Retirement Visa Extension

[eggers]

This week to Thai Immi,Chaeng Wattana to renew Retirement Visa.

Had been using the income requirement (i.e. min 65,000bht /mnth) for past 12 mths, usually transferred 70K Bht + /mth.

Was using a UK Currency Co in Sydney, Australia, who gave good rate & no fees.

They transferred funds in Thai Bht via Barclays Bank UK > BKK Bank, Bangkok > Kasikorn Bank (my account).

 

As of last year, Thai Immi requires letter from retirees Bank to confirm funds from Overseas Bank.

Problem encountered @ Thai Immi, was transfer from BKK Bank to Kasikorn Bank was in fact regarded as a 'local transaction' &

Kasikornbank wouldn't confirm transaction as Overseas..

After much haggling, finally got BKK Bank to advise they were 'Intermediary bank' for Barclays & I had no connection to BKK Bank.

 

Saw 1st Officer @ Thai Immi & accepted all documents had given, 2nd officer OK w/ docs except wanted to know what transaction code "Baht Net" meant

& that I should contact bank to find out.. Explained term was used for "overseas transfer", nope, not good enough.

After call to BKK Bank & intervention by senior officer matter was resolved & Visa issued..

 

So if you're using income or investment requirement , check w/ your Thai bank that monthly & other transfers need to be in your country's currency, not Thai Baht...

Both BKK Bank & Kasikornbank have confirmed transfers need to be in, for me, $AUS

 

Sorry, has been somewhat lengthy, but needed to explain what occurred...

[ubonjoe]

I think you might be confusing Bangkok Bank with the Bank of Thailand. The Bank of Thailand uses the Baht Net code for transfers.

All transfers in Thai Bank got to the them first.

[Mike Teavee]

40 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I think you might be confusing Bangkok Bank with the Bank of Thailand. The Bank of Thailand uses the Baht Net code for transfers.

All transfers in Thai Bank got to the them first.

Transfers from Barclays go through Bangkok Bank as the receiving bank in Thailand & ongoing transfers from there to any another bank within Thailand would be an Intra-Thailand bank transfer and show up as Baht Net.

 

OP, if this is still causing you a problem, you should ask Bangkok Bank for confirmation of the international transfers & take along your Barclays statements 

 

For the future you may want to consider using Transferwise, fees are lower & exchange rates better than Barclays plus as long as you use the reason "Funds for Long Term Stay in Thailand" your transfers should show-up as International in a Bangkok Bank or Kasikorn account, I'm not sure about other banks but you can always print off the Transferwise receipts which will show the exact amount in Baht to match up with your Thai bank statement. 

Edited July 16, 2020 by Mike Teavee

[eggers]

43 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I think you might be confusing Bangkok Bank with the Bank of Thailand. The Bank of Thailand uses the Baht Net code for transfers.

All transfers in Thai Bank got to the them first.

No, not at all, understand BoT introduced the Code sometime back, but in my case the Bkk Bank stmnts showed the code in Transaction column & that is what TI officer referred to.... no mention of BoT!!

[JohnOFphon]

Open a Bangkok Bank account. Use TranswerWise. Send all money to the BBL.

You can get a Credit Advice for each month....12....And a letter from BBL stating the account is yours.

All you need.

[eggers]

Just now, JohnOFphon said:

Open a Bangkok Bank account. Use TranswerWise. Send all money to the BBL.

You can get a Credit Advice for each month....12....And a letter from BBL stating the account is yours.

All you need.

Yes, already done that.. Bank advised to tfr using SWIFT code in currency of residence.. 

[eyup]

They would as they gain on exchange rates/charges etc.  Just use transferwise. Use this link and I earn a bit but you get free introductory transfer.  https://transferwise.com/invite/u/robertk160

 

[stouricks]

4 minutes ago, eyup said:

They would as they gain on exchange rates/charges etc.  Just use transferwise. Use this link and I earn a bit but you get free introductory transfer.  https://transferwise.com/invite/u/robertk160

 

Nah, use same link but put /invite/u/wgdanson and I shall get the bonus! The free introductory transfer is about a tenner on 65k Bht.....worth worrying about?

Transferwise is perfect for me to Bkk Bank account always as an FTT, foreign transfer.

What you can do is build up your 65k or more in your T'wise account when the exchange rate is good and then do your THB to THB transfer when your 65k is due. 

[Srikcir]

18 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

Transfers from Barclays go through Bangkok Bank as the receiving bank in Thailand & ongoing transfers from there to any another bank within Thailand would be an Intra-Thailand bank transfer and show up as Baht Net.

 

OP, if this is still causing you a problem, you should ask Bangkok Bank for confirmation of the international transfers & take along your Barclays statements 

 

For the future you may want to consider using Transferwise, fees are lower & exchange rates better than Barclays plus as long as you use the reason "Funds for Long Term Stay in Thailand" your transfers should show-up as International in a Bangkok Bank or Kasikorn account, I'm not sure about other banks but you can always print off the Transferwise receipts which will show the exact amount in Baht to match up with your Thai bank statement. 

I experienced the same situation between Kasikorn Bank and foreign bank transfers. 

Through April 2020 I would receive from Kasikorn a Credit Advice Receipt documenting a direct foreign bank to Kasikorn wire transfer. In my pass book the transfer was labeled "international transfer." All approved by CW Immigration.

But for May 2020 and onward transfers I noticed my passbook labeled the transfer as a "domestic transfer." For such transfer I received a Bahtnet Credit Advice document used for domestic transfers between Thai banks. Taken literally, no longer an international transfer as per Immigration rules. What happened is that Kasikorn now requires (why?) foreign transfers to go through an intermediary Thai bank, in my case changing from CitiBankUS to CityBankTH! Practically nothing changes as the second page backup documentation for the BCA is the same as it was for the CAR showing the origin of the transfer was from a foreign bank.

Thus, for the remaining 3 months of my 12 month visa period not documented by Kasikorn as international transfers I will have an "Immigration Bank Letter" from CitiBankTH to document the international transfer from CitiBankUS to CitiBankTH. As I'm not CitiBankTH client, there is a 1,000 baht fee for the letter which must be paid in person at the time of receipt.

All of these nuances are unnecessary, untimely and costly red tape to document what is really straight forward within the SPIRIT of the law. 

 

[eggers]

3 hours ago, Srikcir said:

I experienced the same situation between Kasikorn Bank and foreign bank transfers. 

Through April 2020 I would receive from Kasikorn a Credit Advice Receipt documenting a direct foreign bank to Kasikorn wire transfer. In my pass book the transfer was labeled "international transfer." All approved by CW Immigration.

But for May 2020 and onward transfers I noticed my passbook labeled the transfer as a "domestic transfer." For such transfer I received a Bahtnet Credit Advice document used for domestic transfers between Thai banks. Taken literally, no longer an international transfer as per Immigration rules. What happened is that Kasikorn now requires (why?) foreign transfers to go through an intermediary Thai bank, in my case changing from CitiBankUS to CityBankTH! Practically nothing changes as the second page backup documentation for the BCA is the same as it was for the CAR showing the origin of the transfer was from a foreign bank.

Thus, for the remaining 3 months of my 12 month visa period not documented by Kasikorn as international transfers I will have an "Immigration Bank Letter" from CitiBankTH to document the international transfer from CitiBankUS to CitiBankTH. As I'm not CitiBankTH client, there is a 1,000 baht fee for the letter which must be paid in person at the time of receipt.

All of these nuances are unnecessary, untimely and costly red tape to document what is really straight forward within the SPIRIT of the law. 

 

Yes, agree, since Thai Immi requires letter it's become confused, been ding Tfrs for yrs & not had a problem. Believe Bank of Thailand change trans code to "BahtNet" for whatever reason & Thai Immi not got information for I/O's to deal w/... Usual bureaucratic paper-shuffling!

[Max69xl]

22 hours ago, eggers said:

No, not at all, understand BoT introduced the Code sometime back, but in my case the Bkk Bank stmnts showed the code in Transaction column & that is what TI officer referred to.... no mention of BoT!!

It's normally only state pension transfers going straight from the pension provider overseas to a Thai bank account that goes to Bank of Thailand first,then is transferred to the Thai bank. That's a Bahtnet transfer = a domestic transfer. 

[eggers]

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

It's normally only state pension transfers going straight from the pension provider overseas to a Thai bank account that goes to Bank of Thailand first,then is transferred to the Thai bank. That's a Bahtnet transfer = a domestic transfer. 

Mine is Tfr from private Bank Acc to Thai Bank Acc. 

[natway09]

Change to a bank so no need to move once arrives in Thailand.

It will arrive in your bank as "overseas incoming" & Krung Thai do give a pretty good exchange rate

[eggers]

On 7/17/2020 at 3:38 PM, natway09 said:

Change to a bank so no need to move once arrives in Thailand.

It will arrive in your bank as "overseas incoming" & Krung Thai do give a pretty good exchange rate

Yes, fact 3rd party was involved created the prob...Tfr funds direct Bank to Bank & in your country's currency: not Thai Bht!!