How I got my first retirement EXTENSION in Chiang Mai.

[bamboozled]

For the past year up until this month, I have had a retirement visa, my first one, having switched from a visa based on marriage. Last week, I got my first 1-year EXTENSION to that visa. I make the distinction between first visa and first visa extension because the rules can be slightly different for those two things, if I'm not mistaken. Particularly in regard to finances and/or which method you use. Anyhow... I'm going to say what I submitted which resulted in getting the extension. This is not to say you can submit the same things and get the same result nor that you won't be asked to submit something more or different.

 

1. TM.7 application form (available outside Immi under the tent) which requires a 4 x 6 cm passport type photo of you. You can make the photo behind immigration (for a price) as well as make any copies you need. Bear in mind there is often a long line.

 

2. STM.2 form Acknowledgement of Terms and Conditions for Permit of Temporary Stay in the Kingdom of Thailand form (available outside Immi under the tent). Just put your signature on it.

 

3. Form called The Acknowledgment of Penalites for a Visa Overstay (available outside Immi under the tent). Just sign it.

 

4. Passport

 

5. Copy of passport. I copied every page that had stamps on it (plus the info page). Not sure all pages are necessary but they kept them all.

 

6. Copy of TM30 (copy of TM47 they gave back to me...didn't want it)

 

7. Copy of rental contract. I've been in the same house for years but the contract is old and doesn't have a current date on it. We've never updated the rental contract.

 

8. Financial requirements. This is a little bit confusing to explain so bear with me, please. This seems to be the most onerous part of getting the visa and it screwed me up in years past when the Immi agent would not accept my 12 months of deposits because the path from abroad wasn't clear enough for him. So, I used the 65k per month deposit method. That is, for the past 12 months, I have deposited at least 65k in my Thai bank account in a single, monthly transaction (not 35k and then 30k a week later...I don't know if that is an issue for Immi or not but I did it in ONE transaction).

 

I used Wise and sent the money from my US account. The day for this transaction changed every month and was not the 15th of each month, for example. I use Kbank here and I use this account ONLY for the monthly deposits. It makes it easy for Immi to see them. 

 

NOTE WELL: The deposits on the Wise receipt and the Kbank receipt showed as LOCAL transactions and not foreign transaction. Thanks to a kind member on this forum, I learned that if you print out your Kbank statements in Thai, they will show as foreign transactions...bingo! At least, that was true in my case.

 

I went to my branch of Kasikorn bank the day before my application and got a letter stating that I have an account there. I also got my statement printed out for the last 12 months, in THAI LANGUAGE. I'm not sure they can print out more than one year so be careful and don't do this application late.

 

I had them update my bankbook and I photocopied the first page and all pages with information on them. Note that I rarely, rarely update my bankbook and when you give the bank the book to update it they do not print out each transaction that you made via ATM or online. They update with just recent transactions and show the balance ON THE DAY YOU MADE YOUR LAST TRANSACTION. This is important to note because though I updated my bankbook the day before the application, the date on it showed almost a week earlier...which was the date of my last deposit. The Immi officer called me on that and I was stumped at first. I tried to explain that I had just updated it and that it just shows the date of last transaction but he said no, that's not how it usually works. Anyway, luckily, he didn't refuse me but to avoid this situation, make sure you make a transaction the day that you update your bankbook (even just a 100 baht deposit) so the bankbook will show the correct date of the update...phew.

 

So...I submitted my bankbook which had been updated recently (see above) and showed my account balance which was about 12k. I also submitted a printout of 12 months of statements showing the 65k deposits each month, in Thai. And a letter from the bank saying I had a functioning account there.

 

 

I went to immigration at about 7:15 and got a cue number to get a preliminary check of my documents outside under the tent. I was B20. At about 8:45 or 9 I was called up. The officer looked quite a long time at my bank documents and told me I was missing something. I couldn't understand what she needed so she wrote in Thai on a piece of paper and told me to go back to my bank and show them this. She also showed me a cue number and told me to come back and see her at 2pm with the correct document and come straight to the window and she would give me this new cue number for inside the Immigration building (to save me time). I wasn't quite sure what I was missing but I went back to Kbank and showed them the slip. They were also initially confused but after asking around someone in the know told me I had to go to the Tha Phae branch to get what I needed. What I understand from this is that Wise sent all my foreign deposits to the Kbank on Tha Phae road (their "way station") after which that Kbank sent them to the branch where I have my account. So Kbank Tha Phae printed out another 12 months of statements, in Thai, to confirm that my deposits had come from a foreign source.

 

I went back to Immi, got my new cue number for inside. The officer perused a long time the bank documents and asked me about the update to the passbook, as noted above, but luckily in the end accepted my documents. This wait was about 2 hours, perhaps a bit less. 1900 baht.

 

Apologies for the convoluted story of the bank issues. Please ask if it's not clear.

 

Lastly, I asked for multi-entry but apparently this is not done at the same time and to get that I will have to go back and stand in line again with a new cue number.

 

Cheers, Bam

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DrJack54]

27 minutes ago, bamboozled said:

Lastly, I asked for multi-entry but apparently this is not done at the same time and to get that I will have to go back and stand in line again with a new cue number.

Thanks for report.

Regards your multi reentry permit you can obtain that at CNX airport on day of departure 

Better option imo.

[KhunBENQ]

Indeed the part about the bank statements is a bit disturbing.

Next week I will try my luck with statements from Bangkok Bank and show up at Khon Kaen immigration.

One thing for sure: the statements clearly show international transfer in English.

Now thinking to take all WISE transfer receipts with me in addition. The pile of paper grows daily. My printer ran out of toner today.

[bamboozled]

20 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Indeed the part about the bank statements is a bit disturbing.

Next week I will try my luck with statements from Bangkok Bank and show up at Khon Kaen immigration.

One thing for sure: the statements clearly show international transfer in English.

Now thinking to take all WISE transfer receipts with me in addition. The pile of paper grows daily. My printer ran out of toner today.

I had all the Wise printed out but they didn't need them. Which of your statements show International? I think you're good. You could ask you bank if there was an intermediary bank between your account and Wise. If not, I think you're golden. At least for CM rules, that day, with that officer.

 

2 years ago, when my transfers got rejected, I tried to show the Wise documents but officer wouldn't even look at them.

Edited 41 minutes ago by bamboozled

[bamboozled]

43 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Thanks for report.

Regards your multi reentry permit you can obtain that at CNX airport on day of departure 

Better option imo.

Right but...I'm always worried I'll forget or be in a rush or perhaps I"m hanging out in a border town and pop across a border forgetting that I don't have a re-entry.

 

When one gets a single re-entry permit, can it be open and used whenever or does one have to specify the trip and time?

[timendres]

22 minutes ago, bamboozled said:

Right but...I'm always worried I'll forget or be in a rush or perhaps I"m hanging out in a border town and pop across a border forgetting that I don't have a re-entry.

 

When one gets a single re-entry permit, can it be open and used whenever or does one have to specify the trip and time?

 

The single re-entry permit specifies nothing. You can use it at any time during the year for any travel outside the Kingdom.

[DrJack54]

36 minutes ago, bamboozled said:

When one gets a single re-entry permit, can it be open and used whenever or does one have to specify the trip and time?

Obtaining reentry permit at immigration the date of exit from Thailand is irrelevant. Put any date.

The validity will be same as current permission of stay.

If obtained at airport that can only be obtained on day of departure