Just successfully renewed my Extension of Temporary Stay in the Kingdom based on retirement (2.22) with less than 25,000 baht in my account

[lungfarang]

Wait! What?!

I did it under 2.22 critera (3) "Must have evidence of having income of no less than 65,000 baht per month." And I did it without an "affidavit of income" from my embassy as I am a US citizen and my embassy stopped issuing them. Instead, for evidence I submitted a copy of my 2020 annual Social Security earnings (Form SSA-1099 Social Security Benefit Statement) and a copy of my 2020 federal government retirement annuity earnings (OPM Form 1099-R Statement of Annuity Paid). I also submitted a Social Security Earnings Verification Letter for my 2021 monthly Social Security income that I printed out from the website and an Annuity Statement from Retirement Services of OPM (Office of Personnel Management) showing my projected 2021 monthly income from that source.The combination of incomes was well over 65,000 baht/mo. The certified letter from the bank showed deposits of (at least) 65,000 baht per month for the past year, and since I use Wise (TransferWise) for all my transfers, I asked the bank officer to be sure to show on the ceritifed statement that the deposits came from overseas, which she did. My bankbook showed a balance of 24,739 baht—and that was only because I sent a deposit of 20,000 to cover truck repair expenses the night before.

 

But, and it's a big but fat ladies in the circus notwithstanding, the immigration officer also told my wife and me—yes, I'm also married to a Thai—that the law is changing (has changed??) "for Americans" and that I won't be able to use this method in the future.

 

What's that about?

 

Oh, I'm seeing now some posts on (possible) changes in requirements for retirement extensions. Seems I need to be paying attention. My July 2019 non-imm O visa (Savanakhet) was based on marriage. I squeaked by with our untranslated US marriage certificate possibly because I was among the first 25 in line. But when I applied for the one year extension of stay in 2020, the immigration office would not accept our U.S. marriage certificate, so I applied as a retiree and got approved under 3) with the retirement annuity evidence from soclal security and my federal pension. I was told the marriage had to be registered in Thailand and that I would have to go to some office in Bangkok to get that done. At the time, no thank you.

 

I'm okay for another year, but it seems I may have to go to Bangkok at some point after all.

 

 

 

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

so qualified on monthly income then not savings……like thousands of others ………

actually curious now what % retirement visa / extns are income vs savings…..

[mosan]

I hate to break this to you but, this has been around for a few years now. Nobody cares how much money is in your account as long as the bank letter shows your monthly deposits. All the other documentation is only necessary if Immigrations asks for it. In my case they never do. I show my Thai bank statement and accompanying letter and that's it...

[Pib]

Basically what you used was the monthly income method versus Bt800K deposit method.   You said you were transferring Bt65K per month and you had the Thai bank letter to provide proof.  Therefore you didn't need an embassy income letter--nor would you have been able to get one from the U.S. Embassy since they stopped issuing them around 2 years ago.   

 

And you didn't need all the other proof like the pension letters.  Some immigration might ask for proof of where your income originates if they are concerned about the source of your income, but it's the actual transfers and bank 12 month statement that the real/hard core proof when you can't get an embassy letter.   You could have had only 1 baht on deposit and still got the extension since you have been doing the monthly transfers and had the Thai bank 12 month statement/letter for proof.  

 

If you were on a marriage extension the monthly requirement would be Bt40K vs Bt65K....or if going the deposit method Bt400K on deposit for 2 months before applying for an extension and during the Under Consideration period....so basically, Bt400K for around 3 months....then you could take the balance to zero if desired up until 2 months before applying for renewal.

 

I expect there was just a communication disconnect in what the immigration officer was trying to relay to you....and maybe he was just trying to explain he knew Americans could no longer get an embassy income letter but it came across as some future change.

Edited September 17, 2021 by Pib

[ubonjoe]

11 hours ago, lungfarang said:

But, and it's a big but fat ladies in the circus notwithstanding, the immigration officer also told my wife and me—yes, I'm also married to a Thai—that the law is changing (has changed??) "for Americans" and that I won't be able to use this method in the future.

 

Just nonsense from an officer wanting you to use the money in the bank option next year since that is what they prefer since there is less paperwork required.

[oznomad]

An hour's searching produced no results, so perhaps the OP can assist.

How long in advance is an extension based on retirement supposed to be actioned?

For example, if it expired on 1 November, when should a visit to immigration happen?

Thanks

[ubonjoe]

23 minutes ago, oznomad said:

An hour's searching produced no results, so perhaps the OP can assist.

How long in advance is an extension based on retirement supposed to be actioned?

For example, if it expired on 1 November, when should a visit to immigration happen?

Thanks

You can apply for the new extension up to 30 day early or 45 days at some offices.

[Pib]

Yeap....like if your servicing immigration office was CW (Bangkok) you can apply up to 45 days in advance.  Like today/20 Sep I applied at CW to extend my marriage extension of stay...current marriage extension was good thru 31 Oct.  No drama...it was approved...or should I say  I got the under consideration type stamp good until 1 Nov when I'm suppose to go back to get the 1 year stamp put in my passport.   So in this case I applied 41 days early. 

 

You don't lose any time by applying early.   In my book a person should apply as soon as allowed (30-45 days before depending on your serving immigration office) "just in case" immigration initially rejects your application for some issue.....an issue that might take you a few weeks or longer to correct.  

[oznomad]

2 hours ago, Pib said:

Yeap....like if your servicing immigration office was CW (Bangkok) you can apply up to 45 days in advance.  Like today/20 Sep I applied at CW to extend my marriage extension of stay...current marriage extension was good thru 31 Oct.  No drama...it was approved...or should I say  I got the under consideration type stamp good until 1 Nov when I'm suppose to go back to get the 1 year stamp put in my passport.   So in this case I applied 41 days early. 

 

You don't lose any time by applying early.   In my book a person should apply as soon as allowed (30-45 days before depending on your serving immigration office) "just in case" immigration initially rejects your application for some issue.....an issue that might take you a few weeks or longer to correct.  

Good job. Thanks Pib ????

[bbko]

When sending money via Wise, does it mater which option we choose for the "reason for transfer" question?  i.e. Long Term Stay vs monthly living expense.

[Pib]

9 hours ago, bbko said:

When sending money via Wise, does it mater which option we choose for the "reason for transfer" question?  i.e. Long Term Stay vs monthly living expense.

It has an effect on which Thai partner bank Wise uses for the transfer.  From a standpoint of what coding you receive on the Thai bank end, if you are sending to a Bangkok Bank acct if you selected Long Term Stay then Wise will use Bangkok Bank as their partner bank for the transfer which also results in Bangkok Bank coding your transfer as an International Transfer/FTT coding.   

 

But if you select another transfer reason to send to a Bangkok Bank acct Wise might use another Thai partner bank like K-bank (or even DeeMoney now) to process the transfer/relay the transfer within Thailand to your Bangkok Bank acct which would "not" result in international transfer coding on your Bangkok Bank acct....just intra-Thailand/domestic transfer coding.   

 

Immigration could care less what reason you enter on a Wise transfer form....immigration is looking for the international transfer coding on your Thai bank passbook/statement.  If that international coding is not there then you will need to get Credit Advices from the Thai bank, show additional documentation to the immigration officer, etc., in trying to to convince the transfer was international vs originating within Thailand. 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Pib