The bad exchange rates is in a way another visa tightening..

[fforest1]

A retirement visa..... 800,000 baht needed in a Thai bank...

 

The Pound at 75 to the Baht.....10,666 Pounds needed for 800,000

The Pound at 65 to the Baht.....12,370 Pounds needed for 800,000

The Pound at 55 to the Baht.....14,545 Pounds needed for 800,000

The Pound at 45 to the Baht.....17,777 Pounds needed for 800,000

The Pound at 35 to the Baht.....22,857 Pounds needed for 800,000

The Pound at 30 to the Baht.....26,666 Pounds needed for 800,000

 

I dont have any big point to make I just thought this was kind of interesting...

[RichardColeman]

I just know if i transfer over 400,000 baht from the uk for my marriage visa - the pound will suddenly boom and the baht drop through the floor ! 

[RoadWarrior371]

I bet a lot of Brits wish they would have transferred their 800k over a few years ago.  Seems to be a UK specific issue, not a visa  issue.

[emptypockets]

Basic mathematics. If the pound was worth 200 baht? If it was worth 1 baht? Not sure why you started this thread. I'm sure many affected people are acutely aware of the exchange rate.

The thread title is misleading, there has been no visa tightening for people who have the required funds. If a retiree deposits 800k baht in the bank all year round there is no issue. Similarly if a married man can deposit 400k all year round, again no issue.

It used to be that you could get a visa for x number of days and do border runs indefinitely in practice. That has changed.

It used to be that US , UK and Au citizens could take an oath or whatever at their embassy stating they had sufficient income to meet Immigration requirements. that facility was withdrawn.

It used to be you could show, for retirees , income from abroad, now it has to be in a Thai bank. It used to be you could show 800k Baht in a Thai bank and that was all that was required. That has changed to now showing 800k and then maintaining 400k until the next extension back at 800k.

I have not mentioned the Ed visas which in some cases were less than genuine.

Follow my above timeline and you may see that the requirements have tightened due to people , in same cases gaming the system, and in others blatantly rorting the system.

What has happened is that people who cannot meet the requirements cannot continue to stay. I feel for them. But this is the reality of life.

And as much as I hate to say it, it has all been brought on by ourselves, the farangs.

Edited August 9, 2019 by emptypockets

[Curt1591]

Although I always met the income requirements, legitimately, I thought it lame that all that was required was a "sworn" affidavit, notarized by the embassy. Some guys I saw at at embassy looked like they would likely leave the grounds and return to selling chewing gum on the BTS flyover.

But, I do wish the crack down came a few years back when the baht was weaker. 

[fforest1]

46 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

there has been no visa tightening for people who have the required funds.

Wrong.....I guess you need to brush up on your Basic Mathematics..

[emptypockets]

2 minutes ago, Curt1591 said:

Although I always met the income requirements, legitimately, I thought it lame that all that was required was a "sworn" affidavit, notarized by the embassy. Some guys I saw at at embassy looked like they would likely leave the grounds and return to selling chewing gum on the BTS flyover.

But, I do wish the crack down came a few years back when the baht was weaker. 

I hear what your saying but they would still be in the same position now, crap exchange rate and needing an extension of stay.

[emptypockets]

Just now, fforest1 said:

Wrong.....I guess you need to brush up on your Basic Mathematics..

please tell me where I am, in essence, wrong. Don't be pedantic or nitpicking..

[faraday]

3 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

Wrong.....I guess you need to brush up on your Basic Mathematics..

Would you like to explain that please....?

[fforest1]

3 minutes ago, faraday said:

Would you like to explain that please....?

See first post....

[elviajero]

1 hour ago, fforest1 said:

The Pound at 75 to the Baht

I remember it well!

[lamyai3]

14 minutes ago, Curt1591 said:

Although I always met the income requirements, legitimately, I thought it lame that all that was required was a "sworn" affidavit, notarized by the embassy. Some guys I saw at at embassy looked like they would likely leave the grounds and return to selling chewing gum on the BTS flyover.

But, I do wish the crack down came a few years back when the baht was weaker. 

The UK embassy never provided sworn affidavits and required credible supporting evidence - the bank statements I sent them were certainly legit. It was pretty shoddy of them to kowtow to immigration the way they did.

 

The initial announcement made was that the other embassies would follow suit and scrap income letters too. This process has now completely stalled, leaving the majority of countries free to continue providing income letters with impunity, and making the whole thing look like it was a targetted crackdown on those English speaking countries who had been vocally critical of the regime here. 

[Matzzon]

2 hours ago, RoadWarrior371 said:

I bet a lot of Brits wish they would have transferred their 800k over a few years ago.  Seems to be a UK specific issue, not a visa  issue.

No, it´s not a direct visa issue, but it becomes an indirect issue. However, it´s all about planning with a buffer for unforseen circumstances. it´s not UK specific either, but they are probably the ones that suffers the most. Almost all currencies have been falling against the baht. US dollar has avoided most of that by beeing connected to the baht´s fluctations.

You can just take the swedish krona, norweigian krona and the danish krona as a few examples. Also the euro has benn sinking a lot from what it once was.

In 2004 when the euro was up in 50 baht then it was 16 000 euro and now it´s over 24 000 euro to come up to 800 000 baht.

The sweden krona is another example. Once it was about 5,4 baht per krona. Now it´s around 3 baht per krona. That means a difference from then to now with around 148 000 to compare with todays staggering almost 267 000 krona for make 800 000 baht.

 

But sure, the GBP has made the worst with around 60% loss from it´s highest recorded rate against the baht.

Edited August 9, 2019 by Matzzon

[mahjongguy]

30 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

US dollar has avoided most of that by beeing connected to the baht´s fluctations.

What connection do you mean?

[Tayaout]

Some users reported using a pound denominated deposit account in a Thai bank and it was accpeted by immigration. So basically you don't ever need to exchange to THB. 

[Curt1591]

1 hour ago, lamyai3 said:

The UK embassy never provided sworn affidavits and required credible supporting evidence - the bank statements I sent them were certainly legit. It was pretty shoddy of them to kowtow to immigration the way they did.

 

The initial announcement made was that the other embassies would follow suit and scrap income letters too. This process has now completely stalled, leaving the majority of countries free to continue providing income letters with impunity, and making the whole thing look like it was a targetted crackdown on those English speaking countries who had been vocally critical of the regime here. 

 

It would be interesting to hear from someone who has used an unverified and documented income letter to meet the financial requirements.

 

5 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

Some users reported using a pound denominated deposit account in a Thai bank and it was accpeted by immigration. So basically you don't ever need to exchange to THB. 

I knew a guy ....

[userabcd]

Sometimes think in the late 90's (Asian crisis) that they doubled the money required on deposit to apply for a long stay visa extension in TH.

 

I may need to be corrected here, but think for extension of stay, marriage was 200000 and increased to 400000, retirement visa was 400000 increased to 800000 (perhaps partially due to the much better exchange rates in those days)

 

Wishful thinking, but maybe now they should consider rolling back the deposit amounts to what they were before.

[luckyluke]

15 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

Some users reported using a pound denominated deposit account in a Thai bank and it was accpeted by immigration.

Assuming you putted 10666 Pounds, (which was the equivalent of 800000 Thb at a certain moment) , in a Pds account in a Thai bank.

 

If you go today to Immigration, sure the officer will tell you this 10666 represent only about 400000 ThB, and you need an extra 400 to obtain an extension. 

[Tayaout]

17 minutes ago, luckyluke said:

Assuming you putted 10666 Pounds, (which was the equivalent of 800000 Thb at a certain moment) , in a Pds account in a Thai bank.

 

If you go today to Immigration, sure the officer will tell you this 10666 represent only about 400000 ThB, and you need an extra 400 to obtain an extension. 

Why put the exact amount if the price fluctuate? It's a little bit like those who send 65K baht and complain they got rejected because the bank charge 500 baht fees. People complain about the exchange rate. I am simply pointing out that you don't need to exchange your money. 

Edited August 10, 2019 by Tayaout

[Peterw42]

12 minutes ago, luckyluke said:

Assuming you putted 10666 Pounds, (which was the equivalent of 800000 Thb at a certain moment) , in a Pds account in a Thai bank.

 

If you go today to Immigration, sure the officer will tell you this 10666 represent only about 400000 ThB, and you need an extra 400 to obtain an extension. 

Yes, you need an extra 400 but its still in home country currency, you haven't lost anything in exchange. you can keep it until the exchange rate is better or send it back home where its still worth the same amount of home currency. A pound is a pound until the day you exchange it.

[smedly]

3 hours ago, RoadWarrior371 said:

I bet a lot of Brits wish they would have transferred their 800k over a few years ago.  Seems to be a UK specific issue, not a visa  issue.

no it isn't

 

against the Thai baht since 2016 % drop

 

USD - 14% 

EURO - 15%

GBP - 18%

[Matzzon]

56 minutes ago, mahjongguy said:

What connection do you mean?

Here

Edited August 10, 2019 by Matzzon

[jacko45k]

4 minutes ago, smedly said:

no it isn't

 

against the Thai baht since 2016 % drop

 

USD - 14% 

EURO - 15%

GBP - 18%

When in 2016? I looked at early January to yesterday and

GBP - 30%, likely you are looking much later in 2016!

[FarFlungFalang]

2 hours ago, fforest1 said:

See first post....

The  old refer to above and work it out yourself because I can't answer tactic.

[faraday]

2 hours ago, fforest1 said:

See first post....

I did; but it doesn't talk about Visa tightening, just a decline in the exchange rate.

Is comprehension not a strong point of yours?

 

[Peterw42]

From memory, I had a huge hangover the day I did my last extension, which made the whole process more difficult. Is excess alcohol consumption another form of visa tightening. 

[mahjongguy]

10 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

Here

That was a bit deep but interesting.

 

"...terms of trade and international reserves have a significant impact on the THB/USD..."

 

I thought you might be implying some actual connection, some version of the pre-'97 peg.

 

 

[lamyai3]

13 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

21 minutes ago, smedly said:

against the Thai baht since 2016 % drop

 

USD - 14% 

EURO - 15%

GBP - 18%

When in 2016? I looked at early January to yesterday and

GBP - 30%, likely you are looking much later in 2016!

Right - any time before the June 2016 referendum and the drop would be in the 30% range (and increasing).

 

It's a valid point though, the baht is absurdly overvalued, and even Thailand's most wanted (the Chinese and Indians) have seen their currencies nosedive against the baht recently. 

[WorriedNoodle]

2 hours ago, elviajero said:

4 hours ago, fforest1 said:

The Pound at 75 to the Baht

I remember it well!

Look on the bright side, I remember when the GBP was at 28 during 1984 at a time when the THB was pegged to the USD at 23 before it was floated, and I'm still here!

[jacko45k]

3 minutes ago, WorriedNoodle said:

Look on the bright side, I remember when the GBP was at 28 during 1984 at a time when the THB was pegged to the USD at 23 before it was floated, and I'm still here!

As do I in my earliest/ first trips here. But I do recall everything seemed really cheap even in GBP terms.