Retirement Visa Income

[Eff1n2ret]

Just thinking ahead, having got my 'O' Visa from Hull. I can qualify on the basis of income, I don't want to keep a large deposit in Thailand. My pensions will be paid into my UK bank, who are aware that I will be abroad for an extended period, as are my credit card issuers.

I take it that the initial 1-year extension is on the basis of pension letters which I get accredited at the British Embassy. So 1 year later, when I re-apply, is that again on the basis of evidence of the source of income, or actual transfers into my Thai account? The notes on the Hull Consulate website imply the latter, but I just wondered if that is the way it's done in practice.

The reason I ask is that if I were to make a few purchases with my UK credit card, which would be paid off from my UK bank, I can't show that as income into Thailand, even though I will have spent it there - so I'll have to watch what I spend on the card. I realise the longterm answer is to get a Thai credit card, which I intend to try for when I've uprated my banking arrangements there, currently only a passbook account with ATM card.

[Jingthing]

No, if your income is over 65K baht per month, you can qualify for retirement extensions based on a letter from your embassy proving the income. Immigration is not interested in your transfers into Thailand if you are qualifying in that way. You will not have to do any or prove any transfers into Thailand whatsoever. You should open a Thai bank account and keep at least a small amount in it. This is for your convenience and also some immigration offices require you to show at least a small Thai bank account even if qualifying fully with their pension. Basically, your concerns are totally groundless, which is good news.

Edited October 1, 2009 by Jingthing

[thaiphoon]

When you apply for extension of stay based on retirement using the income option, you will need to obtain a letter from your embassy confirming your income/pension. That letter you show to immigration as part of the application process for extension of stay. There is no requirement for such income to be sent to/maintained in Thai bank account.

[Eff1n2ret]

Thanks for those replies, which confirm what I thought is the case. The reason I raised the query is this on the advice sheet issued by the Hull Consulate:-

"When you have received your ”O” visa you need to ensure you have all of the following documents which you must

take with you for presentation at the “Thai Immigration Bureau” in Bangkok (Thai Immigration Bureau, Section 1,

Sub Division 1, Soi Suan Plu, off South Sathorn Road, Sathorn District, Bangkok 10120 - tel: 00 66-22873101-10

Extension 2236) or in the town close to where you will be living in your retirement:-

1) Passport containing your “O” visa, passport to be valid for at least one year from date of entering Thailand.

2) Three “Additional Application Form for Non-Immigrant ‘O-A’ Visa” duly completed and with recent passport

type photograph 4cm x 6cm attached to each one – see page 7/8.

3) Subject Access (police) Report – to be no more than 3 months old when presented in Thailand.

4) Medical Report form – to be completed by a doctor in Thailand – see page 8/8.

5) Evidence to show minimum income of 65,000 baht per month going into a bank account in Thailand or minimum 800,000 baht deposited in a bank account in Thailand (a combination may be accepted)."

[thaiphoon]

The page is wrong on all 5 points

1) As long as passport is in date extension of stay will be issued (if meet the requirements)

2) Non O-A visa has nothing to do with extension of stay process and is issued by embassy/consulate abroad and not immigration

3) Police Report - only required for Non O-A visa application abroad, not for application of extension of stay based on retirement in Thailand

4) Medical Report - only required for Non O-A visa application abroad, not for application of extension of stay based on retirement in Thailand

5) Under income option monies do not have to go through bank account in Thailand

You should apply for extension of stay during the last 30 days of your permission to stay, bringing with you the wife (will be interviewed), her ID card, tabbien bahn (house book), marriage certificate, photos together around the home, map to home, completed Form TM7, copies of passport/TM6 departure card and current passport sized photos. Some offices are now asking also for copy of marriage register. Cost 1,900 baht.

[lopburi3]

Hull information is false:

2. No such form is used in Thailand.

3. No such report is required in Thailand.

4. That requirement ended years ago.

5. There is no such requirement - what is required is Embassy letter of 65k per month pension/income or 800k/bank latter of account in Thailand for 2 months or a combination to equal 800k.

[Eff1n2ret]

Thanks again for those comments Thaiphoon and Lopburi - the whole thing gets curiouser and curiouser, and does not reflect the normally glowing reputation of the Hull Consulate. Their service is very good, postal application sent and received back within 4 days, but their advice looks thoroughly suspect.

I actually emailed them back in August regarding the choice between a spouse visa or a retirement visa, and opted for the latter because it appeared that there is less paperwork to produce - you're old enough, you've got the income and/or the dosh in the bank and that's it. But the Consulate specifically confirmed that the Subject access report from the police is required, not by them, but in Thailand - and it's only valid for their purposes for 90 days from date of issue. The Hampshire Police website says it takes about 40 days, in the event I got it in about a month, dated 25th September. I'm travelling on 20th October, so effectively, if the Police Report was required I'd have to apply for an extension after I've only been there for 2 months.

To cap it all, when I was completing the Hull application form, it only offered a Multiple Entry visa at £100. So I phoned them up, and a woman told me that there was a single entry visa (£45), but it was up to me whether I wanted to run the risk of not being able to get the one-year extension before the 90 days entry expired, and having to return to the UK. In retrospect I see all this was nonsense, but at the time I filled in the form for multiple entry. I now have same, valid until 30th Sept 2010, which means I will have to do 90-day border runs, which is not what I intended.

I feel like I've been suckered out of £55, and if I go along for a 1-year extension within the first 90 days I may subject to the whim of some Immigration Officer who will tell me to bu33er off because I've already got a 1-year visa

[thaiphoon]

Oh dear! As you say, this is not the normal high quality service we see from Hull.

We always suggest applying for extension of stay as early as possible in case immigration ask for additional papers, but if on single entry visa and in the unlikely event you ran out of time you would not have to go back to the UK as said, but could get a either another single entry Non-O visa from neighbouring consulate and then apply for extension of stay (or obtain tourist visa from neighbouring consulate and go through 2 step conversion process to Non-O visa and then apply for extension of stay).

As said in my earlier post, you can apply for the extension of stay anytime during the last 30 days of your permission to stay, and you do not have to wait the full 12 months before applying. That will at least avoid you having to do border runs. A single entry Non-O visa was all you really needed.

Edited October 1, 2009 by thaiphoon

[lopburi3]

There is no need for a multi entry visa for you. For the Consulate it means more income.

[Eff1n2ret]

"As said in my earlier post, you can apply for the extension of stay anytime during the last 30 days of your permission to stay, and you do not have to wait the full 12 months before applying. That will at least avoid you having to do border runs. A single entry Non-O visa was all you really needed."

Yes, as I thought. However, having got the 12-month multi, I might use the border runs for a bit of sight-seeing anyway, particularly as I booked a return ticket for 1st June to get a few weeks back in the UK next summer. If I really don't need a police report to get an extension, I might as well leave it until nearer the 12 months expiry to apply for it.

Funny thing about the police report requirement, though. I can see the logic of requiring one to get an 'O' visa abroad, as it might deter a few undesirable characters, but Hull didn't ask for it. Then again, perhaps there's not much point if someone on a 30-day visit stamp can apply for an extension in Thailand.

Thanks anyway.

[Lite Beer]

A Police Report is not a requirement for a Non O Visa.

[TPI]

Oh dear! As you say, this is not the normal high quality service we see from Hull.

We always suggest applying for extension of stay as early as possible in case immigration ask for additional papers, but if on single entry visa and in the unlikely event you ran out of time you would not have to go back to the UK as said, but could get a either another single entry Non-O visa from neighbouring consulate and then apply for extension of stay (or obtain tourist visa from neighbouring consulate and go through 2 step conversion process to Non-O visa and then apply for extension of stay).

As said in my earlier post, you can apply for the extension of stay anytime during the last 30 days of your permission to stay, and you do not have to wait the full 12 months before applying. That will at least avoid you having to do border runs. A single entry Non-O visa was all you really needed.

Gee, nothing but good advice on this thread!

[mahtin]

Gee, nothing but good advice on this thread!

Absolutely the best resource on the planet

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Hull information is false:

2. No such form is used in Thailand.

3. No such report is required in Thailand.

4. That requirement ended years ago.

5. There is no such requirement - what is required is Embassy letter of 65k per month pension/income or 800k/bank latter of account in Thailand for 2 months or a combination to equal 800k.

Immigration have just relocated their offices too.

[lopburi3]

I was giving them that one as move was rather recent.

[RubbaJohnny]

Good luck

I have received sound invalubale visa information from the experienced memebers here.

I cannot thank them or recommend a regular glance here too highly.

Until you hold a Thaii passport your relationship with Immigration is never really over.

They keep tweaking the regulations to keep us al on our toes.

However sincere folks with cash and wits can almost always find a smoother path.

Reading recently we may all live too 100 I wished I bought my own photocopier on arrival.

I am joking but if you remain hereabouts you'll never believe how many trees are turned into copies.

Convemiently there are usually machines and photo entrepreneurs opposite or inside the immi.driving licence and ampur offices.

You may wish to get a spare visa card while eleigible to a safe UK address as Thai banks are very tight on issuing to foreigners even secued agains asets as they got burned in 1997 slump .

Chok dee welcome to the land of Copiers!

Edited October 2, 2009 by RubbaJohnny

[JimGant]

Hull does great work -- really customer oriented. But for several years now their website info has been wrong when it comes to extending one's stay in Thailand.

They have been advised (by several of us here), but responded that their info is based on what they received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). And, by golly, they're right -- the MFA website describes how to get an "O-A" visa in Thailand, complete with police and health reports.

Well, talk about bureaucracy -- and hubris -- in action.

The MFA issues visas -- abroad. And if you want to have a one-year "long stay" in Thailand, you get an O-A visa -- abroad. Well, in the recent past, the Immigration Police in Thailand were allowed to issue visas in-country. But this was a convenience issue, using the in-country-isssued Non Imm O visa as a bridge to Immigration's one-year extension of stay stamp. It wasn't the same as issuing a visa good for a one-year stay. But the results were the same. But, as we all know who read this forum, too many seem to equate getting a one-year extension of stay, based on your Non Imm O visa, as getting a Non Imm O-A visa in-country.

And so does MFA. In their world, the only way you can get a one-year 'long stay' is with an O-A visa. I guess they've never cross trained with Immigration. Status thing, no doubt.

And Hull, who marches to MFA's drum, not the Immigration Police's, chooses to go along with this ruse. I imagine they don't want to rock the boat -- Immigration doesn't enter in to keeping their charter. But, I bet they know MFA is off base.

Also, Hull's advice for a multi-entry Non Imm O is also with best intentions -- just out of date. Just a year or so ago, if you were going the money-in-the-bank route for your initial extension of stay, your money had to be in the bank for 3-months. If you had to establish a bank account to accomplish this, your single entry Non Imm O would have expired before you could apply for your extension. Now the requirement is 2 months.

So, Hull was just being helpful by suggesting a multiple entry Non Imm O visa. But, as with other things, they need to get up-to-date.

[Somrak]

Immigration is not interested in your transfers into Thailand if you are qualifying in that way. You will not have to do any or prove any transfers into Thailand whatsoever.

I the notheast they maybe still like to see your transfers.

In Nong Kai an Nakon Phanom you will have to show the transfers and you have still to show a med. certificate.

TiT

[Jingthing]

Immigration is not interested in your transfers into Thailand if you are qualifying in that way. You will not have to do any or prove any transfers into Thailand whatsoever.

I the notheast they maybe still like to see your transfers.

In Nong Kai an Nakon Phanom you will have to show the transfers and you have still to show a med. certificate.

TiT

Yes, there are usually a few "outlier" immigration offices that have variant enforcement rules. I was talking generally for all of Thailand.

[Eff1n2ret]

Hull does great work -- really customer oriented. But for several years now their website info has been wrong when it comes to extending one's stay in Thailand.

They have been advised (by several of us here), but responded that their info is based on what they received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). And, by golly, they're right -- the MFA website describes how to get an "O-A" visa in Thailand, complete with police and health reports.

Well, talk about bureaucracy -- and hubris -- in action.

The MFA issues visas -- abroad. And if you want to have a one-year "long stay" in Thailand, you get an O-A visa -- abroad. Well, in the recent past, the Immigration Police in Thailand were allowed to issue visas in-country. But this was a convenience issue, using the in-country-isssued Non Imm O visa as a bridge to Immigration's one-year extension of stay stamp. It wasn't the same as issuing a visa good for a one-year stay. But the results were the same. But, as we all know who read this forum, too many seem to equate getting a one-year extension of stay, based on your Non Imm O visa, as getting a Non Imm O-A visa in-country.

And so does MFA. In their world, the only way you can get a one-year 'long stay' is with an O-A visa. I guess they've never cross trained with Immigration. Status thing, no doubt.

And Hull, who marches to MFA's drum, not the Immigration Police's, chooses to go along with this ruse. I imagine they don't want to rock the boat -- Immigration doesn't enter in to keeping their charter. But, I bet they know MFA is off base.

Also, Hull's advice for a multi-entry Non Imm O is also with best intentions -- just out of date. Just a year or so ago, if you were going the money-in-the-bank route for your initial extension of stay, your money had to be in the bank for 3-months. If you had to establish a bank account to accomplish this, your single entry Non Imm O would have expired before you could apply for your extension. Now the requirement is 2 months.

So, Hull was just being helpful by suggesting a multiple entry Non Imm O visa. But, as with other things, they need to get up-to-date.

Thanks for that - a model of clarity