My Retirement Visa is due for renewal at the end of June 2009 and I have to do my address reporting at the end of this Month.

There still seems to be some confusion within the Korat Immigration about the "money in the Bank" ruling. When I went for my last 90 days reporting we asked about changing my visa to a married visa as we maybe setting up a Company within the next year. We also asked whether we can use my wifes income as I feel reluctant losing over 20% on money exchange from the UK. We were told that the 40,000 thb per month in my wifes name was adequate provided she has the tax return supporting this. This she does plus a lot more to spare. They told us to change the visa then do any work permit at a later date.

However, my wife phoned immigration to check again what she needed to produce and she was told this time that the regulations changed in Jan 2009 and the 40,000 must be in my name. I have looked everywhere regarding any Visa changes in this respect,effective 2009, but cannot find anything other than a post saying the translation dating from 2006 showed "and" not "or" in error.

Can anyone shed a bit of light on the subject or has someone in officialdom got the wrong end of the stick????

Rules changed Nov. 25th of last year.

Only you can show the income now. But the 400,000 baht in the bank option is back. It has to be in your name and be there for 60 days.

There has also been a recent announcement from immigration assigning offices. If you do not live in the province you willl not be able to use the Korat office.

Rules changed Nov. 25th of last year.

Only you can show the income now. But the 400,000 baht in the bank option is back. It has to be in your name and be there for 60 days.

There has also been a recent announcement from immigration assigning offices. If you do not live in the province you willl not be able to use the Korat office.

thanks for your help on this one. I find it quite amazing that I wasn't told this when I reported for address at the end of November (after 25th Nov) and the person giving us the advice was the number 1 woman in Korat immigration!!! As like most of us we use internet banking so do not have "original" statements but I did read that I can show the money in a Bank outside the Kingdom or did this purely refer to Asian Countries??

I must say that it doesn't seem to matter which Government is in control (loose sense) they all seem to know how to keep ex pats here and how to attract more ex pats to spend their money or do we just stay here for the smile???. I hear Vietnam has arms wide open to all and will even give 3 or 5 year visas to boot. BTW I am English and aged 52.

Edited February 19, 200917 yr by nobber9999

I think it took a while for all the immigration offices to get informed about the new rules. I got a letter dated Jan. 25 informing me of the new rules for a marriage extension from the office I use.

Immigration will not accept anything from outside the country. Income from outside the country has to be proven by a letter from the embassy. Contact the embassy and see what they will accept for the letter. The UK is pretty easy because you can even do it by mail.

Info on this webpage from embassy website: http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for...ng-in-thailand/

Although the rules changed 25th November , they really did not get round to informing people until December, so she probably would not have known about the change.

As said you need 400,000 Baht in a Thai bank OR 40,000 Baht a month salary which must be yours, not your Wife's. Info. here regarding the Embassy Letter. http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for...ng-in-thailand/

anyone care to speculate what the Thai immigration position would be on the 400,000 baht for a married, non 'O' extension being held in a foreign currency equivalent in an account in an international bank (Citibank, HSBC, etc) in Thailand?...would they accept this arrangement or not?

maybe too much for smaller, provincial immigration offices to get their heads around...

anyone care to speculate what the Thai immigration position would be on the 400,000 baht for a married, non 'O' extension being held in a foreign currency equivalent in an account in an international bank (Citibank, HSBC, etc) in Thailand?...would they accept this arrangement or not?

maybe too much for smaller, provincial immigration offices to get their heads around...

It has been reported that some offices will accept a foreign currency account. It takes a special letter from the bank stating the account balance in baht.

You would need to ask the Kanchanaburi office to get a definitive answer.

For contact info see this webpage: http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/ba...hp?page=central