40k Rule With Annual Visa Renewal

[Phil Conners]

There is no longer an option for bank deposit except for those grandfathered. The requirement now is 40k per month family income.

I just came back from Immigration in Jomtien and the latest story is that you are allowed to use the 400K-in-the-bank option until October 1st 2007 only. After that EVERYBODY has to prove 40K/month - INCLUDING those of us who already have been using the 400K-in-the-bank option. In other worlds, no grandfather rule after October 1st 2007.

I got a document from them attempting to explain the requirements in worse-than-usual English. I would scan and attach it if that was an option but it doesn't seem possible in this forum

[lopburi3]

You can attach a jpg easily using the upload below the message frame. Would be most welcome.

[Phil Conners]

Hm, don't know why I didn't see that before ... anyway, here it is:

I shall be the first to acknowledge the paper is virtually unreadable but it was handed over by two officials (one of them the woman captain y'all know and love) with the clear point that for the coming visa extension I could use the 400K-in-the-bank option but after that I had to find a way to produce proof of income of 40K/month. I think they said it was going to be the same for retirees as well, but as I am not going to qualify for that for several years I didn't really pay attention there, sorry.

Edited April 9, 2007 by Phil Conners

[Maestro]

To me, this seems a very arbitrary interpretation of rule 17(6) of the Thai Police Order 606/2549. Could it be a misunderstanding?

The rule says that starting 1 OCT 2006 new applications can be made only with evidence of income, not with 400k in the bank as an option. Could it be that this deadline has been tacitly – or based on clause 13 – extended by one year and that some Immigration offices misunderstand this to apply to all applications from 1 OCT 2007, not only to first-time applications?

On the other hand, seeing how unmarried fathers have been left with the extension for employment as their only extension option, I would not want to exclude the possibility that there could be a design to limit men under 50 with a Thai wife to an extension based on income. The only difference, by comparison with the unmarried father, would be that the married man’s evidence of income can also be his foreign income or his wife’s income.

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Maestro

[Maestro]

...my visa (non-immigrant O) comes up for renewal in June...they hit me with this new 40k monthly income requirement...

I assume you are referring to your forthcoming application for annual extension of stay.

If this will be the first time you apply for an annual extension based on marriage, it is correct that evidence of a monthly family income of minimum 40k is your only option. If, on the other hand, you already were on this type of extension before October 1, 2006, then you should also have the option of just showing evidence of 400k in the bank for at least three months prior to the application.

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Maestro

[TOKI]

Phil,don't worry brother,Maestro is right....it is a MISUNDERSTANDING!

that's what at the Suan Plu immigration office they told me.....they said that next year they will renew my extension of stay based on marriage with the 400k in the bank.