Retirement Visa Question - Money Requirements

[ThaiRobert3]

Hello. I would be obliged if someone could help me with a query concerning retirement visa monetary rules.

I know that the sum of 800,000 bhat is the minimum figure to be quantified as being on bank deposit. It is the combination of pension and bank balance i a slightly unclear on.

If for example i as a 53 year old from England had a pension of £1,000 which equates to 47,000 bhat at current exchange rates, how much would be required to be on deposit at the bank to meet retirement visa requirements.

Regards

Thai Rob

[Jingthing]

Good question. The variable is the exact exchange rate that your local immigration office uses on the date you make your retirement extension application. That is a moving target. The prudent thing is to liberally overfund your account to be confident that currency fluctuations won't nix your application. The good news for those qualifying using the combination method is that the banked money does not need to be seasoned at all. In other words, you could top off your bank account the day before your application to meet the requirements if you needed to.

I am sure someone else here has some more specialized knowledge about which specific currency exchange source is used by immigration.

Edited March 28, 2010 by Jingthing

[Prajak]

It is quite simple. A 1,000 gbp per month (I assume per month) will be about 560,000 thb per year. You need 800,000 in the combination on the day you apply. So you need approx 250,000 bath in the bank. All money coming from abroad. I transfer money per 3 or 4 months so one month before I am due for my next extension (ret extension) I count the amounts in the past 11 months (in baht of course) and make an extra transfer if needed.

Unfortunately, the embassy where I ask my income statement gives this statement on the exchange rate as on the day I apply for that letter. So that can be less (or more....) than the money I actually got in my bankaccount for living.

So go on calculating and mind the rules !

[Jingthing]

I'm just saying be careful about cutting the bank account margin of error to the bone. There are two variables that could bite you if you do that -- a market movement against you and assuming a different exchange rate source than immigration uses. They will not be the slightest bit interested in your source if they use a different one.

Edited March 28, 2010 by Jingthing

[BWPattaya]

The letter I get from the British Embassy always say what income I get in British Pounds. They never convert it to Thai Baht.

[thaiphoon]

Using the figures in the Op's example:

47k per month x 12 = 564k which would mean bank funds of 236k required to top up to 800k.

But, as said, leave plenty of headroom for exchange rate movements. Not sure of source of information used by immigration for exchange rate calculation. There have been some reports of immigration asking the applicant for the exchange rate, so always suggest taking copy of latest rates printed from internet on day of application.