:

You do not have to keep any money in the bank other than the day the 65k baht is credited to your account.

That seems a very viable option for me then.

 

Thanks for the heads up UJ.

 

 

[dick dasterdly]

On 2/4/2019 at 3:05 PM, dick dasterdly said:

 

I will, but would point out that according to a few posters - there haven't been any rule changes over the last few years!

 

There have been many, and presumably the 'photo must be taken by the applicant attending in person' is yet another......

Just received a 'phone call from my agent telling me that I need to go to Immigration for the photo.....  So this news appears to be correct, even if all the paperwork is in order and using an agent .