On 4 June- went to Jomtien Immigration for Retirement Extension- income method

 

-TM7 with pic

-Copies of passport pages

-US Embassy Letter- dated December 27, 2018- was a little over 5 months old- No problem/

=Proof of Address- Wife Thai Id/House Registration as owner

=YM30 and 90 day- in order

 

Application approved- picked up passport today- another 1 year extension

 

I had proof of income as backup- not asked for and not offered.

 

Office was packed but only 3 or 4 of us for Retirement Extensions-  everyone else- other business- Spent about 60 minutes in the office- mostly waiting at the information desk to get a queue number.

 

Quite impressed with refinement desk- friendly- efficient and a smile.  All prior extensions were at CW- much longer waits.

 

Haven't decided on next year yet- I'll enjoy not having to worry about this year!!

What is a refinement desk?

Good news, TD, that you had no problem with your extension. 

 

I have to do my retirement extension on 21st of this month, also using what may well have been the last income letter that the BE ever issued - dated 31/12/18.  I did check about a month ago, at the Jomptien office, and was told that there should be no problem.

 

Did they specifically ask to see your TM30?  I've never submitted one yet - tried twice and was told each time that those on a retirement extension didn't need to do this.

Edited June 5, 20197 yr by doctormann
typo

38 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

What is a refinement desk?

Jomtien is divided into sections in a large room-  thus retirement desk; marriage desk; 90 day report etc.

35 minutes ago, doctormann said:

Good news, TD, that you had no problem with your extension. 

 

I have to do my retirement extension on 21st of this month, also using what may well have been the last income letter that the BE ever issued - dated 31/12/18.  I did check about a month ago, at the Jomptien office, and was told that there should be no problem.

 

Did they specifically ask to see your TM30?  I've never submitted one yet - tried twice and was told each time that those on a retirement extension didn't need to do

They didn't ask because Jomtien staples it in the passport-  but I could see they looked at it and the 90 day report.  I had never submitted one  before moving to the jurisdiction of Jomtien but months back when they appeared to be serious about it- I did submit and was accepted- no fine involved.

 

You may want to have the form filled out and ready to file in case they do ask.    The good news is your BE Embassy Letter will be accepted.   They didn't even blink when I presented my 5 month old letter. It makes life easier for Immigration- they even smiled.

 

If we could only convince the BE/US/AUS Embassies to reinstate the letter- it would make life so much easier.  Cheers.

1 minute ago, Thaidream said:

They didn't ask because Jomtien staples it in the passport-  but I could see they looked at it and the 90 day report.  I had never submitted one  before moving to the jurisdiction of Jomtien but months back when they appeared to be serious about it- I did submit and was accepted- no fine involved.

 

You may want to have the form filled out and ready to file in case they do ask.    The good news is your BE Embassy Letter will be accepted.   They didn't even blink when I presented my 5 month old letter. It makes life easier for Immigration- they even smiled.

 

If we could only convince the BE/US/AUS Embassies to reinstate the letter- it would make life so much easier.  Cheers.

Yes, I do have a pre-filled TM30 that I take with me every time that I visit Immigration.  Just needs an appropriate date to be filled in, although I have no idea really what that should be, unless it's supposed to correspond to the date on my TM6.  I've done a few excursions in-country - and I'm sure that various hotels will have reported me - but I haven't been out of Thailand since 2011 and no-one was enforcing TM30s back then!  I've been at the same address for 14 years and Jomptien know this so maybe this is why I don't have to do the TM30.  I'm half expecting to get fined though, sooner or later.

 

I'm not really expecting any problems with the BE letter but next year I'll be relying on the 65k monthly deposit option.  Again, no problem unless the GBP really tanks, which it might do! 

 

It is a great shame that the BE are no longer providing the letters, especially as we did have to provide evidence of income, unlike certain other nationalities.  OK, maybe the evidence was not 100% verifiable but what is!  Anything can be falsified after all. 

 

I still think that this has more to do with the BE downsizing and just not wanting to be bothered any more.  The decision to stop the letters did come fairly soon after an FCO audit.  Ah well, I suppose that if the 65k deposit method works then we do actually save money.  The BE charge for producing what was, in essence, a form letter was outrageous!

did mine today and very quick.  not so friendly women unfortunately.  after she took all my info she gave me a letter asking me to go to the bank and show 800 k still in there in 90 days.  never saw that before  scary.  I had all my paperwork done properly.   now they want to show 800 for 6 months. also had me sign a letter all in thai, have no idea what that went into my paperwork, scary was not about to ask for a translation.