One Year Extension, Income Verification

[Awk]

I've applied twice for a one year non-imm o extension due to marriage at Chiang Mai. Each time I've shown up with a paper

from my embassy stating my income, which is enough I thought based on what I've read here.

Each time I've been asked for additional verification in the form of a paper from the foreign company paying my salary.

The two times I dealt with two different immigration people also.

I've not seen mention of this requirement elsewhere here, and I'm curious as to how common this is?

For what it's worth, my embassy is in Europe, and is quite strict concerning the documentation they want to see

before they will issue the paper (unlike at least one other embassy, from what I've read here).

Other people, at least in Chiang Mai, going this route might want to be aware of this. They did not want to

accept a copy (emailed me from company HR and then printed out locally) either.

[kerryk]

Is it only for marriage visa's?

[thequietman]

i had the same problem.not happy with affadavit from embassy anymore. they want additional paperwork. when you have what they ask for, they just add another document they need. just their roundabout way of getting you to ask if there is anyway i can make this go smoother. and cue tea money. it would be nice if a government official could just come to work one day every year and do an honest days work. as far as i know the immigration site only requests affadavit from your embassy. but hey what do they know. the people at your local immigration office always know better.

[beano2274]

Never been asked, just only gave them the Embassy letter and all was okay, Bangkok area though

[Tafia]

i had the same problem.not happy with affadavit from embassy anymore. they want additional paperwork. when you have what they ask for, they just add another document they need. just their roundabout way of getting you to ask if there is anyway i can make this go smoother. and cue tea money. it would be nice if a government official could just come to work one day every year and do an honest days work. as far as i know the immigration site only requests affadavit from your embassy. but hey what do they know. the people at your local immigration office always know better.

This was raised sometime ago when someone was told that in the future the affidavit would require supporting evidence, I believe that has always been the case and that Immigration have been happy until now to accept it.

(It is possible some checks have been made by some authority and affidavits have found to be false, its the usual reason for tightening the screw)

I use the British Embassy and they wont issue a letter without supporting evidence.

Edited April 23, 2011 by Tafia

[theoldgit]

If this is the case it's ridiculous that we have to buy a letter from our respective embassy, which in my case is 2340 Baht - more than the cost of the actual extension.

[damian]

Did my extension yesterday at CW.

For Aussies the Aus embassy does not issue letters and only require you to fill out a stat dec with what ever you want to say, hand over 620 baht and they then stamp it and away you go. On the stat dec I simply state that I transfer funds on a monthly basis above 40k into my Bangkok bank account. I have done it this way for the last 4 extensions without problems showing copies of the bank book with the relevant FTT highlighted.

Yesterday she asked me for the supporting documents I showed the embassy to verify my income. I told her that the Auss embassy is not like the others and they only certify stat decs and dont ask for any supporting docs. I told her I run my own business and work for many different clients around the world. They pay me into my offshore account and I transfer to Bangkok each month for living expenses. Luckily I had my transfer records from my offshore bank to my BKK bank and I showed her these and she seemed to be happy and took copies of the last 3 months transfers. When I went to the captain for final approval of the paper work she also questioned the supporting docs and when I showed here the transfer records she nodded and said "ok".

For next year though I will print out my offshore bank statement showing the income records from my clients and still get the standard stat dec. Just a new addition to the list. This should be more than satisfactory.

[Tafia]

If this is the case it's ridiculous that we have to buy a letter from our respective embassy, which in my case is 2340 Baht - more than the cost of the actual extension.

The letter is only necessary if using the income or combined income/cash in bank route, a letter from the Embassy is not required for the 'cash in bank' route.

Its the Embassy charges, as with all things British, bloody expensive!!

[tijnebijn]

i had the same problem.not happy with affadavit from embassy anymore. they want additional paperwork. when you have what they ask for, they just add another document they need. just their roundabout way of getting you to ask if there is anyway i can make this go smoother. and cue tea money. it would be nice if a government official could just come to work one day every year and do an honest days work. as far as i know the immigration site only requests affadavit from your embassy. but hey what do they know. the people at your local immigration office always know better.

This was raised sometime ago when someone was told that in the future the affidavit would require supporting evidence, I believe that has always been the case and that Immigration have been happy until now to accept it.

(It is possible some checks have been made by some authority and affidavits have found to be false, its the usual reason for tightening the screw)

I use the British Embassy and they wont issue a letter without supporting evidence.

I think perhaps its about they know very well now Americans and now I read also Austalians do not need additional evidence for them to give them an affidavit , European countries have to show it , not sure what the nationality of the Op is and the members who stated they had the same kind of problems .

To be sure whats going on it might be interesting to know exactly the facts , think its normal from the officer if its the case the foreigner who didn't had to show any documents to its embasssy they want to double check , they are doing their job .

Thats why there are not too many reports about this I guess .

[Awk]

i had the same problem.not happy with affadavit from embassy anymore. they want additional paperwork. when you have what they ask for, they just add another document they need. just their roundabout way of getting you to ask if there is anyway i can make this go smoother. and cue tea money. it would be nice if a government official could just come to work one day every year and do an honest days work. as far as i know the immigration site only requests affadavit from your embassy. but hey what do they know. the people at your local immigration office always know better.

This was raised sometime ago when someone was told that in the future the affidavit would require supporting evidence, I believe that has always been the case and that Immigration have been happy until now to accept it.

(It is possible some checks have been made by some authority and affidavits have found to be false, its the usual reason for tightening the screw)

I use the British Embassy and they wont issue a letter without supporting evidence.

I think perhaps its about they know very well now Americans and now I read also Austalians do not need additional evidence for them to give them an affidavit , European countries have to show it , not sure what the nationality of the Op is and the members who stated they had the same kind of problems .

To be sure whats going on it might be interesting to know exactly the facts , think its normal from the officer if its the case the foreigner who didn't had to show any documents to its embasssy they want to double check , they are doing their job .

Thats why there are not too many reports about this I guess .

If you read the original post, you will see the OP indicates his European embassy is quite stringent as to

what documents it requires before issuing the affidavit.

I did not sense this as a request for tea-money, but I could be wrong, as I did not bother pursuing the matter further;

I was fairly confident I could get the supporting documents in time and return on another occasion.

Anyway, as now at least one other poster has indicated this occurs at other offices also (don't know where "CW" is, but guess it's

not in Chiang Mai ;-), my curiosity is somewhat satisfied.

Hopefully others searching for the requirements for a one-year extension will find this thread also and become aware of

the possibility of being asked for more documents than could otherwise be expected.

[Lite Beer]

don't know where "CW" is, but guess it's

not in Chiang Mai

Chaeng Watthana. Bangkok.

[Dillpickles98]

I have now lived here for a yr on a married 'O' visa, I will get 15 mos out this visa as immigration didn't start the married 'O' visa process until my first 90 day report date, then it took another month to process. I went the income statement route as I like my funds in the U.S. & not bother reporting more than 10k USD in a foriegn bank. The U.S. Embassy Outreach will be in Pattaya June 1. What I need to know is how close in time must the income statement be to the renewal date? My next report date is August 11TH. though my visa expies on Auguts 26. I expect to renew my visa then, but I have heard heresay the income statements must be within days of the renewal date. Anyone with info on that?

I would hate to pay for it here only to be told it is out date, & have to go to Bangkok anyway & pay for another.

[lopburi3]

Have not seen any firm rule - same year or three months seem to be the most common answers so believe you will be fine. Normally only the bank letter must be very current.

[NancyL]

I'm interested in specific recent reports from Chiang Mai.

Hubby is using the income route for retirement extension. When he went into the CM office in October, all he provided was the American Consulate letter. They didn't even ask him the source of his income, let alone want to see proof. His private pension is direct deposited into our BKK account, so he could show them that bank book. His Social Security, however, is deposited into our U.S. credit union account where we use it to pay U.S.-based bills, like insurance and our monthly credit card payments. So far, this system operates well, with the pension covering providing all the cash we need for life here and the SS paying off the credit card bills we rack up, primarily at Rim Ping, Tops and Central Dept store. The only statements we get from the U.S. credit union are ones I print from their website. No bank book or anything more official-looking.

Fortunately, I don't have a problem because we do have 800,000 baht deposited at BKK in my name.

We're actually playing by the rules and declaring his true monthly income on the American Consulate letter. But, we'd be hard-pressed to explain how money going into a U.S. bank account is supporting our life here.

[lopburi3]

But, we'd be hard-pressed to explain how money going into a U.S. bank account is supporting our life here.

Why? You explained you use for card purchases in your post and am sure Immigration can understand that (but they are not asking in any case). I suspect most of us obtaining pensions have them deposited in the US so nothing out of the ordinary (except he has the second source directly deposited here - which might not be a good idea for tax reasons; but likely will never be an issue). The tax treaty (from my reading years ago) does not seem to cover private pensions from the US so could be subject to tax if remitted in the year earned. Government pensions are exempt. He might want to reverse the pension payments to be 100% safe. I assume he is paying tax on both to the US so would not want another claim.

[Dillpickles98]

Have not seen any firm rule - same year or three months seem to be the most common answers so believe you will be fine. Normally only the bank letter must be very current.

Thanks

[NancyL]

Interesting point, Lopburi3. It's my understanding that Bangkok Bank requires SS checks to be deposited to a special account and then the recipient has to visit the bank branch in person to switch the funds over to the blue-book account for access with our ATM card. Apparently it's an arrangement between the U.S. government and Bangkok Bank to make certain the recipient is still alive, I guess. His private pension is directly deposited into the blue-book account, via BKK Bank's NYC branch and we can use an ATM to get that money immediately -- no need for a trip to the bank to transfer funds between accounts.

Yes, we're declaring the income from both sources on our U.S. tax returns. Never occurred to me that Thailand may consider it to be taxable income. The only income tax we've paid is when BKK bank deducts Thai income tax from the paltry interest income we earn from our deposits. The amount is so small that we've never questioned it or thought we had to file some sort of Thai tax return.

But, we'd be hard-pressed to explain how money going into a U.S. bank account is supporting our life here.

Why? You explained you use for card purchases in your post and am sure Immigration can understand that (but they are not asking in any case). I suspect most of us obtaining pensions have them deposited in the US so nothing out of the ordinary (except he has the second source directly deposited here - which might not be a good idea for tax reasons; but likely will never be an issue). The tax treaty (from my reading years ago) does not seem to cover private pensions from the US so could be subject to tax if remitted in the year earned. Government pensions are exempt. He might want to reverse the pension payments to be 100% safe. I assume he is paying tax on both to the US so would not want another claim.

[lopburi3]

Actually a passbook savings account should receive interest as it is tax exempt up to a certain amount and most of use do not exceed that. I have joint account with Thai wife but it never has any tax deductions, unless done in error and then refunds, as happened about 13 years ago. And yes for direct US Government deposit it is supposed to be into a non ATM account so any received after death can be refunded without issues. As I said do not believe it will ever be an issue by reading of the tax treaty seems to show only government paid pensions are exempt from tax payment in Thailand by that paperwork.

An alternative arrangement would be all deposit in US and use ACH transfer to local Bangkok Bank account via Bangkok Bank, New York. This seems to be what a lot of use are using now as charge is less than SWIFT and easy to do online from most banks.

[moe666]

i had the same problem.not happy with affadavit from embassy anymore. they want additional paperwork. when you have what they ask for, they just add another document they need. just their roundabout way of getting you to ask if there is anyway i can make this go smoother. and cue tea money. it would be nice if a government official could just come to work one day every year and do an honest days work. as far as i know the immigration site only requests affadavit from your embassy. but hey what do they know. the people at your local immigration office always know better.

So you can confirm this request for tea money and you have documented it for proof.How much was requested from you.

[Dillpickles98]

Given I seem to be in the company of those who have traveled the road I'm on, would I be correct to assume since I already have had a married 'O' visa, I would not be applying for another, but only applying for a 1 year extension of the one currently on file? I believe form TM-7? I have found nothing on the procedure of obtaining the second, & consecutive married 'o' visa's & what may be required. There are certainly more expats with knowledge in this area here than other forums I have looked at. Given what we went through at Jomtien, last July & August I would much rather have 10 times more than they could ask for than to be shy one document. I intend to provide another 20 photos, of proof we still live as man & wife, in the same residence, which now more appointed than when moved in. I have all ACH wire transfer documents from our U.S. bank & BKK Bank, her tam-boon bond, her birth certificate, school records, Thai I.D. U.S. marriage license, Soc.Sec. Card Green Card, California I.D. card. Proof of retirement income, proof of mutual funds, & proof of other sources of income. which exceed 4 times the required amount.

There is a female agent, desk #5 at Jomtien Pattaya Immigration, that handles only married 'O' visa's & she had us jumping through flaming hoops, until I took my condo general manager, & his friend a retired immigration officer with us. Our lease, was not enough, a letter from the condo jurassic office in Thai notarized, was not enough, even mail addressed to me here where we live we not enough. She didn't like the fact that our primary joint account in the U.S. had both our names on it, so I had to remove her name, although she has her own account. She conducted to interview completely in Thai, didn't know I can speak. Since nothing was directed to me I didn't. So in light of past experience I want to get it right the first time.

Thanks

[moe666]

Yes same as last year. Do you qualify for retirement visa maybe easier for you.

[Dillpickles98]

Yes same as last year. Do you qualify for retirement visa maybe easier for you.

It would certainly be easier, I do qualify, but not what I paid for in the U.S., also I'm looking at permanent residence in 3 yrs. with no visa report dates. Don't really mind the aggravation, its a part of life here. Would just like to be as prepared as I can which is why I'm asking questions now with 3 mos to go. So from what you saying it's not form TM 7 visa extention, but form TM-78 the application form again. I have them both completed, so all I need do is sign & date which it is they want.

Thanks

[lopburi3]

All extensions of stay are from a TM.7 and all require basically the same information each time. As for PR you are aware almost none have been issued for the last 4 years and obtaining without current tax payments in Thailand is very unlikely (it is a point system so if extremely high in one area it might be possible - otherwise not at all likely without 80k per month reported income/tax payments.

[Dillpickles98]

All extensions of stay are from a TM.7 and all require basically the same information each time. As for PR you are aware almost none have been issued for the last 4 years and obtaining without current tax payments in Thailand is very unlikely (it is a point system so if extremely high in one area it might be possible - otherwise not at all likely without 80k per month reported income/tax payments.

Thanks again, wasn't aware about PR's not being issued & should have thought it might have something to do with bleeding you. A buddy from 30 yrs ago has one, he came to Pattaya in 67', but all he mentioned was about the interview process. Started out with a small bar & sandwich shop in Walking Street, the second one there, now owning a multi-million $$$ 4 star hotel, would certainly create a favorable tax liability for the Thai govt. & incentive for issuing one. I had a small restaurant here in the 80's they didn't enforce work permits, or even business licenses, never even a health inspection, if there were health inspectors then. Now as a retired airport police officer, I have no intentions of doing anything I don't want to, so I guess 4 immigration report dates a yr. & a few hrs. minor aggravation for the continued visa extensions a yr is a relatively small annoyance.

While relatively new to Thai-visa, been kicking around LOS for 30 yrs. I'll be back, as next is health insurance questions, presently waiting on acceptance from AA Insurances, Wealthy Healthy Plan, or maybe the new plan called "April". With no health issues now I intend to get older, most people don't die of nothing. Just a saved a buddy thousands $$$, got him here for gallbladder removal, consultation, & testing the day after he arrive, & discharged the next by 4:00PM minus his gallbladder. Arrive on a Sunday & gone the next.

Thanks again