Retirement Visa Bank Transfer Question...

[rainman]

My mom will be doing her retirement visa renewal in about 3 months. It'll be her 2nd extension and she usually shows a combination of pension letter and funds in the bank. Does she need to show a statement of the pension being transferred to Thailand from her home country? Or is the embassy letter confirming the pension usually enough?

Reason I ask because we have a joint foreign currency account in both her name and my name and she usually transfers her pension onto that one (and so do I), so unless she was to show the receipts that she sent it in her name from the bank in her home country, immigration wouldn't know if those funds came to her or to me, since the account is in both names.

So is the pension letter from the embassy enough ...or would she need to show the pension transferred to Thailand every month? I think I read somewhere that it's not a requirement to show the pension transferred to Thailand every month, but I wanted to be sure.

[Jingthing]

Does she need to show a statement of the pension being transferred to Thailand from her home country?

No.

Or is the embassy letter confirming the pension usually enough?

Yes.

However, I have heard Nong Khai office requires actually seeing the money transferred in. I don't know if that is still the case, but assuming you are not in NK.

[lopburi3]

No the Embassy letter is not enough unless it shows 65k or more per month are per regulations. She will also have to show bank passbook/copies showing enough to make the total 800k or higher. If it is a joint account double the amount will have to be in the account. A letter of account balance within the week that reads the same as passbook will also be required. Do not believe most people get asked for transfer proof, and in no case is there any requirement for monthly transfers (although reportedly some office has asked this of some).

[Jingthing]

Lopburi, I had assumed the poster was asking ONLY about the pension portion and knows that showing a Thai bank account that adds up over 800K was also required if using the COMBO method. I took the question to be specifically for the pension portion, does the pension portion need to be shown to be transferred to Thailand, and that answer is no. If I read this wrong, my apologies.

[lopburi3]

1. I did not see your post until after making mine so it was not in reference to it.

2. The below quote seems to indicate that pension alone is not enough:

she usually shows a combination of pension letter and funds in the bank

[hansnl]

Does she need to show a statement of the pension being transferred to Thailand from her home country?

No.

Or is the embassy letter confirming the pension usually enough?

Yes.

However, I have heard Nong Khai office requires actually seeing the money transferred in. I don't know if that is still the case, but assuming you are not in NK.

NK has a strange thing, they can ask whatever they want.

And sometimes they do!

However, if the money is in the account for at least 3 months, and you did not earn it in Thailand, kindly tell hem/her that the amount is enough and the time it was in the account was enough.

And as you keep yourself to the NO WORKING clause of your permission to stay, how on earth could you earn that amount in Thailand?

Hmmmmmmmm????

[Jingthing]

If using the COMBO method, the 3 month money seasoning rule for the Thai bank account portion does NOT apply.

[rainman]

Yeah, she has a monthly pension of about 51,000 (612,000 per year) and will have another at least 250,000+ in the bank account in her name only. So my question was, does she need to show bank statements of the pension itself being transferred in full to Thailand every month -or- will the embassy letter confirming the pension be enough?

As I read above, it will be enough to show the embassy letter and the money doesn't always need to be transferred to Thailand.

[lopburi3]

Correct.

[rainman]

And the amount above the pension total to reach the needed 800k needs to be in the bank for 3 months, right?

[Jingthing]

And the amount above the pension total to reach the needed 800k needs to be in the bank for 3 months, right?

No, it does not. The day before would be OK; you do need a letter from the bank of the balance.

Edited August 18, 2008 by Jingthing

[JimGant]

because we have a joint foreign currency account in both her name and my name.............and will have another at least 250,000+ in the bank account in her name only.

How can it be "in her name only" if it's a joint account....?

[tracer]

because we have a joint foreign currency account in both her name and my name.............and will have another at least 250,000+ in the bank account in her name only.

How can it be "in her name only" if it's a joint account....?

maybe because its a JOINT foreign currency account??? Sorry, looks to me the person asking the question may have a made a small mistake somewhere... Personally if both are farang it may be causing problems to join funds together...