For the last few years after being given approval for my continued residence by Jomtien Immigration, I've been given this letter/form that asks me to show proof that the 800,000 baht is still in my account after 90 days. I believe I complied for the first couple of years, but not since, with no repercussions. So what's the point?

There isn't much point. They did it for one year at Rayong Immigration and then gave up. The latest gambit appears to be insisting on a bank statement in addition to your passbook (unless, perhaps, your passbook shows transactions every month, though that remains to be seen). All the time they fret about compliance with their requirements whilst turning a blind eye to the blatant abuse that is possible by paying an agent to arrange a fabricated account.

4 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

There isn't much point. They did it for one year at Rayong Immigration and then gave up. The latest gambit appears to be insisting on a bank statement in addition to your passbook (unless, perhaps, your passbook shows transactions every month, though that remains to be seen). All the time they fret about compliance with their requirements whilst turning a blind eye to the blatant abuse that is possible by paying an agent to arrange a fabricated account.

I have a dedicated term deposit purely for the 800K, so that money never changes except to increase slightly when interest gets added. So proving it's still there after 90 days is absolutely pointless.

14 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

There isn't much point. They did it for one year at Rayong Immigration and then gave up. The latest gambit appears to be insisting on a bank statement in addition to your passbook (unless, perhaps, your passbook shows transactions every month, though that remains to be seen). All the time they fret about compliance with their requirements whilst turning a blind eye to the blatant abuse that is possible by paying an agent to arrange a fabricated account.

Try and imagine the "food chain" that participates in the big $$ that is paid to agents to provide false bank books showing people have 800 k baht which they never had....lots of people pay these agents around $1000-1500 usd for this service.  That is a lot of $$....so then the fake bank balance is shown to an immigration clerk who no doubt knows all the agents and knows it is BS so I guess she gets a small percent of the "fee" ...and then her boss gets a little bit more and on up the chain to who knows who but it  is likely the one driving a Mercedes and wearing a rolex at the top of the chain....all appears to be done pretty openly and you would have to be blind and dumb not to see it if you spend a few hours around immigration watching the agents as well as all sorts of farangs openly bragging about how they paid to get around the rules...and i do also think that some of the clerks may just be inclined to make it a bit more difficult/discouraging for people who do not use the agents  and attempt to do it on their own by the rules to have all their various papers in order as if it were easy then the chain doesn't get fed as much.

I didn't go because Jomtien was a nightmare around the time the 90 day check was due, 2+ hour queues and all that, never came up at the yearly extension, they don't care or make a note anyway 

3 hours ago, giddyup said:

So proving it's still there after 90 days is absolutely pointless.

There was actually no police order requiring Expats came back after 3 months to show they had kept their money. Jomtien and one or two offices came up with the need to fit in with the fact they should. Often wondered if someone came in and had spent the money after a few days, would they cancel the extension there and then and possibly put them into overstay! Rumour is your bankbook needs to show a full year to see if you complied with the 800/400/800 kbaht for the 3/7/2 months of the prior year... It's a complex concept!

10 hours ago, pomchop said:

lots of people pay these agents around $1000-1500 usd for this service. 

You know this for a fact?

I thought I read on here 12 - 20k, possibly 25k, baht which is not the figures you are quoting but happy to be proved wrong.....

4 hours ago, topt said:

You know this for a fact?

I thought I read on here 12 - 20k, possibly 25k, baht which is not the figures you are quoting but happy to be proved wrong.....

I had two different farangs in a soi buahkao bar tell me they paid about $1300...of course who knows but two different guys told pretty much the same story and no reason for them to lie that i could see...they seemed quite happy to pay it and get the one year visa and equally happy to brag about it all...know for fact?  No just telling what i was told.

7 hours ago, topt said:

You know this for a fact?

I thought I read on here 12 - 20k, possibly 25k, baht which is not the figures you are quoting but happy to be proved wrong.....

There are a bunch of agents on soi 13/2 so could go ask....it may well be they charge whatever they size you up as willing to pay and maybe some are more complicated that others?  As said i do not know price for a fact....if you do follow up direct with agents please post on here for all to know what they said....there also seems to be a factor of how fast do you need it done.

8 hours ago, topt said:

You know this for a fact?

I thought I read on here 12 - 20k, possibly 25k, baht which is not the figures you are quoting but happy to be proved wrong.....

I recall being in an agents office waiting my turn, and an Oz couple there were asking about the process, and for the Conversion to Non-Imm-O Permission, and a 1 year retirement extension (he did not have the 800k sitting pretty) and was quoted at 45,000 baht for one. Perhaps a Re-entry was thrown in, but I recall suppressing a coughing fit. 

Jomtien (Chonburi) IO requesting the visit after 3 months is a farcical "rule" that is not enforced.

 

Consider this - anybody that uses an agent for their annual renewal (because they don't have the 800K) never goes to the office for the renewal. Okay, they drop in for a photograph but don't submit the renewal documents.  They don't receive the IO document requesting the need to show the passbook in 3 months, and don't have the ability to show a valid passbook balance in 3 months anyway.

 

In a TIT twist of irony, the only people able to show their passbook in 3 months are those that are doing everything legitimately.

 

When the rule was first announced, I suspected it would require the illegitemates to use their agent to submit a falsified passbook at 3 months, and be charged accordingly. But this didn't eventuate. 

 

A missed business opportunity. 

5 hours ago, pomchop said:

I had two different farangs in a soi buahkao bar tell me they paid about $1300...of course who knows but two different guys told pretty much the same story and no reason for them to lie that i could see...they seemed quite happy to pay it and get the one year visa and equally happy to brag about it all...know for fact?  No just telling what i was told.

Most likely I believe your heard it wrong this is the case usually on Soi Buakhao  after few beers LOL. 

Think about the amount you heard it is less than the fee 1900 baht for the application. 

The smount you think you heard most likely the amount they might have paid for agent someone to go down and do but it isn't going to be for the application of the extension itself. 

 

1 minute ago, thailand49 said:

Most likely I believe your heard it wrong this is the case usually on Soi Buakhao  after few beers LOL. 

Think about the amount you heard it is less than the fee 1900 baht for the application. 

The smount you think you heard most likely the amount they might have paid for agent someone to go down and do but it isn't going to be for the application of the extension itself. 

 

He was talking dollars not Baht.

13 minutes ago, Gsxrnz said:

A missed business opportunity. 

Au contraire.....

When those requirements came in, it was dressed up to look like a move to stop people bypassing the prior requirements....ie the 800k 2 minute deposits! In reality, it pushed more people into using the agent's facilitations, and immigration welcomed it all with open arms. 

Quite the business move I thought at the time.

16 minutes ago, giddyup said:

He was talking dollars not Baht.

LOL,  even more reason to disregard. 

Jomtien,  last year I went through the process long story short when I did they didnt seem to care guy took the paperwork and set it in a area I believe was for recycle.

As noted by others I skipped it in April. 

Have received that ridiculous form 3 times and have never complied. Upon exiting with my new 1 year extension, I just toss it in the nearest ????️ and forget it. Have never heard anything further. The following year...same thing.

 

They don't require a signature that it was received. Based on info from guys I know whom did comply initially...they don't look at it when returned and refuse to issue any proof of receipt/compliance. Those guys have since stopped doing it too as there are no records kept and no repercussions for not complying. THEY'VE NO CLUE who has done it or not, nor do they seem to care. 

23 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Au contraire.....

When those requirements came in, it was dressed up to look like a move to stop people bypassing the prior requirements....ie the 800k 2 minute deposits! In reality, it pushed more people into using the agent's facilitations, and immigration welcomed it all with open arms. 

Quite the business move I thought at the time.

Yes indeed. It came about during Big Joke's tenure and was his bodged attempt to curb the illegal activities of the agents and rein in the corruption. Sadly it backfired rather badly.

There is no point and there re no repercussions!

21 hours ago, giddyup said:

I have a dedicated term deposit purely for the 800K, so that money never changes except to increase slightly when interest gets added. So proving it's still there after 90 days is absolutely pointless.

So is telling them your address every 90 days even though you haven't moved in years.  But hey government loves pointless things.

5 hours ago, pomchop said:

I had two different farangs in a soi buahkao bar tell me they paid about $1300...of course who knows but two different guys told pretty much the same story and no reason for them to lie that i could see...they seemed quite happy to pay it and get the one year visa and equally happy to brag about it all...know for fact?  No just telling what i was told.

I pay my landlady 14 thousand baht every year for a renewal. Her son does most of the work these days and walks me through the whole process, including a trip to a Bangkok Bank branch office, where they deposit, then withdraw money on my behalf.  The poperwork showing the deposit is then taken to Immigration along with my passport and bank book and I get the passport back in about a week with my new renewal date inside. The landlady seems to be highly popular at IO, and no wonder. I get the feeling that this cannot possibly continue this way.

6 minutes ago, Felton Jarvis said:

I pay my landlady 14 thousand baht every year for a renewal. Her son does most of the work these days and walks me through the whole process, including a trip to a Bangkok Bank branch office, where they deposit, then withdraw money on my behalf.  The poperwork showing the deposit is then taken to Immigration along with my passport and bank book and I get the passport back in about a week with my new renewal date inside. The landlady seems to be highly popular at IO, and no wonder. I get the feeling that this cannot possibly continue this way.

the guys that told me their story said they did not have 800 k in bank but agent put the money in got it printed out then immediately took the money out as it was the agent's money...sure sounds illegal to me...plus they had to leave their passport with the agent for a week or two and not sure i would want to do that...anyway...it has been going on for a while as far as i know and there is little doubt in my mind that the immigration offices are fully aware of it and get a cut of the agent fees to just do it...i do wonder if someday somebody might say ok we want to check with the bank to see activity in and out of the account and either fine or deport a ton of farangs who got approved this way...it would take a brave thai to do this though as i suspect the food chain of kickbacks goes way up the chain to a lot of wealthy powerful people...

11 minutes ago, Felton Jarvis said:

The landlady seems to be highly popular at IO, and no wonder. I get the feeling that this cannot possibly continue this way.

It has been going on a very long time already.... money smooths the rough waters.

Although I can understand people being concerned... they are living here under false pretenses and are complicit in that deception, maybe one could say fraud!

I use an agent too, but simply out of laziness as I keep the 800k in a fixed deposit untouched... but I could be pulled under if one day they get serious about purging this trickery. 

22 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

It has been going on a very long time already.... money smooths the rough waters.

Although I can understand people being concerned... they are living here under false pretenses and are complicit in that deception, maybe one could say fraud!

I use an agent too, but simply out of laziness as I keep the 800k in a fixed deposit untouched... but I could be pulled under if one day they get serious about purging this trickery. 

Ever notice how people that hire these agents to hand out bribes also often complain about corruption in Thailand?

No consequence to ignoring that paper.

29 minutes ago, pomchop said:

Ever notice how people that hire these agents to hand out bribes also often complain about corruption in Thailand?

Not me.  So-called “corruption” makes it possible for me to stay here. There is no doubt that I have enough income to justify my residence here, but they keep pushing the envelope. With a three percent cost of living raise in Social Security, I will be making 100 thousand baht a month. There are STILL those who insist that I am underfunded and am a “backpacker” (whatever the HELL that means). The number of elitists on this forum is off the chart.

2 minutes ago, Felton Jarvis said:

Not me.  So-called “corruption” makes it possible for me to stay here. There is no doubt that I have enough income to justify my residence here, but they keep pushing the envelope. With a three percent cost of living raise in Social Security, I will be making 100 thousand baht a month. There are STILL those who insist that I am underfunded and am a “backpacker” (whatever the HELL that means). The number of elitists on this forum is off the chart.

If you have "enough income" why resort to corruption, and what envelope is exactly being pushed?

11 minutes ago, giddyup said:

If you have "enough income" why resort to corruption, and what envelope is exactly being pushed?

Merely having the income is not enough. You are required to deposit it in a Thai bank (something I refuse to do) and the envelope that’s being pushed is the income requirement. It is now 65 thousand baht a month and they are discussing raising it to 100 thousand.

1 minute ago, Felton Jarvis said:

Merely having the income is not enough. You are required to deposit it in a Thai bank (something I refuse to do) and the envelope that’s being pushed is the income requirement. It is now 65 thousand baht a month and they are discussing raising it to 100 thousand.

Discussing is not actually doing, and you could avoid the income requirement if you deposited the 400/800K, something you choose not to do, so pay the price.

Not too long ago a Visa agent here in Central Pattaya did a vanishing act taking many passports with him....leaving a passport with an agent for any length of time is very risky IMHO......my renewal cost me 1900 baht and legal ????

23 hours ago, pomchop said:

Try and imagine the "food chain" that participates in the big $$ that is paid to agents to provide false bank books showing people have 800 k baht which they never had....lots of people pay these agents around $1000-1500 usd for this service.  That is a lot of $$....so then the fake bank balance is shown to an immigration clerk who no doubt knows all the agents and knows it is BS so I guess she gets a small percent of the "fee" ...and then her boss gets a little bit more and on up the chain to who knows who but it  is likely the one driving a Mercedes and wearing a rolex at the top of the chain....all appears to be done pretty openly and you would have to be blind and dumb not to see it if you spend a few hours around immigration watching the agents as well as all sorts of farangs openly bragging about how they paid to get around the rules...and i do also think that some of the clerks may just be inclined to make it a bit more difficult/discouraging for people who do not use the agents  and attempt to do it on their own by the rules to have all their various papers in order as if it were easy then the chain doesn't get fed as much.

Seems to be the case with the dragon lady on counter #6 Jomtien. She appears to get more awkward and miserable as the years go by. My missus hates her because she's as nasty to Thais as she is to farang. I think she just hates the world. Either that or she has a huge boil on her rectum. I know the job must be soul-destroying, but she could at least pretend to be pleasant. After all, without us applicants for visas, she'd probably be driving a buffalo on her parents farm, or shouting "Hello hansum man" outside some girly bar.