Q about monthly income method

[Swiss1960]

Question to the knowledgeable:

• Anybody using TransferWise for sending their monthly amount to Thailand? What I do see is that (when arriving in SCB), the TransferWise deposit comes with channel ATS (automatic transfer system) from my Euro Account (with Belgian IBAN), but direct transfers from my Swiss bank arrive with channel IFT (Interbank Fund Transfer)
• When I am sending money, do I have to send in a foreign currency and let my Thai bank do the exchange or can I send in THB when I get better rates and fees from my bank / TransferWise?
• Can the amounts vary every month, as long as they are above the monthly requirement? can the receiving dates vary every month, as long as 1 payment per calendar month is made?
• And finally: Does immigration care about where your money comes from (country, source of income like work, rental business etc) or do they only review 12 amounts that must be higher or equal the requirement for the chosen extension?

Thinking about changing from bank account method to income method or even combination of both and exploring possible stumbling blocks.

Thanks in advance

[KannikaP]

Let Transferwise convert to THB. You can build up the monthly amount bit by bit if you have their Borderless Account, so not tied to the Exchange rate on one particular day.

If the amount is the same, on the same day of the month, I reckon you will have an easier time at Immigration when the time comes to renew extension.

I do a combination of Bht 50k per month (spendable) with Bht 200k in the bank = Thb 800k annually. It is accepted at my Immigration, no problem.

[Peter Denis]

1 hour ago, Swiss1960 said:

Question to the knowledgeable:

• Anybody using TransferWise for sending their monthly amount to Thailand? What I do see is that (when arriving in SCB), the TransferWise deposit comes with channel ATS (automatic transfer system) from my Euro Account (with Belgian IBAN), but direct transfers from my Swiss bank arrive with channel IFT (Interbank Fund Transfer)
• When I am sending money, do I have to send in a foreign currency and let my Thai bank do the exchange or can I send in THB when I get better rates and fees from my bank / TransferWise?
• Can the amounts vary every month, as long as they are above the monthly requirement? can the receiving dates vary every month, as long as 1 payment per calendar month is made?
• And finally: Does immigration care about where your money comes from (country, source of income like work, rental business etc) or do they only review 12 amounts that must be higher or equal the requirement for the chosen extension?

Thinking about changing from bank account method to income method or even combination of both and exploring possible stumbling blocks.

Thanks in advance

When using the monthly income transfer method, you need to provide evidence to your local IO that for EACH of the 12 months (some IOs require 13 months) preceding your application for the 1-year extension of stay that the transferred sum exceeded 40K (when applying for reason of marriage) or 65K (when applying for reason of retirement) with foreign origins proven.

Most IOs prefer that the transfers are done at approx same time of the month (although this is not a formal requirement, your local IO might insist on it).  So you have say a 1 week to 14-day window which gives you the opportunity when using TransferWise to transfer to your personal thai bank-account when the exchange-rate is favorable for you. 

Be aware that the Imm officer handling your application might also request you to prove the SOURCE of that foreign income, and that some IOs only accept a pension statement as source of the funds when using the monthly  income transfer method.  So it is worthwhile to enquire beforehand at your local IO what specific evidence they require and whether they are OK with you picking the time-of-month when the exchange-rate is favorable for you.

In response to your 1st question I PM-ed you a document on how to get hold of the evidence that your funds originated from abroad when using TransferWise (and this irrespective of which Thai bank you are transferring the funds to).

 

[Tracyb]

When using Transferwise be sure to tick the box “Funds for long term stay” when asked for the reason for the transfer.  If you transfer to Bangkok Bank using this method, the deposit shows up as “FTT” designating it as a foreign transfer.  I have found that this method satisfies my immigration office in Chiang Mai as to the fact that the funds are coming from outside the country.

 

you might consider getting a Bangkok Bank account for this purpose.  I did that and it saved me a lot of trouble trying to prove the foreign source of the deposits.

 

If your IO requires that you prove the income is derived from a foreign pension, etc, well that’s another hurdle you’ll need to jump.  In Chiang Mai, they don’t ask for this on O-A Retirement extension applications.

I’m considering going back to the lump sum in savings and abandoning the monthly income method altogether.  IOs tend to be unforgiving if a month is missed ( or the proper coding doesn’t appear in any given month) and will deny the application for extension.  If I already had the required amount available to me here in country, I would convert to that method immediately.  Peace of mind?  I think it’s worth having it!

Edited December 16, 2020 by Tracyb
Added info

[Peter Denis]

24 minutes ago, Tracyb said:

When using Transferwise be sure to tick the box “Funds for long term stay” when asked for the reason for the transfer.  If you transfer to Bangkok Bank using this method, the deposit shows up as “FTT” designating it as a foreign transfer.  I have found that this method satisfies my immigration office in Chiang Mai as to the fact that the funds are coming from outside the country.

 

you might consider getting a Bangkok Bank account for this purpose.  I did that and it saved me a lot of trouble trying to prove the foreign source of the deposits.

 

If your IO requires that you prove the income is derived from a foreign pension, etc, well that’s another hurdle you’ll need to jump.  In Chiang Mai, they don’t ask for this on O-A Retirement extension applications.

I’m considering going back to the lump sum in savings and abandoning the monthly income method altogether.  IOs tend to be unforgiving if a month is missed ( or the proper coding doesn’t appear in any given month) and will deny the application for extension.  If I already had the required amount available to me here in country, I would convert to that method immediately.  Peace of mind?  I think it’s worth having it!

Good advice and I fully agree that the 800K Funds-in-Bank method is preferable over the 65K monthly income transfer method because of the 'peace of mind' it provides.  So if you afford to semi-permanently park +800K on your personal Thai bank-account that is indeed recommended.

 

Once comment.  You wrote > If I already had the required amount available to me here in country, I would convert to that method immediately.

Be aware that switching mid-way from the monthly income transfer method to the funds-in-bank method, might bring you in trouble as you would then not be able to show that you met the requirements for either of these methods in the past 12 (or) 13 months when applying for your 1-year extension of stay. 

When switching methods I would recommend to continue using the monthly income transfer method for the full 12 or 13 months before your new application is due, and at same time ensure that you also have +800K on your personal thai bank-account at least TWO months before your application for that upcoming 1-year extension. 

You would also need to clearly communicate to your local Imm officer that for the new 1-year extension you would be switching to the Funds-in-Bank method.  As that method requires less paperwork, your local Imm officer would not be averse from you doing that.

[lopburi3]

1 hour ago, Peter Denis said:

Good advice and I fully agree that the 800K Funds-in-Bank method is preferable over the 65K monthly income transfer method because of the 'peace of mind' it provides.

Not much peace of mind if you need to access funds for emergency reasons however.  Even those of us with good insurance can run into that issue (pay upfront and submit for reimbursement) so IMHO it is much, much better to not tie money up and to use income method if you can meet the conditions - keep money liquid.

[jerryneba]

19 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

In response to your 1st question I PM-ed you a document on how to get hold of the evidence that your funds originated from abroad when using TransferWise (and this irrespective of which Thai bank you are transferring the funds to).

Hello, can you please send me this as a PM? thanks

[Peter Denis]

7 minutes ago, jerryneba said:

Hello, can you please send me this as a PM? thanks

Just PM-ed you "TransferWise and proving the foreign origins of your transfers _ rev3 dd 2020-10-31" and you're welcome.

> To access your PM-messages just click the letter-icon next to your Profile when logged in to the Forum.

[chilly07]

Transfer wise and Bangkok Bank is the answer. I collect credit advices  from my BB each mth and present them back at extension  time for them to  produce the annual statement for Immigration. This  plus the statement  on the day suffices at Jomtien and they have stopped  asking for  proof of pension but do want copies of all pages of my  bank book. 

[wwest5829]

22 hours ago, Swiss1960 said:

Question to the knowledgeable:

• Anybody using TransferWise for sending their monthly amount to Thailand? What I do see is that (when arriving in SCB), the TransferWise deposit comes with channel ATS (automatic transfer system) from my Euro Account (with Belgian IBAN), but direct transfers from my Swiss bank arrive with channel IFT (Interbank Fund Transfer)
• When I am sending money, do I have to send in a foreign currency and let my Thai bank do the exchange or can I send in THB when I get better rates and fees from my bank / TransferWise?
• Can the amounts vary every month, as long as they are above the monthly requirement? can the receiving dates vary every month, as long as 1 payment per calendar month is made?
• And finally: Does immigration care about where your money comes from (country, source of income like work, rental business etc) or do they only review 12 amounts that must be higher or equal the requirement for the chosen extension?

Thinking about changing from bank account method to income method or even combination of both and exploring possible stumbling blocks.

Thanks in advance

I can only speak to my own experience. I have been using Transferwise from my US bank account for some time now. In fact a current transfer is in the works. In my case, I authorize Transferwise to withdraw $2200.00 (USD). Once in my Transferwise account, I can authorize the transfer to my Bangkok Bank Account. Transferwise asks the reason for the transfer allowing me to designate that it is for long time stay in Thailand. When the monthly transfer arrives, Bangkok Bank logs it in as a foreign transfer.

[wwest5829]

2 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Not much peace of mind if you need to access funds for emergency reasons however.  Even those of us with good insurance can run into that issue (pay upfront and submit for reimbursement) so IMHO it is much, much better to not tie money up and to use income method if you can meet the conditions - keep money liquid.

Agreed. I am not going to withdraw my invested funds to park them in a Thai Bank. I transfer monthly, have US credit cards to back up any needed cash emergency payments.

[khunPer]

23 hours ago, Swiss1960 said:

Anybody using TransferWise for sending their monthly amount to Thailand? What I do see is that (when arriving in SCB), the TransferWise deposit comes with channel ATS (automatic transfer system) from my Euro Account (with Belgian IBAN), but direct transfers from my Swiss bank arrive with channel IFT (Interbank Fund Transfer)

You should be able to choose "Foreign Transfer for retirement" (or something like that) in the TransferWise-system from a roll down menu, when you transfer funds to Thailand, then it will show up with the correct abbreviation "FTT" in your bankbook and bank statements. It does that perfectly for me, and I'm also using TranferWise to exchange my money, as experience has shown me that I end up with the highest net amount in Thailand using that method.

 

To my knowledge Immigration might care about "foreign transfer" when using the monthly salary-method for retirement instead of a deposit, and also that the average monthly amount over 12 months shall be not less than 65k baht

...????

[Swiss1960]

15 minutes ago, khunPer said:

 

To my knowledge Immigration might care about "foreign transfer" when using the monthly salary-method for retirement instead of a deposit, and also that the average monthly amount over 12 months shall be not less than 65k baht

...????

The above is dangerously wrong. It MUST be minimum of 65k Baht EVERY month over 12 months, otherwise you disqualify for the income method! I read about people who were not given the extension, because the exchange rate left them few baht short of 65K for a single month and making it up in the next month does not count.

[lopburi3]

As said every month must be 65k or more - FTT is only used by Bangkok Bank.  

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, Swiss1960 said:

The above is dangerously wrong. It MUST be minimum of 65k Baht EVERY month over 12 months, otherwise you disqualify for the income method! I read about people who were not given the extension, because the exchange rate left them few baht short of 65K for a single month and making it up in the next month does not count.

Thanks for correction; I however been told opposite, that average 65k baht a month. But we unfortunately know that different immigration offices have slightly different rules.

[ubonjoe]

15 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Thanks for correction; I however been told opposite, that average 65k baht a month. But we unfortunately know that different immigration offices have slightly different rules.

None of the police order for retirement states a average income is allowed. This from immigration order 327/2557 clause 2.22  "(3) Must have evidence of having income of no less than Baht 65,000 per month"

[KannikaP]

8 hours ago, Tracyb said:

When using Transferwise be sure to tick the box “Funds for long term stay” when asked for the reason for the transfer.  If you transfer to Bangkok Bank using this method, the deposit shows up as “FTT” designating it as a foreign transfer.  I have found that this method satisfies my immigration office in Chiang Mai as to the fact that the funds are coming from outside the country.

 

you might consider getting a Bangkok Bank account for this purpose.  I did that and it saved me a lot of trouble trying to prove the foreign source of the deposits.

 

If your IO requires that you prove the income is derived from a foreign pension, etc, well that’s another hurdle you’ll need to jump.  In Chiang Mai, they don’t ask for this on O-A Retirement extension applications.

I’m considering going back to the lump sum in savings and abandoning the monthly income method altogether.  IOs tend to be unforgiving if a month is missed ( or the proper coding doesn’t appear in any given month) and will deny the application for extension.  If I already had the required amount available to me here in country, I would convert to that method immediately.  Peace of mind?  I think it’s worth having it!

But then you still need to import money on which to live....or some of us do! At least with the monthly transfer, you can spend every satang you want/ need to.

[OJAS]

7 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Not much peace of mind if you need to access funds for emergency reasons however.  Even those of us with good insurance can run into that issue (pay upfront and submit for reimbursement) so IMHO it is much, much better to not tie money up and to use income method if you can meet the conditions - keep money liquid.

 

4 hours ago, wwest5829 said:

Agreed. I am not going to withdraw my invested funds to park them in a Thai Bank. I transfer monthly, have US credit cards to back up any needed cash emergency payments.

 

Not to mention that you have increased your chances of being exposed to potential dire consequences of bank fraud under the bank balance method four-fold ever since your bank account was placed under the immigration spotlight year-round (to the tune of 800k minimum for 2 months pre-extension application + 3 months afterwards and 400k minimum for the remaining 7 months) instead of just 3 months pre-extension application (to the tune of 800k minimum). Whilst the risk of exposure to fraud can, of course, be minimised by holding balances in accounts with no cards linked to them, it cannot be eliminated altogether thanks to fraudulent actions perpetrated by dishonest bank staff (of which I can recall at least a couple of reports on here).

 

It is, of course, true that resultant balance shortfalls could, in theory, be compensated for through the “combo” method if your home country embassy still provided an income confirmation service. But this option is, unfortunately, no longer available for Americans, Aussies and Brits.

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by OJAS

[lopburi3]

31 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Not to mention that you have increased your chances of being exposed to potential dire consequences of bank fraud

Not just fraud but many have made the mistake of taking money out at too much or too early - which violates the new fixed deposit requirements and potentially could be not only be a reason to refuse next extension but place you into overstay if they wanted to say your extension ended when you went into violation.  This is a new ball game and how they plan to interpret the rules is not yet clear (and a year of special covid rules has not helped to clarify things).

[condohope]

For 15 years I presented a paper from my consulate stating my yearly income as sufficient for receiving another retirement visa extension. This year I switched to the 800.000 in an account with BBK and thought it will do when having the sum deposited for more than 3 months but no. IO Pattaya wanted in addition the proof of having the income received for 2020 although I had the correct amount showing in the bankbook. I switched because the Baht was getting more expensive and I thought more reserves parked in Thailand might be sensible.

[Peter Denis]

7 hours ago, condohope said:

For 15 years I presented a paper from my consulate stating my yearly income as sufficient for receiving another retirement visa extension. This year I switched to the 800.000 in an account with BBK and thought it will do when having the sum deposited for more than 3 months but no. IO Pattaya wanted in addition the proof of having the income received for 2020 although I had the correct amount showing in the bankbook. I switched because the Baht was getting more expensive and I thought more reserves parked in Thailand might be sensible.

When (re)-applying for a 1-year extension of stay, your local Imm officer will FIRST check whether you met the financial conditions for the 12 (or 13) months preceding your current extension, before processing your current application.

So in your case you would have to show a recent Embassy-issued income letter stating that your monthly income was the equivalent of +65K.  When that is cleared, you can tell the Imm Officer that for the coming extension you will be swtiching to the 800K funds-in-bank method.  You need to do the latter because at Jomtien you need to come back after 3 months to show that the +800K is still on your Thai bank-account three months after your 1-year extension of stay has been approved.  Once that 3-,month bank-check is cleared (it is only at Jomtien and a few other rogue IOs that such a 3-month bank-check is required) you can use the funds for the next 6-7 months as long as you do not dip below +400K.  And two months before you intend to apply for your next 1-year extension you would have to top up again to +800K. 

At your next 1-year extension of stay application the Imm Officer will then check whether you met those 3 + 6/7 + 2 months requirements before approving your next 1-year extension of stay.  And it is because you currently do not meet that requirement (you only have the +800K for 3 months on your bank-account) your present 1-year extension application has been rejected.  But in your case it is easy to solve as you can simply go to your Embassy and acquire the embassy-issued income letter like you did previous years.

 

[Peter Denis]

8 hours ago, condohope said:

... I switched because the Baht was getting more expensive and I thought more reserves parked in Thailand might be sensible.

There was and is actually no need to switch, because you do NOT need to transfer any of your foreign monthly income into Bath to meet the IO requirements for an embassy-issued income letter.  The fact that your foreign income is over the equivalent of 65K a month is sufficient.  When applying for the 1-year extension of stay your local Imm officer might ask you some evidence of how you 'survive' in Thailand, but there are no specific amounts or specific bank-evidence required for that.  Showing ATM-slips or a Thai bank savings-account that you use for your daily living-expenses is sufficient, because your embassy-issued income-statement fully meets the financial requirements.

Of course you can park some funds on a Thai bank-account, but there was/is no need to switch to the Funds-in-Bank method as that complicates things considerably in dealing with your local Immigration Office.  And more importantly it won't allow you to make use of all of those funds as +400K needs to be parked permanently on your account when using that method for your 1-year extension of stay application. 

So I suggest you simply keep on using the embassy-issued income letter for your dealings with your local Imm Office.  And doing that gives you full freedom to transfer/exchange funds in THB at the moment you need them and park funds on your Thai bank-account as you see fit, without having to provide evidence of any of that to your local Immigration office.

[Tanoshi]

34 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

There was and is actually no need to switch, because you do NOT need to transfer any of your foreign monthly income into Bath to meet the IO requirements for an embassy-issued income letter.  The fact that your foreign income is over the equivalent of 65K a month is sufficient. 

Source please.

That is a false assumption by many expats that if using an Embassy Income letter there is no requirement to actually transfer any funds. Granted the Police order does not specifically state that you must provide proof of transferring funds using such method, but neither does it specify you do not have to transfer any funds and you can keep finances in a foreign bank account.

 

I have witnessed proof of funds transferred to a Thai bank being requested even when presenting an Embassy Income letter. It raises the question of how you are living in Thailand if you are not transferring funds and/or cannot provide proof if requested, although the amounts transferred do not have to meet the specific 40/65K (monthly income method), but must be equivalent to 800K THB over the year.

Foreign bank statements and ATM withdrawal receipts were refused and extensions denied.

 

Immigration can request additional proof in addition to an Embassy Income letter, as they can and sometimes do, in relation to other sources of income/funds.

[Tanoshi]

15 hours ago, OJAS said:

It is, of course, true that resultant balance shortfalls could, in theory, be compensated for through the “combo” method if your home country embassy still provided an income confirmation service. But this option is, unfortunately, no longer available for Americans, Aussies and Brits.

British, American and Australians can still use the 'combo' method by keeping x funds in a Thai bank account over the 12 month period, plus monthly foreign transfers to meet the 800K annual requirement.

I know of both British and Australians who do exactly that since their Embassies ceased issuing Income letters.

[Peter Denis]

6 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

Source please.

That is a false assumption by many expats that if using an Embassy Income letter there is no requirement to actually transfer any funds. Granted the Police order does not specifically state that you must provide proof of transferring funds using such method, but neither does it specify you do not have to transfer any funds and you can keep finances in a foreign bank account.

 

I have witnessed proof of funds transferred to a Thai bank being requested even when presenting an Embassy Income letter. It raises the question of how you are living in Thailand if you are not transferring funds and/or cannot provide proof if requested, although the amounts transferred do not have to meet the specific 40/65K (monthly income method), but must be equivalent to 800K THB over the year.

Foreign bank statements and ATM withdrawal receipts were refused and extensions denied.

 

Immigration can request additional proof in addition to an Embassy Income letter, as they can and sometimes do, in relation to other sources of income/funds.

Thanks for the additional info and of course you are correct.

For the large majority of those making use of the Embassy-issued income-letter, that letter will be accepted by the IO as proof of them meeting the financial requirements and 'no further questions asked'.

But indeed, they should be prepared that the Imm officer handling their application might ask for

1 - Evidence of the source of that foreign income stated on the Embassy income-letter.  That will normally not pose any problem because for most of them it will be the same evidence they showed the Embassy when applying for that income-letter. 

2 - Evidence of living expenses.  It is quite rare that such evidence will be asked because it is self-evident that you need some funds when living in Thailand (and they already have seen the evidence that your foreign monthly income meets the financial requirements), 

But I have never come across the requirement that the totality of those living expenses need to exceed +800K.  Most probably that's a local Immigration requirement used as a 'stick' to discipline a foreigner they have a grudge against for one reason or another.

In normal times doing a 'border-run' and starting afresh would solve that issue, but would be a rather annoying time-waster.

[OJAS]

1 hour ago, Tanoshi said:

British, American and Australians can still use the 'combo' method by keeping x funds in a Thai bank account over the 12 month period, plus monthly foreign transfers to meet the 800K annual requirement.

I know of both British and Australians who do exactly that since their Embassies ceased issuing Income letters.

 

But the point I was striving to make is that Brits, Americans & Aussies using the 800k/400k method who were the victims of bank fraud would somehow need to anticipate such a fraud arising 12 months in advance of it occurring, so as to put in place the monthly transfers needed to make good any shortfall under the "combo" method in lieu of Embassy income confirmations. For this purpose they would presumably have needed to invest in a suitably-reliable crystal ball - and I am not aware of any such crystal balls being available through Lazada, for instance!

 

Alternatively, they could, of course, hijack Dr Who's Tardis in order to travel back in time by the required 12 months!!

 

Edited December 17, 2020 by OJAS

[Tanoshi]

49 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

2 - Evidence of living expenses.  It is quite rare that such evidence will be asked because it is self-evident that you need some funds when living in Thailand (and they already have seen the evidence that your foreign monthly income meets the financial requirements), 

It appears to be ad hoc in my experience.

Proving you have sufficient income paid into a foreign bank account, is not the same as proof of it in a Thai bank to meet living expenses in Thailand. If that were the case we could all provide foreign bank statements instead of an Embassy Income letter.

 

55 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

But I have never come across the requirement that the totality of those living expenses need to exceed +800K.  Most probably that's a local Immigration requirement used as a 'stick' to discipline a foreigner they have a grudge against for one reason or another.

The logic behind that I believe is that if you can't provide sufficient evidence of meeting the monthly transfers of 65K, then they use the 800k as a bench mark.

A Norwegian provided an Embassy Income letter back in June when I was applying for my extension and they requested proof of transfers into Thailand to meet living expenses. He produced Thai bank statements, but he transferred as required, not monthly, so they rejected the monthly income method, but totalled his transfers up, prepared to grant his extension if they met the 800K requirement.

They totalled 786,000 BHT and even though he argued that total was more than the monthly transfer requirement, they still refused. 

Fortunately, he was married and they told him to reapply based on marriage and they would accept his Embassy Income letter, with the additional proof of bank transfers.

 

 

The

 

 

[OJAS]

15 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Not just fraud but many have made the mistake of taking money out at too much or too early - which violates the new fixed deposit requirements and potentially could be not only be a reason to refuse next extension but place you into overstay if they wanted to say your extension ended when you went into violation.  This is a new ball game and how they plan to interpret the rules is not yet clear (and a year of special covid rules has not helped to clarify things).

 

A further point which might be worth beaing in mind is that those using FCD accounts for stashing away the required 800k or 400k (as permitted by several offices) could inadvertently find balances dipping below the equivalents of these minima for a time at least thanks to wildly-fluctuating exchange rates!

 

[KannikaP]

11 minutes ago, OJAS said:

 

A further point which might be worth beaing in mind is that those using FCD accounts for stashing away the required 800k or 400k (as permitted by several offices) could inadvertently find balances dipping below the equivalents of these minima for a time at least thanks to wildly-fluctuating exchange rates!

 

Then be clever and put the eqivalent of Bht 850k/Bht 450k into the FCD

[Peter Denis]

14 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

....

A Norwegian provided an Embassy Income letter back in June when I was applying for my extension and they requested proof of transfers into Thailand to meet living expenses. He produced Thai bank statements, but he transferred as required, not monthly, so they rejected the monthly income method, but totalled his transfers up, prepared to grant his extension if they met the 800K requirement.

They totalled 786,000 BHT and even though he argued that total was more than the monthly transfer requirement, they still refused. 

Fortunately, he was married and they told him to reapply based on marriage and they would accept his Embassy Income letter, with the additional proof of bank transfers.

...

That's a very scary story for anybody making use of the Embassy-issued income letter!

But of course it is the odd exception instead of the rule because normally embassy-issued income letters are accepted 'no other questions asked'.

It's also strange that they told him to reapply based on marriage because most IOs resent the associated paperwork with a marriage extension and they could have easily provided him the retirement extension on the spot.