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

[Jingthing]

3 minutes ago, BertM said:

Mr. Ubonjoe,

Can you answer a question please. I read where someone said after getting your extension that you had to maintain a minimum 400k throughout the year and then top it back up 3 mths prior to the next extension. Is that the new rule? I thought you could spend it down during the year to zero then top it back up to 800k. Kindly..

Anyone can answer that.

Under the new rules you need to show at least 800K for two months before your extension appointment. Then also you can't go under 800K for three months after your extension is granted. Then after the three months you must not go under 400K for the rest of the year until the beginning of your next two month seasoning period where you can't go under 800K before the next extension.

Yes, you read that right. That 400K is PERMANENTLY in the no touch zone if you want to stay legal with the extension rules. 

Rinse and repeat. Easy and "logical" huh?

Edited February 8, 2019 by Jingthing

[BertM]

26 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Some off topic post and replies to them have been removed. Time to end the bickering over the wording used for a visa on a embassy website. The topic is about extension of stay not 

Thanks...Kindly...

Edited February 8, 2019 by BertM

[BertM]

3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Anyone can answer that.

Under the new rules you need to show at least 800K for two months before your extension appointment. Then also you can't go under 800K for three months after your extension is granted. Then after the three months you must not go under 400K for the rest of the year until the beginning of your next two month seasoning period where you can't go under 800K before the next extension.

Yes, you read that right. That 400K is PERMANENTLY in the no touch zone if you want to stay legal with the extension rules. 

Rinse and repeat. Easy and "logical" huh?

Thanks...

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, BertM said:

Can you answer a question please. I read where someone said after getting your extension that you had to maintain a minimum 400k throughout the year and then top it back up to 800k 3 mths prior to the next extension. Is that the new rule? I thought you could spend it down during the year to zero then top it back up to 800k. Kindly..

 

After the new rules go into effect on March 1st you cannot spend it down during the year.

The 800k baht has to be in the bank two months before the date you apply and then for 3 months after that day then after it has to be 400k baht up to the date you top it up to 800k baht for your next extension.

[Pattaya46]

6 minutes ago, BertM said:

after getting your extension that you had to maintain a minimum 400k throughout the year and then top it back up to 800k 3 mths prior to the next extension if based on retirement. Is that the new rule? I

No. The March 1st rules are defined on first post of first page of this long thread.

In short, the new balance history requirement for eXtensions should be :

800 800  (X)  800 800 800 / 400 400 400 / 400 400 400 / 400 800 800  (X+1)  etc.

[steve73]

23 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

After the new rules go into effect on March 1st you cannot spend it down during the year.

The 800k baht has to be in the bank two months before the date you apply and then for 3 months after that day then after it has to be 400k baht up to the date you top it up to 800k baht for your next extension.

I hear (both on TV and personally) that a few Imm. offices are already advising retirees that have just extended that the new rules will be applied immediately for them, i.e. don't drop under 800k for 3 months, and then only down to 400k minimum until the next 800k seasoning period starts.

 

Anyone extending over the next 3 months SHOULD already be in their seasoning period (under the existing/old rules), but I'm going to be interested to see how they react to any extension 4+months away.. I can see them giving folk a hard time if they'd run down their savings to less than 400k before topping up.

 

I would consider it a good move for anyone planning to use the 800k saving method over the next 12 month to immediately top up their account to 400k ASAP, if possible., in preparation

 

I realize this is not what the the rules require, but we all know how every office, and every officer within them, seems to interpret things their own way.

 

Hope I'm not being too pessimistic - I'm just trying to look out for the worst outcome.

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, steve73 said:

I hear (both on TV and personally) that a few Imm. offices are already advising retirees that have just extended that the new rules will be applied immediately for them, i.e. don't drop under 800k for 3 months, and then only down to 400k minimum until the next 800k seasoning period starts.

 

Anyone extending over the next 3 months SHOULD already be in their seasoning period (under the existing/old rules), but I'm going to be interested to see how they react to any extension 4+months away.. I can see them giving folk a hard time if they'd run down their savings to less than 400k before topping up.

 

I would consider it a good move for anyone planning to use the 800k saving method over the next 12 month to immediately top up their account to 400k ASAP, if possible., in preparation

 

I realize this is not what the the rules require, but we all know how every office, and every officer within them, seems to interpret things their own way.

 

Hope I'm not being too pessimistic - I'm just trying to look out for the worst outcome.

You're right. People should be perhaps excessively defensively proactive if they are able. In my case, I spent under 800K before three months on late last year extension, so if my office gets absurdly retroactive (even though they shouldn't) there's nothing I can do about it. But I can not go under 400K going forward just in case. 

[Tanoshi]

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Wasn't there a report that sometimes TW transfers going into BB show up as domestic? So you could have five international and then get tripped up, right? You don't have control on how they do it, right?

One report, one payment, but I believe he was trolling.

 

I and many friends are with BKK and use TW.

Never had anything other than the code FTT entered in our passbooks.

 

It's those who are with banks other than BKK who need to start checking how their transfers are recorded.

[Andrew Dwyer]

3 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

( or are you referring to how to get 2 years from an OA ? )  Yes, How exactly does the 2nd year kick in? 

Your OA visa will have an “ enter before “ date ( although I think the actual wording has now been changed to “ valid until “ ) which is when it expires.

Every time you leave and re-enter the country you will get an “admitted until” stamp for 1 year in the future. So if you re enter Thailand just before your visa expires you get an additional years permission to stay.

 

Sooo, 1st year using the multi entry visa.

2nd year is permission to stay using a re-entry permit to keep your permission alive.

At the end of the second year you can get an extension based on retirement or return to your home country for another OA visa.

 

My case :

Obtained OA in Oct 2016, had a long weekend Kanchanaburi Sept 2017, travelled over the border to Myanmar ( 1 hr ), first extension Sept 2018.

Got 23 months from OA.

[MJKT2014]

1 hour ago, Pattaya46 said:

In short, the new balance history requirement for eXtensions should be :

800 800  (X)  800 800 800 / 400 400 400 / 400 400 400 / 400 800 800  (X+1)  etc.

What about a retirement extender who has been doing it for years going below 400 and was unaware of changes? May even be unaware or have funds to keep 800 in 3 months form the moment he finds out the changes at extension time thinking he was going to spend into his 800k the next day as in all previous years? There needs to be a 2 year implementation period until everyone understands where they got to have their money placed. Cannot be done overnight.

[Pib]

2 minutes ago, MJKT2014 said:

There needs to be a 2 year implementation period until everyone understands where they got to have their money placed. Cannot be done overnight.

Sure it can be done...might not be the right way to implement something....but Thai immigration still did it.  TIT.  

[ubonjoe]

A very off topic post containing political comments has been removed. Such comments are not allowed on this forum. A repeat of it will result in a formal warning.

[marcusarelus]

19 minutes ago, MJKT2014 said:

What about a retirement extender who has been doing it for years going below 400 and was unaware of changes? May even be unaware or have funds to keep 800 in 3 months form the moment he finds out the changes at extension time thinking he was going to spend into his 800k the next day as in all previous years? There needs to be a 2 year implementation period until everyone understands where they got to have their money placed. Cannot be done overnight.

It depends.  If your goal is to kick people out who don't have money in the bank then it should be done overnight.  An immigration person I talked to said it was to get rid of people from a certain country (not Western). 

[Pib]

1 minute ago, marcusarelus said:

It depends.  If your goal is to kick people out who don't have money in the bank then it should be done overnight.  An immigration person I talked to said it was to get rid of people from a certain country (not Western). 

I expect visa agents will continue to service those folks from whatever that certain country was...and those folks will continue to get extensions although the cost will increase for them.

[ubonjoe]

Some more off topic inflammatory posts have been removed. A formal warning will be given if repeated.

[EVENKEEL]

1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Your OA visa will have an “ enter before “ date ( although I think the actual wording has now been changed to “ valid until “ ) which is when it expires.

Every time you leave and re-enter the country you will get an “admitted until” stamp for 1 year in the future. So if you re enter Thailand just before your visa expires you get an additional years permission to stay.

 

Sooo, 1st year using the multi entry visa.

2nd year is permission to stay using a re-entry permit to keep your permission alive.

At the end of the second year you can get an extension based on retirement or return to your home country for another OA visa.

 

My case :

Obtained OA in Oct 2016, had a long weekend Kanchanaburi Sept 2017, travelled over the border to Myanmar ( 1 hr ), first extension Sept 2018.

Got 23 months from OA.

Got it, thanks. 

[Tanoshi]

1 hour ago, MJKT2014 said:

What about a retirement extender who has been doing it for years going below 400 and was unaware of changes? May even be unaware or have funds to keep 800 in 3 months form the moment he finds out the changes at extension time thinking he was going to spend into his 800k the next day as in all previous years? There needs to be a 2 year implementation period until everyone understands where they got to have their money placed. Cannot be done overnight.

This year is supposed to be a transition period in order to ensure everyone is informed for 2020.

[fforest1]

7 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

This year is supposed to be a transition period in order to ensure everyone is informed for 2020.

Will their be any farangs still here in 2020?

[balo]

There was a meeting today at the Pattaya Expat Club , I think it's already been mentioned in another thread.  The information Darren from Key Visa told their members was it will be business as usual and only 1st time applications will have to show 800k for the first 3 months of the extension. 

 

What does this tell us ?  That agents are still working closely with IO's in Jomtien.  Brown envelopes will still be handed over.  15k fees  ++++  will solve everything. 

 

Or will it ?  Only time will tell. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kadilo]

3 hours ago, balo said:

There was a meeting today at the Pattaya Expat Club , I think it's already been mentioned in another thread.  The information Darren from Key Visa told their members was it will be business as usual and only 1st time applications will have to show 800k for the first 3 months of the extension. 

 

What does this tell us?

 

 

 

 

 

That he thinks he knows more than the powers that be and probably full of crap..

[MJKT2014]

8 hours ago, marcusarelus said:

It depends.

Perhaps the IO should have appended their notification with your words above, to clarify matters for us all.

[Spidey]

2 hours ago, Kadilo said:

That he thinks he knows more than the powers that be and probably full of crap..

Works closely with senior immigration officers. Unlike anyone on this forum.

[JLCrab]

19 minutes ago, Spidey said:

Works closely with senior immigration officers. Unlike anyone on this forum.

I guess so.

[ivor bigun]

Then keep your current reserve of cash in the bank for that unexpected expense and start transferring that 65K per month to use the income method. Problem solved.
For a sudden large unexpected expense, I can request a transfer at 5pm at night and it hits my Thai bank account at 9am next morning. Problem solved.

Try phoning while your having a heart attack or being picked up off the road after being run over and the ambulance is on its way ,

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

[Peterw42]

42 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

I guess so.

So its business as usual via agents, the whole thing appears to be a pointless exercise.

[jacko45k]

11 hours ago, Tanoshi said:

One report, one payment, but I believe he was trolling.

I submitted one report and even a picture of the deposit when it landed at Bangkok Bank. (After another cynical soul requested it). I have no reason to be dishonest about this and resent being called a troll when I simply try to present facts.  

 

My transfer originated UK, I do not know if that is a factor.

Edited February 9, 2019 by jacko45k

[notamember]

1 hour ago, Spidey said:

Works closely with senior immigration officers. Unlike anyone on this forum.

there are others

[JLCrab]

26 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

So its business as usual via agents, the whole thing appears to be a pointless exercise.

At least for now.

 

Police and Ministerial Orders are one thing. To change the 90 day report requirement, as has been suggested,  would require an amendment to the Immigration Act of 2022 (1979). Once you open that Pandora's Box, who knows what else might be changed.

Edited February 9, 2019 by JLCrab

[wayned]

I imagine that we will have to wait another 6 months while expats are subjected to the new policies to see how the new regulations will work and whether all of the immigration offices have their head and ass wired together a apply the rules in the same way.

[JLCrab]

5 minutes ago, wayned said:

I imagine that we will have to wait another 6 months while expats are subjected to the new policies to see how the new regulations will work

My near(est) term plan is that I will have 2 90-day in-office IMM reports before I have to decide what to actually do for my next extension. I will have at least 5 65K+ baht monthly FTT deposits to show first visit and will see how they react to "Is this going to cut it??"