800K timing after using an agent

[NoDisplayName]

I have a question concerning the timing of 800K balances.  (asking for a friend)...............(really!)

 

Let's say I have a friend who recently paid an agent to handle the non-O visa (retirement) and extension.  Agent opened a bank account, deposited 800K, got the balance letter, withdrew the 800K same day.  Somehow immigration issued the non-O visa AND the one-year extension simultaneously, giving him 15 months before next extension of stay.................leaving a balance of a few baht in his account for the first month.

 

He recently added 400K, and will add another 400K soon, but what about next year?  He wants to do the extension himself, but I think he's trapped.  He'll either need to pay the agent again, or pop out of the country, let his extension and re-entry expire, come back visa waiver and DIY from scratch, unless he gets a non-O in laos.

 

Anyhoo, here's the question:

 

When he attends immigration next year (Pattaya), what is the IO looking for specifically in regards to the 800K balance?

 

I assume the IO doesn't look at the 2 months prior to the current extension, only 800K for 3 months after and 2 months prior to applying for the new extension, and 400K in between.

 

But when does the 3 months from last extension start?  Is it day of application for new extension, or day of expiration of old extension?

 

And for folks that used an agent for 15 months stay, with no separation between visa issue and extension issue, does the 3 months begin when the visa/extension were issued?

 

Either way, he's trapped.  He didn't put 400K in until about a month after getting the visa/extension, and won't have the full 800K in until less than two months before the extension should have been issued.

Edited November 10, 2022 by NoDisplayName

[Kopitiam]

1 hour ago, NoDisplayName said:

(asking for a friend)...............(really!)

 

Let's say I have a friend who

Then, you are not real.

 

Anyway, with that scenario, your friend is screwed if he does his extension next year by himself.  The 800k has to be in the bank for 3 months from the date the extension is approved.  The IO will be looking for this at his next extension.  And 400k has to be in the bank for the next 7 months.  Two months before the next extension, the account has to be topped back up to 800k.

[NoDisplayName]

2 minutes ago, Kopitiam said:

Then, you are not real.

 

Anyway, with that scenario, your friend is screwed if he does his extension next year by himself.  The 800k has to be in the bank for 3 months from the date the extension is approved.  The IO will be looking for this at his next extension.  And 400k has to be in the bank for the next 7 months.  Two months before the next extension, the account has to be topped back up to 800k.

Thanks for that!  (for realz!)  3 months from date of extension approval.  And I'll assume the 2 months at the other end is before the date of extension application, not expiration of the current extension.

 

Just as I thought, his only options are to continue with the agent, get a non-O in Savannaket, or let his extension expire, return on a waiver and DIY. 

 

He'll have the bank account with 800K when he applies for a new visa, so should be a walk in the cake.

[scubascuba3]

He'll need to use the agent for the next year extension, the year after he'll be fine, i did the same

[jphasia]

I have actually the same case. Not me but my sister. I have another thread about it.

My sister who didn't have the 800k available last year used an agent with the same method you described here. The extension renewal this year (August) was difficult but finally got it.

I told her to avoid this method, I will transfer her 800k to her account for next year renewal that she will do without agent. I did it but only few weeks later, so she will have gap between on the first month. I was told that in case, she will need to restart from scratch next year by getting a new Non O but the 800k will have to come from abroad.

So I transfered another 800k from abroad to her account and she transfer back 800k to my Thai account. 

Not sure it will work for her but at least she has now 800k+ from abroad on her account to get a new Non O in case...

[JimGant]

6 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

He'll need to use the agent for the next year extension, the year after he'll be fine, i did the same

Does this mean he'll have to have a legitimate 800k account going forward from his next extension application (so when he goes it alone, he'll have a legitimate 12 month bank statement to show Imm)? But he does need the agent for his very next extension, so that he can pay Imm to overlook the missing required bank deposits(?).

[NoDisplayName]

2 hours ago, JimGant said:

Does this mean he'll have to have a legitimate 800k account going forward from his next extension application (so when he goes it alone, he'll have a legitimate 12 month bank statement to show Imm)? But he does need the agent for his very next extension, so that he can pay Imm to overlook the missing required bank deposits(?).

Friend will have 800K in his own bank account next week.  He currently has most of that in savings with ATM card.

 

He will put 802K into a fixed account and simply leave it there, then have a couple of savings accounts for daily expenses and to keep larger sums not attached to an ATM card.

 

The 800K was sent in via two Swift transactions to his local Pattaya bank.  No problem proving the source of funds next year.

 

He's thinking maybe he can try immigration in Pattaya next year to renew his extension.  He'll have a legitimate bank account with 800K for just over 13 months.  I doubt it'll fly, as it won't fully cover his 15-month extension.

 

He now knows his options for next year.  He wants to avoid agents and their fees, so will either go for a non-O at Savannaket, or visit Angkor Wat for a week, return on a visa waiver and DIY.

Edited November 11, 2022 by NoDisplayName

[Kopitiam]

26 minutes ago, NoDisplayName said:

Friend will have 800K in his own bank account next week.  He currently has most of that in savings with ATM card.

 

He will put 802K into a fixed account and simply leave it there, then have a couple of savings accounts for daily expenses and to keep larger sums not attached to an ATM card.

 

The 800K was sent in via two Swift transactions to his local Pattaya bank.  No problem proving the source of funds next year.

 

He's thinking maybe he can try immigration in Pattaya next year to renew his extension.  He'll have a legitimate bank account with 800K for just over 13 months.  I doubt it'll fly, as it won't fully cover his 15-month extension.

 

He now knows his options for next year.  He wants to avoid agents and their fees, so will either go for a non-O at Savannaket, or visit Angkor Wat for a week, return on a visa waiver and DIY.

Agent fees will be lower when he has the 800k in the bank account for his next extension and thereafter he can do it by himself.

[NoDisplayName]

3 minutes ago, Kopitiam said:

Agent fees will be lower when he has the 800k in the bank account for his next extension and thereafter he can do it by himself.

I sent him a link to the Youtube video where Chocalit Man recommended a certain agency.  They'll do the initial visa for 4-5K with cash in the bank, but extensions don't appear to be discounted for existing bank accounts.  He can contact them if he's interested.

 

 

[easydoor]

Again one of the advantages of using an AGENT......

[NoDisplayName]

2 minutes ago, easydoor said:

Again one of the advantages of using an AGENT......

What advantage?

Being trapped paying 15K+ baht for annual extensions?

Retirement visas/extensions are tooooo easy.

Better DIY and be legal.

[scubascuba3]

6 hours ago, JimGant said:

Does this mean he'll have to have a legitimate 800k account going forward from his next extension application (so when he goes it alone, he'll have a legitimate 12 month bank statement to show Imm)? But he does need the agent for his very next extension, so that he can pay Imm to overlook the missing required bank deposits(?).

he'll need around 13 months of 800k\400k per the rules from last extension application date to new application date

[jimn]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

he'll need around 13 months of 800k\400k per the rules from last extension application date to new application date

Its easy to say that. A lot of people me included do not wish to leave 800k wasting away in a Thai bank and prefer to pay 13k to an agent. Before you say that "if you cant afford to leave 800k in a Thai bank then you should not be here". I say. I own fully £350k my own house in the UK and with my Thai wife a house worth 7 million baht in Thailand. Its about choice. I do accept however that there are some who cannot show the money in income or in funds and live day to day. These people have no choice but to use an agent. But they have enough money to live on and are no problem to the Thai authorities.

[scubascuba3]

9 hours ago, jimn said:

Its easy to say that. A lot of people me included do not wish to leave 800k wasting away in a Thai bank and prefer to pay 13k to an agent. Before you say that "if you cant afford to leave 800k in a Thai bank then you should not be here". I say. I own fully £350k my own house in the UK and with my Thai wife a house worth 7 million baht in Thailand. Its about choice. I do accept however that there are some who cannot show the money in income or in funds and live day to day. These people have no choice but to use an agent. But they have enough money to live on and are no problem to the Thai authorities.

You seem to have some kind of chip on your shoulder. I was just saying what he needs to do to transition to 1900 baht Immigration method, I couldn't careless if he chooses agent method i did it for 2 years

[NoDisplayName]

***UPDATE***

 

So here we are, annual extension time.  Current extension expires early January 2024.

 

Friend (really!  it's not me!) got the full 800K into a new bank about a month after getting his O-visa, which is 1-1/2 months before his  first annual retirement extension started.  800K has been in the bank in an account he opened in the city where he resides since mid-November 2022.

 

Then he moved to a different city and submitted a new TM-30, and has been doing his 90-day reports at the new location.

 

He went to apply for an extension, had his passbook showing 800K in the bank since mid-November of last year (the entire period of the annual extension) and the bank guarantee statement.

 

IO said he needed to provide a bank statement covering the 90-day period when the original visa was active, October-December of 2022.  That he can do, as he still has the old bank account the agent opened.

 

But other than for half a day when the O-visa application was submitted and the agent deposited/withdrew 800k for the guarantee letter, he rarely had more than a few thousand baht in the account.

 

Why would the IO ask for a bank statement for a period prior to an already approved extension?  I think the idea is to force the applicant to use a local agent.

 

His plan now is to get an income affidavit from his embassy (he's not UK or US), and apply for an extension using the income method.

 

I don't believe this will work.  I doubt the IO will accept an income affidavit when documentation prior to the previous cash-balance extension has been demanded.

 

Any thoughts?

[NoDisplayName]

As for me........

 

I had 800K in a Bangkok Bank fixed account in Bangkok from a prior visa that died when I was stuck in China during the covid years.

 

I got a new O-visa mid-July at CW using that old money (no proof of foreign transfer required).

 

I brought in some outside cash, and transferred some in country cash to a NEW fixed account in Korat with a balance of 800K mid-August.

 

I got the first retirement extension at CW using the old account mid-October, after which I CLOSED the old fixed account.

 

This this October I got my second retirement extension in Korat using the NEW fixed account.  That account balance covered the entire first extension, but not the entire 90-day O-visa period before that.

 

The Korat IO did not require any bank information prior to the current extension.  Only needed updated passbook, guarantee letter showing current balance, and bank statement for prior two months.

 

 

[NoDisplayName]

My guess is IO won't accept a change to income method without showing proof of monthly deposits for the prior 12 months.

 

That's assuming the income affidavit confirms current and future income, so he would have to start monthly deposits now, then could apply for income method in January 2025.

 

His only options, as I suspected last year, will be to continue with an agent, or leave the country letting his extension expire, then re-enter and apply for a new non-O visa.  He has money in the bank and can prove foreign transfer if required.