Can I use Krungrsi Foreign Currency Deposit A/C for Retirement Extension?

[roath]

I am currently on a Retirement Extension and in previous years, I have used the British Embassy Certificate of Income, but with the removal of that facility, I am looking at the alternatives.

 

Although Immigration are meant to be applying some leniency this year I have seen reports from some Immigration offices where they have for example refused to accept the combination method of bank funds and have required an amount in excess of 65K to be transferred every single month, not simply an aggregate over the course of the year, which I will fall foul of as I haven't transferred consistently this year so far (as the new rules only came in after I had already renewed for last year).

 

I do have a Foreign Currency Deposit Account with Krungsri (the yellow bank) in GBP Sterling, which has an amount more than sufficient to cover the 800K baht requirement for my extension on its own without the combination method (even if there is a further drop in the pound), but the concern I have with this is that Krungrsi do not issue a passbook for this account, only a plastic ATM style card. Krungsri told me that they are happy to provide a letter for immigration to confirm the balance but I am concerned that Chiang Mai immigration will not accept the bank letter in support of the extension without an actual bank passbook. Does anyone have any knowledge about this?

 

My extension is in November so I have plenty of time to resolve the issue and get 3 months seasoning, but if I can I would rather avoid transferring funds into THB at the moment if I can avoid it. Thanks 

 

 

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, roath said:

I do have a Foreign Currency Deposit Account with Krungsri (the yellow bank) in GBP Sterling, which has an amount more than sufficient to cover the 800K baht requirement

That would be accepted in many offices. Hope you get some positive feedback.

[scubascuba3]

I am currently on a Retirement Extension and in previous years, I have used the British Embassy Certificate of Income, but with the removal of that facility, I am looking at the alternatives.
 
Although Immigration are meant to be applying some leniency this year I have seen reports from some Immigration offices where they have for example refused to accept the combination method of bank funds and have required an amount in excess of 65K to be transferred every single month, not simply an aggregate over the course of the year, which I will fall foul of as I haven't transferred consistently this year so far (as the new rules only came in after I had already renewed for last year).
 
I do have a Foreign Currency Deposit Account with Krungsri (the yellow bank) in GBP Sterling, which has an amount more than sufficient to cover the 800K baht requirement for my extension on its own without the combination method (even if there is a further drop in the pound), but the concern I have with this is that Krungrsi do not issue a passbook for this account, only a plastic ATM style card. Krungsri told me that they are happy to provide a letter for immigration to confirm the balance but I am concerned that Chiang Mai immigration will not accept the bank letter in support of the extension without an actual bank passbook. Does anyone have any knowledge about this?
 
My extension is in November so I have plenty of time to resolve the issue and get 3 months seasoning, but if I can I would rather avoid transferring funds into THB at the moment if I can avoid it. Thanks 
 
 

I can't answer your question but, do you get any interest on the account?

[ubonjoe]

It should be accepted with a letter from the bank confirming the balance in baht on the date the letter is written and a statement showing the balance for the past 2 or 3 months.

The only way to know with any certainty is to ask Chiang Mai immigration.

[oztraveller]

I applied for the retirement visa at Jomtiem Immigration today. I have a Krungsri FCD account. I used the standard letter from the bank and a photocopy of the card issued by Krungsri. Immigration asked to see a copy of the card again in 90 days for the balance check. I took out 500 baht from the account today to show activity. The bank statement issued from the bank was not suitable because their system does not update the latest activity till the next day. I printed my own statement from the Krungsri online banking site at my condo which does show the latest activity and has a Krungsri letterhead. I went back to the bank where they verified that it was correct and stamped and signed it. Difficult to believe a bank branch cannot have access to the latest balance for a statement when i can do it myself from their website. 

 

The officer at immigration asked to see a passbook, i told him their is no passbook and he continued checking the rest of the documents without any issues. You definitely need a bank statement updated to the day of the visa application when there is no passbook. As it turns out there was not a problem. the visa application was accepted.

[scubascuba3]

The statement thing with any bank is because they are at close of business not multiple points during the day

[sammieuk1]

I only use FCD Stirling account at Kbank for a retirement visa in CM due to the state of the pound get them to print a letter and take your passbook job done????

[roath]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

6 hours ago, roath said:

 

I can't answer your question but, do you get any interest on the account?

I believe it's nominal...0.10 per cent or something

[roath]

I only use FCD Stirling account at Kbank for a retirement visa in CM due to the state of the pound get them to print a letter and take your passbook job done[emoji848]

The point of my post is that KRUNGSRI don't issue a passbook, only an ATM card

Sent from my RNE-L22 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[sammieuk1]

1 hour ago, roath said:

The point of my post is that KRUNGSRI don't issue a passbook, only an ATM card

Sent from my RNE-L22 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Simple change banks????

[elliss]

 

 Kasikorn , is the one for me . 

They have a branch in Roath , near the lake.

Very convenient . 555

 

 

 

[UKresonant]

I think Krungsi are ahead of the pack with the FCD, electronic plastic card for in branch, ATM card for their machines, and nice paper statements through the post every so often. More likely the other banks will reduce the use of passbooks eventually. Also they could print the last 12 months of transactions for me, in a few minutes, when I asked them (in branch last month) ???? All inbound SWIFT transfers coded SWF...

[roath]

Simple change banks[emoji848]

Very helpful....

Sent from my RNE-L22 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[scubascuba3]

That would be accepted in many offices. Hope you get some positive feedback.

Are they usually accepted for the initial Non Imm O also? at Jomtien?

[jacko45k]

30 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

16 hours ago, jacko45k said:

That would be accepted in many offices. Hope you get some positive feedback.

Are they usually accepted for the initial Non Imm O also? at Jomtien?

I haven't specifically read they are or they are not, but there are alternatives if you have a problem. Although there are rumours that the desk doing 'that job' is a bit more difficult!

[cnx355]

A friend of mine did use his FCD account in USD to renew his extension in Chiangmai.

The problem was that a FCD account in Krungsri does not have a passbook and he needed a letter from the Bank manager to explain to them that there was no passbook but an ID card of the FCD  account and  a monthly statement. It was very difficult for the lady IO to admit that she was ignorant of this fact ( and loose face )  and he had to refer to the superior at the time.

 

This was 2 years ago but from other posters on this tread , it seem they learned about that by now.

 

 

[cnx355]

10 hours ago, UKresonant said:

I think Krungsi are ahead of the pack with the FCD, electronic plastic card for in branch, ATM card for their machines, and nice paper statements through the post every so often. More likely the other banks will reduce the use of passbooks eventually. Also they could print the last 12 months of transactions for me, in a few minutes, when I asked them (in branch last month) ???? All inbound SWIFT transfers coded SWF...

I agree 100 % as I have a FCD with them too. Maybe in 10 years the passbook will be a thing of the past...Hopefully !

[jacko45k]

46 minutes ago, cnx355 said:

I agree 100 % as I have a FCD with them too. Maybe in 10 years the passbook will be a thing of the past...Hopefully !

And in 12 years, immigration will become aware of that fact!

 

Later thought: I hope they keep the passbooks! Updating it and making a few copies is relatively straightforward for me, and I dread to think what multitude of hoops and barriers immigration would come up with as alternatives!

[sencelebi]

Yes you can. That's what I do. I have a US currency account at Krungsi And I use that everytime for an extension. Bank don't issue a bank book for the Foreign Currency so I use bank letter and ATM card to prove the account at the immigration. 

[scubascuba3]

Yes you can. That's what I do. I have a US currency account at Krungsi And I use that everytime for an extension. Bank don't issue a bank book for the Foreign Currency so I use bank letter and ATM card to prove the account at the immigration. 

and you can transfer back to the US any time?

[thurien]

13 hours ago, UKresonant said:

I think Krungsi are ahead of the pack with the FCD, electronic plastic card for in branch, ATM card for their machines, and nice paper statements through the post every so often. More likely the other banks will reduce the use of passbooks eventually. Also they could print the last 12 months of transactions for me, in a few minutes, when I asked them (in branch last month) ???? All inbound SWIFT transfers coded SWF...

one of the advantages with KrungSri having Japanese roots...

[scubascuba3]

I believe it's nominal...0.10 per cent or something

I just checked for GBP and the savings account is 0.10% but if you open a 12 month time deposit its 0.60%

[AI5AASIA]

16 hours ago, roath said:

The point of my post is that KRUNGSRI don't issue a passbook, only an ATM card

Sent from my RNE-L22 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

I don't have an answer for you, however I'll share my experience last month with CW Immigration, when I submitted my bank statements to show an annual monthly average inbound transferred amount in excess of the required 65k.

The officer would not accept my bank statements from my Kasikorn current account and as I'd been using Transferwise I also had all of their transaction receipts along with the outbound statements from my UK bank.  

The Immigration officer insisted that I had to show a bank book showing the income. Current account wasn't acceptableas there wasn't a bank book..

I said I understand and can do that going forward, however I can't rectify the past years method of transferred amount to my current account. She then asked if I had a deposit account and my response was yes, however I hadn't made any international inbound transfers into that account for the past few years. She said that if I could make just one transfer of minimum 65k and then she will be able to process my extention, transfer duly done that same evening and the following week it shows in my account passbook (I actually made a second transfer as I thought after a day or so of not seeing it appear, that I'd made a mistake), all updated to show that income of 65k and my visa was extended for another year.

[Baerboxer]

17 hours ago, roath said:

I believe it's nominal...0.10 per cent or something

 

I think you'll find it's zero per cent. 

[scubascuba3]

One of the downsides to these FCD accounts is they are not protected by the Deposit Protection Agency

[CM4Me]

I have a Foreign Currency Fixed Term Deposit Account with BKK Bank.

Had it for 3 years and have used it 3 times for my retirement extension, the latest 2 weeks ago.

With such account BKK Bank only issue a certificate, no book, no card or the like. But they do issue a monthly statement via snail mail.

This year Imm wanted to see the original certificate, a photo copy of the certificate, a photo copy of the last 3 monthly statements, and a conformation letter from the bank.

As I understand Imm will only accept Fixed Term Deposits provided they are redeemable at any time, ie before the term of the deposit expires (to which one most likely would loose any interest).

 

BKK Bank has different interest rates depending on the currency - I currently get 2.5% for 1 year term ???? 

 

[OJAS]

15 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

One of the downsides to these FCD accounts is they are not protected by the Deposit Protection Agency

And another downside to using them for retirement extensions, particularly in the present climate of the THB’s value rising inexorably against most other currencies, is that balances are potentially at risk of unwittingly dipping below the equivalent of 800k THB during the critical 5 months before and after an extension is applied for. For peace of mind I think that it would be better to get the required 800k deposited in a THB account, even if this means taking a hit on exchange rates.

[DaRoadrunner]

Has anyone managed to get a retirement visa at CW using a FCD account?

[ubonjoe]

2 hours ago, DaRoadrunner said:

Has anyone managed to get a retirement visa at CW using a FCD account?

Yes they have. They certainly accept them. I can recall more than one report of people using one.