Confused about extension of stay process

[TDCNINJA]

Please forgive me for asking this but all the recent rule changes with regards to bank accounts and Non-immigrant visas has me a bit confused. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

 

I'm a military retiree that receives 3 monthly pensions from DFAS (CRSC), VA, and Social Security.  I'm going to the Royal Thai Consulate in Chicago in 2 weeks to apply for my Non-Immigrant/OA. Can you tell me what I do once I'm in Thailand? I don't currently have a Thai bank account. All I have are the downloadable letters from DFAS, SSA, and VA showing my pension. Also, I can download my bank statements from USAA showing those two pensions being deposited monthly. 

 

The Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, DC, says the following with regard to the OA Visa: Foreigner who wishes to extend his or her stay shall submit a request for extension of stay at the Office of the Immigration Bureau with documented evidence of money transfer or a deposit account in Thailand or an income certificate showing an amount of not less than 800,000.- Baht or an income certificate plus a deposit account showing a total amount of not less than 800,000.- Baht. A one-year extension of stay shall be granted at the discretion of the immigration officer to the foreigner as long as he or she meets the above requirements.

 

I don't have 800,000 in the bank, but I have much more than 800,000 despited into my account each year.  At the end of my 1-year stay, what options do I have based on the receipt of monthly pensions?

 

Thank you,

 

TDCNINJA 

[elviajero]

The non-immigrant ‘O-A’ visa will be valid for 1 year from the date it’s issued, and you can enter anytime during that year.

 

Whenever you enter with the non ‘O-A’ visa you’ll be granted permission to stay for 1 year.

 

Towards the end of that year you can apply for a 1 year extension of stay; however, if you exit and re-enter just before the visas expiry date you’ll get another 1 year stay using the visa.

 

Towards the end of that second year you can apply for a 1 year extension of stay from immigration.

 

Whenever you apply for the 1 year extension you need proof of your foreign pension/income being transferred to a Thai bank.

 

During your first year you should open a bank account and start monthly transfers of at least 65K baht so you can provide immigration with a Thai bank statement showing your monthly transfers when the time comes to apply for the extension.

[BritTim]

The Non O-A visa is a long stay visa. It is not necessarily a given that you will ever apply for an extension of your permission to stay if you qualify for a Non O-A visa, and return to the US for a visit once every couple of years. The Non O-A visa is valid for a year from the date of issue, and each time you enter Thailand during the validity period of the visa, you receive a one-year permission to stay. A consequence is that you can enter just before the visa expires and receive a fresh one-year permission to stay. It is only if you want to stay in Thailand at the end of that final permission to stay (and do not want to return to the US for a new visa) that an extension of your permission to stay becomes necessary.

 

At this stage, forget about the extension. you will not need to address it for a long time. The challenge is going to be meeting the requirements for the visa. In particular, you need to discuss with the Washington Embassy what they will accept in terms of an income statement to meet the financial requirement.

[WeekendRaider]

question about monthly transfers.  hefty fees are involved.  and in the USA now, most pensions are not monthly.  in fact, when we originally passed new pension laws, in the early 1980's it was, I was actually asked to study them by my employer.  I remember that quite well.  I was an enrolled IRS agent at the time working for a payroll software developer.  yeah, some government folks get monthly payments, an old style "pension", we generally talk about those as "entitlements" now.  in general, we do.  most folks today in the USA only get Social Security as a monthly thing.... and for most of us we wait until we are 67 or 70 now to get it so we use our "real" pensions, which are not monthly.  we changed those laws in the early 1980's.  this is why the US cannot verify a "monthly pension amount".  no American swearing to what their "monthly pension" amount knows for sure what that amount is, it is such a vague concept once you put "monthly" to it.  so the government cannot possibly know any better to verify it at all.  except as to what their average was for the prior tax year.   this seems to be going over a lot of folks heads.  

that the Thai rules don't apply very well to anything but old style government pensions is the real crux of the problem.

 

for example it is the only way to make sense to using today's fx rate and applying it to income affadvits from 4 to 6 months ago.  because it assumes a "fixed" lifetime monthly pension amount.  

a distribution from an IRA account is usually 401k money.  even when it isn't it is still a pension distribution by any definition of those words.  but surely 401k money is "pension income" if anything is a "pension" in the USA for many decades now.  in the law, in accounting and in "real life".  in fact, it is why we increasingly refer to any at all "fixed" monthly payouts as "entitlements".  from a new law viewpoint they are entitlements.  it's been that way since the Reagan administration.

Edited March 9, 2019 by WeekendRaider

[onera1961]

2 hours ago, TDCNINJA said:

I'm a military retiree that receives 3 monthly pensions from DFAS (CRSC), VA, and Social Security.  I'm going to the Royal Thai Consulate in Chicago in 2 weeks to apply for my Non-Immigrant/OA. Can you tell me what I do once I'm in Thailand? I don't currently have a Thai bank account. All I have are the downloadable letters from DFAS, SSA, and VA showing my pension. Also, I can download my bank statements from USAA showing those two pensions being deposited monthly. 

You do nothing once you're in Thailand. Just  live your life except
 

1. Rent a place to live. Before renting, harass the landlord to give you copy of his house book, ownership document (called chanote), his ID card. These are all written in Thai. So you must go to somebody who can read Thai and verify that the names match in all documents and your lease contract. Every time you rent a new place, you do the same. 

2. Open a bank account, preferably in Bangkok bank. You may need a residence certificate for that. You can get one by paying some agent BHT 1,000. If you have a Thai friend, it is easy and free. He can vouch for you to open a bank account.

3. Transfer 65K baht from US to Thai bank every month. Make sure it is coded as foreign transfer in your bank account. 

4. Your visa is good for one year and it can used to live here two years. Other posters have already explained you how to do so.

5. After two years, try to extend you stay inside Thailand with your monthly income (bank deposits only. They don't want to see anything else). 

6. If no 5 does not work, you can always go back to USA and get another O-A. 

 

If no. 5 and no. 6 don't work, you can hire an agent to ease your pain by bribing IOs. This option is little up in the air now. By the time you're ready for your extension in two years, it will be settled, we all hope. 

Edited March 10, 2019 by onera1961

[TDCNINJA]

1 hour ago, BritTim said:

 

 

At this stage, forget about the extension. you will not need to address it for a long time. The challenge is going to be meeting the requirements for the visa. In particular, you need to discuss with the Washington Embassy what they will accept in terms of an income statement to meet the financial requirement.

 

Yes, I don't have any problems meeting the requirements for the visa. All my paperwork is set. 

[steve187]

op the non immigrant 'O''A' visa will give you a one year permission to stay stamp on each entry, as others have posted if you make a fresh entry just prior to the 1 year validity of the actual visa then you will get a fresh one year permission to stay stamp.

 

 during this 2nd year in Thailand the visa is then finished, if you leave the country and want to preserve the one year permission to stay stamp, then you will need a re-entry permit ( single entry 1,000 baht, multi entry 3,800 baht) available from local immigration office, you then put this re-entry permit number on the form ( TM 6) you complete for entry into Thailand at immigration.

 

whilst in Thailand you will need to ensure a tm30 form is completed and you will need to do 90 day address reports TM 47.

 

if you choose to do a one year extension it would need to be applied for 30 day before any permission to stay stamp expires.

Edited March 10, 2019 by steve187