Insufficient Funds For 1year Extension

[Daffy D]

Having been in LOS long enough to spend most of my money on beer and bar girls and the remainder on wife kids and all that goes with that. I've got very little in the bank and rely for daily living on the monthly UK Government Pension cheque.

In the past few years I've have been able to wriggle through the yearly visa extension by quoting the "over 50 with child no money" rule but they changed that recently and now the requirement is 400K in the bank or income of 40k per month.

I don't have the required amount in the bank and with the current exchange rates the monthly pension is a few thousand Baht below the required monthly income of 40k.

The British Embassy supplied the required "Proof of Income" letter. Their letter confirms my monthly income in UK Pounds but as mentioned with the exchange rate being what it is at the moment it falls a few thousand baht short of the required 40K.

There is a clause in the visa regulations (2.18) which sayes "In other necessary circumstances The Immigration (officers) may approve on case to case basis" Which means that even if you don't have the requisite finances it is possible for an officer approve your application.

With nothing to loose and the above clause highlighted in our copy of the regulations we went to Krabi Immigration and presented the application.

We have been dealing with Krabi Immigration for some years so they have got to know us a bit so maybe that helped or perhaps it was the way we presented the application. Have to say that the wife is ace at getting the paperwork organized. She always leves it to the last minute but then copies, scans and prints out all the necessary documents and put it all neatly into three folders, original and two sets of copies. Each time the Immigration guy wanted something she would whip it out of one of the folders and present it to him, he was impressed and said so. Nice to be appreciated.

The Immigration guy looked through all the papers and asked what the exchange rate was, which we showed him, and obviously it did not meet the financial requirements. so our application had to be passed onto the area HQ.

I got the 30 day "Under consideration" stamp so at least the application was not rejected there and then.

Over the following weeks I got several phone calls from "our" Immigration officer clarifying several points in the application. One of these calls was to say that I did not meet the monthly income requirement but if they were to multiply the monthly income by 12 the annual income would be more than the 400K required in the bank and "though we did not have the actual amount in the bank he would put forward that we met the requirement" (Think about that for a moment - that guy is No.1)

I got the year extension due, I'm sure to "our" Immigration people trying their best for us.

Thank you Krabi Immigration, I hope the same nice people will still be there when I have to repeat my application next year (or the exchange rate improves in our favor)

[RAZZELL]

Buy him a bottle

RAZZ

[chiang mai]

Well done, congratulations.

[tripplejjj]

This is a great news. I hope every one who read this pass it on to others who aren't able to meet the financial requirements. It is extremely important also to have all the documentations organized and available.

[gpdjohn]

Concur with Razz..

Buy 'em a bottle.

[Maizefarmer]

Daffy D

........... make sure your ever so helpful immigration gets an "acknowledgement" of sorts - he'll appreciate that no less than you appreciated his attitude towards your application. Good 4 U - enjoy 2010.

[WeeGB]

Good to hear you're still with us Daffy.

Might be worth considering if you can make savings in what you spend, with a view to getting your bank balance up a bit before next year. I know you can't combine the bank balance & income for your visa, but it may help prove you can live comfortably, on what you do get....you may not be so lucky next year, if the exchange rate is still so poor, and you get a different officer. Hard to save with a family, but may be worth considering.

Your wife sounds like a diamond, BTW, good luck to you both for the future.

[Naam]

Concur with Razz..

Buy 'em a bottle.

or two

[Colabamumbai]

Nice to hear about the positive things that Thai Immigration does for foreigners.

[Mario2008]

There are some immigration officers that are very difficult, but there are also many immigration officers who are a real credit and extremly helpful and understanding. More than we might think, as we often only see the complaints.

[PoorSucker]

Congrats Daffy.

[true blue]

Congrats Daffy.

nice to hear some positive news,in todays climate.hope you bought the missus something nice,as well as looking after the immagration guy,lol.

[antony77]

There are some immigration officers that are very difficult, but there are also many immigration officers who are a real credit and extremly helpful and understanding. More than we might think, as we often only see the complaints.

I am sure it is just a question of attitude. Dress nicely. Be very polite. Sawatdee them in Thai. Have all your documents in order. Be patient and you normally will find the immigration officers very pleasant and helpful. If you want to live here you should learn to speak enough Thai to get by. I only speak Thai when dealing with Immigration and I have never had the slightest problem in the many years I have been here.

[RedBullHorn]

Second that!...I've witness a few applicants who are actually the difficult ones. One of them was out right rude and demanding, together with his wife, was making a big fuss over the counter, the wife was over dress with lot of jewelleries to impress...i think the gold she wore totaling about 30 Baht in weight...LOL...The farang was in singlet and beach short. They demand the officer to make a pass on their document which was not in order (didn't have this didn't have that) 4 officers including the " loy tam luat tor " (she in charge in the front office) had to tell them off.

I think one shouldn't make the officers loose face in front of a crowd....Dress well, be polite and well manners and get paperwork in order. If you can read the officer's facial expression when he flip and check the paperworks and realise this is missing and that is missing, then compare his facial expression to those applicants who got his paperworks in order...big different, if one makes their live easy...or in case need help to sort out paperwork and criteria requirement, be polite and good manners, they will be very helpful and nice.

[Colabamumbai]

Second that!...I've witness a few applicants who are actually the difficult ones. One of them was out right rude and demanding, together with his wife, was making a big fuss over the counter, the wife was over dress with lot of jewelleries to impress...i think the gold she wore totaling about 30 Baht in weight...LOL...The farang was in singlet and beach short. They demand the officer to make a pass on their document which was not in order (didn't have this didn't have that) 4 officers including the " loy tam luat tor " (she in charge in the front office) had to tell them off.

I think one shouldn't make the officers loose face in front of a crowd....Dress well, be polite and well manners and get paperwork in order. If you can read the officer's facial expression when he flip and check the paperworks and realise this is missing and that is missing, then compare his facial expression to those applicants who got his paperworks in order...big different, if one makes their live easy...or in case need help to sort out paperwork and criteria requirement, be polite and good manners, they will be very helpful and nice.

The way you treat others in life is they way that you will be treated. It is the law of universal energy. What goes out comes back, negative or positive. It all starts with the thought, before it is even communicated. Pure thoughts get pure responses.