Retirement Extension At Suan Plu - No Problems

[mojaco]

Today I obtained another one year extension for retirement purposes without problems. I topped up my Bangkok Bank account to over 800,000 Baht on April 24 and picked the bank letter at 8:30 AM this morning (I pre-arranged to have the letter waiting for me to pick up) which simply showed the current amount in the account (same letter as in all past years). I picked up my queue number at Suan Plu at 8:55 AM and was finally waited on by the immigration officer at 11:50 AM (a 3 hour wait). My number was 36 and they were just working on number 2 when I sat down (someone said even though the doors opened at 8:30 AM the officers didn't really start working until just before 9:00 AM). Those that seemed to take the longest time were apparently seeking extension based on marriage, because they had photos the officer pasted in various forms. They had four officers working the desks (and the last hour they had five), but sometimes they were interrupted for other issues or what appeared to be lawyers working for various clients. Plus sometimes there were three or four people on a single queue number (family members I assume).

But, once at the immigration desk, all went smoothly. My wife and I are both foreign nationals and have done this extension six or seven times before. I applied for "retirement extension" with my wife as "dependent" and 800,000 Baht in the bank for 3 months. I had copies of passports, bank book, SWIFT transfer receipts showing where the funds came from, the bank letter with the (today's) current balance, medical certificates, and copy of the marriage certificate along with a copy of the translation, and the bank book itself to show. She kept all of the copies of everything this year.

I don't know if the medical certificates were required or not because I just included those in the packet I handed the officer. But I did not give the marriage certificate copies, and this year she asked for them. It looks like it would be wise to always have those copies available every year. Some ask for it, and some don't.

Only took her 15 minutes to go through everything and take my 3,800 Baht for the two of us. She had me sign a statement that I know that 800,000 must be in the account for at least three month prior to this type of extension. So I guess Suan Plu will require this every year for those not using a combination of monthly income plus bank balance. I might do that myself next year as this year I almost forgot to get the balance topped up in April in time.

At least the room was pleasantly air conditioned and most of us had seats (but not everyone had a place to sit.). We then got multi-re-entry permits (a 20 minute process) and were out the door at 12:30 PM.

I might also mention that I used the forms downloaded from ThaiVisa.com website and had them all filled out in advance. They were accepted without question. A real time saver to have forms filled out in advance and all copies made and photos pasted on in advance.

[Nowhereman60]

You don't need a medical certificate I thought you did also for the first two time I did my extension. I was there last Wednesday before holiday I got in about the same time you did and got number 51 waited to 1:30 pm, but when smooth after that out 20 minutes later. I also notice the same thing you did a group of people going up at one time, and being interrupted every 5 minutes by someone.

[Firefan]

Yup! Had about the same waiting time for my retirement visa. Cheers!

[retiree]

Now, I got there at 8:49, got number 40, and was called at about 1:20. Thus, the wait was nearly five hours, with starting conditions nearly identical to the OP. With multiple-reentry permit, I got out just before 2pm.

Neither proof of the foreign origin of my 800K long-term back account nor medical certs were asked for.

Retiree