I have heard that you can obtain multi entry o visa at kota Bahru Malaysia can anyone confirm this before I make the trip. I am currently on a retirement visa however each year it seems to get more complicated for example last year my pension of 65 k baht per month was not enough on its own although I had all letters from the British embassy they immigration were not happy that I was only bringing money into Thailand 4 times a year and as it appears that you are not protected by the thai banks should they go bust I am reluctant to hold large sums of money here can anyone offer advice.

I suspect that multi entry would be available only with marriage paperwork but have not seen enough reports from there to be sure (memory takes a lot of tweaking to function).

...I am currently on a retirement visa however each year it seems to get more complicated for example last year my pension of 65 k baht per month was not enough on its own although I had all letters from the British embassy they immigration were not happy that I was only bringing money into Thailand 4 times a year...

That was an unusual comment for an immigration officer to make. Which immigration office was that?

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Maestro

...I am currently on a retirement visa however each year it seems to get more complicated for example last year my pension of 65 k baht per month was not enough on its own although I had all letters from the British embassy they immigration were not happy that I was only bringing money into Thailand 4 times a year...

That was an unusual comment for an immigration officer to make. Which immigration office was that?

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Maestro

It was at Koh samui

I suspect that multi entry would be available only with marriage paperwork but have not seen enough reports from there to be sure (memory takes a lot of tweaking to function).

do you mean marriage to a thai or as in my case someone from my own country

It was at Koh samui

The infamous Ko Samui immgration office.

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Maestro

Was thinking of marriage to a Thai - where often they will issue a multi entry with some show of money in a bank account. Not sure if the will do the same for retirement.

You could try contacting them. Contact info is on website but there is no other usefull information on it. http://www.thaiembassy.org/kotabharu

You should try for the extension first. I would not worry about a Thai bank going bust as long as it's one of the big 3 or 4. The goverment guarantees all deposits.

Samui is one of those offices that wants to see a bank book as a back up to the income letter.

The immigration officer was probably trying to intimidate you so you would pay the extra fee for your extension (no receipt provided).

The Thai cabinet has approved the extension of the 100% state guarantee on bank deposits until 10 Aug 2011. The Deposit Insurance Act passed in August 2008 guaranteed bank deposits for one year, with progressive reductions over the next three years. Coverage would have fallen to 100 million baht per customer per bank from August 2009 and to 50 million from August 2010. By 2012, deposit coverage would be limited to one million baht per client per institution.