I attended Chaeng Wattana this week to apply for my first 12 month extension of stay based on retirement.

Everything up to this point had gone smoothly, from obtaining my Non-O visa in home country, to arriving in Thailand in November, opening bank accounts at Kasikorn and Krungsri and transferring the 800,000 Bt. I decided to use Krungsri to season the money because they have a branch in the CW building. This would prove to be a WISE (excuse the pun) decision.

Over the previous few months I had regularly lurked on this and other forums and taken note of all the documents I needed and any issues which may arise. So when I lined up to wait for the doors to open after the lunch break for my pre-booked 1pm appointment I was confident I had everything covered.

When the doors opened I made my way to the pre-advised counter, took a seat and waited. My queue number was soon displayed and with a smile and a sawadee krup I sat at the counter and handed over my passport and documents. The smile was soon wiped from my face.

I was hit with a double barrelled shot as the not so lovely immigration officer lady told me I had to have a 12 month lease AND I needed to show the 800,000 Bt had been deposited by international transfer.

In relation to the lease, I was aware this may be a problem and had come prepared. Since my arrival in Bangkok in November I have been staying at the same apartment on a month to month basis. I had copies of signed leases for each month and receipts for payments of deposit, rent and utilities. However, the officer said this wasn’t good enough and asked me how I expected to apply for a 12 month extension when I had nowhere to live for 12 months. At this point my wife had noticed my growing exasperation and came forward to talk to the uniformed boss lady who had appeared on the scene. After a back and forward conversation between them, my wife handed over her ID card as some sort of guarantee and the issue of the lease was resolved.

As for the evidence of the International transfer, I knew this was going to be a more difficult issue to resolve. The officer said I needed to get documentation from Krungsri to prove the 800,000 Bt came from abroad. At this point I was fumbling through my WISE app to find the transfer receipt while trying to explain the situation but the officer was not interested. I was starting to lose my cool and kept saying “the money doesn’t need to come from overseas, this isn’t right…Drjack says so” Once again, my wife intervened to calm me down and we headed down the escalator to the bank.

Thankfully, the bank was empty and we were able to go straight to the counter. They said they would have to contact the Emquartier branch where I opened the account and ask them to send through the requested evidence. We waited for an hour or so and were eventually told they could not provide anything today as they need to contact headquarters which would take 5 days.

While waiting I had managed to locate and download the wise transfer receipt and my home country bank account transactions to match the transaction amounts on wise and the Krungsri statement. My wife had a conversation with the nice bank lady who asked me to email what I had to her. She printed the wise receipts, stapled these to the Krungsri statement and stamped and signed the statement. I wasn’t convinced this would satisfy the immigration officer but it was all we had.

Back up the escalator and to the counter where I presented what I had from the bank to the officer lady. She looked at it, showed uniformed boss lady and without a word pointed to a chair where I sat down. Then, to my surprise, another gentleman officer came along and asked for 1900 baht and a signature.

Two hours after my appointment time I had the extension stamped passport in my hand, the multi re-entry permit 20 minutes later and a beer in my hand an hour after that.

I came away understanding why people say to be prepared and expect the unexpected at the immigration office. I also now understand why some people prefer to use visa agents. The wife came away happy with her haul of lottery numbers.

Thanks for report.

Don't know, why the io insisted on international transfer.

That is certainly required for Non O however not for extensions.

Requesting Lease seems the norm now, at CW.

In case of living with wife that would normally be accepted with her copy of housebook+ ID.

Did you have a TM30 for address.

Seems the bank was very helpful.

Great result. Rest assured for next extension the funds will not need proof of international transfer.

Just to clarify, I am not living at my wife's property. I'm renting an apartment on month to month basis around the corner from her property where other members of her family live until we find somewhere more permanent. The apartment owner submitted the TM30 correctly.

The IO asked for wife's ID I assume as a kind of guarantee for the explanation she gave for the reason I don't have a 12 month lease.

Maybe they asked for proof of international transfer because they suspected something "fishy" with my application. I guess we'll never know what they're thinking.

Anyway, just thought I would share my experience for forum users. Thanks Drjack and others for all the information which helped with the entire process.

1 hour ago, LungLing said:

I was starting to lose my cool and kept saying “the money doesn’t need to come from overseas, this isn’t right

You are correct.

Here is cut/paste from Tod Daniels in another forum.

"There is no requirement that the 800K baht funds come from abroad, only that it's in a thai bank account in your name only for 2 months before you apply for the yearly extension.
you'll need a 2 month detail transaction report, the standard bank letter (stating the balance the date they write the letter) and you need to update your bank book the day you apply for the extension"

Jeez...well done getting through it.

If one's Thai wife has the nouce to converse with government officials, it's usually best to let the wife deal with the official and be the middle person between official and farlang spouse.

I find the official prefers this interaction and things run smoother - usually. I keep quiet and only answer direct questions, and the wife does everything else.