On 8/22/2025 at 9:40 AM, sandyf said:

There was an exception in the text of 0029.173/Wor 4950.

That amendment to 138/2557 was dated 21st Dec 2018 and was a temporary fix covering new arrivals based on Thai family and retirement whose Embassies had just announced cessation of Embassy income letters. It's specific in its dates and was only intended to apply throughout the year of 2019.
That is my opinion and certainly how Immigration interpreted the amendment.

 

However, there were many existing long term expats affected, particularly those with extension renewals due after July 2019, which the amendment didn't cover.

Immigration, perhaps realising their error, then issued a further memo amendment to the previously issued 0029.173/Wor 4950, dated 26th December 2018, advising leniency for all expats in 2019 affected by the cessation of Embassy income letters.

 

I know of a few who were granted extensions in 2019 on the basis of leniency, not having evidence of 12 months 40/65K transfers.
Since 2020, Immigration have insisted on 12 months proof of transferred incomes, regardless of whether you are a long term expat, or newly arrived foreigner using the income method.

On 8/22/2025 at 7:49 AM, DrJack54 said:

As I explained in our chat.. That is not the case many folk from countries such as USA, AU, UK etc are using the income method and those embassies do not provide the "income letter" 

My next extension (October) I will be showing a 12 month bank statement and shows 12 monthly transfers from abroad. 

Since I'm changing from money in bank method I will also show compliance with that option. 

What about "once off" payment 400.000/800.000? Possible?

9 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

What about "once off" payment 400.000/800.000? Possible?

No

On 8/21/2025 at 11:12 PM, OJAS said:

Whoever told you that was, unfortunately, talking out of their derriere. What KBANK can give you is a letter in the Thai language which, in essence, confirms that you hold an account with them. What you'll also need from them for IMM purposes is a 12-month statement which they should be able to issue on the spot.

 

It is the case that a number of embassies do issue letters or affidavits confirming monthly income, which IMM will accept instead of bank letters & statements. However the American, Australian, British, Canadian and Norwegian embassies no longer issue the necessary letters or affidavits, leaving their nationals with no option other than to go down the bank account confirmation letter and 12-month statement route, based on monthly transfers of at least 65k each for an annual retirement extension.

Correct you are.Thats exactly what I did in Feb. ( for the 12 month deposit option 1 year extention) Went to Kbank with PP and passbook.Got the letter and they also printed out the previous 12 month statement showing all activity. As  a back up I also had printed out the previous 12 month Wise statement with the deposits showing. All well accepted at Jomtien Imm.

On 8/21/2025 at 10:44 PM, kingstonkid said:

Hi I went to a session tnight and got some mixed information.  I am hoping there is someone here that has done this already.

 

I am a monthly income person who has been transferring in 68K+ at least every month to Kasikorn Bank.

 

It was my understanding that I could do this and get a letter from KBANK for immigration I realize I also need my bank book and everything.

 

My confusion comes from attending this seminar and being told that there was no way to do a monthly unless the Embassy did the letter.

 

There were a few other things that made me go MMMMM, but my main worry is the monthly letter.  

 

Can anyone help me out? I have already gone to the expert Dr. Jack, but he suggested someone here may have done it and find out.

 

If not, then I am left looking to move out of the country because if they will not take the monthly for retirement, I doubt they would accept it for marriage.

 

 

 

 

Immigration at the Kamphaeng Phet office and also at the Chiang Mai regional office have been accepting my monthly pensions for at least 5 years now for a marriage extension.

 

Perhaps it may be down to the IO at your local Immigration office.

On 8/22/2025 at 10:27 AM, KhunBENQ said:

65k is the minimum.

I sent something like 66k+ with WISE.

The remaining money saved on the home country account to be transferred occasionally (and to other bank in my case).

But you need to be careful of the Forex rate which can change several times a day.

2 minutes ago, billd766 said:

But you need to be careful of the Forex rate which can change several times a day.

The guy you quoted uses WISE. 

The amount transferred via WISE has a outline of transfer including all charges, exchange rate etc. 

Having stated that why would anyone cut it that fine. 

70k + has a nice ring to it

I have a Type-O visa, and I have extended my stay using a Retirement Monthly Transfer for about a year now. At my Immigration office in Phetchabun, I need to:

1. Go to my bank the morning of the Stay Extension application;

2. Make a deposit (any amount will do);
3. Get my account book updated and copies of all the pages for the last year, even if some of them are on a prior account book;
4. Get printed copies of all my account transactions for the past year. (I highlight the monthly deposits on each page with a yellow highlighter);

5. Get a letter from the bank (which just verifies I have been a customer for the past year).

 

That's the process I go through at my bank to verify my monthly deposits.

 

On 8/21/2025 at 10:44 PM, kingstonkid said:

Hi I went to a session tnight and got some mixed information.  I am hoping there is someone here that has done this already.

 

I am a monthly income person who has been transferring in 68K+ at least every month to Kasikorn Bank.

 

It was my understanding that I could do this and get a letter from KBANK for immigration I realize I also need my bank book and everything.

 

My confusion comes from attending this seminar and being told that there was no way to do a monthly unless the Embassy did the letter.

 

There were a few other things that made me go MMMMM, but my main worry is the monthly letter.  

 

Can anyone help me out? I have already gone to the expert Dr. Jack, but he suggested someone here may have done it and find out.

 

If not, then I am left looking to move out of the country because if they will not take the monthly for retirement, I doubt they would accept it for marriage.

 

 

 

 

I did the monthly even after the US dropped from inssuing a letter for income.  IThe requirement from CM immigration was a letter from my branch indicating that it was in fact in my name only, a letter indicating active on that date by depositing 100 baht into my acct prior to going to immigration, a letter from the banks main office with 12 monthly deposits of at least 65K baht and copy of every page of my bank book plus had to carry bank book to immigration too.  Never had any problem whatsoever with immigration using the monthly deposits.

2 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

The guy you quoted uses WISE. 

The amount transferred via WISE has a outline of transfer including all charges, exchange rate etc. 

Having stated that why would anyone cut it that fine. 

70k + has a nice ring to it

Every day I do a Forex rate check between KBank, Bangkok Bank, Wise and XE. KBank has the worst rate followed by Bangkok Bank. With Wise you generally get the Forex mid rate figure and I simply use XE as a 4th reference. My pensions are transferred directly to Wise, who notify me that they have received it and I do the transfer manually the same day to Bangkok Bank. When it arrives I transfer it to our KBank joint account. The difference between Wise and KBank is sometime as much as 60 satangs per 1 GBP in favour of Wise. It is not much in itself. but if you are transferring large amounts, it can build up over a year.

I have been using the monthly system for my Marriage extension since the Australian Embassy stopped their affidavit. I use Wise and the SCB bank and on their official statement all the Wise transfers are noted as X888994 or MCL 0101####. this code denotes funds transferred by the A P I system internally from overseas source. I am lucky that my I O had the courtesy to check and accept this coding, I might add that it seems very few can see beyond IFT on the statement. Lucky I live where I do.

52 minutes ago, billd766 said:

But you need to be careful of the Forex rate which can change several times a day.

At WISE nothing changes after I initiated the transfer.

Technically I sent EUR but before confirming I see exactly what I will receive on my Thai bank account.

You hint applies to SWIFT e.g.

 

Of course I leave me a windows of a few days hoping to catch a better rate.

deleted 

all said above

38 minutes ago, PJPom said:

I have been using the monthly system for my Marriage extension since the Australian Embassy stopped their affidavit. I use Wise and the SCB bank and on their official statement all the Wise transfers are noted as X888994 or MCL 0101####. this code denotes funds transferred by the A P I system internally from overseas source. I am lucky that my I O had the courtesy to check and accept this coding, I might add that it seems very few can see beyond IFT on the statement. Lucky I live where I do.

At Kasikorn bank it helps to request a statement in Thai language where the wording is rock solid (money from abroad).

Don't know about SCB, I have closed the accounts there a while ago.

1 hour ago, WDSmart said:

I have a Type-O visa, and I have extended my stay using a Retirement Monthly Transfer for about a year now. At my Immigration office in Phetchabun, I need to:

1. Go to my bank the morning of the Stay Extension application;

2. Make a deposit (any amount will do);
3. Get my account book updated and copies of all the pages for the last year, even if some of them are on a prior account book;
4. Get printed copies of all my account transactions for the past year. (I highlight the monthly deposits on each page with a yellow highlighter);

5. Get a letter from the bank (which just verifies I have been a customer for the past year).

 

That's the process I go through at my bank to verify my monthly deposits.

 

Would be helpful if you mentioned which bank?.  What do you mean by ''printed copies?'

I was at Phetchabun IO last week and they want a full years bank statement, and if with Bangkok Bank that can take a few days to get.....

1 hour ago, KhunBENQ said:

At WISE nothing changes after I initiated the transfer.

Technically I sent EUR but before confirming I see exactly what I will receive on my Thai bank account.

You hint applies to SWIFT e.g.

 

Of course I leave me a windows of a few days hoping to catch a better rate.

But in the time leading up to the transfer the Forex rate does vary spmeyimes as many as 5 times per day, both up and down,

 

When I do my transfers from Wise the rate is frozen for the duration of that transfer only.

3 minutes ago, billd766 said:

But in the time leading up to the transfer the Forex rate does vary spmeyimes as many as 5 times per day, both up and down,

?

I do transfer on my own.

No automatic.

39 minutes ago, brianburi said:

Would be helpful if you mentioned which bank?.  What do you mean by ''printed copies?'

I was at Phetchabun IO last week and they want a full years bank statement, and if with Bangkok Bank that can take a few days to get.....

Bangkok Bank generally takes 3 working days to produce 12 months statements here in Kamphaeng Phet, printed in colour, on bank headed paper and cost 200 thb per set. They also stamp each page with the bank stamp and are reluctant (depending on which cashier) to scrawl a name, even Mickey Mouse.

 

I normally order about a week before I need them. The main drawback is that the bank is 65km and 1 hours drive away.

8 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

?

I do transfer on my own.

No automatic.

Me too.

56 minutes ago, brianburi said:

Would be helpful if you mentioned which bank?.  What do you mean by ''printed copies?'

I was at Phetchabun IO last week and they want a full years bank statement, and if with Bangkok Bank that can take a few days to get.....

My bank is Krungsri (Ahyudya),

By "printed copies," I mean the staff prints out a year's worth of my statements on regular paper. This only takes about five minutes. This is in addition to the scanned copies of the pages in my passbook.

The longest wait is for the letter. That usually takes an hour or so.

I've heard from others that Bangkok Bank does take a lot longer to prepare these things. 

On 8/21/2025 at 9:06 PM, KhunBENQ said:

At Khon Kaen:

I could still get the income letter but I asked whether every national can do monthly transfer. Yes!

So I started monthly transfers and last year did extension with account statement from Bangkok Bank.

As supporting documents I had pension statements in German language but wasn't relevant.

 

I prefer the method because I don't need this income letter from Bangkok or Pattaya. All "local".

 

This year (October):

As Bangkok Bank is incapable of supplying one year statement on the spot (only max 6 month) I will go with three seamless statements.

You can only specify start date for the statement. Will always end on day before.

Ask for statement in Thai language.

``As Bangkok Bank is incapable of supplying one year statement on the spot (only max 6 month) I will go with three seamless statements.``

 

I had the same problem with Siam Commercial Bank (SCB} in Phuket some years ago, when I started to use the 65K monthly transfers. Six months max per statement at my bank branch in Ha Yaek Chalong.

 

A friend of mine living in Rawai mentioned to me that the SCB branch located in Rawai do provide a yearly statement for Immigration purposes.

So I headed down to Rawai, and he was right, the Rawai branch was giving a service that I could not get in my own branch.

Passport please, bank book please, < Ha Yaek branch<, 200 bahts please... Some minutes later, I get a single statement of one year, and a <thank you<....

But then Rawai is an Expat location, so service is expat driven so it appears...

 

Welcome to Thailand....

On 8/22/2025 at 5:58 AM, sandyf said:

Only the arrogant would think that means it has never happened.

Do you realize how arrogant such a response appears to the readers.....

58 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I normally order about a week before I need them. The main drawback is that the bank is 65km and 1 hours drive away.

You can update passbook, order/obtain statement and obtain the letter at any branch of Bangkok bank.

10 minutes ago, Liquorice said:

You can update passbook, order/obtain statement and obtain the letter at any branch of Bangkok bank.

Very true but both branches of the Bangkok Bank are actually for me in Kamphaeng Phet city, one in the Mueang and one just off the route 1 heading north towards Immigration. That one has many steps to climb and the parking is abysmal, especially as I have osteo arthritis in both knees and walking is not that easy. Parking is easier at the main branch and my wife, who drives me now can go off and eat whilst I spend perhaps 30 minutes in the bank.

 

In the local KBank 6 km away, I can get 12 months statements (3 copies and the letter) done in the branch in the same 30 minutes. Unfortunately our account is a joint account which Immigration will not accept.

WOW Thanks to everyone that has posted here it really helps and I am sure it will really help others.  @DrJack54 maybe it would be a good thing to pin this 

 

Again for those that wonder why people come here with all the other stuff that happens ASEANNOW  it is being able to get info like this that makes it all worth while

 

@billd766  how do the deposits appear on your account and do you have them changes or just left as they are showing the deposits

22 hours ago, Liquorice said:

That is my opinion and certainly how Immigration interpreted the amendment.

You are entitled to your opinion but personal  experience would disagree.

22 hours ago, Liquorice said:

Since 2020, Immigration have insisted on 12 months proof of transferred incomes, regardless of whether you are a long term expat, or newly arrived foreigner using the income method.

Highlights a lack of attention to detail.

Long term expats wouldn't be entitled to the exception.

1 hour ago, kingstonkid said:

WOW Thanks to everyone that has posted here it really helps and I am sure it will really help others.  @DrJack54 maybe it would be a good thing to pin this 

 

Again for those that wonder why people come here with all the other stuff that happens ASEANNOW  it is being able to get info like this that makes it all worth while

 

@billd766  how do the deposits appear on your account and do you have them changes or just left as they are showing the deposits

They come up in my Bangkok Bank passbook as FTT, so no need for any changes.

13 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Long term expats wouldn't be entitled to the exception.

Well, excuse me for opening my mouth, but I lived in Thailand for 5 years prior to reaching official retirement age and receiving my pensions.

So had my official retirement and payments started in March 2019, to which I'd have proof, and already being a long term expat, why would I have been exempt from using the 'exception' if I'd have chosen that option.

2 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

 

@billd766  how do the deposits appear on your account and do you have them changes or just left as they are showing the deposits

@kingstonkid

billd766 uses a different method of transfer than yourself.

His pensions are transferred to his 'Wise' account, who transfer the remittances to his Thai bank account.
(Wise is a money transfer and currency converter organisation, preferred by many expats to transfer remittances to Thailand)

Only the head offices of Thai banks have a SWIFT code, the individual branches do not, so overseas transfers using the SWIFT method first go to the head office branch, who then forward it to your individual branch, however not all Thai banks operate the same way.

Examples:

@billd766 banks with Bangkok bank. When the head office transfers his remittances to his branch, Bangkok Bank are the only bank to code it as FTT (Foreign Telex Transfer') in his passbook, and as 'International' on his head office bank statements.

@DrJack54 banks with Kasikorn bank. When the head office transfers his remittances to his branch, the head office does not inform the branch it was an International transaction, so in the passbook it will be coded as a 'domestic/local' transfer. Kasikorn can provide a receipt of the foreign transaction though, known as a 'credit advice receipt'. A head office bank statement though should detail it as an 'International' transaction.

 

It appears, you on the other hand have elected to have your pension providers to pay it directly to your Thai bank account.

This type of transfer uses a different method, known as the 'Bahtnet' system.

Your remittances are first sent to the 'Bank of Thailand', who converts and transfers the remittances to your Kasikorn account.
These should be coded as 'BNT' in the passbook, and as 'Bahtnet' on bank statements.
They are indeed overseas International transfers, but Immigration may not be aware of the significance of the coding 'BNT' or 'Bahtnet'

You need to ask Kasikorn if they can provide additional evidence, such as a 'credit advice receipt' it was an overseas transaction.

 

As previously posted, at my IO, a Bangkok Bank representative met with the Immigration officials to explain the relevance of the 'Bahtnet' coding and these type of transactions have since been accepted by my local office as being International.