can i extend a non-o visa based on retirement every year? what are the requirements? only the 800K in thai bank account or more?

[jacko45k]

On 12/19/2020 at 3:41 PM, gt162 said:

 

Just curious, why US, UK and Australian embassies don't provide income letter for retirement like they did before?

Oh dear, that was well discussed when it happened. The way I recall it immigration was supposedly asking that the embassies actually 'verified' the income...... at the time Oz was accepting a 'stat dec', USA an affidavit and UK looking at some 'paperwork'.... and they issued letters. They baulked at the concept of 'verification', and announced they would stop issuing letters. I think UK were first, and the other 2 followed, with Denmark too.  It seemed probable they were glad of the excuse to rid themselves of this onerous task!  Fortunately immigration quickly came up with the accommodation of 65,000 baht / month into a Thai bank account from overseas. 

The fact that other embassies still issue letters is a quandary, some do have some type of verification.. and I suspect many don't bother, and Thai immigration pulled it's head back in after all the trouble it caused... if indeed they did!

Edited December 21, 2020 by jacko45k

[Peter Denis]

28 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Oh dear, that was well discussed when it happened. They way I recall it immigration was supposedly asking that the embassies actually 'verified' the income...... at the time Oz was accepting a 'stat dec', USA an affidavit and UK looking at some 'paperwork'.... and they issued letters. They baulked at the concept of 'verification', and announced they would stop issuing letters. I think UK were first, and the other 2 followed, with Denmark too.  It seemed probable they were glad of the excuse to rid themselves of this onerous task!  Fortunately immigration quickly came up with the accommodation of 65,000 baht / month into a Thai bank account from overseas. 

The fact that other embassies still issue letters is a quandary, some do have some type of verification.. and I suspect many don't bother, and Thai immigration pulled it's head back in after all the trouble it caused... if indeed they did!

Fully correct.  But some additional comments:

- The danish Embassy in Bangkok started re-issuing such letters (probably after complaints from danish retirees because of the suspension of that service);

- Some Embassies/Consulates (e.g. the German and dutch ones) only issue those income-letters when applicant can show evidence of the monthly foreign income;

- There are also Embassies (like the Belgian one) where you can get an income-letter Affidavit on a 'statement of honor' so no need to provide evidence of the monthly foreign income and you only need to sign the Affidavit in person witnessed by Embassy staff

- When you apply for the 1-year extension using the income-letter method, the Imm officer can ask that you show evidence of the SOURCE of the funds and some like the IO in Pattaya only accept a pension-statement as proof.  However, in large majority of cases the embassy issued income-letter is accepted as proof of meeting the financial requirements, with 'no further questions asked'.

- When using the embassy-issued income-letter method the Imm officer can also ask you to provide some evidence of how you cover your living-expenses.  ATM-slips and bank-transfer slips are accepted in such case, but there is a worrisome case of a Norwegian citizen that met the income-letter requirement (more than 65K monthly foreign income) and the Imm officer wanted to see proof of his living-expenses being over 800K (imo a clear example of a clueless Imm officer possibly 'fishing' for some extortion fee to have the make-up 'problem' go away).

Edited December 21, 2020 by Peter Denis

[gt162]

So much simpler with the  embassy income letter as it was in the past. Maybe they will bring it back with this pandemic's lack of tourists and expats but I doubt it since they make  so much more money with the current pain-in-the-ass system.

 

 

 

[jacko45k]

4 hours ago, gt162 said:

So much simpler with the  embassy income letter as it was in the past. Maybe they will bring it back with this pandemic's lack of tourists and expats but I doubt it since they make  so much more money with the current pain-in-the-ass system.

 

 

 

Who are you talking of here making money? It has not been revoked by immigration and embassy letters are still in play for many countries. In the end it looked like those 3 Embassies were being churlish. If ...no IF UK, OZ and USA resumed income letters, I expect they would be accepted by immigration for extensions. 

[Tanoshi]

6 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Oh dear, that was well discussed when it happened. The way I recall it immigration was supposedly asking that the embassies actually 'verified' the income...... at the time Oz was accepting a 'stat dec', USA an affidavit and UK looking at some 'paperwork'.... and they issued letters. 

Correct so far.

 

6 hours ago, jacko45k said:

They baulked at the concept of 'verification', and announced they would stop issuing letters. I think UK were first, and the other 2 followed, with Denmark too.  It seemed probable they were glad of the excuse to rid themselves of this onerous task! 

Not so much baulked, as simply impossible to verify 'incomes' due to Data Protection laws.

 

6 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Fortunately immigration quickly came up with the accommodation of 65,000 baht / month into a Thai bank account from overseas. 

There was already an accepted provision in place to accept overseas funds in a Thai bank as the 800K method was already an existing part of Police Orders. The British Embassy merely advised that fact, so it was then that Immigration amended the orders to accept the 65K monthly transfers into the existing orders.

 

6 hours ago, jacko45k said:

The fact that other embassies still issue letters is a quandary, some do have some type of verification.. and I suspect many don't bother, and Thai immigration pulled it's head back in after all the trouble it caused... if indeed they did!

No quandary!

The reason other Embassies still issue the letters is that after all the hype and insistence that the Embassies must 'very' incomes, which was impossible and the 3 biggest Embassies covering over 70% of expats in Thailand had notified Immigration of their intention to cease the service, as well as issuing an amended order accepting 65K monthly overseas transfers as acceptable, they also reiterated the condition in the amended orders, (as with previous orders) that Embassy letters must be certified, with no mention of 'verification'.

The problem was that amended order wasn't released until after the UK, US and Australian had ceased the service. Other Embassies would also have had to cease the service had Immigration insisted along the lines of 'verified' incomes. As it is (to late for the big 3) but other Embassies continue with the service but only certifying the letters.

 

5 hours ago, gt162 said:

So much simpler with the  embassy income letter as it was in the past. Maybe they will bring it back with this pandemic's lack of tourists and expats but I doubt it since they make  so much more money with the current pain-in-the-ass system.

Not likely.

After 6 months of extensive and exhausting meetings with Immigration and taking the decision to cease the service, close that department and redeploy staff to other Embassies/Consulates or other positions, they are hardly likely to go back to the same position.

Immigration caused them to much administrative hassle, time and cost, because they didn't appear to understand the legal position and difference between 'certify' and 'verify' until it was to late.

 

Not just anyone can certify an 'affidavit' or 'stat dec', they have to be professionally legally qualified, or be of a certain professional position.