Immigration - Catch 22

[rickudon]

Today was visa extension day. I was doing the Marriage visa extension using 400,000 baht in the bank.

 

Got the letter from  the bank and updated the bank book by putting a 1,000 baht in, same as last year, it was not a problem. Went to immigration, and all was going smoothly until - 

"The amount in bank book and letter do not match". "Go back to bank and get new letter today". I explained that the letter shows YESTERDAY's balance - any change on the day will not show up on the letter until the next day. He wasn't convinced. 

" Go back and get new letter, have to do today!"

 

I knew this would be a problem, but wife insisted we go back to bank. We did, and they just confirmed that they couldn't show the new balance in the book in the letter until tomorrow. They offered no solution.

 

So, catch 22 - letter and updated book needed on the same day, but new balance not shown until tomorrow, and cannot update the book unless there is a transaction to record!

 

Had been thinking about this on the way to the bank (3rd visit of the day!) and did come up with a possible solution. Take the 1000 baht out again ..... but they said cannot undo the 1,000 baht added to the time deposit on the same day... but now last years 1000 baht deposit came into use - I could withdraw that. But of course, interest had accumulated  so had to withdraw that as well (about 2.53 baht). At last, the bank book now matched the letter. Back to immigration and now accepted!

 

Anyone else had this issue? I am thinking of putting in another small deposit on a 3-6 month time period, then their will be an interest payment into the account - which maybe the bank will update without paying in/drawing out any money.

 

But who knows how the IO will view it next time. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle as applied to Thai immigration!

[Moonlover]

I had a similar perverse requirement when I did mine using the income method. He wanted the book making up on the morning of the application. 'Why' I asked, 'what's the balance got to do with it?'

 

Shrug of shoulders. 'That's what they want to see'. At least he didn't want the letter to match as well!

 

Oh, the never ending guessing game.

[DrJack54]

OP, which immigration office.

[rickudon]

Udon Thani

[foreverlomsak]

23 minutes ago, rickudon said:

So, catch 22 - letter and updated book needed on the same day, but new balance not shown until tomorrow, and cannot update the book unless there is a transaction to record!

Similar, I deposited 1,000THB into the SCB savings account, then asked for my Immigration letter, the letter contained the same balance as the book, however the certified statement of account that went along with it did not, as you said can't until tomorrow.

I threw away the certified statement and attached a copy of bank book page which the bank was happy to put there stamp on.

Happy Immigration.

[Moonlover]

4 minutes ago, rickudon said:

Udon Thani

Oh, them again!

[Bruce Aussie]

Never added  money my term deposit just get letter matching book. Never had problems. They just update book on day last interest paid could be 30cto 60 fridays previous.

I bank with Kasikorn.

????❤????????

[chang50]

I think one way around this would be to make fairly regular transactions and update the bank book regularly too.

 

[zoza]

the other day was visa day for me, and as last year i could not get a retirement visa because 

Kasikorn put '' dummy branch'' as the bank that received my monthly international transfer.

so i went along with a ''Married'' to Thai visa.

This year i changed my transfer receiving bank to Bangkok Bank as transfer's were labelled

FTT  and 'international Transfer'' i thought with the 500,000 in KK and the 50k a month going

in Bangkok bank , i thought every thing should be acceptable to my local immigration.

it turned out due to this Covid-19 i was stuck in a different Province , i felt quite confident as i had the two bank letters plus an account of all my transfers for the last year of all my GBP to 

Baht which using  combination method came to about 1 million baht.

i was gobsmacked when told no you have to have all the money in one account....

This is a new one on me , can anyone confirm or is this just another Imm officer making it up

as he goes, he did imply that he had the final say, which i knew is the case.

does any of the members or Mods know the full story. Thanks for any info on this.

                

[Boomer6969]

26 minutes ago, rickudon said:

Udon Thani

And which Bank?

 

I did my extension (in Buriram) this morning; withdrew 1000 Bahts from my fixed term deposit, let them do the letter, and everything was fine. Bangkok Bank rocks.

[jackdd]

20 minutes ago, zoza said:

i was gobsmacked when told no you have to have all the money in one account....

This is a new one on me , can anyone confirm or is this just another Imm officer making it up

They just make this stuff up in an attempt to extort money from you. Just stand your ground. Which immigration office are you using?

We just had somebody who was told the exact opposite of what you were told:

 

[DrJack54]

Oh another sad thread re using monthly transfers income method or combo method or failure to check what your local imm office requires.

Love em. 

Use money in bank method walk in the park.

[FritsSikkink]

1 hour ago, rickudon said:

 

So, catch 22 - letter and updated book needed on the same day, but new balance not shown until tomorrow, and cannot update the book unless there is a transaction to record!

 

So deposit 20 THB on your account.

[zoza]

35 minutes ago, jackdd said:

They just make this stuff up in an attempt to extort money from you. Just stand your ground. Which immigration office are you using?

We just had somebody who was told the exact opposite of what you were told:

yes you are exactly right, my missus remarked on how good he talked ? i got my warning

feeling as your normal Immigration visit is like getting teeth removed with no meds.

and is  it a coincidence Udon Thani.  i will renew in Jomtien next year as i have witnessed

an incident when Ladyboy agent and Thai immigration Boyfriend had argument, 20 passports disappear and a bit later 20 Farangs get 20,000 baht overstay fine.  

[DrJack54]

3 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

So deposit 20 THB on your account.

It would seem that the OP is using a FD account. You cannot deposit 20b into a fixed deposit account. 

With my k bank the min deposit is 1000b.

The OP is just another guy making simple difficult. Could have made deposit and bank letter on same day as applying for extension.

[DrJack54]

3 minutes ago, zoza said:

yes you are exactly right, my missus remarked on how good he talked ? i got my warning

feeling as your normal Immigration visit is like getting teeth removed with no meds.

and is  it a coincidence Udon Thani.  i will renew in Jomtien next year as i have witnessed

an incident when Ladyboy agent and Thai immigration Boyfriend had argument, 20 passports disappear and a bit later 20 Farangs get 20,000 baht overstay fine.  

Link please.

[FritsSikkink]

9 minutes ago, zoza said:

yes you are exactly right, my missus remarked on how good he talked ? i got my warning

feeling as your normal Immigration visit is like getting teeth removed with no meds.

and is  it a coincidence Udon Thani.  i will renew in Jomtien next year as i have witnessed

an incident when Ladyboy agent and Thai immigration Boyfriend had argument, 20 passports disappear and a bit later 20 Farangs get 20,000 baht overstay fine.  

Don't know how you guys get into this issues, never have a problem.

[Seeall]

On 1/7/2021 at 11:03 PM, FritsSikkink said:

Don't know how you guys get into this issues, never have a problem.

thats another saying thats anoying, I had no problems... well its a gamble....

[FritsSikkink]

1 hour ago, Seeall said:

thats another saying thats anoying, I had no problems... well its a gamble....

No, I got my paper work sorted

[richard_smith237]

8 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

9 hours ago, Seeall said:

thats another saying thats anoying, I had no problems... well its a gamble....

No, I got my paper work sorted

 

Many of us have our paperwork sorted and face few problems, and many others have their paperwork sorted and face exactly the same non-sensical catch 22 problems the Op describes. 

 

Comments such as "Don't know how you guys get into this issues, never have a problem” are somewhat moronic. Because it hasn’t happened to us doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen to others and we all know the regulations are followed with individual interpretation from officer to officer and province to province. 

 

-------

 

Tiny irritation for me. Had the Bank Letter, Had the Bank Statements, Had the Bank Book - all showing well in excess of 400,000 Baht for a years...  But, they were all issued / updated the day before I attended Immigration. 

Fortunately I was not asked for a new bank letter and stamped statements, I was just told to go and update my Bank Book to the current date which involved withdrawing 100B to add a new line of data, thus making the balances slightly different. The Immi officer didn’t mind this. Regardless, all very nonsensical. 

 

It would seem that Immigration officers the op is dealing with do not like that the amounts are slightly different on the letter and BankBook which is moronic if both clearly outline funds in excess of the 400k baht for the required duration. 

 

I can see why some people end up pulling their hair out. 

[HashBrownHarry]

My bank letter states an amount 100K less than what the bank book says coz i have a visa card for 100K, no problem at all although i was expecting it.

 

Money in account is considerably more than 400K and used as a daily account, lots of transactions in and out don't know if this makes a difference?

[Tanoshi]

On 1/7/2021 at 9:02 PM, rickudon said:

So, catch 22 - letter and updated book needed on the same day, but new balance not shown until tomorrow, and cannot update the book unless there is a transaction to record!

The problem lies with your bank - guessing Kasikorn.

 

No such problems with Bangkok Bank. Passbooks can be updated on the day without any deposits or withdrawals.

[FritsSikkink]

5 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Tiny irritation for me. Had the Bank Letter, Had the Bank Statements, Had the Bank Book - all showing well in excess of 400,000 Baht for a years...  But, they were all issued / updated the day before I attended Immigration. 

 

Why update them the day before when you know it should be the same day

[phetpeter]

The main thing is the paperwork that is required for extensions is basically only 5 or 6 document's as listed, the problem is the final sentence, which states something like " and anything else at the discretion the officer requests". On a good day the officer can and does complete the tasks required within 30mins. plus requiring the same paperwork when it should all be logged into a database, which is at their fingertips. should not be required every year, when looking at a persons passport can show years of extensions, making the extension renewable 'just a walk in the park'. It time that this should be removed from their responsibly to change rules to suit their moods. Someone should lobby the immigration to make sure the same rules and procedures are followed by every officer, as there is already a set list, but remove the final sentence completely, the same as when you go through passport control at a port of entry, with only problems when there is serious doubt. not because of ability show you have power.

I admit there are some people who still go with attitude and get the backs up of the officers, plus I have to go with wife as she has to sign a statement, when the truth is the W22 is all that is required , but the officer normally uses their discretion to make her sign every year! and draw a map of where we live even through a google map is clearer, cleaner and more actuate and thankfully she is no longer 'scared of them'. But I still see many who's women drop like lap dogs and doing whatever the officer tells them, causing more stress and concern in the power control, even with the suggestions in Thai to possible 'treats' to move things along.

[zoza]

On 1/7/2021 at 10:57 PM, DrJack54 said:

Link please.

as far as i know there are no Links there was victims but i do not know all of them, but i know

they had to travel to Chachoengsao . the lady boys office was opposite 

Friendship supermarket and the twenty farangs had to go to their Consul's in Bangkok to

prove their I.D and a bit later they were ordered to go to collect their passports and pay 20k 

fine as by then ''They had been overstaying'' because some one stole their passports.

 

i could of swerved this trap but with no way of contacting the Airline ( AA can only be contacted online ( Facebook) by an artificial intelligence called AWA that just leads customers around and around until  they give up. so i inquired at Udon Immigration if i was allowed to travel ?

like most things i now think i was told a load of lies, as someone decided there

might be an earner for them, but once bitten in 16 years is not the end of the world ,as my

paperwork was good and it seems i enrolled for the Express Visa  service.

and the wife was very happy with the way this conman spoke.  

[RubbaJohnny]

6 hours ago, Tanoshi said:

The problem lies with your bank - guessing Kasikorn.

 

No such problems with Bangkok Bank. Passbooks can be updated on the day without any deposits or withdrawals.

Took me two visits and 4 signed docs and a phone call to Bangkok Bank for them to match my local office 3 month requirement. Luckily a very short distance from immigration so all done in a fascinating 4 hours.

For those visiting public offices in addition to a mask take iPOD/something to read/Kindle bottle of water etc

It's not like you can sit in cafe or car as my wife and I were called to 3 different desks to sign in excess of 40 different pages by hand.

They were polite helpful and SLOW.

 

From the point of view of the state all they really need is who you are where you are and cash in LOS, Lazada seem to acheive same at a click.

[MJCM]

On 1/7/2021 at 10:00 PM, Boomer6969 said:

And which Bank?

 

I did my extension (in Buriram) this morning; withdrew 1000 Bahts from my fixed term deposit, let them do the letter, and everything was fine. Bangkok Bank rocks.

 

Same here, Did my extension last week, before going to the Bank I transferred 2000 THB into my Fixed Deposit Account, went to Bangkok Bank did an update of the Bank Book went inside the bank to get the letter and it showed the same amount in the letter as in the bank book.

 

But it took almost an hour to get the letter (first time ever it took so long).

 

Immigration was very quiet and it took only approx 1 hour to get the "under consideration" stamp.

[Myran]

10 hours ago, Tanoshi said:

The problem lies with your bank - guessing Kasikorn.

 

No such problems with Bangkok Bank. Passbooks can be updated on the day without any deposits or withdrawals.

I've got Kasikorn and my bank book updates just fine without doing a deposit.

[Tanoshi]

13 hours ago, Myran said:

I've got Kasikorn and my bank book updates just fine without doing a deposit.

Updates to the last transaction, not the current date, which is why folks are making a transaction on the day.

It is possible to update the book to the current date, but very few staff know how to do this.

[Tanoshi]

On 1/7/2021 at 10:00 PM, Boomer6969 said:

I did my extension (in Buriram) this morning; withdrew 1000 Bahts from my fixed term deposit, let them do the letter, and everything was fine. Bangkok Bank rocks.

You just lost a chunk of interest!

The idea of a Fixed term account is that you deposited a certain amount for a fixed term at a given interest rate.

You can withdraw at any time but compromise the interest because you didn't leave it in for the set period.

 

Bangkok Bank can update your FTD account on the day without a transaction.