2020 BKK CW Retirement Extension trip report

[ThailandRyan]

51 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I know the same day letter is good at BKK CW... I've heard, but can't confirm, they'll also accept the letter itself being dated the day before. But the bank book itself has to be updated the SAME DAY of the application at BKK CW, as far as I'm aware.

 

As far as your situation, take note of my comments in my original post about my IO yesterday getting off to a bad start with me because in looking at my bank book, she saw only 2 months of 800K deposit history, and wanted to know where the rest was...  She obviously wasn't aware and hadn't bothered to check to see that I had done an income affidavit last year, and thus wasn't subject to the 400K yearround minimum that will apply for the future.

 

So it sounds like you'll be in a similar situation.   She just presumed I was under an obligation to have had 400K minimum on deposit for the entire past year, which was a wrong assumption to make... But it had me nervous, when she kept asking to see my older bank book history from a prior bank book that I hadn't bought with me...

 

This will be the first extension for retirement. Been running with the O-A ME visa for the past few years. And been exiting and entering while getting the second year.  This year as I can not leave for a visit to the US my O-A visa can not get stamped for its second year so I am going for the extension of stay. Hope its clear to her, but if not I will ensure I have my bank book for my savings account that I use to transfer money into Thailand from the US into.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

This will be the first extension for retirement. Been running with the O-A ME visa for the past few years. And been exiting and entering while getting the second year.  This year as I can not leave for a visit to the US my O-A visa can not get stamped for its second year so I am going for the extension of stay. Hope its clear to her, but if not I will ensure I have my bank book for my savings account that I use to transfer money into Thailand from the US into.

 

So then you'll be subject to the O-A visa-based health insurance requirement that included extensions of stay based on prior O-As....

 

[John Drake]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

My bank, Krungsri, opens at 8:30 am there at BKK CW, and I'd assume others are the same or similar.

 

FWIW, I was surprised to discover that Krungsri's current system involves a standard FORTY FIVE MINUTE WAIT for them to produce and issue their standard bank deposit letter, supposedly because it involves having to get the head office involved...  So even if you're there at doors opening at 8:30, you shouldn't expect to get their letter anytime before 9:15 or thereafter.... 

 

That's Krungsri (AKA Bank of Ayudhya-yellow)... A friend here I believe told me BKKB's typical time for issuing the deposit letters at BKK CW runs more in the neighborhood of an half hour wait.

 

The Krungsri branch at BKK CW has both a regular ATM machine and passbook update machine outside of the branch doors, so those are available anytime. So you can do a withdrawal and then update your bank book thereafter -- all while the branch itself it closed... But you'll still need the branch staff inside to produce the bank deposit letter.

 

I believe someone posted here lately about the SCB branch at BKK CW supposedly being closed... I'd assume temporarily for some reason.  I didn't notice yesterday whether that was still the case or not.

 

There also are branches of BKKB, Kasikorn and several others on the same level at BKK CW.

 

PS - I was told by the Krungsri bank staff there yesterday that there's some ability to use their Android mobile banking app to PRE-REQUEST the bank deposit letter for Immigration purposes, so basically it will be there waiting for you at the branch when you arrive. But as this was my first year doing the bank deposits approach, I've yet to have an opportunity to try out their Android app to see if it actually allows what they claimed yesterday.

 

Bangkok Bank at Chaengwattana gives you the bank letter immediately. The last two times, I've just walked up to the first clerk available, asked for the letter, did the mandatory transaction, and was finished in less than five minutes.

[ThailandRyan]

6 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

So then you'll be subject to the O-A visa-based health insurance requirement that included extensions of stay based on prior O-As....

 

Of which I do already have ,and have had a policy with Pacific Cross for a few years already. Talked to my agent yesterday, and they will ensure my policy starts on the day before my extension at 16:31 hours and goes for 365 days until auto renewal again.  

[John Drake]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Just received my e-mail regarding my appointment, and noticed this information on the bottom in small print. Answers my question above regarding the bank letter.

 

สำหรับการขออยู่ต่อด้วยเหตุผลเพื่อใช้ชีวิตบั้นปลาย กรุณาทำตามคำแนะนำดังนี้
Extension Visa for Retiement Please follow the instructions below:
1.ท่านต้องอัพเดตสถานะเงินฝากและ นำสมุดบัญชีธนาคารของท่านมาแสดงต่อเจ้าหน้าที่ตรวจคนเข้าเมืองในวันที่มายื่นด้วย You have to deposit and status updates and bring your bank book to show to the immigration officer in the coming days
2.หนังสือรับรองยอดเงินฝากจากธนาคาร สามารถใช้ย้อนหลังได้ไม่เกิน 7 วัน
A certificate of deposit from a bank. Can be used to back up to 7 days
3.สามารถรับบริการ เฉพาะผู้ที่จองคิวออนไลน์เท่านั้น ไม่รวมครอบครัว
Available Only those who booked online. Excluding family
Retiement visa
https://division1.immigration.go.th/content/Visa_Extension22
สำหรับ การฟังผลวีซ่า กรุณานำหนังสือเดินทาง และอัพเดตสถานะเงินฝากและ นำสมุดบัญชีธนาคารของท่านมาแสดงต่อเจ้าหน้าที่ตรวจคนเข้าเมืองในวันที่มาฟังผลด้วย For Visa results Please present your passport and update your deposit status and bring your bank book to the Immigration officer on the day of listening to the results

I never received a confirmation email. After a couple of weeks, I emailed them and they just told me to use the pdf from my original online registration. So this is news to me. Thanks. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 hours ago, John Drake said:

Bangkok Bank at Chaengwattana gives you the bank letter immediately. The last two times, I've just walked up to the first clerk available, asked for the letter, did the mandatory transaction, and was finished in less than five minutes.

 

After she heard about the 45 minute wait at Krungsri, my Thai wife said I ought to move my Krungsri account to a different bank.... And under the circs, it might well be worth considering in the coming months.

 

Krungsri and their MTD account used to be an advantage because it had a better interest rate and less tax withholding. But these days, both of those advantages have pretty much vanished....

 

[WorriedNoodle]

5 minutes ago, John Drake said:

The last two times, I've just walked up to the first clerk available, asked for the letter, did the mandatory transaction, and was finished in less than five minutes.

I am expecting to be required to get an authorized one year statement printout as well as a letter, seeing as we now need to prove money in bank each day of year? The bank book I have from KBank doesn't show this so I have been asked for statements before from the IO.

 

I am planning to print my own statement out from online banking that works for up to a year and hoping the KBank stamps it for me. Save waiting on them to do it and 100THB fee?!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Of which I do already have ,and have had a policy with Pacific Cross for a few years already. Talked to my agent yesterday, and they will ensure my policy starts on the day before my extension at 16:31 hours and goes for 365 days until auto renewal again.  

 

Keep in mind, at least for me yesterday, BKK CW wasn't sticking to the normal 365 day extension period...

 

My normal extension should have been extended to Sept 17, 2021... But for for whatever reason, they simply gave me Sept 26, 2021....

 

It didn't matter for my purposes, just a free extra 9 days.. But it might matter if I was trying to match up the extension period with a health insurance policy cover.

 

[John Drake]

1 minute ago, WorriedNoodle said:

I am expecting to be required to get an authorized one year statement printout as well as a letter, seeing as we now need to prove money in bank each day of year? The bank book I have from KBank doesn't show this so I have been asked for statements before from the IO.

 

I am planning to print my own statement out from online banking that works for up to a year and hoping the KBank stamps it for me. Save waiting on them to do it and 100THB fee?!

I just copied my regular passbook. Took it to photo.city downstairs, which does copying services. They just wanted a copy of my personal info page and the past year's deposit record. They also inspected my actual passbook, which was kept along with the passport to be sent to the chief officer for final approval.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 hours ago, WorriedNoodle said:

I am expecting to be required to get an authorized one year statement printout as well as a letter, seeing as we now need to prove money in bank each day of year? The bank book I have from KBank doesn't show this so I have been asked for statements before from the IO.

 

I am planning to print my own statement out from online banking that works for up to a year and hoping the KBank stamps it for me. Save waiting on them to do it and 100THB fee?!

 

 

Oddly, yesterday, Krungsri at BKK CW only gave my wife the one-page letter itself.. nothing else... Fortunately, while I was waiting for the letter, just to be safe, I went to a nearby photocopy shop and ran a copy of every page in my bank book, and stapled them together... 

 

The letter from the bank and my own bank book photocopies were accepted by the IO..... but in my case, technically speaking, she only needed to verify my deposit for the prior two months.... since I was on income affidavit status all of the past year.

 

Next year, I'd certainly prefer to have the bank give me their official letter AND their official, stamped version of my account transactions for the entire year.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 hours ago, John Drake said:

I just copied my regular passbook. Took it to photo.city downstairs, which does copying services. They just wanted a copy of my personal info page and the past year's deposit record. They also inspected my actual passbook, which was kept along with the passport to be sent to the chief officer for final approval.

 Exactly the same for me yesterday...

 

I was a bit worried, because the line IO kept my bank book and passport when we walked out.. And I was afraid maybe she had mislayed my bank book (I didn't know she'd need or want to keep it).  But sure enough, the bank book AND the passport were handed back to me together later after having been signed off by the supervisor..

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I wonder if anyone here can opine... re BKK CW...

 

When you're needing to show you've kept a deposit above the 400K requirement for the entire prior year, do the IO's care (apart from the official bank letter) whether you're providing them with an official bank stamped record of transactions and/or your bank book pages OR your own photocopies of the bank book for the entire year are equally OK???

 

[John Drake]

2 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I wonder if anyone here can opine... re BKK CW...

 

When you're needing to show you've kept a deposit above the 400K requirement for the entire prior year, do the IO's care (apart from the official bank letter) whether you're providing them with an official bank stamped record of transactions and/or your bank book pages OR your own photocopies of the bank book for the entire year are equally OK???

 

As I said above, I only made regular photocopies. And, just to let you also know, when I went in for the appointment, I only had a photocopy of the last page of my passbook. That was the only thing they wanted last year. But this year they wanted my entire passbook. And it was the IO who sent my wife off to photo.city to make the copies.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 hours ago, John Drake said:

As I said above, I only made regular photocopies. And, just to let you also know, when I went in for the appointment, I only had a photocopy of the last page of my passbook. That was the only thing they wanted last year. But this year they wanted my entire passbook. And it was the IO who sent my wife off to photo.city to make the copies.

 

So in your case, the IO this year didn't care that the bank passbook photocopies were official ones coming directly from the bank. Your own photocopies were OK.

 

BTW, just to be clear... the IO wanted photos of the entire passbook... or just the pages covering the prior year?

 

[John Drake]

10 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

So in your case, the IO this year didn't care that the bank passbook photocopies were official ones coming directly from the bank. Your own photocopies were OK.

Yes, specifically, that was what the IO asked for.  She simply said, "go make copies."

[John Drake]

12 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

So in your case, the IO this year didn't care that the bank passbook photocopies were official ones coming directly from the bank. Your own photocopies were OK.

 

BTW, just to be clear... the IO wanted photos of the entire passbook... or just the pages covering the prior year?

 

Last new passbook was in July of 2019, so the past year plus one month were all that was in it.

[ChouDoufu]

46 minutes ago, John Drake said:

Bangkok Bank at Chaengwattana gives you the bank letter immediately. The last two times, I've just walked up to the first clerk available, asked for the letter, did the mandatory transaction, and was finished in less than five minutes.

confirming the quick turnaround at bangkok bank at CW.  i usually arrive at the bank for the 8:30 opening, never more than 1-2 others in line.  update bankbook and get guarantee letter, in and out in under 15 minutes.

 

but what is this mandatory transaction of which you speak?  none required at bangkok bank, perhaps at other banks a small deposit/withdrawal is needed.  the clerk will do a hard update, simply a balance forward with the current date.

[Ajooma]

13 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

So in your case, the IO this year didn't care that the bank passbook photocopies were official ones coming directly from the bank. Your own photocopies were OK.

 

BTW, just to be clear... the IO wanted photos of the entire passbook... or just the pages covering the prior year?

 

Ive always given them my own photocopies of the whole passbook and never a problem.

 

This year they required a one year statement from my bank along with the letter (which incidentally can be up to 7 days old as stated on their requirements) and my IO carefully marked from the 3 month after period from my last extension until the 2 month before my current extension to make sure that the amounts didn't fall below the requirement.

 

The Siam Commercial bank branch is now closed at CW government complex and this is a permanent closure (we phoned the head office to check).

[John Drake]

3 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

but what is this mandatory transaction of which you speak? 

Immigration wants to see activity in your account on the day they extend. So I just deposit 100 baht into the account. Last year, the clerk at Bangkok Bank actually prompted me about this, telling me I needed to make a deposit or withdrawal to go along with the letter. 

[Ajooma]

53 minutes ago, John Drake said:

I never received a confirmation email. After a couple of weeks, I emailed them and they just told me to use the pdf from my original online registration. So this is news to me. Thanks. 

The confirmation email for the online appointment system often ends up in the spam/junk folder of your email account which is where I found mine.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 hours ago, ChouDoufu said:

but what is this mandatory transaction of which you speak?  none required at bangkok bank, perhaps at other banks a small deposit/withdrawal is needed.  the clerk will do a hard update, simply a balance forward with the current date.

 

BKKB will do the so-called balance forward update that puts a new updated balance in your passbook that day, even if there's been no actual transaction.

 

Other Thai banks, including Krungsri, won't do that BF thing... So in order to get an update on the day of your Immigration appointment, you have to actually do something like deposit or withdraw 100 baht, and THEN have the teller or the passbook machine update your bank book.

 

I used to have a similar problem with that with a CIMB fixed deposit account. Their automatic passbook update machines would not do updates for their fixed deposit accounts at all..  And the tellers always insisted they couldn't do a balance forward update -- which made it difficult to use the account for Immigration purposes.

 

Edited August 20, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[ChouDoufu]

3 minutes ago, John Drake said:

Immigration wants to see activity in your account on the day they extend. So I just deposit 100 baht into the account. Last year, the clerk at Bangkok Bank actually prompted me about this, telling me I needed to make a deposit or withdrawal to go along with the letter. 

 

i'm not an old hand at this, have only done three retirement extensions, but have never needed to show activity in a fixed account when applying at CW.  some banks do require activity in order to update a passbook, bangkok bank does not. 

 

i have two savings account passbooks i carry along with me in case they ask what funds i use to pay daily expenses.  haven't been asked yet.

[Ajooma]

1 minute ago, ChouDoufu said:

 

i'm not an old hand at this, have only done three retirement extensions, but have never needed to show activity in a fixed account when applying at CW.  some banks do require activity in order to update a passbook, bangkok bank does not. 

 

i have two savings account passbooks i carry along with me in case they ask what funds i use to pay daily expenses.  haven't been asked yet.

I have always had  to show same day activity as others have reported at CW for retirement and also Thai wife extensions.

 

I used to make extensions at Suan Plu immigration before the move to CW and this requirement started at CW.

[John Drake]

6 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

 

i'm not an old hand at this, have only done three retirement extensions, but have never needed to show activity in a fixed account when applying at CW.  some banks do require activity in order to update a passbook, bangkok bank does not. 

 

i have two savings account passbooks i carry along with me in case they ask what funds i use to pay daily expenses.  haven't been asked yet.

I'm not an old hand at the 800K method myself. I only started using it last year. Before that, I used the embassy letter, which, needless to say, was much, much easier to deal with. And before that, I went to Nakhon Pathom immigration using my employer as the official residence. So I can only report what has been personally requested of me. It may well be that others will have different experiences, even at the same immigration office. Only one thing is certain in this thread, both TallGuyJohn and I have had a consistent experience with the online appointment system, as we both apparently had appointments with the same IO yesterday about an hour apart. You might go there today and they could change things. So best to be as prepared for any eventuality. 

[ThailandRyan]

57 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Keep in mind, at least for me yesterday, BKK CW wasn't sticking to the normal 365 day extension period...

 

My normal extension should have been extended to Sept 17, 2021... But for for whatever reason, they simply gave me Sept 26, 2021....

 

It didn't matter for my purposes, just a free extra 9 days.. But it might matter if I was trying to match up the extension period with a health insurance policy cover.

 

Just spoke to my insurance agent.  He indicated that there is no need for my policy dates to be changed and to start on the date I apply for my extension as my current policy will still have another month on it, and then the new annual policy will run for another year so in essence the immigration officer will see the overlapping of policies in the system as well as with the certificates I will have to show them.  Hopefully the IO understands the logistics of annual policies renewing automatically, like my US policy with Anthem Blue Cross does.

 

My US insurance for me costs nothing because it is part of my pension program. I use it when I need to submit a claim to recoup the deductible I pay when using my Pacific Cross health insurance and get medical treatment here.  I know many people do not like having to pay for a HI plan here, but since I do not pay for one in the US, I see it as a win win.  If immigration would accept my US policy without the hoops to jump through then I would still need to pay for my treatment out of pocket here and then submit my claim form through Anthem Worldwide to be reimbursed.  Just keeps me from having to ensure I have millions of baht in the bank here for the unexpected.  

[ThailandRyan]

4 minutes ago, John Drake said:

I'm not an old hand at the 800K method myself. I only started using it last year. Before that, I used the embassy letter, which, needless to say, was much, much easier to deal with. And before that, I went to Nakhon Pathom immigration using my employer as the official residence. So I can only report what has been personally requested of me. It may well be that others will have different experiences, even at the same immigration office. Only one thing is certain in this thread, both TallGuyJohn and I have had a consistent experience with the online appointment system, as we both apparently had appointments with the same IO yesterday about an hour apart. You might go there today and they could change things. So best to be as prepared for any eventuality. 

So on a fixed deposit account that's fixed for a year period of time and then you let it roll over for another year, how do you add money to it outside of the annual date to show activity on the account, unless the activity is a monthly interest deposit the bank makes to the account.  Kind of confused on this aspect.

[mtls2005]

23 minutes ago, Ajooma said:

The confirmation email for the online appointment system often ends up in the spam/junk folder of your email account which is where I found mine.

 

Makes sense, it's got a dodgy-looking address, something like [email protected] - which sounds like some sort of direct-to-consumer/pyramid marketing group?

 

 

[ChouDoufu]

2 minutes ago, John Drake said:

I'm not an old hand at the 800K method myself. I only started using it last year. Before that, I used the embassy letter, which, needless to say, was much, much easier to deal with. And before that, I went to Nakhon Pathom immigration using my employer as the official residence. So I can only report what has been personally requested of me. It may well be that others will have different experiences, even at the same immigration office. Only one thing is certain in this thread, both TallGuyJohn and I have had a consistent experience with the online appointment system, as we both apparently had appointments with the same IO yesterday about an hour apart. You might go there today and they could change things. So best to be as prepared for any eventuality. 

it is true that interpretation of the regulations is dependent upon the particular officer's fengshui at that particular time on that particular date.  as for me, i'm stuck in china with no way back for the foreseeable future, and a retirement extension due to expire in october. 

 

in the unlikely event "they" grant an amnesty to those trapped outside the kingdom allowing us to reactivate expired extensions, i shall certainly heed your advice.  as i will attend immigration the day after arrival either to renew or start over, i'll simply transfer two years of interest out of my fixed account when i get the bank statement.  (i believe for fixed accounts, the minimum deposit would be 2000 baht.)

[John Drake]

2 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

So on a fixed deposit account that's fixed for a year period of time and then you let it roll over for another year, how do you add money to it outside of the annual date to show activity on the account, unless the activity is a monthly interest deposit the bank makes to the account.  Kind of confused on this aspect.

Out of my range of experience. Sorry. Others on this forum have fixed deposits, so I'm sure one will be along shortly to help answer that.

[pmarlin]

Thank you for your post, really decent of you to take the time to do this. providing those forms was a great idea.