2 hours ago, thailand49 said:

For two years they stopped coming to his house but his year they had his wife scan some code on the desk, that they will communicate through this code, when they decide to make a visit they will notify her when that happens he has to run to the bank and update his bank book.

This year told him he must untouch the 400,000 baht 4 months after his date, and must be intact 4 months prior to application!

Well that's very interesting ( disturbing) info ...they had my wife scan the line code with her phone at Jomtien this Tuesday too and said there might be extra stuff required or a longer wait this year as head office had told them to be 'more strict', they have always come to visit us at home but during the Covidiocy they did not come into the house we sat outside in the garden while they interviewed the witness...at least this year we got the nicer of the 2 immigration officers raking over the piles of rainforest, thank the Buddha for small mercies 😋

20 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

I have 400k sitting in K Bank and I have also been transferring 40k p.m. on the first - as a prelude to my 2027 extension.

If your manually doing the transfers OK, but if you set up automatic transfers then as already stated the 1st or 30th of each month is not advised due to weekends, holidays, which can impact the date the transfer is received. Setting a date mid month is more advisable.

13 minutes ago, johng said:

Well that's very interesting ( disturbing) info ...they had my wife scan the line code with her phone at Jomtien this Tuesday too and said there might be extra stuff required or a longer wait this year as head office had told them to be 'more strict', they have always come to visit us at home but during the Covidiocy they did not come into the house we sat outside in the garden while they interviewed the witness...at least this year we got the nicer of the 2 immigration officers raking over the piles of rainforest, thank the Buddha for small mercies 😋

Jomtien is a known rogue office and makes requirements up as it goes along.

I had one home visit for my my very first extension based on marriage.
Never had any further visits and never had to file a new TM30 for the previous 10 years.

I agree with the others in this thread who have commented that the process of applying for an extension based on marriage isn't particularly difficult and isn't anymore difficult than applying for a retirement extension, and it has the benifit of not tieing up b800k AND allows you to work.

The only disadvantage of a Marriage extension over a Retirement extension for me personally, is I have to return to the imm office 30 days later to get the stamp in my passport (which is a 2hr round trip) so a minor inconvenience.

Apart from (1) go get K.R.22 marriage certificate from Amphur office 15mins drive away, (2) go get bank letter/statement [samasrequirement as for a Retirement extension] and (3) prepare photos of family (take photos, put joegs in to Word, print...easy), everything else I  provide is a photocopy of whatever i provided in the previous year so not onerous.

I know some people have had and dread home visits, but we've never had one yet in +20 years in this house.

The 'Support Thai wife' extension has allowed me to work here for over two decades.

B400k tied up for only 2+1months is also very reasonable.

Therefore, in my opinion, if you have the option of Marriage or Retirement, the former is the better option.

6 hours ago, connda said:

- I need to go to the Amphur to get a K.2. We do it during a regular outing to get groceries. Takes about 10 minutes.

Apologies - I missed which Amphur you go to? When I went to the Phuket Amphur, it was always a zoo, with a typical 90 minute or more wait - plus a 20 minute drive there and a 20 minute drive back home.

I was told by some Thai friends of my wife, the waits at the Phuket Amphur were always lengthy for practically anything. Mind you that was a few years back ... maybe its changed today.

7 hours ago, connda said:

Running around to get paperwork? Really.

- I need to go to the Amphur to get a K.2. We do it during a regular outing to get groceries. Takes about 10 minutes.
- We need to go to a photoshop to get picture printing. Like the K.2, we do this on a normal shopping day. Takes about 5 minutes.
- Then a trip to the bank at Big C where we do some of our shopping. I have to update all of my bank books for the US annual FBAR report which I do during that trip to the bank. The trip the bank takes maybe 15 minutes and then do some shopping while we're there.

- I've got a scanner/printer and do all my own copies.

Trust me - I'm not "running around for days" to get paperwork.

Some folks make this sound like some horror show to get a extension based on marriage. Trust me, it is not.

Glad you can narrow it down to such a short time frame for us to believe for sure it won't be that short at immigration, the wait for them to visit etc etc.

7 hours ago, thailand49 said:

Glad you can narrow it down to such a short time frame for us to believe for sure it won't be that short at immigration, the wait for them to visit etc etc.

Exactly. The visit alone would be a deal breaker for me.

Let alone all the other junk.

Some have lost sight of the OP posts.

Seems 1. The 800k in Thai Bank is not an issue and 2. He doesn't wish to work.

It's a no brainer = retirement extensions.

As pointed out earlier... I use income method (without embassy letter) the OP can do likewise at some point

10 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Exactly. The visit alone would be a deal breaker for me

Why so?

They just want to check that you are living where in you say and that you are living in a marriage situation (i.e. with thai spouse). Nothing to worry about if you are, just show them some of your possessions.

1 hour ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Nothing to worry about if you are, just show them some of your possessions.

Everyone is different.

I for one wouldn't fancy home visit to my residence.

Also you have to be available during under consideration period.

As I pointed out using income method no need to maintain funds in back.

The big advantage with marriage extension is that with the addition of work permit you can work.

The OP does not wish to.

21 hours ago, oldcpu said:

Apologies - I missed which Amphur you go to? When I went to the Phuket Amphur, it was always a zoo, with a typical 90 minute or more wait - plus a 20 minute drive there and a 20 minute drive back home.

I was told by some Thai friends of my wife, the waits at the Phuket Amphur were always lengthy for practically anything. Mind you that was a few years back ... maybe its changed today.

Not sure about which one of Phuket`s Amphur you are talking, but last year I got my Kor Ror2 at Thalang Amphur in about 15 minutes.