What Can I Do

[steve101]

not to sure what to do

wife is thai we have been married 10 years and living in uk at mo

we are planning to move to thailand and have started to build a house on her brothers land in nakhon sawan where we will live

we are also converting her dads house into rooms to rent out for a small salary

and wife is looking to buy her sisters shop from her i dont think that it will cover the 40000 a month that is needed to get visa

i will however be able to put 400000 thai baht in to a bank account and not spend it

and more than likely live from what the shop makes

do i just apply for an o visa?

and will it get renewed each year depending on the 400000 thai baht in our thai bank?

do they like to see the 400000 that is in the bank being spent then another 400000 payed in?

another thing i am looking into is doing a scuba diving course up to instructor level

and finding work as a diver but that would mean leaving nakhon sawan

[Indo-Siam]

Hi Steve -

The quick answers are:

1. Obtain a Class O visa in UK,and make arrangements for 400,000 baht to be wired (upon your directive) to a bank account you specify in Thailand.

2. Enter Thailand and obtain a 90 day Class O entry permit.

3. Open a Thai bank account (single or joint) bearing your name, as written is your passport.

4. Wire 400,000 baht into that account.

5. After you have been in Thailand for 60 days, apply for a one-year Class O extension - you should routinely be approved, after 40 days.

That proces takes care of your first year.

Now you face the annual renewal problem. Your renewal must be based "on supporting a Thai spouse". That means you must either bring in a fresh 400,000 baht each year, remitted from outside Thailand, or you must show SALARY INCOME (with work permit, from a legal Thai employer) to justify your continued stay. Money earned from renting out rooms is irrelevant - it does not count toward demonstrating that you are supporting your Thai spouse.

You may want to rethink coming here. The most overpopulated fields that I see here involving foreigners are:

Anything to do with golf

Anything to do with scuba diving

Anything to do with IT (networking, websites, software)

Anything to do with real estate

Anything to do with hotel and travel bookings

Anything to do with nightlife or hospitality

English teaching (but there is still a lot of unsatisfied demand)

Thus - it is very hard to make money in any of the above - too much demand, chasing too few reasonable opportunities.

The one area that is heavily populated,, but where there are still opportunities - is in exporting Thai-made goods. Export items, get paid to an offshore account, and then bring in 400,000 baht per year from that account.

Good luck!

Steve Sykes

Managing Director

Indo-Siam Group

Bangkok

[email protected]

www.thaistartup.com

[wca01]

If he doesn't touch the 400,000 Baht in his account for one year, he cannot use this same money for the one year renewal?

WC

[Indo-Siam]

If he did not touch the 400,000 baht, then it was not used to support his Thai wife during the past year. If that money was not used to support his Thai wife, then what was the source of funds he did use to support her? Unless he is legally employed locally with work permit, then he must be supporting her from illegal local work.

That is how Thailand looks at it. Legal soucrces of money to justify supporting Thai wife are local legal earnings, or money remitted from overseas - that is actually spent (theoretically to support Thai wife).

It is not about having sufficient money frozen, and potentially available to support a wife - it is about actually supporting her with legal funds.

Basically, if foreigner can be taken out of the picture for a year - leaving behind the untouched 400,000 baht, or the rooming house renting out rooms to Thais - then Immigration sees no need for foreigner to hang around - he is not contributing. Only by being a recurring contributor of fresh legal funds - monthly or annually - can he justify his being granted an extension.

Cheers!

Steve

Indo-Siam

[KevinN]

STEVE; do you mean to say that we are allowed to stay here only for the money and not because they love us???

[steve101]

many thanks for the reply steve

i guess it is going to be a no go then

the only way i can see possible is to leave all of my money in the uk and once a year have 400000 baht sent over to my bank account which i suppose is about 6000 pound ish

my money would soon burn up then id be left with nothing

no cash no visa and having to return to the uk probably with out the wife

i will have to look into this exporting thai goods

any ideas??

would be appreciated

steve

[apetley]

Hi Indo Siam, it was interesting and informative to read your reply. Can you clarify what a '90 day Class O entry permit' is please.

Is it picked up on arrival at airport immigration?

Thanks, Andy.

[neilrupp]

is this the same for the 800,000 needed for retirement visa? ie...is a fresh 800,000 needed annually

[RDN]

is this the same for the 800,000 needed for retirement visa?  ie...is a fresh 800,000 needed annually

I certainly did not think so - but then, I've always spent more than 800,000 so always transferred at least 800,000 baht. I'd like to know what the experts think about this question.

[Indo-Siam]

When you arrive into Thailand, inbound Immigration places an ink stamp in your passport - an entry permit. It tells you the length of time you are allowed to remain in Thailand. If you arrive with a stanbdard Class O visa, this entry permit stamp will tell you that you are admitted for 90 days - and you must then depart Thailand.

Once you are within the final 30 days of this 90 day period - and if you meet specified qualifying criteria - you can apply for and receive an extension of stay - out to the one-year anniversary of the date you originally entered Thailand.

To renew a retirement visa, you simply need to show 800,000 baht in the Thai bank - it does not need to be "fresh". But - when questioned - it is a good idea to have an answer (best if it is documented) as to the source of the funds that you have used to support yourself over the past 12 months.

The whole point of Immigration's checks is to weed out people who are working illegally inside Thailand. You are assumed to be working illegally unless either:

1) You demonstrate that you are legally employed in Thailand.

or

2) You demonstrate that you have an income steam coming in from outside Thailand.

If you are retired, keep 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account, and can bring in a bank statement from an overseas bank showing frequent ATM withdrawals - and regular pension (or investment) income going in - Immigration will be happy - because you have demonstrated a valid argument that indicates that you are not working illegally inside Thailand.

The whole point is: If you ARE in fact supporting yourself via illegal work inside Thailand, it becomes hard to satisfy the requirements without this situation being revealed - and you will then be invited to depart the country.

Cheers!

Steve

Indo-Siam

[ZOVOX]

concerning leaving 400k in the bank without using it. surely it is easy to shift money around internally and externally in thailand to give the appearance that the account is used and that a new 400k is transferred to the account from overseas. I doubt that the immigration people will try to trace every trnsaction on you bank book.

The only thing is you will have to pay the bank transfer fees, but that's not too bad. you won't lose that much interest in thailand because it's so LOW !!

Has anybody be doing this and getting there extension renewed ?

[lopburi3]

concerning leaving 400k in the bank without using it. surely it is easy to shift money around internally and externally in thailand to give the appearance that the account is used and that a new 400k is transferred to the account from overseas. I doubt that the immigration people will try to trace every trnsaction on you bank book.

The only thing is you will have to pay the bank transfer fees, but that's not too bad. you won't lose that much interest in thailand because it's so LOW !!

Has anybody be doing this and getting there extension renewed ?

No it is not easy to do that although some can probably be overlooked if person appears ok in other ways. Every foreign deposit has a code assigned to it and immigration is very capable of reading them.

Asking if anyone has been doing this is going to be the past. We need to meet the present and the future.

[ZOVOX]

If the first extension is easier to get, is it possible to get visa, then extension, and then get another visa and extension and then continue with visa and extension. Will this be regarded as the same as continually getting extensions back to back ?

[lopburi3]

If the first extension is easier to get, is it possible to get visa, then extension, and then get another visa and extension and then continue with visa and extension. Will this be regarded as the same as continually getting extensions back to back ?

I am not sure what you are asking. If the 400k above that you asked about assume it is support for Thai wife visa and the first time is as hard as any other time - and more requirements are to be met - including home visit and photos together in many cases. The money is going to be checked for source being outside Thailand on every extension unless you have a work permit.

The only time a fist extension would be easier is if you did not have the bank money available an exception would be made while you look for local work if you have qualifications (normally degree or specialized skills). I am sure you would not be able to obtain another exception without a work permit/job.

[Up2U]

Many questions about leaving the 400k or 800k in the bank and not using.

What are these guys living on?

It costs me well over a million a year to live reasonably. The Thai authorities have upped the amounts this July precisely because they cannot see a farang being able to live on less. Thus, if he is not bringing money into the country, he must be working illegally - not paying tax and taking the rice off a Thai worker's plate. They don't want you here if you are breaking the law.

It is that simple.

I understand the guest-house / mini-hotel principle that some people follow - but then you should get the money paid into an off-shore account and transfer in. Do not accept Thai baht for renting accommodation to holiday makers / tourists.

[Up2U]

To do the maths :

800k is about US $ 20,000.- so you would need a capital amount of US $ 400k invested to give a 5% annual return (tax free). Or GB £ 250k invested at the same rate.

(Correct me if my maths are wrong )

This is not much in the 'first' world terms, but is an awful lot over here.

Leave it abroad, import the interest and suffer the swings and roundabouts of interest rate and exchange rate fluctuations. (The one often cancels out the other)

[Billion]

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[astral]

2) You demonstrate that you have an income steam coming in from outside Thailand.

The trouble with the income approach is that it HAS to be regular.

I was refused a renewal on my marriage visa 3 years ago, because I only had 80,000 on the bank. The fact that I had exchange documents showing over 600,000 during the previous year did not help.

I do contract work overseas and my income is irregular!! But way over the requirements for a marriage visa.

[croftrobin]

If you have an irregular income stream then make it look like a regular income- eg If you earn 5k Sterling a month and only do 3 months work in a year while contracting then deposit a 1k sterling cheque every month in your thai bank account.

It costs only 10 US dollars to clear and takes 4-5 week for the funds to clear but do that every month and you will have deposited over 850,000 in a year.

Thats what I do.

[RDN]

If you have an irregular income stream then make it look like a regular income- eg If you earn 5k Sterling a month and only do 3 months work in a year while contracting then deposit a 1k sterling cheque every month in your thai bank account.

It costs only 10 US dollars to clear and takes 4-5 week for the funds to clear but do that every month and you will have deposited over 850,000 in a year.

Thats what I do.

But isn't it easier just to transfer 800,000 baht into your account just before the time of extension? And you can get interest on it while it is in a non-Thai account.

To do the maths :

800k is about US $ 20,000.-  so you would need a capital amount of US $ 400k invested to give a 5% annual return (tax free). Or GB £ 250k invested at the same rate.

....

Leave it abroad, import the interest and suffer the swings and roundabouts of interest rate and exchange rate fluctuations. (The one often cancels out the other)

That's what I do, near enough Works fine.