My Experience Extending my Retirement "Visa" last Friday.

[marcusarelus]

4 minutes ago, steve73 said:

I've always got my bank statement & letter on the morning I've applied for my extension, but I've been told it can a day or two old.  They have also wanted an up-to-date copy of the passbook, and you can do this yourself at many "ATM"s.

 

You wrote, "She said most banks currently require a weeks notice to provide a 12 month (or longer) statement, so to arrange things with them in plenty of time." 

 

So I'm assuming if it does not take the bank a week to make the statement and they give it to you that day that one week in advance would be OK?  Or do you mean to tell the bank that you will come back and pick it up in a week?  And does immigration need an itemized statement if it is a fixed deposit account?  Are these rules from Rayong/Ma ta put?

[sfokevin]

It looks like the Income, 800k and Combo method are all going to require a special 12 month bank statement... All roports are that Immigration is working with banks on this yet to date no bank seems aware of this?

[flexomike]

1 hour ago, Longcut said:

My Social Security is paid on the 3rd Wednesday of the month. Regardless of the date. 

Than you must not be using a Thai address, mine was also the third Wednesday, but when I changed to a Thai address, the payment date changed to the third day of the month

[flexomike]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

Which means your birth date is between the 11-20th of the month and when you started social security you did not have a Thailand address on file with SSA....maybe you do now. 

 

I do not know if when a person first starts SSA pension with a US address which means his payment will occur as shown in chart below, if he changes his address on file with the SSA to his Thailand address that the payment will change to the 3rd day of the month.  But if you start off with a foreign address when applying for social security your payment is the 3rd day of each month. 

 

And I do not know if you started off with a foreign address and was getting paid on the 3rd day of the month if you move back to the US and update you address with SSA then if your payment changes to the schedule shown below.

 

 

 

I changed my address to Thailand and they changed my payment date to the third day of the month

[Pib]

1 minute ago, flexomike said:

Than you must not be using a Thai address, mine was also the third Wednesday, but when I changed to a Thai address, the payment date changed to the third day of the month

That goes a long way in answering my unknowns I talked in post #25 about not sure what happens when a person changes from a US address to a foreign address (or vice versa) as to if your US social security payment date changes.

[Pib]

1 minute ago, flexomike said:

I changed my address to Thailand and they changed my payment date to the third day of the month

I always thought getting paid as soon as possible in the month would be the best thing....then Thai immigration made some rule changes that can make getting paid early a headache.     But hey, I use the Bt800K deposit method...used this method for around 8 years now. 

 

But if I did want to change to the income method only using social security monthly payments and since social security payments sometimes arrive the last day of the previous month versus the 3rd of the month making it look like a person did not receive a payment for one month that could cause a problem with an immigration office that was hard core about seeing a payment for "every month."

[OJAS]

7 hours ago, steve73 said:

Note about using Transferwise (or similar Fx services):

I had just made a Transferwise payment into my K-bank account a few days previously, which had been credited via TMB so it was coded as a Dummy transfer in my passbook & statement, I asked if this was acceptable confirmation of overseas source. The officer wasn't interested in the code or description in my bank book or on the itemized statement, and wouldn't take any notice of the Transferwise receipt that I'd printed off. She said that if I wanted to use the income method the bank would provide an annual statement showing only the international deposits. All other itemized transactions are not required to be shown. (This is what I understood what was being asked for.)

Many thanks for your comprehensive report, Steve. I suspect that they weren't too fussed about the overseas provenance of your recent TransferWise payment because you were using the 800k bank balance method. However I got the distinct impression from your subsequent comment that they would, indeed, probably insist on 65k+ monthly transfers being specifically coded FTT or similar.

 

I plan to apply for my next retirement extension at Maptaput in mid-July based on the 65k+ monthly transfer method and specifically: (1) a 6-month bank statement I obtained a month ago including the 65K+ FTT's which I had, purely fortuitously, credited in August, September, October, November, December and January, (2) the standard bank letter as per the 800k method which I plan to obtain the final working day before my trip to Immigration, along with (3) a subsequent 6-month bank statement including the 65k+ FTT's credited in February, March, April, May, June and July. The problem with a 12-month bank statement listing only the FTT's, as I understand it, is that this can take 2-3 weeks to obtain, whereas a 6-month statement can be produced while you wait (based on my experience a month ago).

 

To guarantee the required FTT classification I have reverted to using the Bangkok Bank London branch method (which, unlike its New York counterpart, does not appear to be going away any time soon) for processing my monthly transfers, given that it appears to be in the lap of the gods as to which bank TransferWise use at the Thai end in a particular instance (they have previously routed a couple of my transfers through TMB and Kasikorn, which have ended up coded SMT in my passbook).

[Tanoshi]

1 hour ago, marcusarelus said:

2.  If you go to the bank a week in advance for a letter reflecting 12 months of a fixed deposit account and they give it to you that day (only two entries) how much does that cost and will immigration accept a letter a week in advance of the extension application?

For a fixed deposit account you only need to update the passbook and obtain a letter same day.

 

You only need 12 months statements if using the income or combo method.

[marcusarelus]

4 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

For a fixed deposit account you only need to update the passbook and obtain a letter same day.

 

You only need 12 months statements if using the income or combo method.

For the fixed deposit and or the 800k in regular savings account no 12 month statement required?  

[OJAS]

7 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

You only need 12 months statements if using the income or combo method.

Which, as just said, can take your bank up to 3 weeks to produce if my understanding is correct.

[Tanoshi]

46 minutes ago, sfokevin said:

It looks like the Income, 800k and Combo method are all going to require a special 12 month bank statement... All roports are that Immigration is working with banks on this yet to date no bank seems aware of this?

SWIFT payments go through HQ before reaching your branch, other direct payments may also go through BOT (Bank of Thailand using the BAHTNET system.

Statements from the HQ of your bank will itemise all the foreign transfers (local statements may not).

You need to give 5 days notice.

[dayo202]

I also enquired what fixed deposit accounts they offered, and whether they would be "instant access". It was explained that a 12month FD would pay 1.55%/yr, 24mon @1.7%/yr, and 36mon @1.85%/yr. Any withdrawal inside the agreed period would result in a penalty loss of interest back to their standard saving account rate of 0.5%

which bank is that  ?

[Tanoshi]

9 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

For the fixed deposit and or the 800k in regular savings account no 12 month statement required?  

Fixed deposit is just that … fixed, so should only show the date of opening and due date, with no transactions.

Updating on the day will confirm the balance.

 

Savings account, with transactions will require 12 months bank statements as proof the account did not go below 800K during the seasoning periods and below 400K for the remainder.

[steve73]

1 minute ago, dayo202 said:

I also enquired what fixed deposit accounts they offered, and whether they would be "instant access". It was explained that a 12month FD would pay 1.55%/yr, 24mon @1.7%/yr, and 36mon @1.85%/yr. Any withdrawal inside the agreed period would result in a penalty loss of interest back to their standard saving account rate of 0.5%

which bank is that  ?

kasikorn

[Tanoshi]

16 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Which, as just said, can take your bank up to 3 weeks to produce if my understanding is correct.

5 days at BKK and Kasikorn.

[marcusarelus]

4 hours ago, steve73 said:

As others are indicating the 2mon vs. 3mon pre-seasoning is one of the topics where there seems inconsistency between regional offices.  Best to check your own office, or ensure 3mon to be on the safe side. (Or use a FD account if possible and make it really simple for them.) 

Are the rules you are quoting from the Map Ta Put/Rayong office?

[dotpoom]

All as expected really seeing as you had the 800,000 Bt. lodged for over the 3 month (or has that changed to two now, some reports say it has?) period....the "new rules" wouldn't affect you.?

[jacko45k]

14 hours ago, ChouDoufu said:

i thought the new order directed 2 months prior and 3 months after for all applications.

Although the order could be interpreted that way, a few IOs have apparently stated it is still as was, ie 2 months prior only for first time applications, and 3 months prior for subsequent renewals. 

It would make sense it plan for the 3 until we hear otherwise.

[thailand49]

I did my extension on January 18th, Jomtien,  the day before went to Bangkok Bank got my letter for 800,000 plus this money has sat for over a year with no movement except interest updates. When I got the letter back 1 page with basically one line the few words have no idea what it said or meant.

The next day, while paperwork being processed the guy barely looked at the letter process complete with a number to pick up the next day.

[Acharn]

16 hours ago, Pib said:

 

 

I'm wondering if Thai banks will actually do this or this is just something immigration officers think should be easy to get.  Now, I'm sure it could be done but would require the bank to key in on select codes.  Guess we'll find out over the coming months are more after extension reports flow in.

 

And this is going to be a problem where pensions are "normally" posted to a person's account the first few days of every month but "occasionally due to weekends/holidays" a payment may be paid/post early.  So early you actually reflect two payments for that month and no payments for the following month. Like a U.S. social security payment on 3 Aug and another one on 31 Aug (the 31 Aug payment would normally occur on 3 Sep but 3 Sep/Mon was a US holiday preceded by the weekend so it was paid early).  This  periodically happens with various US govt benefit payments like U.S. social security,  military retirement, Veteran's Administration, etc.

 

Well, the banks did this for many years after Thaksin appointed Purachai as Minister of the Interior (the Police, including Immigration, came under Interior in those days). Purachai instituted rules that every ex-pat was required to have a Thai bank account and present a copy of the bank book along with a letter from the bank verifying overseas transfers. They did not bother with the fact that my account never showed a transfer, because so many expats just used ATMs. It seems like there's a new guy at Immigration who decided to reinstitute the old rule more rigorously, but this time we have less information about who it is. I asked at my bank, and the official I was talking to knew what I was askig about and was confident the bank would provide the letter without difficulty. I presume there are people who need such a letter for other purposes, perhaps taxes.

 

I don't understand why the deposit to your overseas account should be a problem. I have started using Transferwise. If I start the transfer on a Friday it takes four of five days to arrive here, so the deposit is in the next month. Even if that did not occur, I could wait until we were in the new month to initiate the transfer. I did not see an option on their web site for automatic transfers, so I have control of that. My credit union has told me that there is no option for automatic transfer by wire transfer -- I must arrange it by telephone every time, so I would have control in that case. I'm American, by the way, so other countries may have less stringent anti-money-laundering rules.

[graemeaylward]

Which, as just said, can take your bank up to 3 weeks to produce if my understanding is correct.

That is outrageous! It only requires the press of a button! I can print one immediately using Bangkok Bank ibanking system!

Sent from my X98 Plus II (C2D6) using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, graemeaylward said:

That is outrageous! It only requires the press of a button! I can print one immediately using Bangkok Bank ibanking system!

Apples and Oranges.  One is a self-printed statement.  The other is an official document with more info may be available from a statement from one's local branch (depends on bank, etc).

[Longcut]

13 hours ago, flexomike said:

Than you must not be using a Thai address, mine was also the third Wednesday, but when I changed to a Thai address, the payment date changed to the third day of the month

No, I am still using the U.S. address. I wasn't aware that they changed the date when using a Thai address. Think I will just leave it as it is. 

[Pib]

1 hour ago, graemeaylward said:

That is outrageous! It only requires the press of a button! I can print one immediately using Bangkok Bank ibanking system!

Sent from my X98 Plus II (C2D6) using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

But in only goes back a max of 6 months on ibanking.

[sfokevin]

12 hours ago, Tanoshi said:

5 days at BKK and Kasikorn.

I asked at my BK Bank Branch and got “About a week...” as the turnaround time... Then the question is what date on these statement will Immigration accept?... Assuming they are printed in Bangkok and then sent here the date on them will be a few days old by the time we get to out vaguely timed renewal date...

 

I guess we could also get the letter that accompanies the statement dated the day we pock up the letter at the local bank branch...

[dick turpin]

13 hours ago, steve73 said:

I've always got my bank statement & letter on the morning I've applied for my extension, but I've been told it can a day or two old.  They have also wanted an up-to-date copy of the passbook, and you can do this yourself at many "ATM"s.

 

Did my retirement extension at Korat on Friday and for the first time in nine years got pulled up because my bank letter was dated the previous day. Very friendly about it and said "next time" has to be same day.

 

Struck me though, that with the new regs, they must realise that I am not going to mess up my next extension by letting the account drop below 800K for the next three months.

 

[Pib]

13 minutes ago, Longcut said:

No, I am still using the U.S. address. I wasn't aware that they changed the date when using a Thai address. Think I will just leave it as it is. 

SSA regulation requires a person to notify them of their new address if moving to that new address for more that 30 days---especially a foreign address.   Probably best you do not let SSA know (or discover) you are now living in Thailand (but didn't notify of them of the address change) as they may suspend your payment until you contact them to to update your address and get your payment going again.....and then get to receive one of those "are you dead or alive" letters each year.

[Longcut]

7 minutes ago, Pib said:

SSA regulation requires a person to notify them of their new address if moving to that new address for more that 30 days---especially a foreign address.   Probably best you do not let SSA know (or discover) you are now living in Thailand (but didn't notify of them of the address change) as they may suspend your payment until you contact them to to update your address and get your payment going again.....and then get to receive one of those "are you dead or alive" letters each year.

I have no problem receiving my mail. I keep updated online. 

[Caine]

What a load of mumbo jumbo, I’ll stick to 6 months about with the U.K. they can stick their silly retirement requirements up their collective dirt boxes. 

[Tanoshi]

16 minutes ago, sfokevin said:

I asked at my BK Bank Branch and got “About a week...” as the turnaround time... Then the question is what date on these statement will Immigration accept?... Assuming they are printed in Bangkok and then sent here the date on them will be a few days old by the time we get to out vaguely timed renewal date...

 

I guess we could also get the letter that accompanies the statement dated the day we pock up the letter at the local bank branch...

The letter can be obtained from your local branch same day.

Immigration are well aware it takes a few days to get statements from the head offices confirming overseas payments.

They can verify your balance with your bank on the date you apply if suspicious.