For UK, AU and US expats using monthly income to apply an Extension since 1st July.

[sumrit]

 

(Almost) everybody using the monthly income method would/should have applied for an Embassy letter at the end of last year which would (should) have been valid up until the end of June (last month). We have now had almost a month since then where everybody applying for an extension has had to show a monthly income (40/65k baht) coming into a Thai bank from abroad. 

 

So how many people have used the monthly income method since then? How did you transfer your money to Thailand (Swift via your bank, Transferwise, or any other method) to show it originated from abroad? Were all your transfers coded FTT, International transfer, etc? If you had some transfers coded as local, SMT etc did Immigration accept that? Did you need a Credit advice Receipt for those shown as local transfers to be acceptable? Did Immigration query any part of your finance documents and the way you presented it? Did you need to show where your income originated from, pension etc,etc?

 

Can you also say which Immigration Office you used for your extension because that might help others.

 

So far there has been a couple of reports on TV where people have been successful (even when including some SMT codes in their bank statement) but I haven't seen any posts where people have been denied because their finances weren't acceptable because of the new rules.

 

I'm not interested in reading about people speculating on what they think might happen in the future, we've already had page after page of those comments in a whole host of threads and they're just speculation. Likewise I don't want to hear about people who chose to change their method away from monthly income or use an agent. I'm only interested in how people got on when they actually applied using the monthly income method since 1st July.

Edited July 27, 2019 by sumrit

[Tanoshi]

12 minutes ago, sumrit said:

So far there has been a couple of reports on TV where people have been successful (even when including some SMT codes in their bank statement) but I haven't seen any posts where people have been denied because their finances weren't acceptable because of the new rules.

Roi Et.

Applying for a change in Visa status TV to Non O as a prelude to obtaining an extension based on retirement, using bank statement of 65K transfers, all FTT except one SMT.

TW pdf receipts accepted as proof of foreign transfer.

 

However they requested additional proof in the form of a Pension statement, which was duly supplied, but they insist this must be 'stamped' (authenticated) by his Embassy.

Australian citizen and Australian Embassy cannot stamp (authenticate) any documents as per an enquiry and their reply.

 

The IO went as far as to state "The US, UK and Australian Embassies now create more work for us because they stopped issuing income letters, so we will make more work for you".

The case is ongoing.

[mngmn]

31 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

The IO went as far as to state "The US, UK and Australian Embassies now create more work for us because they stopped issuing income letters, so we will make more work for you".

This is worthy of an approach through diplomatic channels to confirm that systematic revenge is an official Thai government policy.

Edited July 27, 2019 by mngmn

[scubascuba3]

This is worthy of an approach through diplomatic channels to confirm that systematic revenge is an official Thai government policy.

I concur that a thai policy of spite exists as they (Jomtien) said to me (from UK) that I couldn't use income method to convert tourist visa to non imm O, then the tea money route was discussed

 

[OJAS]

Used the 65k monthly income into a Thai bank method for my latest successful retirement extension application at Maptaput (Rayong) Immigration a fortnight ago.

 

I used TransferWise for my initial 6 monthly transfers between July 2018 and January 2019, and all were coded FTT. I then reverted to the Bangkok Bank London branch method (with the GBP-to-THB conversion performed in Bangkok) for the remaining 6 monthly transfers  – which, once again, all were coded FTT (I had previously used this method for transferring funds from my UK to Thai accounts  before changing to TransferWise in early 2017).

 

I supplied a standard 6-month bank statement which I had obtained last January in respect of the initial 6 transfers plus a further standard 6-month bank statement covering the remaining 6 transfers plus standard 800k-style account confirmation letter, both of which I had obtained the day before my trip to Immigration. For the sake of clarity I highlighted each relevant transfer in the 2 bank statements.

 

No other supporting documentation was requested, even though I had brought a bumper-bundle along with me. Indeed, the only query which the officer I dealt with raised related to my phone number – which was quickly resolved when I showed him where I had entered this on the TM7 form!

 

All in all, it was just as smooth a process for me as it had been in previous years with a British Embassy letter – and, as those years, I walked out of the office with a new stamped and signed extension in my passport.

[sumrit]

2 hours ago, Tanoshi said:

using bank statement of 65K transfers, all FTT except one SMT.

TW pdf receipts accepted as proof of foreign transfer.

It's good to hear they accepted the SMT transfer accompanied by a corresponding TW pdf. That's exactly in line with two other reports I've already read.

 

I've also read of somebody supplying a Credit Advice Receipt to accompeny a SMT transfer. Not sure whether Immigration asked for the CAR or whether it was supplied automatically because it has been suggested it was necessary in various threads over the past few months.

 

It'll be good if accepting the TW pdf's as proof of transfer becomes the norm as we go forwards. 

[Tanoshi]

7 hours ago, sumrit said:

I've also read of somebody supplying a Credit Advice Receipt to accompeny a SMT transfer.

If your with KK and the TW transfer goes through their HQ to your KK account the code appears as 'local' or 'domestic' in your passbook, but KK Head office can issue 'credit receipts' as proof of International transfer.

 

If your with BKK and the TW transfer goes through KK to your BKK account, then it's coded as an Interbank SMT transfer. You the have to obtain an FET (Foreign Exchange Transfer) form from one of KK's International Trade offices.

 

Accepting the TW pdf receipt as proof of International transfer sure makes life easier for everyone, provided your IO will accept them. Of course the funds are paid locally, but they are instigated by a Foreign Telex Transfer (FTT) to TW's Thailand offices.