14 minutes ago, thailandsgreat said:

It was after Monday morning, this week, I forgot which day. The first lady, Miss Nan.

 

I was with the Boonsampan office which was good but it closed and the Sukhumvit office has had long waiting times the few times I have been there. But I will have 2 mo matured money on July 27. 

 

I should maybe transfer money to K-bank and ask them to lock for 4 mo and write letter right away. Would they do that?

 

 

 

1st lady is Miss Nancy 😊 & she suggested exactly the same thing to me, put the money in Kasikorn & can get the “Letter” after 1 month.

 

I “Lost” (put into a Thai bank account & forgot all about it) 800K to the vagaries of Thai Immigration 10 years back so hopefully when I do mine next Thursday it will still be all good 👍🏻

1 minute ago, SamSpade said:

1st lady is Miss Nancy 😊 & she suggested exactly the same thing to me, put the money in Kasikorn & can get the “Letter” after 1 month.

 

I “Lost” 800K to the vagaries of Thai Immigration 10 years back so hopefully when I do mine next Thursday it will still be all good 👍🏻

I thought Nancy was an anglification of Nan but I am not sure.

 

She told me I could get a letter after overnight deposit at K-bank.

 

I also went to K-bank Festival and they said they could write a letter if money was in bank 2-3 days. "But immigration may ask questions"

 

This is a tricky subject.

 

If I ask K-bank to lock the money for 4 months. Will I then get a letter on the day and it is likely it will pass immigration scrutiny?

 

 

 

 

 

12 minutes ago, thailandsgreat said:

I thought Nancy was an anglification of Nan but I am not sure.

 

She told me I could get a letter after overnight deposit at K-bank.

 

I also went to K-bank Festival and they said they could write a letter if money was in bank 2-3 days. "But immigration may ask questions"

 

This is a tricky subject.

 

If I ask K-bank to lock the money for 4 months. Will I then get a letter on the day and it is likely it will pass immigration scrutiny?

l

The 4 month lock-up seems to be a Bangkok Bank Policy, carries no weight with Immigration. 
 

If you have had the 800K in the bank then you’re  fine, if you’ve gone below this then I’m hearing from friends that Maneerat can help you out with KBank, ScB & KrungThai

 

I can only recommend you have a chat with them to get yourself sorted

 

Best of Luck 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

 

 

 

On 7/2/2025 at 8:02 AM, Liquorice said:

 

I suspect BOT will be issuing directives to all banks to scrutinise opening new accounts.

 ... hope the BOT will do it ... same rights and rules for everyone ... 

 

 

4 hours ago, hullmonkey1 said:

Forgive my ignorance and slightly off topic but if you don’t have a bank account can these agents still obtain an extension for a 90 day Non Im O  ?

 

Simple answer is NO… You have to be able to show money in a Thai Bank Account to get an extension to a Non-IMM O. 

 

Talk to an agent, get yourself a Bank account & take it from there 👍🏻

I have just got a new visa today.

Couldn't use Bangkok Bank. My agent told me no, Bangkok Bank open another account with another bank.

So I now have SCB and used it today for my visa.

 

 

4 minutes ago, Bangkok Black said:

So I now have SCB and used it today for my visa.

What did you provide to open bank account.

Seems you did not have a Non O as you mention obtaining a new Visa 

What additional docs were required to open bank account.

How did you obtain the Visa.

 

17 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

What did you provide to open bank account.

Seems you did not have a Non O as you mention obtaining a new Visa 

What additional docs were required to open bank account.

How did you obtain the Visa.

 

The work permit was the main one.

Then I used an agent. It was the agent who informed me not to use Bankok Bank.

41 minutes ago, Bangkok Black said:

I have just got a new visa today.

Couldn't use Bangkok Bank. My agent told me no, Bangkok Bank open another account with another bank.

So I now have SCB and used it today for my visa.

 

 

And what did SCB demand to write the letter?

4 minutes ago, thailandsgreat said:

And what did SCB demand to write the letter?

no idea,agent did it all

3 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Thinking best to be very pro active with asking the agents in Pattaya/Jomtien. 

At a guess you may have contacted Maneerat.  There are lots of others. 

Skip the emails and ring them or use apps they offer such as Line, messenger etc. 

Fall back option would be to contact ThaiVisaCentre. 

Their contact details posted above. 

You also mention seasoning the funds. 

In other words doing the extension yourself. 

If that's the case them very first task is to check out that old K account. 

 

Note: the agents will only assist with the Bank account if you are also using them for the extension. 

 

 

Thanks for the advice Dr Jack. Your guess was spot on! 

K bank will be my first call. If that fails and I need to use an agent for the extension as a sweetener to open a bank account then I will take that route. 

1 hour ago, SamSpade said:

Simple answer is NO… You have to be able to show money in a Thai Bank Account to get an extension to a Non-IMM O. 

 

Talk to an agent, get yourself a Bank account & take it from there 👍🏻

Thanks for the confirmation Sam

 

On 7/1/2025 at 11:59 AM, DrJack54 said:

There is no letter "confirming the funds" 

There is a bank letter that basically lists name of owner of the account and balance at time of issue. 100b 

For seasoning of funds (2 months) immigration would accept 3 month Bank statement or even photocopies of Bank book showing balances back two months. 

Suggest there is a "lost in translation" in this story. 

Keeping funds for 4 months would suggest perhaps a Fixed Deposit account. 

In any event. Story makes no sense and is guess work

Exactly the bank letter is purely confirmation of funds in the account at the time and date the letter is issued. It has no relevance to how long funds ahve been in the account,

1 hour ago, chang50 said:

 

Big Bank ??, just say Bangkok Bank !!

 

Really hard work getting all the way through this guy’s videos, he is a terrible communicator !!

 

 

Very clear reply today from BKK bank Sukhumvit office Pattaya: 800k on the account for 4 months or they can lock 800k for 4 months to come. No exceptions. They were also aware that the BKK Bank and Thai immigration rules were different.

On 7/1/2025 at 12:38 PM, homemade514 said:

I know what it is but thank you. 
it is a new BKK bank policy. Most likely to prevent money being moved around, agents who abuse the accounts, etc…

Bangkok Bank work with the agents who 'abuse' the accounts! They take a nice cut of the agents fee. 🙄

On 7/3/2025 at 8:56 PM, DrJack54 said:

What did you provide to open bank account.

Seems you did not have a Non O as you mention obtaining a new Visa 

What additional docs were required to open bank account.

How did you obtain the Visa.

 

I opened a new bank account the other day with kasikorn to season my funds, previously doing that with Bangkok. 
 

I was able to open bank account no issues. I’m on a non-o based on Thai spouse. Brought my passport, marriage certificate, wife’s ID, wife’s tabien baan, our rental contract, my drivers license (which has our address on it). And if you have half thai children, they want your kids Thai birth certificates. 
 

if you don’t have drivers license they may want you to go get a cert of residency. You need that for a DL so that’s why it could be used. 

On 7/4/2025 at 4:39 PM, BenCrew said:

Bangkok Bank work with the agents who 'abuse' the accounts! They take a nice cut of the agents fee. 🙄

Many banks do this for agents - others still doing it, per reports.  BKB is doing this for some other reason than immigration - a "money laundering" issue which seems to have hit them, specifically

 

If the issue was "agents" - a few days freezing the money would mess them up, as they would have to float 800K times dozens+ of clients per-day, for days each. 

On 7/1/2025 at 9:21 PM, Liquorice said:

...

If using the 400K funds method for Thai family, then the 400K has to be in the account for 2 months and for the under consideration period, which is dated 30 days after the 90 day permission of stay from entry with a Non O = 4 months.

The written-rules never said anything beyond "2 months before application."   Per-reports, CW isn't enforcing the illegal "under consideration" funds lock-up any more.

 

This BKB bank policy could affect those who need to spend that money on their kids, etc.  The loan-sharks will be happy covering those extra 2 months household-spending, while they can't spend their own money.  Sanity would say those with long-standing accounts showing regular-activity would be exempt from this.

4 minutes ago, Rob Browder said:

The written-rules never said anything beyond "2 months before application."   Per-reports, CW isn't enforcing the illegal "under consideration" funds lock-up any more.

They don't, but it's generally considered good practice to keep the 400K in the account until the extension application is approved.

 

A couple of years ago, a friend had his application accepted by the local Immigration office, but 2 weeks later the regional office requested the complete set of documents be resubmitted as the copies he supplied were badly faded and unintelligible.

He had to resubmit, including new up-to-date bank statements and letter from the bank. Had he withdrawn any of the funds, he'd have had a problem.

 

I lock the funds in a 12 month FTD account, which I think many others do.

On 7/4/2025 at 12:01 PM, Cardano said:

Exactly the bank letter is purely confirmation of funds in the account at the time and date the letter is issued. It has no relevance to how long funds ahve been in the account,

@DrJack54

Khon Kaen Immigration demands that the bank letter states the balance and that the amount has been 400K+ for at least the previous 2 months.  I took the 'standard' balance letter last year and the IO rejected it. I offered the IO the passbook showing that over 400K was in the account for more than 2 months - but it was rejected.  I had to go back to the bank again and ask for the letter to state that at least 400K had been in the account for over 2 months. 

13 minutes ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

Khon Kaen Immigration demands that the bank letter states the balance and that the amount has been 400K+ for at least the previous 2 months

Have never seen an example of letter you describe. 

 

14 minutes ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

I offered the IO the passbook showing that over 400K was in the account for more than 2 months - but it was rejected.

Did you consider or ask if a 3 month bank statement would be acceptable, because it should be. 

 

1 minute ago, DrJack54 said:

Have never seen an example of letter you describe. 

 

Did you consider or ask if a 3 month bank statement would be acceptable, because it should be. 

 

I did not keep a copy because I had to take it straight back to the IO - should have taken a photo.

 

Yes I asked that when I previously visited the Office and was told no - it must be a bank letter. I visited because we had moved there from Rayong. They gave me a list of documents to provide - 'bank letter' was all it stated.

 

While in the bank waiting for the 2nd letter, met another Expat who was also waiting for the letter. When I mentioned the reason, he said that KK are absolutely ridiculous and demand all sorts of things. He warned me that they will visit and they will give me a 'lecture' - plus I will have to have 2 witnesses sign paperwork and be there while I am 'lectured'.  He was right and he lectured me (through the wife - no english) for 10 minutes.  I was extremely annoyed - I felt like jumping up and telling the little self-important hitler to get the fu** out of my house. And then the little tu** had the temerity to demand a photo of us all with him - taken by his one of lackeys (he had 2 with him). Needless to say I was not smiling. The sheite I put up with the live here - sometimes it gets me down. 

 

I am doing the extension again here later in the year - I will let you know the outcome.  I am hoping it will be 'better' because this is my second time extending in this Province. If it is the same BS visit and a effin lecture, I will be converting to a Retirement Extension next time. 

3 minutes ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

,>...I will be converting to a Retirement Extension next time. 

It's understandable that some married folk opt for extensions based on retirement even if married. 

For some it's eg home visit alone. 

BTW that's something I would not accept. 

With over 75 immigration offices there always is the not so pleasant ones. 

32 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

It's understandable that some married folk opt for extensions based on retirement even if married. 

For some it's eg home visit alone. 

BTW that's something I would not accept. 

With over 75 immigration offices there always is the not so pleasant ones. 

Yes mate - if they put me through it again, then retirement it is - I will let you know about the letter in Oct.  As you say, there is always a few 'unpleasant' ones - and complaining will only make it worse 🙂

 

Frankly, the 800K versus 400K is the main reason I used Marriage this time around.  The money is not the problem, it is that I only bring over money when I need it because I get much better returns on the money in Australia. 400K in Australia earns me about 2000 Baht a month - a game of golf 🙂  Why sit 800K here and earn SFA interest for 4-6 months when I can sit only 400K.  But if they do all that again, I will consider the lost earnings worth the price.   Plus I just recalled that I was also very annoyed to find out that I cannot leave the Province or Country while the approval is  'under review' for 30 days. Next time for sure. 

40 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

It's understandable that some married folk opt for extensions based on retirement even if married. 

For some it's eg home visit alone. 

BTW that's something I would not accept. 

With over 75 immigration offices there always is the not so pleasant ones. 

 

I personally contrast the way in which the likes of @TroubleandGrumpy are treated with their marriage extensions with the way in which foreign women married to Thai husbands are treated with theirs. No need for these women to provide evidence of funds totalling 40k monthly or 400k in bank accounts seasoned for 2 months. Nor even for their Thai husbands to provide any formal proof of finances either!

 

Blatant sexism, if you ask me.

 

Indeed, do marriage extension applications submitted by foreign women even need to be referred up the line for final approval, as in the case of their male counterparts? Or are these women instead cheerfully stamped for another year on the spot at their local office, with few, if any, questions asked?

 

So what's the deal? Does Bangkok Bank have this 4 month policy in all it's branches including CW?

5 minutes ago, minotaur said:

So what's the deal? Does Bangkok Bank have this 4 month policy in all it's branches including CW?

All branches nationwide 

5 hours ago, OJAS said:

 

I personally contrast the way in which the likes of @TroubleandGrumpy are treated with their marriage extensions with the way in which foreign women married to Thai husbands are treated with theirs. No need for these women to provide evidence of funds totalling 40k monthly or 400k in bank accounts seasoned for 2 months. Nor even for their Thai husbands to provide any formal proof of finances either!

 

Blatant sexism, if you ask me.

 

Indeed, do marriage extension applications submitted by foreign women even need to be referred up the line for final approval, as in the case of their male counterparts? Or are these women instead cheerfully stamped for another year on the spot at their local office, with few, if any, questions asked?

 

Just to cheer you up... I'm a foreign woman who was recently able to formally marry my Thai girlfriend at the Amphur.  'Wanna guess if I got the "no money in the bank required" exclusion for my visa extension? No cheerful stamp here either - blatant sexism, agreed!