Visa extension based on Retirement at Korat today

[Peter Denis]

2 hours ago, oldcpu said:

@ DickThrust, I had an experience this year where I went to Phuket Immigration for my 90-day reporting (on a Type-OA Visa).  I was asked during the initial excellent screening if I had proof of residency (such as via the TM-30), and I noted it had been submitted (my Thai wife had entered it on-line).

...

Unfortunately, I don't think the TM30 database software is as fool proof as one might like.

For sure, you (or your wife) did forget to SAVE the data you inputted.  When you do that, you get a blank screen.

Then you exit the application, and go to the SEARCH function where your input will be displayed when searching a max 7 day window using thai date notation.  Then make a screen-shot of that window, which proves that your data have been inputted in the IO TM30 database.

NOTE: Using the off-line Excel-file to input your data is way easier than inputting it straight into the different fields on the web-page.  The advantage being that you do not need to re-type everything but can simply upload the same Excel-file when returning from a domestic trip.  Note after return from a trip abroad you need to update the TM6 entry/departure card-number as well as the entry-port (if different than last time).

Edited December 26, 2019 by Peter Denis

[hkt83100]

8 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

For the 800k baht option it depends upon the office you go to. Some are wanting a 2 or 3 month bank statement with the bank book. In some cases it might be due to the bank book not showing all transactions.

Korat wants a 2 months statement. I found that out today, when I came from Pak Chong with a "bank letter". It was not good enough. So out to the 224, turn left, after Tesco on the left side there is a Bangkok Bank. Another 100 Baht for the statement, but the problem was - midday break was coming. So I had to wait until 1 pm, and then things came in handy, which I never thought of like a copy of the ID of the house owner, a copy of the Tabien Baan of the house I live in, and a rental agreement (which was just looked at and returned to me). I wanted to give them a map of location, but this was not required. Anyway, bring more than needed and you are on the happy side. The "real" extension process took about 10 minutes and another five to get it signed. But anyway, everything was pretty straightforward, just the food at the small eatery behind the building was not very pleasant.

[DennisE]

10 hours ago, EricTh said:

No. It's a new requirement.

 

I did my extension on 800k deposit in Chiang Mai and NOT monthly income option, they still require the bank statements of the last few months of transactions even though my Fixed Deposit account already showed that.

 

Every year they require us to do more and more documentation.

 

TM30 for out of province and bank statements in addition to the photocopies of passbook.

 

Welcome to the land of hard-knocks (not smiles)!

Yeah I’ve been here 5 years immigration isn’t that hard at all. This started last year exactly a year ago when the income letters stopped and it’s actually easier now than it was under the old rules because I don’t have to go to the embassy anymore just to my local SCB branch. 

[DennisE]

10 hours ago, EricTh said:

Many people are confused over this. There are three requirements now.

 

1. Bank letter

 

2. Bank passbook pages showing detailed transactions over past few months.

 

3. Bank statement showing detailed transactions.

 

In the past, item #3 was not required. I don't see the difference between #2 and #3 even though they are different documents showing the same thing.

 

Yeah that’s pretty much been the requirements since last year. Nothing new here. 

[DennisE]

They probably have the same requirement for the money in the bank option now as the monthly income rule so they’re on the same page all the time because I heard that some of the immigration officers down in Phuket were actually getting confused by the two separate options for income. 

[DennisE]

7 hours ago, thaipo7 said:

OK Guys - I will share an experience with Korat Immigration on 25 Dec as soon as I have time.  I have also been going to Korat Immigration for years.  How do I open a new subject or just enter it here?  My problem was of a different kind.  This was the who purpose of getting rid of the letter from the US Embassy so these bottom feeders can charge a fee from those of us who get fed up with this new <deleted> at Immigration.  The more hands in your pocket - the better.

It’s still cheaper than that $50 dollar embassy letter and it cuts out my annual 5 hour drive to the US Embassy. Now I do it all right here locally. These days getting my annual extensions done is no longer a hassle or a really big deal thanks to these new procedures for verifying income.
 

I really don’t understand why anyone would want the income affidavits back unless they were fudging their income numbers at the embassy every year because they made less than the minimum monthly income to live here legally. And honestly that’s why because immigration eventually found out that our embassies were not doing their jobs and verifying our income that’s why it only applies to 3 embassies and not everyone. Anyone who says that it’s not the embassy’s job to verify income is crazy because if that’s true than they never should have been issuing the letters in the first place. Even I thought it was nuts for my first 4 years retired here because I always wondered what would stop someone from lying on the income affidavits, nothing, because basically the United States and British Embassies were illegally issuing OFFICIAL NOTARIZED LETTERS verifying income just by taking our word for it without verifying anything hence the new procedures. 
 

I remember my first 4 years here from 2014 to now actually living here permanently every year I went to the embassy I always brought my pension letters with me to prove it and it was comical because they were basically like “ok you make a million dollars a month ok I believe you” then they issue you a notarized letter saying whatever you told them to say ????! I actually make about $3,800 USD a month not a million that was just an example of the craziness that we used to have to deal with before immigration finally got their sh!t together. But I’m just glad that we don’t have to deal with those embassy letters anymore I never did like being forced to drive to Bangkok once a year anyway it’s so much easier doing it all close to home.  
 

The old immigration system was broken but luckily they have finally fixed it. If you live close to the embassy or consulate then I guess I could understand the frustration if you have been doing it that way for 10 years or whatever but most of us don’t live near the embassies. 

Edited December 26, 2019 by DennisE

[DennisE]

When you’re living in a foreign country there’s always going to be immigration procedures and I’m glad Thailand has a good system and they usually work pretty hard getting us taken care of. They do here in Korat! And Thailand really has had tons of problems with foreign criminals over the last 50 years at least so they had to deal with that unfortunately but they are still a very friendly and welcoming country overall. 

[DennisE]

I guess some people are still feeling the immigration growing pains a year later. 

[garyk]

12 minutes ago, DennisE said:

It’s still cheaper than that $50 dollar embassy letter and it cuts out my annual 5 hour drive to the US Embassy. Now I do it all right here locally. These days getting my annual extensions done is no longer a hassle or a really big deal thanks to these new procedures for verifying income.
 

I really don’t understand why anyone would want the income affidavits back unless they were fudging their income numbers at the embassy every year because they made less than the minimum monthly income to live here legally. And honestly that’s why because immigration eventually found out that our embassies were not doing their jobs and verifying our income that’s why it only applies to 3 embassies and not everyone. Anyone who says that it’s not the embassy’s job to verify income is crazy because if that’s true than they never should have been issuing the letters in the first place. Even I thought it was nuts for my first 4 years retired here because I always wondered what would stop someone from lying on the income affidavits, nothing, because basically the United States and British Embassies were illegally issuing OFFICIAL NOTARIZED LETTERS verifying income just by taking our word for it without verifying anything hence the new procedures. 
 

I remember my first 4 years here from 2014 to now actually living here permanently every year I went to the embassy I always brought my pension letters with me to prove it and it was comical because they were basically like “ok you make a million dollars a month ok I believe you” then they issue you a notarized letter saying whatever you told them to say ????! I actually make about $3,800 USD a month not a million that was just an example of the craziness that we used to have to deal with before immigration finally got their sh!t together. But I’m just glad that we don’t have to deal with those embassy letters anymore I never did like being forced to drive to Bangkok once a year anyway it’s so much easier doing it all close to home.  
 

The old immigration system was the problem but luckily they have finally fixed it. If you live close to the embassy or consulate then I guess I could understand the frustration if you have been doing it that way for 10 years or whatever but most of us don’t live near the embassies. 

I know for a fact the other letters issued by the embassy’s are doctored, when the funds don’t add up. In issan it is a common joke. This is a money grab plain and simple. 

Not being able to show your bank statements from abroad?

Get real. 

[DennisE]

2 minutes ago, garyk said:

I know for a fact the other letters issued by the embassy’s are doctored, when the funds don’t add up. In issan it is a common joke. This is a money grab plain and simple. 

Not being able to show your bank statements from abroad?

Get real. 

Well ok yeah you have to use a Thai bank account which I’ve found over the past year is so much easier and cheaper anyway if you live here permanently as I do so I don’t care I should have started doing that when we first moved here 5 years ago. But we still maintain our banks in the states as well and I have my direct deposit sent straight to my SCB account through international automatic direct deposit so it really works out nicely for me. And my wife’s income still goes to our bank in the states and my income of about 100K a month goes to my SCB account. I’ll tell you this paying 220 baht ATM fees for using my US debit card here was VERY REAL and now paying nothing to use the ATM is priceless. ???? 

[DennisE]

15 minutes ago, garyk said:

I know for a fact the other letters issued by the embassy’s are doctored, when the funds don’t add up. In issan it is a common joke. This is a money grab plain and simple. 

Not being able to show your bank statements from abroad?

Get real. 

Plus I can’t blame immigration for only accepting Thai bank statements. Do you really think immigration can translate bank statements from all over the world?
 

Get real. 

[DennisE]

That’s also why the insurance thing is only for the Thai embassies for the NON OA visa because they can translate it but the immigration offices can’t. 

[BigStar]

9 hours ago, thurien said:

not on a visa but on new passport: went to Khorat Immi. on Tuesday with old and newly issued passports plus TM 6 plus Embassy letter to Immi that "please move visa to new pp".  No queue, the checker girl told me to get all pages of old, photo page of new pp plus TM6 copied: Volunteer helped me, copied all stuff in a jiffy at no charge. Back to Immi again, nice chat with officer while she stamped away the afternoon. Out after 45min - splendid Khorat experience, nice people

I did the same thing at Jomtien recently but I had read about the latest requirements, as I always do, before I went there. So I had all the signed photocopies already, just printed out my usual package and scanned the new one.

 

Took 5 minutes to hand in my papers & passports and have them checked. But I'd arrived late in the day and Jomtien was swamped, so I got the passports back in 2 days. All good. I managed to get a tight smile out of the hard young lady handing back the passports, too. ????

 

Reading ThaiVisa for, or inquiring about, the latest requirements before you go to an Immigration Office is a necessity. Saves so much time and frustration, not to say confusion ("bombshells"), if you've got it all together first, or 99% of it anyway. 

[DennisE]

41 minutes ago, BigStar said:

I did the same thing at Jomtien recently but I had read about the latest requirements, as I always do, before I went there. So I had all the signed photocopies already, just printed out my usual package and scanned the new one.

 

Took 5 minutes to hand in my papers & passports and have them checked. But I'd arrived late in the day and Jomtien was swamped, so I got the passports back in 2 days. All good. I managed to get a tight smile out of the hard young lady handing back the passports, too. ????

 

Reading ThaiVisa for, or inquiring about, the latest requirements before you go to an Immigration Office is a necessity. Saves so much time and frustration, not to say confusion ("bombshells"), if you've got it all together first, or 99% of it anyway. 

You know it’s not really “new requirements” the requirements haven’t changed in at least a few decades. The only thing that changed (a year ago) was the procedures for verifying income now it’s just a few documents from the bank instead of that embassy letter for $50 dollars not including all the traveling once a year down to the embassy. So good riddance to the embassy letters. The actual income requirements never changed just the way we prove it changed. 

Edited December 26, 2019 by DennisE

[DennisE]

Honestly I get more tired of people trying to feed us bad information about immigration online for the purpose of advertising or selling us insurance or visa agencies or whatever they are advertising than I do actually going to immigration once a year ????. 

Edited December 26, 2019 by DennisE

[BigStar]

1 hour ago, DennisE said:

You know it’s not really “new requirements” the requirements haven’t changed in at least a few decades. The only thing that changed (a year ago) was the procedures for verifying income now it’s just a few documents from the bank instead of that embassy letter for $50 dollars not including all the traveling once a year down to the embassy. So good riddance to the embassy letters. The actual income requirements never changed just the way we prove it changed. 

Totally agreed. I've argued the same on occasion.

 

However, forms may change slightly from year to year, though they generally don't. Different offices may have somewhat different requirements, like the 3-month bankbook check for some, and there may be some new papers, like the Terms & Conditions introduced last year.

 

These little differences are utterly trivial in the larger scheme of things but those of heightened sensitivities had best learn of them in advance to avoid shocks to their delicate constitutions and that dreadful melancholy of feeling "unwanted." It may be that a retiree has never been able to fill out a tax form in the West, though obviously did manage to cope with politically motivated yearly changes in tax law.

 

When you

• meet all the requirements with no "grey areas" and
• present all the papers needed with all the info clearly typed in, and
• present a respectful appearance & manners,

then things go quickly and smoothly in my experience. Fact, it's a piece o' cake. Waste of time arguing about should and shouldn'ts, nitpicking about this or that, and indulging in general paranoia.

[Neeranam]

Why on Earth would you take your wife after living here for 10 years?

I never take my wife to things like this, she just complicates things.

 

 

 

[DennisE]

6 hours ago, BigStar said:

Totally agreed. I've argued the same on occasion.

 

However, forms may change slightly from year to year, though they generally don't. Different offices may have somewhat different requirements, like the 3-month bankbook check for some, and there may be some new papers, like the Terms & Conditions introduced last year.

 

These little differences are utterly trivial in the larger scheme of things but those of heightened sensitivities had best learn of them in advance to avoid shocks to their delicate constitutions and that dreadful melancholy of feeling "unwanted." It may be that a retiree has never been able to fill out a tax form in the West, though obviously did manage to cope with politically motivated yearly changes in tax law.

 

When you

• meet all the requirements with no "grey areas" and
• present all the papers needed with all the info clearly typed in, and
• present a respectful appearance & manners,

then things go quickly and smoothly in my experience. Fact, it's a piece o' cake. Waste of time arguing about should and shouldn'ts, nitpicking about this or that, and indulging in general paranoia.

Well some immigration offices do have slightly different procedures. Such as up here in the north east division when you do your first extension you are required to bring two witnesses for marriage extensions. But others such as Bangkok immigration will actually do a home inspection instead of asking for witnesses for your first extension based on marriage. In five years living here I have experience dealing with Bangkok immigration but mostly Korat immigration. The biggest difference between the two are mostly just the fact that Bangkok immigration is always extremely busy but Korat immigration is never as busy but Korat isn’t a very big immigration office we’re a much smaller city. That’s why I don’t understand how some immigration offices like Bangkok have time to do home inspections as busy as they are. I definitely MUCH PREFER Korat immigration over Bangkok but even Bangkok immigration wasn’t that difficult it’s never as difficult as people on this forum claim it is what people write on this forum is often over exaggerated, sometimes a little worse than exaggerated I’ve been living here for 5 years now and we’ve been coming to Thailand for 10 years now. But I’ve really gotten a good feel for how immigration works over the past 5 years and I’ve seen the differences between Bangkok immigration and Korat immigration. Overall it’s usually not that painful it’s something I have to do once a year mostly just a paperwork drill. I can understand why people don’t like doing it but jeez some people really whine about it a little bit too much and I read some of these things and I just think “come on people you chose to live here just like me so there’s nothing to complain about USUALLY” sometimes there might be but for the most part it’s just one of the things you know you have to deal with anytime you live outside your home country. 
 

In 5 years especially over the past year immigration has really grown in a very positive way. But when you see immigration doing all the work they do it’s obviously for a good reason such as the home inspections that SOME of them do if they are going through all that trouble clearly they really are trying to get the bad guys out that wasn’t a lie. Obviously there’s always going to be problems but Thailand has really cleaned things up. 

Edited December 27, 2019 by DennisE

[DennisE]

Obviously there’s still bad guys in Thailand from abroad but it’s no where near like it used to be because they’ve been cracking down on that longer than I’ve been living here especially over the past year immigration has really grown and has really improved things for us. We’ve been living here 5 years and started visiting here 10 years ago and there are some parts of the old Thailand that I miss but overall it’s better. Yeah their political system is chaotic sometimes but it’s normally stable until there’s a coup or something else. 

Edited December 27, 2019 by DennisE

[thaipo7]

DickThrist - Did you see about MY visit to Immigration because of a 5 year license renewal?  Posted Dec 26.  I am also a 10 year Retirement Visa expat who does not hate Thailand or the agencies as long as I am treated the way I should be,  I 50 years experience in and out of this country on all types of Visas.  Loved the last staff they had at Korat 2 years ago.

[thaipo7]

Dick Trust - I should have added they want all of us to use an agent because the fee charged by the agent is split between the agent and Immigration.  Someone said the last group of people were corrupt at Korat Immigration.  I have to disagree unless me and my wife were lucky enough to be friendly to the right person the first time and every time we went back, nothing but smiles, good conversation, and a smooth processing of paperwork.