Combination method/retirement

[Badrabbit]

Just checking if I can use the combination method rather than the 800k in the bank.

I have my Pension letter confirming my monthly pension(UK) pension pay slips and copies of bank statement showing monthly deposits, I'm in Phuket. 

I just want to take 240k keeping 560k for my Extension.

 

[ubonjoe]

The Phuket immigration volunteers website states the combination option is available there.

See: https://piv-phuket.com/long-stay-extensions/retirement/

You will need to proof the the 12 months of income transfers came from abroad.

[Badrabbit]

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

The Phuket immigration volunteers website states the combination option is available there.

See: https://piv-phuket.com/long-stay-extensions/retirement/

You will need to proof the the 12 months of income transfers came from abroad.

As I stated I have my Pension letter from the UK, I'm not using a full year just 6 months which I assume will be okay.

[KannikaP]

Your 'pension letters' are immaterial, they just want to see Foreign Transfers each month, if possible equal amounts on roughly the same day each time. Done it for a few years at Phitsanulok with no problems. 50k per month and 220k in the bank = 820k.

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, Badrabbit said:

As I stated I have my Pension letter from the UK, I'm not using a full year just 6 months which I assume will be okay.

Immigration will only accept 12 months of proof that you transferred your income into a Thai bank from abroad.

[Badrabbit]

5 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Immigration will only accept 12 months of proof that you transferred your income into a Thai bank from abroad.

Okay, I can print off 12 months of Pension pay slips.

[pagallim]

14 minutes ago, Badrabbit said:

As I stated I have my Pension letter from the UK, I'm not using a full year just 6 months which I assume will be okay.

When you say pension letter from the UK, I take it that you mean a letter from your pension provider?   It's clear in the PIV website, such letters are not acceptable, only a letter from an embassy/consul, which of course wouldn't be the case for a UK citizen amongst others.

[pagallim]

3 minutes ago, Badrabbit said:

Okay, I can print off 12 months of Pension pay slips.

Again, it's clear, you have to shown international transfers into your Thai bank a/c.   Pay slips don't necessarily mean you have brought the money into Thailand.

[KhunLA]

Imm offices can be different, but, the deposit, AFAIK, needs to be monthly.

 

Hua Hin for instance will allow 400k savings (can't touch) & 40k a month deposit. for retirement visa.   Or all 800k for 2 months, or 65k a month DD.

 

The DD has to be trackable by the bank deposited in, as 'THEY' will give you a statement, and the only statement accepted by Imm.

 

It will show origin & transfer point on the way to your Thai bank account.

[lexilis]

It's been noted before but the "combination method" is not available from some Imm. offices. For example the combo method is not allowed in Chiang Mai.

[Badrabbit]

All I can do is try with what I have, Pension provider letter proving I receive a monthly Pension(UK) Pension pay slips showing monthly pension(GBP)Thai bank statement showing Monthly deposits, if they don't accept it its not a  problem.

[Presnock]

On 7/2/2022 at 10:18 AM, Badrabbit said:

All I can do is try with what I have, Pension provider letter proving I receive a monthly Pension(UK) Pension pay slips showing monthly pension(GBP)Thai bank statement showing Monthly deposits, if they don't accept it its not a  problem.

I do the monthly transfers and have done so since the US embassy ceased to provide a letter. and I do my extension in Chiang Mai which may or may not be different but,  used to provide immigration with tons of documentation - i.e. statement from govt retirement income, letters of advice from my bank indicating what they sent each month, letters from Bangkok Bank indicating receipt of my money each month (12 individual payments, one each and every month), letter from bank indicating that I was the sole user of such account.  This year, the immigration returned all documents from my overseas contacts, only wanting the Bangkok Bank letters.  Guess they got tired of reading all those other documents.  Bangkok Bank indicates on the twelve deposits that such are from overseas and is a must.  The only sure way for you to know exactly that they might demand, you might visit with the immigration office there and ask/show them what you have or whatever you must have to do an extension.  Good luck!

 

[Badrabbit]

Okay so I have my Pension providers letter and Pay slips(UK) I have my Thai bank statement confirming monthly transfers, if I also get a letter from my Thai bank which confirms the monthly credits are International that should be accepted by Immigration?

I don't know what else I could do.

[KannikaP]

23 hours ago, Badrabbit said:

Okay, I can print off 12 months of Pension pay slips.

 

8 minutes ago, Badrabbit said:

Okay so I have my Pension providers letter and Pay slips(UK) I have my Thai bank statement confirming monthly transfers, if I also get a letter from my Thai bank which confirms the monthly credits are International that should be accepted by Immigration?

I don't know what else I could do.

Put 800k in a Thai Bank and forget about it.

[Badrabbit]

Just now, KannikaP said:

 

Put 800k in a Thai Bank and forget about it.

Yes I have had 800k in my bank for 14 yrs, I want to free up 240k hence why I want to now do the combination method.

[pagallim]

10 minutes ago, Badrabbit said:

Okay so I have my Pension providers letter and Pay slips(UK) I have my Thai bank statement confirming monthly transfers, if I also get a letter from my Thai bank which confirms the monthly credits are International that should be accepted by Immigration?

I don't know what else I could do.

I would swing by the Immigration Office, and get clarity on what is acceptable, preferably from one of the actual officers and not a volunteer.   The IO's in Phuket are usually pretty good and consistent.   Obviously you wouldn't have the actual bank statement/letter at this stage, but better to be prepared, and also make your actual extension application as early as possible (30 or 45 days before), giving time to get whatever else is required.

[Badrabbit]

3 minutes ago, pagallim said:

I would swing by the Immigration Office, and get clarity on what is acceptable, preferably from one of the actual officers and not a volunteer.   The IO's in Phuket are usually pretty good and consistent.   Obviously you wouldn't have the actual bank statement/letter at this stage, but better to be prepared, and also make your actual extension application as early as possible (30 or 45 days before), giving time to get whatever else is required.

Thanks, I have my 90 day report this month so I will check with the guy outside room 103, maybe he will go inside and ask the IO, I did the combination method about 10 yrs ago and can't remember a problem but obviously things change.

[KhunLA]

9 minutes ago, Badrabbit said:

Yes I have had 800k in my bank for 14 yrs, I want to free up 240k hence why I want to now do the combination method.

Next time lead with that.  Simply ask at your Imm office what they require.

 

That may allow you to free up half of that, and they tell you, probably what we all did, DD have to be trackable.

[Lacessit]

1 minute ago, Badrabbit said:

Thanks, I have my 90 day report this month so I will check with the guy outside room 103, maybe he will go inside and ask the IO, I did the combination method about 10 yrs ago and can't remember a problem but obviously things change.

Bear in mind in Thailand it is a quite frequent occurrence that one is told what the responder thinks the listener wants to hear.

You need to ask an IO directly, and be able to show all your evidence.

As others have said, you MUST be able to show the monthly deposits into a Thai bank account. Pension pay slips mean nothing.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

[KannikaP]

17 minutes ago, Badrabbit said:

Yes I have had 800k in my bank for 14 yrs, I want to free up 240k hence why I want to now do the combination method.

You could of course 'free up' 400k for 7 months every year, but then need to replace it. With combo method, you can spend the monthly transfer, as you will know.

[sandyf]

On 7/2/2022 at 10:18 AM, Badrabbit said:

All I can do is try with what I have, Pension provider letter proving I receive a monthly Pension(UK) Pension pay slips showing monthly pension(GBP)Thai bank statement showing Monthly deposits, if they don't accept it its not a  problem.

Quite. You would need to provide a 12 month bank statement to support proof of transfers. If the statement shows the balance say for the first 6 months of the period to be over 800K there is a good chance they will only look for deposits in the months where the balance has reduced below that level.

You can forget the pay slips, will only complicate the issue. What would be more relevant is the remittance advice from your UK bank. I use HSBC and they can be downloaded from the account.

Suck it and see, hope for an IO in a reasonably good mood.

[BritTim]

13 hours ago, Badrabbit said:

Thanks, I have my 90 day report this month so I will check with the guy outside room 103, maybe he will go inside and ask the IO, I did the combination method about 10 yrs ago and can't remember a problem but obviously things change.

About 10 years ago, you would have used an income letter from the UK embassy. Since you can no longer provide such a letter, there is obviously an enormous change. It is aggravating, but you will be very lucky if they allow anything other than the official proof of 12 months of monthly transfers.

[Badrabbit]

3 hours ago, BritTim said:

About 10 years ago, you would have used an income letter from the UK embassy. Since you can no longer provide such a letter, there is obviously an enormous change. It is aggravating, but you will be very lucky if they allow anything other than the official proof of 12 months of monthly transfers.

Thanks, all this is just to much trouble, I'm going to forget it and carry on with the 800k in the Bank which is very simple, I wanted to buy a Motorbike but instead I can get it on Finance over 2 years, thanks for the information.

[OJAS]

4 hours ago, Badrabbit said:

I wanted to buy a Motorbike but instead I can get it on Finance over 2 years, thanks for the information.

Or alternatively hang on for 3 months and then withdraw 240k from your account to pay for the new bike without any Finance add-on's. You'll need to ensure that the balance is back up to 800k by no later than 2 months before your next subsequent retirement extension application.

 

[Presnock]

On 7/2/2022 at 9:42 AM, pagallim said:

When you say pension letter from the UK, I take it that you mean a letter from your pension provider?   It's clear in the PIV website, such letters are not acceptable, only a letter from an embassy/consul, which of course wouldn't be the case for a UK citizen amongst others.

as several people have mentioned, anything coming from a foreign bank or organization has no meaning for the normal IO, the 12 monthly statements of foreign transfers must come from one

of the THAI banks.  Plus you would normally need to update your bank book on the day you do the extension request and some IO's ask for a copy of "all" pages of the bank book.  As I previously mentioned, I do the monthly transfers and used to provide a lot from my stateside provided which this year the young IO just handed me all those documents and only used the local bank letters.  Less than an hour total at immigration.

[KhunLA]

8 hours ago, Badrabbit said:

Thanks, all this is just to much trouble, I'm going to forget it and carry on with the 800k in the Bank which is very simple, I wanted to buy a Motorbike but instead I can get it on Finance over 2 years, thanks for the information.

Since you are bringing money in anyway (assuming), why not do it, so it's traceable, and you'll be able to free up that 800k or 400k, if partial is need to qualify for extension.  Much better alternative than financing anything, especially a MB at their silly rates, unless it's < 3% interest, for a year or so.

 

Statement from Thai bank has to include tracking, from any service is fine, but has to be trackable.  Wire transfers, depending should work fine, and most banks let you set up a scheduled transfer monthly.  Too easy.

 

Example of info on monthly deposit / tracking statement:

 

[connda]

On 7/2/2022 at 9:33 AM, ubonjoe said:

Immigration will only accept 12 months of proof that you transferred your income into a Thai bank from abroad.

Just out of curiosity.  How do they handle Social Security deposits.  I just looked at my bank book and my SSA deposit is not flagged as a "foreign deposit."

[malibukid]

On 7/2/2022 at 9:49 AM, lexilis said:

It's been noted before but the "combination method" is not available from some Imm. offices. For example the combo method is not allowed in Chiang Mai.

why is it not available in Chiang Mai?

[malibukid]

Just now, malibukid said:

why is it not available in Chiang Mai?  maybe no like falang?

 

 

[KhunLA]

6 hours ago, connda said:

Just out of curiosity.  How do they handle Social Security deposits.  I just looked at my bank book and my SSA deposit is not flagged as a "foreign deposit."

Your 12 months of bank statement have to have the tracking on it.  It's in there computers, and some employees know where to look, others will call & get assistance, and....others will tell you, sorry no have.

 

I just got 7 months of statements printed out (posted sample above), and the  employee that did it, needed to make a phone call, for help.   Then as she printed them off, stated " I've never these entries before " ... I'll be looking for her for the other 6 months to be printed off.

 

If you get 6 months at a time, BBL won't make you wait a week. Employee dependent, obviously.  Don't ask, as I don't have the answer why.

 

I'm getting them printed off in advance, as I get a new PP, and my visa expires first week of Nov, which means my Nov DD & expiration are going to be days apart ????