Obligations - Switching from Income to Deposit Extensions

[SooKee]

Contemplating changing from the monthly income method to the deposit method for my next extension renewal.  In terms of not getting caught out for non-compliance with regulations and risking a refusal I'm assuming that:

 

1) You need to continue to abide by the conditions of your current extension (so if that's the income method you need to show that you have had the 12 (13) transfers up to the point at which you go to renew, and

 

2) In order to switch to the FD option you will also need to show that you've had 800K in the bank for at least two months before the date of application. 

I did wonder if all they'd be bothered about was 2) but, given the only time they normally check whether you've complied with conditions is when you go to renew, you will need to show that you have complied with both your last extension conditions and can comply with the new one?  Same going the other way I suppose?  If using the Deposit method and wishing to change you'd have to show that you didn't drop below 400K for your current year and 12 months of overseas transfers in order to switch.

 

[Henryford]

I would certainly abide by 1). If yu don't they could claim your current extension is not valid and it's bye bye Thailand.

[SooKee]

Yes I'm thinking both as you'd also need the 800k in the bank for the qualifying period to switch.  It's not just a case of forget the monthly transfers half way through the year then just have the 800 ready for the deposit option, just the same as they check to make sure you never dip below 400 when renewing the deposit option.

[ubonjoe]

If you kept 400k baht after 3 months of having 800k baht in your bank up to the day you applied for the new one using the income option that would satisfy their requirements. The topping up to 800k baht would not be needed since that is only required to apply for the new extension.

[SooKee]

Yeah, I'm on the income method now though so as the next renewal would be my first application for the fixed deposit option I'd have to show the full 800 then could allow it to drop after 3 months then top it up again at least 3 months before (in that regard though I just plan to leave the 800 in period).  I think I still need to show I'd complied with the balance of this year with monthly transfers though.

 

 

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, SooKee said:

 I think I still need to show I'd complied with the balance of this year with monthly transfers though.

I guess I misread your post.

Best to keep doing the transfers until you apply or at least when you top up the account to 800k baht.

[DrJack54]

OP, whatever your previous requirement were for income method, keep that going and overlap that with your new requirements for money in bank method.

One thing (of many) I get confused with is the money you show in bank for next extension changing from income method, is if that money needs to be shown to come from O/S. 

Expert such as Ubonjoe can clarify that.

[SooKee]

AFAIK, the money coming from overseas is only a requirement for the income method, not the deposit method.

 

[chilly07]

The income method is retrospective showing compliance over the past year. The deposit method is for the following year. No need to do both. If income ceases after extension granted then the deposit needs to be in place for the next application. Otherwise you would need 1.6m (or 800k) bht during the year between extensions. If I were to change to deposit method I would use an agent for that application

[Max69xl]

2 hours ago, chilly07 said:

The income method is retrospective showing compliance over the past year. The deposit method is for the following year. No need to do both. If income ceases after extension granted then the deposit needs to be in place for the next application. Otherwise you would need 1.6m (or 800k) bht during the year between extensions. If I were to change to deposit method I would use an agent for that application

There's no need what so ever to use an agent when changing method. Just a waste of money. It's really simple and OP already knows how to do it. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 8/22/2020 at 5:13 PM, SooKee said:

Yeah, I'm on the income method now though so as the next renewal would be my first application for the fixed deposit option I'd have to show the full 800 then could allow it to drop after 3 months then top it up again at least 3 months before (in that regard though I just plan to leave the 800 in period).  I think I still need to show I'd complied with the balance of this year with monthly transfers though.

 

 

 

I think your original assumptions in your OP are correct...

 

A person needs to abide by the obligations of their current extension (doing monthly foreign transfers, for example) up thru its end point. And then also, needs to satisfy any requirements for the extension they will seek for the coming year, such as the 2 months advance seasoning for bank deposits, for someone using the bank deposits method for the first time.

 

[rickudon]

Normally there is no requirement to show the 400,000/800,000 baht deposit comes from overseas, unlike the income method. But this being Thailand, your immigration office may be different! I swapped over to deposit last year (i could see there were some potential issues with the income method) and just transferred money via my credit card and deposited in bank, Immigration did not ask where it came from.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

17 hours ago, rickudon said:

Normally there is no requirement to show the 400,000/800,000 baht deposit comes from overseas, unlike the income method. But this being Thailand, your immigration office may be different! I swapped over to deposit last year (i could see there were some potential issues with the income method) and just transferred money via my credit card and deposited in bank, Immigration did not ask where it came from.

 

Yes, with the deposits method for extensions, you don't need to show/prove where the funds originated from. But you do need to show/prove that your account(s) maintained the 400K/800K balances as required, either throughout the prior 12 month period for repeat extensions, or during the prior 2 month seasoning period for first-time bank deposit extensions.