immigration-bank

[rodknock]

i use the 65,000baht method for my extension of stay.

i am going to renew my extension.

when i get money into the bank every month i do a print out that states international transfer.

do i still need to go to the bank to get  some sort of letter?

i use bangkok bank.

 

[ubonjoe]

You will need to get a 12 month bank statement from the bank showing your transfers came from abroad. Dependent upon the branch you use it normally takes a week to get the statement. 

You also need a letter from the bank confirming your account.

Some offices also want a letter from the bank listing all your transfers and confirming they came from abroad.

[rodknock]

call me stupid, but if all my monthly bank statments say international transfer, why all the hassle to get letters. i go to cheang wattana.

i also have my govt. statement as to what i get each month.

[lopburi3]

The letter supports your ownership of the passbook account and balance.  

I provided in June at CW:

One year computer printout of account (letter size pin feed).

Copy of passbook and all pages.

Bank letter that day of account (obtained downstairs).

[calbts2]

1 hour ago, lopburi3 said:

Bank letter that day of account (obtained downstairs).

Not if your bank is SCB. They permanently closed their branch at the Govt Complex.

[lopburi3]

10 hours ago, calbts2 said:

Not if your bank is SCB. They permanently closed their branch at the Govt Complex.

OP specified Bangkok Bank however.  

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

16 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

it normally takes a week to get the statement

why does it takes a week to get a statement?

do they type it manually ?

[Tanoshi]

12 hours ago, rodknock said:

call me stupid, but if all my monthly bank statments say international transfer, why all the hassle to get letters. i go to cheang wattana.

The statements must be issued and certified by the bank (stamp and signature).

The letter confirms your name, account number and balance.

[Tanoshi]

7 minutes ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

why does it takes a week to get a statement?

do they type it manually ?

12 month statements have to be ordered from the Head office branch in Bangkok, who then post it to your branch office.

Your local branch (same as online) can only issue a 6 month statement.

[sandyf]

28 minutes ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

why does it takes a week to get a statement?

do they type it manually ?

Obviously depends on the bank. I use TMB and got my 12 month statement in about 10 minutes, and half of that was to get it stamped and signed.

The letter however was 2 days and had to be pre-ordered, not a bad thing as I was told that when I came to collect just go straight to the counter, no need for a queue ticket, only a few minutes to collect and get book updated.

[Old Croc]

25 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

12 month statements have to be ordered from the Head office branch in Bangkok, who then post it to your branch office.

Your local branch (same as online) can only issue a 6 month statement.

Why such a policy?

Any bank branch can print a statement in minutes on site if they so desire. I can do it at home (albeit uncertified). A couple of years ago, my little bank branch in a shopping center gave me a 2 year statement after I complained about them stuffing up my bank book update.

[lopburi3]

4 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

Why such a policy?

Any bank branch can print a statement in minutes on site if they so desire. I can do it at home (albeit uncertified). A couple of years ago, my little bank branch in a shopping center gave me a 2 year statement after I complained about them stuffing up my bank book update.

Are you sure?  Most banks only have six months of activity online and that is all a branch bank can provide or you can print at home.  Beyond that it must be ordered from main computer vault.  

[thoengthaied]

I will probably be using a combination of income and capital method on my next extension. Previously I have used 800,000 capital. I use Bangkok Bank. Looking at my statement online I see that my incoming pension transfers are shown as:- column heading "description"- individual transaction script "BAHTNET", column heading "channel"- individual transaction script "USER". Is this normal for an international transfer or do I need to get something changed?

[ubonjoe]

20 minutes ago, thoengthaied said:

I will probably be using a combination of income and capital method on my next extension. Previously I have used 800,000 capital. I use Bangkok Bank. Looking at my statement online I see that my incoming pension transfers are shown as:- column heading "description"- individual transaction script "BAHTNET", column heading "channel"- individual transaction script "USER". Is this normal for an international transfer or do I need to get something changed?

If they were shown as international transfers they would have the FTT code in you bank book and foreign T/T on your bank statement.

The BAHTNET code indicates that a intermediary bank here was used for your transfers. How are your transfers done.

You will need credit statements to prove they are international transfers.

[thoengthaied]

18 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

If they were shown as international transfers they would have the FTT code in you bank book and foreign T/T on your bank statement.

The BAHTNET code indicates that a intermediary bank here was used for your transfers. How are your transfers done.

You will need credit statements to prove they are international transfers.

Thank you ubonjoe. I didn't think to look in my bank book, but having now looked it shows "LR" under DEP NO, and "BTN" under CODE. My pension is from UK and I believe they use Citibank as the intermediary bank.

Edited August 19, 2020 by thoengthaied

[ubonjoe]

6 minutes ago, thoengthaied said:

Thank you ubonjoe. I didn't think to look in my bank book, but having now looked it shows "LR" under DEP NO, and "BTN" under CODE. My pension is from UK and I believe they use Citibank as the intermediary bank.

Others have had the same problem when having their UK pension direct deposited . You may have to get credit advices from Citibank.

[thoengthaied]

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Others have had the same problem when having their UK pension direct deposited . You may have to get credit advices from Citibank.

I will be using Jomtien Immi. Any easier, or harder as regards the bank letter in my case?

[ubonjoe]

41 minutes ago, thoengthaied said:

I will be using Jomtien Immi. Any easier, or harder as regards the bank letter in my case?

All offices are about the same for the bank letter. But I think they have been wanting one listing your transfers as well.

[JackThompson]

@thoengthaied

Also, be sure to bring along proof of the source of income - your original Pension statement document, in this case.  They sometimes ask for this, so better prepared than not.  That plus proof your transfers are foreign-sourced (credit-advise docs for all transfers), and you should be OK. 

[Mansell]

20 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You will need to get a 12 month bank statement from the bank showing your transfers came from abroad. Dependent upon the branch you use it normally takes a week to get the statement. 

You also need a letter from the bank confirming your account.

Some offices also want a letter from the bank listing all your transfers and confirming they came from abroad.

In Korat Immigration yesterday they want a letter from SocialSecurity showing my annual monies from them. This sounds easy until you talk to SS, all their offices are closed from Covid. I talked with an agent last night and they are not mailing out letters and they don’t know when that will change, and they don’t do emails. They suggested I create an account with them and then download a document to my computer. This sounds easy until you try to log into WWW.SSA.GOV With the website completely overloaded. They suggested I try in the middle of the night in Maryland.
Anybody have any ideas on this issue.

[ubonjoe]

28 minutes ago, Mansell said:

In Korat Immigration yesterday they want a letter from SocialSecurity showing my annual monies from them. This sounds easy until you talk to SS, all their offices are closed from Covid.

I used my SSA 1099 for last year and the COLA letter I got last December by mail to here. Had copies and when they mumbled something about them I pulled out the originals to show and they were accepted.

[Shannoblic]

This is slightly off-line but may be useful to some.

 

When I had a bit of a problem at my local IO about EXACTLY what they wanted for my extension I asked the officer [nicely] to write down for me what he wanted.

He did this and when I went back [after a lot of re-arrangements which I will not go into] when I spoke to him I produced the piece of paper he had actually written.  Very difficult for him to come up with anything new or argue when faced with his own handwriting.

In future - if there is any doubt whatsoever or possibility of change - I will be asking for the same thing.

 

Just a tip some people may find useful.

[Kopitiam]

6 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Are you sure?  Most banks only have six months of activity online and that is all a branch bank can provide or you can print at home.  Beyond that it must be ordered from main computer vault.  

I just got my 12-month bank statement yesterday on the spot at SCB.

[Moonlover]

6 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

6 hours ago, thoengthaied said:

Thank you ubonjoe. I didn't think to look in my bank book, but having now looked it shows "LR" under DEP NO, and "BTN" under CODE. My pension is from UK and I believe they use Citibank as the intermediary bank.

 

6 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Others have had the same problem when having their UK pension direct deposited . You may have to get credit advices from Citibank.

When I was in that situation last year, Krungrsi were able to obtain Foreign Exchange Transaction forms (FETs) for my pension deposits. They produced them whilst I was waiting in about half an hour. Imm was happy with those.

[Old Croc]

23 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Are you sure?  Most banks only have six months of activity online and that is all a branch bank can provide or you can print at home.  Beyond that it must be ordered from main computer vault.  

Yes, I'm sure, the bank branch did print out a 2 year statement. I didn't invent the story!

However, having just tried to bring up historic statements on-line, I can confirm it's restricted to 6 months. You were right with that. 

[lopburi3]

38 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

Yes, I'm sure, the bank branch did print out a 2 year statement. I didn't invent the story!

However, having just tried to bring up historic statements on-line, I can confirm it's restricted to 6 months. You were right with that. 

Would never put head in croc mouth (young or old) ???? and did not mean to suggest you had invented story - appears some are able to provide back further without having to go off-line and having it mailed.  In June local Bangkok Bank here in Bangkok required 3-5 days to obtain actual computer printout and believe that is standard for them and at least some others.  But also believe some banks issue letters of activity rather than actual printouts and that might be available faster from some.

[ubonjoe]

32 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

  In June local Bangkok Bank here in Bangkok required 3-5 days to obtain actual computer printout and believe that is standard for them and at least some others.

It took about 12 days to be mine a few weeks ago here. But there were some bank holidays involved.

[Tanoshi]

On 8/19/2020 at 9:05 AM, thoengthaied said:

Looking at my statement online I see that my incoming pension transfers are shown as:- column heading "description"- individual transaction script "BAHTNET", column heading "channel"- individual transaction script "USER". Is this normal for an international transfer or do I need to get something changed?

Just so you know what your dealing with.

The UK Government use Citibank for all Pension payments regardless of your location in the world.

For DWP payments made direct to Thailand, the transfers are first made to the Bank of Thailand (BOT) using the 'Bahtnet' system of transfer, which is just another system of overseas transfers.

https://www.bot.or.th/English/Statistics/PaymentSystems/Pages/StatBAHTNETFundsTransfer.aspx

Many private Pension companies also use this system for direct transfers to Thailand.

 

BOT then transfer the funds to the Head branch of your Bank, who in turn transfer it to your local branch.

Bangkok Bank were not the initial bank to receive your funds therefore cannot issue 'credit advice' receipts as proof of overseas transfers.

You may need FET (Foreign Exchange Transfer) forms from BOT as proof of overseas transfers, but enquire initially with your Bangkok Bank branch.

 

It's possible that your Immigration office are by now aware that 'Bahtnet' coded payments are overseas (International) transfers, but don't count on it. Only after a staff member of BKK spoke directly to my IO last year did they accept 'BNT' as overseas transfers.

I would enquire at Jomtien beforehand.

 

[Tanoshi]

On 8/19/2020 at 9:05 AM, thoengthaied said:

I will probably be using a combination of income and capital method on my next extension. Previously I have used 800,000 capital. I use Bangkok Bank.

Have you previously spoken to Jomtien about your planned change of proof of meeting the financial requirements? What proportion of funds and income are you talking about.

 

Provided you maintained the 800K for 3 months after your existing extension was granted and then 400K for the remainder of the year, you should be OK providing proof of 400K funds + 12 x 35K monthly overseas transfers for the combination method.

It is advised to clear any proposed changes to your proof of financials with your IO first.

What may appear logical to you, may not to them.

[thoengthaied]

On 8/19/2020 at 9:50 AM, ubonjoe said:

Others have had the same problem when having their UK pension direct deposited . You may have to get credit advices from Citibank.

Thank you to ubonjoe, tanoshi, Moonlover et al for your contributions. I hope to give something back here, and also ask for a bit more info again:-

    In preparation for my next visa extension I went into my Bangkok Bank branch today just to ascertain the procedure to obtain a letter which would be acceptable to Immigration, Jomtien.

    My current visa extension expires July 2021 and I would normally apply one month prior, so my next application for a visa extension would not be until June 2021. I like to be prepared and organised, and as I stated before in this thread I will probably need to change from 800,000 baht in the bank to a combination of capital and income, due to needing money for a big medical procedure.

    At the bank the lady told me that she could only print out my last 6 month's transactions, and that I should ask for 6 month's transactions in December this year, and again in June 2021 just before my visa application, thus having a full 12 month's transactions.

She printed out a statement of my last 6 months transactions. The UK Pension credits were listed as Bahtnet transactions. She also printed out a sheet for each individual transaction which described them as originating from DWP-State pension and Widows Benef... Tyneview Park (UK). Payment received via Bahtnet. Sending Bank CITITHBX CITIBANK N.A. Thailand. Ordering Institution CITIIE2X CITIBANK EUROPE PLC with a transaction number. She advised me to email Citibank Bangkok with the transaction numbers and ask them for the letter that Immigration would require. So it would seem that Bangkok Bank would not be able to issue me with the letter because the transaction codes were BNT and not FTT, and I should get it from Citibank. Further to this I have tried to find the email address of Citibank NA in Bangkok but without success. There is a method of contacting them but you have to input your Citibank account number. I don't have an account with them!

   Does anybody please have the correct email address? 

   I have to go to Immi in 3 weeks time to show them that my bank balance hasn't dropped below 800,000 since my last extension, and I'm intending to take the paperwork I received from the bank today and ask them at that point what I need to do (hoping that they may perhaps advise a simpler route). I'll be prepared for them to advise me to use an agent! I've never paid an agent in 16 years and don't intend to. I consider myself intelligent enough not to have to use that method and find it quite a challenge to get it all sorted out myself, not to mention keeping my elderly brain active.

   This all seems to be a very long winded process and I'm not sure if I'm on the right track. Could you please advise. Regards, thoengthaied.