37 minutes ago, Mac98 said:

Neither do I. I think if you can prove you are not homeless and paying your rent on time that should be good enough. And if being married to a Thai cuts your needed deposit from 800,000b to 400,000, then having two Thai wives should cut it by half again to 200,000. 

Those two wives will cost you more than 200k a year. ????

On 11/18/2019 at 6:17 AM, DannyCarlton said:

By doing tis, they aren't doing anything illegal and the extensions they obtain will be totally legitimate. Many people have decided on this option since the letters have ceased.

You appear know more about this than I, so will not split any hairs.

Getting a retirement extension from a different province IO than the one you reside in and having didly squat in your bank account is fine?.

Just now, phutoie2 said:

You appear know more about this than I, so will not split any hairs.

Getting a retirement extension from a different province IO than the one you reside in and having didly squat in your bank account is fine?.

It is a solution.... I would not say it is 'fine'. 

Best to get one from your own office if you can. If not you will need the agent's help for other services, ie 90 day reporting, a Re-Entry Permit. 

7 hours ago, soalbundy said:

How do they lie? I can only speak for the German embassy methods but they seem quite rigorose to me. The proof you bring must be original letters/statements from the pension provider and monthly bank receipts of this money going into a German bank account, that would seem seem enough proof to me to say "we can verify this." I don't agree that statements can be forged successfully, I unwittingly gave them a copy of my British pension statement along with my German pension statements, the British copy was immediately refused, although I could see no difference they could, I had to supply them with the original and it was then accepted as proof.

"we can verify this." Does not mean that anyone does verify.

American Embassy required No Proof or Documentation.

2 hours ago, Moonlover said:

So just why do folks keep raking this matter up?

Cos 'The Embassy aint doing Nuffinks' believe all that tosh about Ferrero Rocher, Pimms & the ol' salmon and cucumber sarnies ????

10 minutes ago, phutoie2 said:

You appear know more about this than I, so will not split any hairs.

Getting a retirement extension from a different province IO than the one you reside in and having didly squat in your bank account is fine?.

Correct. The senior IO has the power of overrule on financial reqirements in "special curcumstances."

 

I presume a generous donation to the IO Christmas party is deemed "special circumstances". TiT.

21 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Cos 'The Embassy aint doing Nuffinks' believe all that tosh about Ferrero Rocher, Pimms & the ol' salmon and cucumber sarnies ????

I've been informed that it's "After Eights", not Ferrero Rocher. None of that foreign muck for the BE.

 

Also the salmon and cucumber sarnies are served with a lick of Philladelphia. Delicious.

 

The Pimms is, of course, "Pimms No:1 Cup" served with a slice of lemon, orange, cucumber, fresh strawberrys and topped up with ginger ale and lemonade.

 

Hazy, lazy days at the BE.

 

 

16 minutes ago, phutoie2 said:

You appear know more about this than I, so will not split any hairs.

Getting a retirement extension from a different province IO than the one you reside in and having didly squat in your bank account is fine?.

I think you have to officially change address in the new province to be able to do 90 days reports or apply for 1 year extensions. 

6 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

Correct. The senior IO has the power of overrule on financial reqirements in "special curcumstances."

 

I presume a generous donation to the IO Christmas party is deemed "special circumstances". TiT.

Another poor sod who doesn't meet the financial requirements for a proper 1 year extension.

15 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

Correct. The senior IO has the power of overrule on financial reqirements in "special curcumstances."

 

I presume a generous donation to the IO Christmas party is deemed "special circumstances". TiT.

Really, I was not aware of that, but does make sense. An elderly Brit was helped with his recent marriage extension at our IO..  His monthly pension had dropped to something like 28K Baht pm, lousy GBP x rate.

Our IO is exclusively manned by female officers, perhaps the sympathy card came out.

You can work our from which province by the username. 

On 11/16/2019 at 3:35 PM, richard_smith237 said:

Thats exactly why some Embassies stopped with the Verification on Income letter.

 

It was impossible for them to be able to accurately verify the income of all requests without a larger team, significant leg work and cost. 

 

Too many people were outright lying on their income claims and the Embassies were unwilling to sign off on a legal document they were unable to verify. 

 

Of course, people blamed the Embassies for their change of policy, however, really its the immigration requirement which is awkward for some to meet and when they can't they unfairly complain at their Embassy for not being willing to verify / notaries their spurious income claim. 

 

Basically, some folk are upset they can't use their Embassy to lie for them. 

it's still a money grab

1 minute ago, phutoie2 said:

Really, I was not aware of that, but does make sense. An elderly Brit was helped with his recent marriage extension at our IO..  His monthly pension had dropped to something like 28K Baht pm, lousy GBP x rate.

Our IO is exclusively manned by female officers, perhaps the sympathy card came out.

You can work our from which province by the username. 

"Really, I was not aware of that, but does make sense". 

Did you really buy that c**p? Paying an IO is exactly the same as paying an agent. Immigration wants to get rid of agents, guess why?

1 minute ago, Max69xl said:

"Really, I was not aware of that, but does make sense". 

Did you really buy that c**p? Paying an IO is exactly the same as paying an agent. Immigration wants to get rid of agents, guess why?

You've got that wrong. You pay the agent, he pays the IO. You can't cut the middle man out.

21 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

Another poor sod who doesn't meet the financial requirements for a proper 1 year extension.

There's a lot of them around. More than ever.

3 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

You've got that wrong. You pay the agent, he pays the IO. You can't cut the middle man out.

No, I haven't got it wrong. You don't have to use an agent,you can pay straight to an officer at Immigration.

It just depends on the office. Believe me, I know this because of a couple of friends of mine does this on regular basis. A few years ago I was offered a 3+12 months "extension" by a female officer. Her price was 10 times the normal extension fee. I said no, and later paid my 1900 baht.

More than in 2017! To push the deadline back!

7 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

No, I haven't got it wrong. You don't have to use an agent... 

It just depends on the office... 

No post here is wrong,

they are just anecdotal;

 

as everything varies/depending here from

 

one place to another,

 

from one officer to another,

 

from the same officer depending on his mood or other reason. 

 

So all Interesting to read, but with no certitude at all it will apply to you personally. 

 

On 11/16/2019 at 4:10 PM, elviajero said:

Yes, but less the cost of the staff and administrative costs required to carry out the verification.

And just imagine the hassle having to chase up slow replies and the grief from the expats waiting weeks/months for their letters!

Do you really believe they have fewer staff now that they are not doing the letters because one thing is certain, they have much less income.

1 hour ago, 5633572526 said:

Do you really believe they have fewer staff now that they are not doing the letters because one thing is certain, they have much less income.

No, and I didn’t say they did.

 

I’m saying they would need more, and those staff would be working full time verifying the income. That costs time and money.

1 hour ago, elviajero said:

No, and I didn’t say they did.

 

I’m saying they would need more, and those staff would be working full time verifying the income. That costs time and money.

Work full time? They are supposed to work full time. Thats what they're paid for. "That costs time and money."?? 

They had the time and every income letter produced an income for the embassy. They were not free. They had an average of about 2500 income letters/year 2016-2018,but they said that included other certificates. Will they raise the price now for those certificates? 

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

Work full time? They are supposed to work full time. Thats what they're paid for. "That costs time and money."?? 

Work full time verifying the income from it's source! That would take more people and a lot more time than the process that has ended.

 

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

They had the time and every income letter produced an income for the embassy. They were not free. They had an average of about 2500 income letters/year 2016-2018,but they said that included other certificates. Will they raise the price now for those certificates? 

It wasn't the Embassy that decided to pull the service. The decision came from above.