First Request For Retirement Extension

[Jingthing]

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After a frustrating experience to try to get my U.S. bank to transfer my funds to Bangkok Bank - Wells Fargo lied to me about this and had me play their idiotic games of trial transfers, and I was supposed to guess how much money they sent - only to decide they really don't make such transfers to foreign banks after all. But, apart from that I wrote a check and deposited it in Bangkok Bank and the money got here in 4 weeks.

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Regarding Bangkok Bank ACH yes OF COURSE Wells Fargo will do that to Bangkok Bank New York. You didn't understand how to set this up. Of course they will send the trial deposits assuming you properly begin the standard process of setting up a DOMESTIC ACH transfer link. You should have never, ever told them or asked them anything about an ACH transfer internationally. As far as they are concerned, to BB New York, it is domestic. Using BB you can do a DOMESTIC ACH transfer to BB New York (using your Thai bank account number). You should have never guessed the deposit amount. You need to call Bangkok Bank in Thailand and ask them for the EXACT deposit amount in U.S. cents and then you key those into the Wells Fargo website to confirm the link. That is the proper method. You shouldn't blame Wells Fargo when you didn't do the research (info available here and on Bangkok Bank website) about how to do initial setups for ACH transfers to Bangkok Bank.

Again, the trial deposits are STANDARD procedure for setting up initial ACH transfer links. First time only. Wells Fargo wasn't being idiotic.

Also note, if and when you begin the retirement extension system IN Thailand, no you are not required to transfer your stated income into Thailand.

[nidieunimaitre]

Somtimes people get confused about visas.

And yet, everything can be so simple.

I am now looking at an ad, AT THIS VERY PAGE, that prommisses a free ED visa and unlimited stay in Thailand.

[moe666]

The letter fom the bank or embassy is the only thing you need. Best bet go to immigration and get the latest form to make sure nothing is different. Information from the Thai embassy in Hull seems to be out of date.

No it is just wrong for a retirement extension of stay done at immigration inside Thailand.

[ubonjoe]

I think I go to the U.S. Consulate to get proof of my 65,000 b income, O.K. Then I expect I need a letter also from my bank here, which is Bangkok Bank, which is not one of the Thai banks with a connection to American banks.

First question is: does the Thai Immigration require that my monthly income come into a Thai bank?

Bangkok Bank does have a US branch where you can send funds using domestic wire transfer services which is much less than SWIFT transfers.

Info here:http://www.bangkokba...ndsfromUSA.aspx

They will deduct $5 in the US and then .25% or a minimum of 200 baht here. I have my social security payment via direct deposit sent this way and have found it to be a very good service.

If you set up an SMS alert at bank for foreign funds transfers it will give you info on who sent transfer and the amount minus the $5 plus the exchange rate and amount in Baht minus the 200Baht.

Immigration does not require funds to come into a Thai bank. But they may ask to see proof of funds by way of a bank book or ATM slips. If you are on Social Security they might even accept proof of that income.

[lopburi3]

But if poster is using 65k income it does not matter what bank he uses. No bank letter will be required.

[Kondiao]

Many thanks to JimGant and Mario for input on my visa extension. Since my previous post I have made a trip to Luang Prabang - unfortunately I did not consider the date on the visa for when it was issued in L.A. last year - I paid attention to the date stamped on the passport - a difference of a couple weeks. The Thai customs agent at the airport pointed this out to me and he made it clear that I had to get back to Thailand in two days. Now I realize that you also were talking about that date. In any case. When I came back the customs lady at BKK stamped a new date of Sep in 2013 on the passport. So I am good for another year. I still am confused as to why I didn't have to get letters from the embassy here and the bank, etc. But I am not going to worry about it.

[Pib]

Many thanks to JimGant and Mario for input on my visa extension. Since my previous post I have made a trip to Luang Prabang - unfortunately I did not consider the date on the visa for when it was issued in L.A. last year - I paid attention to the date stamped on the passport - a difference of a couple weeks. The Thai customs agent at the airport pointed this out to me and he made it clear that I had to get back to Thailand in two days. Now I realize that you also were talking about that date. In any case. When I came back the customs lady at BKK stamped a new date of Sep in 2013 on the passport. So I am good for another year. I still am confused as to why I didn't have to get letters from the embassy here and the bank, etc. But I am not going to worry about it.

Expect you had a multiple entry OA (Retirement) visa. Whenever you reenter the country with such a visa before the visa expires you are given an additional 12 months to stay in Thailand.

[riceyummm]

Many thanks to JimGant and Mario for input on my visa extension. Since my previous post I have made a trip to Luang Prabang - unfortunately I did not consider the date on the visa for when it was issued in L.A. last year - I paid attention to the date stamped on the passport - a difference of a couple weeks. The Thai customs agent at the airport pointed this out to me and he made it clear that I had to get back to Thailand in two days. Now I realize that you also were talking about that date. In any case. When I came back the customs lady at BKK stamped a new date of Sep in 2013 on the passport. So I am good for another year. I still am confused as to why I didn't have to get letters from the embassy here and the bank, etc. But I am not going to worry about it.

Expect you had a multiple entry OA (Retirement) visa. Whenever you reenter the country with such a visa before the visa expires you are given an additional 12 months to stay in Thailand.

Does that mean you can actually get two years with one multiple stay OA Ret visa? I assume you then must re apply for the one year OA RET visa or can you simply leave and return at the end of the extension and get another extension? That would be too good to be true.

I've spent many hours trying to get this stuff straight and I'm still confused. Either my brain doesn't work very well anymore or this stuff is simply too complex. Probably a little of both.

[lopburi3]

A multi entry non immigrant O-A visa provides one year stay on any entry made during the one year it is valid - so if you enter just before the one year expiration date after having been here for almost a year you will get a new one year permitted to stay. The only difference is you will need a re-entry permit as with any other extension of stay if you travel as your multi entry visa will have expired.

[Pib]

Many thanks to JimGant and Mario for input on my visa extension. Since my previous post I have made a trip to Luang Prabang - unfortunately I did not consider the date on the visa for when it was issued in L.A. last year - I paid attention to the date stamped on the passport - a difference of a couple weeks. The Thai customs agent at the airport pointed this out to me and he made it clear that I had to get back to Thailand in two days. Now I realize that you also were talking about that date. In any case. When I came back the customs lady at BKK stamped a new date of Sep in 2013 on the passport. So I am good for another year. I still am confused as to why I didn't have to get letters from the embassy here and the bank, etc. But I am not going to worry about it.

Expect you had a multiple entry OA (Retirement) visa. Whenever you reenter the country with such a visa before the visa expires you are given an additional 12 months to stay in Thailand.

Does that mean you can actually get two years with one multiple stay OA Ret visa? I assume you then must re apply for the one year OA RET visa or can you simply leave and return at the end of the extension and get another extension? That would be too good to be true.

I've spent many hours trying to get this stuff straight and I'm still confused. Either my brain doesn't work very well anymore or this stuff is simply too complex. Probably a little of both.

Yeap, you can get two years with a multiple entry OA Ret Visa. Just for example: Say you get the OA visa issued in your home country and it's valid from 1 Jan -31 Dec 12. You jump on a plane and enter Thailand on 2 Jan 12 and the immigration officer stamps permitted to stay in country through 1 Jan 13. Now, keeping in mind the "visa" validity period is good for entries 1 Jan-31 Dec 12, if you would leave and reenter on 31 Dec 12 (make a quick border run) when you reentered you would get a permitted to stay stamp until 31 Dec 13 in your passport. Basically you got almost two years out of the OA visa. But play it safe and don't wait until the last day of the visa validity period like in my example above...do it at least several days before the visa validity period ends.

Now it's important to understand that if you leave the country after the visa validity period which ended on 31 Dec 12 and although you have already left/reentered the country once to get that permitted to say stamp until 31 Dec 13 you must get an exit/reentry permit (easy to do...one page TM8 form, a passport size picture, and 1000 baht fee for a single rentry, 3800 baht fee for multiple reentries) in order to keep that permitted to stay date of 31 Dec 13 valid if you want to leave and reenter the country. You leave without getting the reentry stamp they you have just thrown your permitted to stay 31 Dec 13 permission out the window....you would have to start all over in getting a OA Visa/Extension of Stay.

Yes, sir, time it right with a border run and you can stretch a multiple entry OA Visa (Retirement) to two years. And then there is no need to go outside of Thailand to get a new Retirement Visa; instead you just apply for a Retirement Extension of Stay which will give you 12 more months but you need to meet the financial requirements. Easy to get an Retirement Extension of Stay....one TM7 form, one passport picture, proof of meeting the financial requirements like a embassy income letter or bank letter, 1,900 baht application fee, and hopefully within an hour of walking into the immigration office you have a Retirement Extension of Stay allowing you to stay another year. Be a good boy or girl and keep doing that Retirement Extension of Stay year after year.

I renewed my Retirement Extension of Stay in early September at Bangkok Immigration...after setting down in front of the immigration officer with my TM7 form, passport picture attached, bank letter proving 800K baht in the bank for 3 months (only 2 month money seasoning period needed on first extension of stay applicaiton) within 15 minutes I was done and walking out the door with another Retirement Extension of Stay good for another year. It's really super easy if you meet the financial requirements.