Retirement Visa - Confusion Over Changes in Proof of $$

[david555]

4 minutes ago, chilly07 said:

Putting 800k in your bank for one year is never the answer! It encourages agents as they can "manage' this and monthly income from a credible source certified by the bank is a legitimate route and should be encouraged.

Of course if the 3 recalcitrant Embassies did the job they  like Thai Immigration are able to and paid for all this nonsense could stop!

I do not see how putting your own 800K in the bank method can encourage agents … as those who use this way never shall become their costumers  !

 

My last ret.ext  took in total 30 minutes including  9 clock Kasikorn bank letter and 9.30 I was out I.O. office , next day pick up passport.

[DannyCarlton]

22 minutes ago, david555 said:

Can you not request a statement about the pension amount you receive ? As first year of my ret.ext. I used the combination method before the full 800K by 6 years now already ,(as the money not enough then ) and I got on request , a stamped with seal statement from my gov. pension service : how much I get by month and this in future by life .

But I repeat I requested it and was send on my Thai address , but I am not U.K.   , but E.U. country .

My I.O. office Jomtien 

I always used to send the British Embassy my P60, a payslip and 3 months worth of bank statements. No guarantee that Jomtien will accept the same.

 

For various reasons, I dont want my company pension provider to know that I'm in Thailand and not normal practice to apply for statement from them. All my payslips and P60 are online.

[Bluetongue]

Re the 800k with many currencies including mine performing woefully against the baht, I decided that for the moment the 800k in the bank here is a nice little hedge against further downward movement which may be handy in the future. And the interest rate foregone is sfa at the moment really.

[david555]

3 minutes ago, Bluetongue said:

Re the 800k with many currencies including mine performing woefully against the baht, I decided that for the moment the 800k in the bank here is a nice little hedge against further downward movement which may be handy in the future. And the interest rate foregone is sfa at the moment really.

I agree fully if possible , example I did not transfer 1 euro for 3 years already as I use now the planned "condo buy money " for living , no exchange rate pain for me and keep my Pension €'s in home country …., and so Thailand can give that condo for the pigeons to make baby's on the balcony's 5555 lol !

 

And in 2.5 years back to Euroland where my monthly coming in euros are waiting me....and maybe part time Thailand or else sunny country  ….."Paradise lost " = new name for "Land of smiles" 

[ukrules]

5 hours ago, soisanuk said:

The Immigration Officer (a nice lady) explained they wanted a letter from the Bank listing all foreign deposits for the preceding 12 months.

This suggests to me that they have decided they're not going to do any additional work.

 

They used to get a letter from the Embassy, now they're pushing this work to the banks.

 

Very lazy attitude by immigration.

[david555]

20 minutes ago, ukrules said:

This suggests to me that they have decided they're not going to do any additional work.

 

They used to get a letter from the Embassy, now they're pushing this work to the banks.

 

Very lazy attitude by immigration.

Because the more lazy attitude from those Embassy's who created this ….

[Max69xl]

4 hours ago, denby45 said:

For me there would be a problem here because when I get the passbook updated they add a block sum (kasikorn). It does not show the individual deposits. I don't actually use this method however but if I did, I would have to remember to get the book updated every month. Worth thinking about.

 

Den

The block sum is because of to many transactions when you update your passbook. This is normal for both K-Bank and Bangkok Bank (and probably for other banks as well). If you update once a week or so,you will see every deposit. 

[ukrules]

1 hour ago, david555 said:

Because the more lazy attitude from those Embassy's who created this ….

I don't think so, it's the immigration departments job to verify that you adhere to their regulations.

 

They clearly don't want to do the work, they want other institutions to do their work for them.

 

This is what it's all about. They're shirking their responsibility by pushing the job onto someone else. I've long suspected that there's also a question of liability if it turns out that the foreigner runs out of money - as in who is responsible for them after making a guarantee that there's plenty of money available.

 

 

 

 

 

[Max69xl]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

This suggests to me that they have decided they're not going to do any additional work.

 

They used to get a letter from the Embassy, now they're pushing this work to the banks.

 

Very lazy attitude by immigration.

It has nothing to do with Immigration offices. Why blame them instead of the UK,US and Australian embassies? They refused to start issuing stamped and signed income letters documenting the actual income. That's what other embassies bank letters shows.

[Max69xl]

"Beginning this year most embassies no longer notarize a form that states the retiree gets X income monthly."

This statement from the OP is not true. There's only 3 embassies not issuing a proper income letter from January 1, documenting the actual income, the US,UK and the Australian.

[LUNG JIM MAE RIM]

Here is an example of a letter from a bank showing monthly transfers for "monthly pension transfer" as checked at the top of the form. This form was recommended by the agent across from Chiang Mai immigration in April. It was used successfully for a retirement visa using the income method in May.

 

In addition to this letter from the bank branch, a 12 month bank statement issued by the Head Office was also required by CM immigration.

 

Whether or not this letter is now acceptable in CM or elsewhere at this time is unknown.

[Max69xl]

1 hour ago, LUNG JIM MAE RIM said:

Here is an example of a letter from a bank showing monthly transfers for "monthly pension transfer" as checked at the top of the form. This form was recommended by the agent across from Chiang Mai immigration in April. It was used successfully for a retirement visa using the income method in May.

 

In addition to this letter from the bank branch, a 12 month bank statement issued by the Head Office was also required by CM immigration.

 

Whether or not this letter is now acceptable in CM or elsewhere at this time is unknown.

In addition to this letter from the bank branch, a 12 month bank statement issued by the Head Office was also required by CM immigration."

Why should the Bangkok Bank Head office issue the 12 month bank statement? 

[LUNG JIM MAE RIM]

I was told by 3 Bangkok Bank branch offices that they can only issue 6 month statements; for 12 months, the statements must be issued by the Head Office, and that takes 7 days, so that needs to be planned for when starting the process for extension of stay.

[ubonjoe]

7 hours ago, Max69xl said:

Why should the Bangkok Bank Head office issue the 12 month bank statement? 

Due to the local branches not being able to pull up the history of a account for more than 6 months to print the transactions out.

I got a 12 month statement at the branch here for a fee of 200 baht and they said about a week. Not sure when it came in since they neglected to call me to let me know it was in. I went to the bank a little over a week later and it was ready.

I was in no rush since I requested it a couple of weeks before the earliest day I could apply for my extension. As it turned out for various reasons I did not do the application until the following month and then got a one month statement showing one additional transfer to add to the 12 months.

I showed an example of the  letter showing the 12 months of transfers but they did know how to do it. I got the standard letter used for the money in bank option and immigration accepted it.

[brianthainess]

19 hours ago, AjarnMartin said:

We can’t seem to get over the hurdle of all Immigration offices interpreting Thai Law in their own sweet ways. It’s like trying to herd frogs!

Thanks for my first laugh of the day 

[Max69xl]

48 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Due to the local branches not being able to pull up the history of a account for more than 6 months to print the transactions out.

I got a 12 month statement at the branch here for a fee of 200 baht and they said about a week. Not sure when it came in since they neglected to call me to let me know it was in. I went to the bank a little over a week later and it was ready.

I was in no rush since I requested it a couple of weeks before the earliest day I could apply for my extension. As it turned out for various reasons I did not do the application until the following month and then got a one month statement showing one additional transfer to add to the 12 months.

I showed an example of the  letter showing the 12 months of transfers but they did know how to do it. I got the standard letter used for the money in bank option and immigration accepted it.

Bangkok Banks Jomtien Branch has no problem to pull up the 12 months history. But they are located 80 meters from Immigration and has probably gotten the permission from Bangkok Bank HQ in BKK. 

[ubonjoe]

38 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

Bangkok Banks Jomtien Branch has no problem to pull up the 12 months history. But they are located 80 meters from Immigration and has probably gotten the permission from Bangkok Bank HQ in BKK. 

But are they able to print them out? That may be the problem.

Mine were printed using a tractor feed printer with a letterhead for Bangkok and a "authorized signature" on them.

 

[Max69xl]

49 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

But are they able to print them out? That may be the problem.

Mine were printed using a tractor feed printer with a letterhead for Bangkok and a "authorized signature" on them.

 

I don't know how they do it, but they print out something (2 letters), and it's accepted by Jomtien Immigration. They showed the bank letters at the Pattaya Expats Club website in early March.

Don't forget there are many expats staying in Pattaya,and many of those are banking with Bangkok Bank. 

[mikebell]

On 9/25/2019 at 9:58 AM, Vacuum said:

You mean some embassies (4).

I thought it was only three.  Thai Immigration would still accept an Embassy letter, say, from UK if the Embassy would write one.  I contacted UK Embassy to ask why they couldn't use the end of year tax certificate to prove our income.  They re-routed my email to London where I was given the run-around.  Those letters were a licence to print money yet they've thrown it all away.

[Max69xl]

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

I thought it was only three.  Thai Immigration would still accept an Embassy letter, say, from UK if the Embassy would write one.  I contacted UK Embassy to ask why they couldn't use the end of year tax certificate to prove our income.  They re-routed my email to London where I was given the run-around.  Those letters were a licence to print money yet they've thrown it all away.

You are correct there are only 3 embassies, the UK,US and Australian. They refused to issue a stamped and signed income letter based on actual income like the rest of the embassies. The UK embassy said late last year that "they weren't experts in verifying documents". Whatever they meant by that.