My first Extension of Stay using the Monthly Income from Abroad method

[Kadilo]

It was that time of year to pay a visit to the Immigration office up here in North East Issan and hopefully renew my Extension of Stay for another year. I had a bit of an in different time last year using the income statement from the Embassy so I was expecting the worse now the UK has stopped producing that and I had chosen the monthly income route. This may ramble a bit, so if you’re the complaining type, stop reading now. 

One chap last year In particular had chosen to give me a hard time despite me having every piece of required which was due to, I believe him taking offence to me not wishing to pay him 500 baht for making a third copy of something (I can’t recall what it was now). To that end he made me sit and wait office until the end of the day before finally filling out the necessary. 

During the past year whilst doing my regular check in I rarely saw this gentleman so I was assuming he had been shifted to a different role. Moreover the new people I had encountered, both male and female, had been particularly welcoming and pleasant. 
 

Imagine my horror when i entered today to see the same guy as last year at the desk and waiting to pounce as I walked in as the office was empty. As with last year I had endless copies of everything I could think of which included:

 

The bank letters from Kasikorn. One of proof of account and one listing all transactions in and out for the year, total cost 300 baht. 

Copies of all pages of passport 

Copies of TM6 departure card 

photos

Copies of completed TM 8 application 

Copies of every monthly transaction sent from the UK, 11 of which were SWIFT, and one from Transferwise and the corresponding arrival at Kasikorn statement. 
Copies of my bank book

Copies of every payslip for past year (I still work) incl P60

Copies of a yearly Pension statement I draw 

Copies of my UK bank statements showing every transaction to confirm when the money was sent which matched the SWIFT/ Kasikorn details. 

My New Pacific Cross Insurance pack including certificate due to start when current extension ends on the 21st. 
 

I was carrying a doorstep of paper and covered every angle I could think of. 
 

The man pointed me in the direction of an Admin type desk where a young Thai lady asked for my bankletters. Immediately she stuck an A4 sheet under my nose and highlights in yellow the paragraph re 800,000 in the bank requirement. Immediately above that was the option of 65,000/month income in black and white which I pointed out to her to her bewilderment. She called over the other chap who looked just as confused and said “where is your pension statement”. I explained that although I still worked I did have one statement but the rest was my salary and attempted to show him some of my paperwork. It was clear they had no idea about how the income method worked, what the criteria was and what paperwork i needed to show so after much confusion they told me to go and sit down and wait as they needed to speak to the “Big boss” who worked elsewhere. Seemed like deja vous all over again. 
 

After a while a other Officer came and spoke to us. Very calm, very polite and struck up quite a long conversation with my partner. He took a look at my paperwork including the completed forms and seemed happy with what he saw. My partner had explained to him my experience last year and he said not to worry it wouldn't happen like that again. In the meantime the office got very busy and I got called over by the original guy again to ask more questions. It seemed that whoever this big boss was he must of had an idea because they wanted evidence that I had sent the money from abroad and had an insurance policy, He spent an age looking at my folder with all the SWIFT payments in, with the corresponding Kasikorn statement on arrival, but wasn’t even smart enough to be able to match up the dates and just kept staring at the bank letter. 
 

He finally looked at my new PC insurance policy and asked where it was from? I said it was from Thailand as that was the requirement, but it was clear he had never heard of them. 
 

Eventually they took my doorstep of paperwork, stamped every page, and i signed each accordingly. 
 

At no time did they check any codes to see if it was international, ( as I said I had one which was from TW). They never even asked to see my bank book which I had made a transaction on this morning and updated as I thought this was a requirement. 
 

All in all I was there just over 3 hours. They then did my Re entry which was relatively quick and the admin lady conveniently forgot to give me a receipt which to  horror I asked for and got. I am convinced had it not been for the intervention of the nice Officer it would have been another full day there. He was a gentleman and according to my partner quite senior so I think he was keeping a close watch on the others. At the end he gave me his mobile and said any future issues to call him. 
 

Not the worst experience in the world, but could and should of been better. Two of the three people at the counter clearly did not know the requirements as they stand which is surprising as it’s over a year old now. In their defence most probably go for the money on the bank method but that does not excuse their ignorance of the other options imo. Hopefully next year it may be more straightforward now they have experience someone doing the income method but I wont hold my breath just yet. 
 

 

[Maestro]

Next year, you should take along also a letter from your bank listing the 12 monthly deposits into your account and confirming that they came from abroad.

[Kadilo]

6 hours ago, Maestro said:

Next year, you should take along also a letter from your bank listing the 12 monthly deposits into your account and confirming that they came from abroad.

For your information I asked Kasikorn for this and they said they didn’t provide it. 

[ubonjoe]

2 hours ago, Kadilo said:

For your information I asked Kasikorn for this and they said they didn’t provide it. 

I showed my local Bangkok Bank branch an example of one of those letters and they said they could not do one. In reality that letter is redundant if you have a bank statement showing all the transfers came from abroad.

I just got the standard bank letter and showed 13 months of transfers from abroad proven by bank statements and my bank book that was accepted by immigration.

[ubonjoe]

Two inflammatory off topic posts and replies to them have been removed.

[Kadilo]

18 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I showed my local Bangkok Bank branch an example of one of those letters and they said they could not do one. In reality that letter is redundant if you have a bank statement showing all the transfers came from abroad.

I just got the standard bank letter and showed 13 months of transfers from abroad proven by bank statements and my bank book that was accepted by immigration.

Yes the Kasikorn lady said the same so I did pretty much the same as you for the same reason but it seemed to confuse them as far as matching the transfers with my bank statements even though I had highlighted each of them to make it easier. 

I think it was more of a case that they claim they hadn’t administered an application for the monthly income method before which I find surprising as it’s been in place for over a year. But it is a pretty quiet office and not flooded with foreigners living in this area. 

[gk10002000]

yeah, pensions are really what the Thais understood.  Now with no embassy letter process, they punted and said, fine, just show monthly transfers.  A pain in the butt and the transfers in no way show any sort of future sustainable pension, or source of funds, but so be it.  Now of course, some IOs want to know what the source of funds really is.  They will not understand stock dividends, bond interest, etc.  They will not understand an income estimator that Etrade provides nor believe some sort of letter from Etrade which asserts to the general validity of the income estimator.  Sure one could sell all their stock and bonds tomorrow.  There is no way to argue around that, even though it would be a crazy irrational thing to do.  So this income thing is going to be a rough road for many people.

[Neeranam]

13 hours ago, Kadilo said:

Two of the three people at the counter clearly did not know the requirements as they stand which is surprising as it’s over a year old now

Some people don't freak themselves out about a simple process. How would they know, if they haven't been there for 1 year? Immigration doesn't send information.

 

Btw, do you work in Thailand? Is this a retirement or marriage extension?

[kingstonkid]

Ubonjoe. If we file a tax return in Thailand is that not proof of income. I also have the paperwork from the Canadian government as to what I was paid

[checkered flag]

I did mine yesterday using monthly transfers without issue. Kasikorn bank printed out 13 months on the spot and did a letter in Thai (300 baht).

No issues at Immigration, at all. They did ask for a TM30. They said a TM 30 was required for all trips outside the province so its best to set up the program on line. The IO even offered to help me set it up if I had trouble.

BTW I complimented the IO on her clear English accept and that she was very easy to understand. She said she studied at AUA in Bangkok. I should have know.

I don't know if this made her smile because she was wearing a mask, but the encounter definitely had me smiling as I was leaving.

 

 

[ubonjoe]

44 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

Ubonjoe. If we file a tax return in Thailand is that not proof of income. I also have the paperwork from the Canadian government as to what I was paid

Only if the income is legally earned here from working or investments. Working here would require you be on extension based upon marriage to or the parent of a Thai. Investments could be used in theory could be used for a retirement extension.

Since you are from Canada you can still do a statutory declaration at your embassy to prove your income. They do ask for proof of your income that can be bank statements or tax payments. That might be the only thing immigration would accept from you.

[Max69xl]

3 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Some people don't freak themselves out about a simple process. How would they know, if they haven't been there for 1 year? Immigration doesn't send information.

 

Btw, do you work in Thailand? Is this a retirement or marriage extension?

Kadilo meant the officers at his Immigration office. 

[Kadilo]

4 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Some people don't freak themselves out about a simple process. How would they know, if they haven't been there for 1 year? Immigration doesn't send information.

 

Btw, do you work in Thailand? Is this a retirement or marriage extension?

Silly me, I thought they would have training and stuff like that. 
They send out the form to immigration which clearly gives the 3 options available for those wishing to apply. 
You can get a marriage extension on Income?

Edited March 11, 2020 by Kadilo

[Kadilo]

4 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

yeah, pensions are really what the Thais understood.  Now with no embassy letter process, they punted and said, fine, just show monthly transfers.  A pain in the butt and the transfers in no way show any sort of future sustainable pension, or source of funds, but so be it.  Now of course, some IOs want to know what the source of funds really is.  They will not understand stock dividends, bond interest, etc.  They will not understand an income estimator that Etrade provides nor believe some sort of letter from Etrade which asserts to the general validity of the income estimator.  Sure one could sell all their stock and bonds tomorrow.  There is no way to argue around that, even though it would be a crazy irrational thing to do.  So this income thing is going to be a rough road for many people.

To be honest they never looked or asked about my income source. Just looked at the numbers coming in and saw they were over 65,000 every month. 

[earlinclaifornia]

CM IO denies you here for 65K monthly deposits. The new manager only accepts the Embassy letter which UK US and Australia no longer will help. Lucky you live in North East Issan! 

[Kadilo]

3 minutes ago, earlinclaifornia said:

CM IO denies you here for 65K monthly deposits. The new manager only accepts the Embassy letter which UK US and Australia no longer will help. Lucky you live in North East Issan! 

Struggling to understand not offering it is even possible, but I guess Thailand can do what it wants where it wants. 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Kadilo

[Max69xl]

31 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

Silly me, I thought they would have training and stuff like that. 
They send out the form to immigration which clearly gives the 3 options available for those wishing to apply. 
You can get a marriage extension on Income?

Yes, 40k average per month. 

[Max69xl]

21 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

Struggling to understand not offering it is even possible, but I guess Thailand can do what it wants where it wants. 

Don't compare an immigration office far out in the sticks with a larger one. Some offices doesn't have enough foreigners to cover every type of extension and every income/money in the bank method.

[earlinclaifornia]

32 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

Struggling to understand not offering it is even possible, but I guess Thailand can do what it wants where it wants. 

590231773_Amendmenttopoliceorder138-2557(Eng).pdfChiang Mai Immigration Q & A - Info and reports. (2020) - Page 2 - Chiang Mai Forum - Thailand Visa .pdf

[earlinclaifornia]

Exactly opposite, big city not following directive and outline IO correctly enforcing. CM now joins the list of rogue IO's (like Jomtien, Saraburi, Petchabun).  In those areas there is a need for a Retiree-group that collectively confronts the IO by filing a complaint.  Before you dismiss the idea, that has been done successfully at the Roi-Et IO, which also incorrectly insisted on the embassy-letter when making use of the monthly-income method (while that method has actually been introduced for those that could not get an embassy-letter stating their income).

[Kadilo]

58 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

Don't compare an immigration office far out in the sticks with a larger one. Some offices doesn't have enough foreigners to cover every type of extension and every income/money in the bank method.

I was referring to Chiang Mai. That can’t be a small office, hence why I was surprised they weren’t offering the income method. 

[Neeranam]

2 hours ago, Kadilo said:

Silly me, I thought they would have training and stuff like that. 
They send out the form to immigration which clearly gives the 3 options available for those wishing to apply. 
You can get a marriage extension on Income?

I mean the foreigners, not the immigration, of course they know.

 

Yes, you can get a marriage extension on income.

 

If you are on retirement, i wouldn't tell them you still work. 

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Neeranam

[crutchy26]

I wonder, was this in KK?????

 

[Sterling]

Was this for an OA visa or are there other ones now where the IO's are asking for insurance?

[SenorCJ]

Bangkok Bank in Pattaya provides a nice packet verifying my monthly international deposits for the past year. Whipped right through my yearly extension. But, next time, I’ll need to show proof of insurance from Thai company. And I have excellent insurance from the States that covers Thailand. A bit of a dilemma for me....

[Kadilo]

1 hour ago, crutchy26 said:

I wonder, was this in KK?????

 

No. 

[Kadilo]

30 minutes ago, Sterling said:

Was this for an OA visa or are there other ones now where the IO's are asking for insurance?

It  was for an OA extension of stay

Edited March 12, 2020 by Kadilo

[stewartthailand]

My first extension at Jomtien using monthly income is next week and not looking forward to it based on research. Went to Bangkok Bank and spent over an hour trying to request statement for 12 months and bank letter (200baht for statement and 100 baht for bank letter). Staff insisted I needed a further letter detailing the actual currency transactions at a cost of 600 baht!

after much discussion and an impasse I said I would go around the corner To immigration and check With them.

immigration agreed on ly bank statement and one bank letter BUT I also needed bank statements from my U.K. bank and evidence of where the transfer money originated!!

So I will take my pension statements Which in the earlier years they would only accept if the had the Embassy letter!

Fingers crossed for next week.

[stewartthailand]

12 months not -2????

[Kadilo]

26 minutes ago, stewartthailand said:

My first extension at Jomtien using monthly income is next week and not looking forward to it based on research. Went to Bangkok Bank and spent over an hour trying to request statement for 12 months and bank letter (200baht for statement and 100 baht for bank letter). Staff insisted I needed a further letter detailing the actual currency transactions at a cost of 600 baht!

after much discussion and an impasse I said I would go around the corner To immigration and check With them.

immigration agreed on ly bank statement and one bank letter BUT I also needed bank statements from my U.K. bank and evidence of where the transfer money originated!!

So I will take my pension statements Which in the earlier years they would only accept if the had the Embassy letter!

Fingers crossed for next week.

Good luck!