Financial Documentation For Extension

[Murgatroyd]

Last year I obtained a one year extension of stay in Thailand based on Marriage to a Thai citizen and used the Lump sum financial requirement by having in excess of 400,000 Bhat, peoperly seasoned in a Thai bank.

However, when I was about to transfer the money to my Thai bank at the end of last year (2010) so that it would be properly seasoned in time for this years extension application the exchange rate was so poor that I delayed doing the transfer until the rate improved. It didn't improve, in fact it continued to drop like a rock.

I must now base my application on income rather than a Lump sum.

I have an income of about £950 (or about 45.000 Baht) per month from investments in the UK... NB: Investments... NOT a Pension.

I know that I must go to the UK embassy and provide them with details of this income to obtain a letter that certifies that I have this income. I know that this will cost me several thousand Baht and must be paid for by way of a bankers draft.

Question 1: Where do I get this bankers draft?

On re reading the list of documentation required for my extention application I saw to my horror that in the section relating to an application based on income, the paperwork asked for details of my Pension, and would require me to provide proof of this pension, tax paperwork, and certification of this from the Thai Chancellery.

Now I cannot provide any details of my pension because I don't have one.

I cannot provide details of tax payments because these are subtracted by my bank before the remaining interest is paid into my UK account.

I am now beginning to panic because in the absence of these pieces of non-obtainable paperwork I am worried that my application for my extension will be denied.

I no longer have sufficient funds in my UK account to transfer to Thailand to qualify under the lump sum route, and even if I did the funds would not be correctly seasoned. ( I have recently paid out a lot of cash for my wife's cancer treatment and for an expensive operation, This has depleted my funds to the extent that the £8500 i would need is no longer available).

Has anyone here recently successfully applied for a one year Extension of Stay based on Marriage and used the income route? If so, could you give me some advice on how to proceed?

I am a UK citizen, I am 54 years old. Whilst my income is sufficient for the 40,000 Baht per month requirement for an extension based on marriage, it won't stretch to the 65,000 Baht required for an extension based on retirement, so that option is not available to me.

[Lite Beer]

I can only go by what it says on the British Embassy website

Proof of Income Letters

British nationals applying for a visa, or an extension of a visa, with the Thai Immigration Bureau may be asked to obtain a letter from us verifying their income. To obtain the letter you must be registered with us. We will also need to see a copy of your passport and, either bank statements for the previous 3 months, or the original evidence of your pension or income. We charge a fee of THB 2,315 for the letter. You can also apply for a proof of income letter by post. To apply by post you must ensure that the above documentation is included and that the total amount of pension or income you receive is clearly stated. You can only pay in the following ways;

[terak69]

I would speak to the UK Embassy / Consulate and ask them what requirements would full fill the 40,000 baht per month required for Marriage Visa. Your investment income sound secure and would not be surprised if that was acceptable.

Thai immigration is only looking for the Embassy letter so that they can tick that box for extension.

[lopburi3]

It appears you need to obtain Embassy letter for extension regardless so I would be asking them exactly what they require (telling them your circumstances. Expect it varies by what your source of funds is.

For retirement you can use a combination of income and bank funds so in theory you could probably qualify with about 250k in bank account (unseasoned) but you would still need Embassy letter.

You can obtain 60 day extension to visit wife without financial proof.

You can obtain one year multi entry non immigrant O visa from KL with proof of 100k in a bank account. Would require 90 day trips but something to consider if other methods fail.

[Murgatroyd]

Thanks Guys...

The application will be made at the Samut Prakan immigration office.

How soon before the application must the letter be obtained from the UK embassy?

My income is derived from monthly payments from two UK based income bonds and from a quarterly payment from my mothers UK account from income from funds she holds for me.

I am registered with the UK embassy as living in Thailand.

Edited February 24, 2011 by Murgatroyd

[Listener]

When I first came to Thailand, I was required to get a letter from Embassy. The whole exercise took about 2 weeks by post.. The letter of verification I got was based on a letter from an agent in the UK who was leasing my proeperty which I submitted to embassy. I would suggest you submit various documents re your income status etc.

[CharlieH]

Interestingly and contrary to the Brit Embasy website, when I went back in August with the cheque for the payment the lady said

" cash would have been fine".....amazing !,

I just produced bank statements (printed from online account) showing the "IN's" for the last 6 months, detailed them on a seperate piece of paper, with paid in dates, totalled them, divided by number of months (6) shown to give average monthly figure and then multiplied that by 12 to give annual figure. They accepted it without any problem and issued the letter with the annual figure stated within it.

When presenting that letter to the Immigration they used the Bangkok Bank exchange rate on the day to convert it to baht.

Hope this helps.

[Sophon]

My income is derived from monthly payments from two UK based income bonds and from a quarterly payment from my mothers UK account from income from funds she holds for me.

The last part sounds iffy to me. If your mother holds the funds for you, wouldn't it then technically be your mothers income, and the transfer to you a gift from her to you (which probably wouldn't qualify as income). Of course, this depends on exactly what you mean by her "holding the funds for you".

But, as mentioned, in the end it's up to your embassy on what they will accept as income and what documentation they require, so you will have to ask them.

Sophon

[Murgatroyd]

Sophon, That's a good point, but I can show my bank statements to prove that that money has been transferred into my Uk Bank account every 3 months for the last three years.

On a previous visit to the embassy about three years ago (Panic over a wrong stamp im my passport... I had been told to get a new visa... in the end I just had to get the stamp corrected), the embassy were happy enough to count those payments as income.

What worries me more is the Tax situation... as my investment income is taxed at source by the bank I don't pay any Thai tax, given that none of my income is earned in Thailand. On that basis I cannot show any tax documentation let alone have non existant tax payments certified by the Thai chancellery.

When I go to get the letter from the embassy do I pay for it when I first go in or the next day when I pick it up?

[lopburi3]

There is no such requirement for foreign earnings - only if you were using local employment income would that be a requirement (instead of Embassy letter).

[beano2274]

You require proof of earnings and to be registered with the Embassy as well as your passport.

I used to get a letter from my Uni, take it to the Embassy, pay the cash and collect the letter the next day.

They do not know the legal requirements from the Immigration office, just show them the proof and tell them to type the letter with the amount being over 40,000baht and hey presto new extension on the way.

[Robby nz]

Have posted on this before but been trying to do some maths to work out when it will be the best time for me to convert from the present Tourist visa to an O based on retirement, like when I can meet the financial requirements.

I have a couple or some questions on this:

First my overseas income is a combination of fortnightly payments and quarterly payments, dont know if immigration will accept quarterly payments / by three as monthly payments?

Second:

As I posted before from the NZ embassy:

The process is: You make a statutory declaration at the embassy, declaring what your income is. You should provide some supporting evidence of this. We put a 'seen at embassy' stamp on the supporting documents, such as copies of bank statements (i.e. we don't certify it as correct).

Generally people combine their different income sources to give the total income - i.e. interest earned plus superannuation.

It seems from this that they do not give a letter only say they have seen the bank statements or whatever and do not certify them as correct.

Would this be acceptable to immigration? Anyone from NZ done this?

Third:

I assume (common sense) that immigration take the monthly income and x by twelve then take the resulting from 800kb, or do they have a different way of doing things?

Four:

Must you do all this at your local office?

I ask this because the office nearest is fairly new and seems to mostly handle immigrant workers, also very little english, was thinking they may not have done this before so it could be a problem.

[Mario2008]

You wan to convert from a tourist visa entry into a non-immigrant. I suspect you will have to go to Bangkok for that, as most immigration offices don't do that anymore.

The rule for a combination of incomeand money is in the bank is that the yearly income together with the money in the bank must be at least 800,000 baht.

Immigration will be familiar with your embassies letter and will accept it. It is always wise to take extra proof of income with you to immigration, but only show when asked for it.

After the conversion you will have to deal with your local office.

[TacoBoy]

Don't think there is any requirment from foreign Embassies like the UK that your money be seasoned in a Thai Bank.

Surely, they are willing to accept Money in your UK Bank. Easier for them to verify anyhow.

AS someone else replied earlier that you can use a combined formula of bank accounts and annual income to meet the required monetary support amounts.

[lopburi3]

Embassy letter is for income/pension - not for bank balance. Bank balance method is only available for money inside Thailand.

[TacoBoy]

Thanks for clarifying and fine tuning lopburi3