about to apply for retirement visa

[gazh]

I have an Australian Old Age Pension so I went to the Australian Embassy in BKK and asked for the letter they provide for Thai Imm to confirm my status.

I showed it to Imm in Chiaqngmai and they said my letter must not be older than 15 days and also this letter must be sent to AustralianEmbassy in Australia who will then send me another letter and it nust not be older than 15 days Could an OZI who has down their extension recently tell me their experience in C M and what they did?

[Maestro]

There is no Australian embassy in Australia. Perhaps you misunderstood the immigration officer.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Colabamumbai]

There was a post here 2 weeks ago, stating that the embassy income letter was valid for six months and that immigration offices were being advised of this....

This was something I was interested in knowing so I took note. My letter came from the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, so they are feeding you crap, how many other foreigners here have got the letter from their embassy in Bangkok? Most if not all.

[ykatz0]

There was a post here 2 weeks ago, stating that the embassy income letter was valid for six months and that immigration offices were being advised of this....

This was something I was interested in knowing so I took note. My letter came from the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, so they are feeding you crap, how many other foreigners here have got the letter from their embassy in Bangkok? Most if not all.

I was advised by an attorney that processes Visas for a living in Bangkok that the income letter needs to be very fresh. If Chiang Mai Immigration said within 15 days I would tend to believe them. I don't think you should base your schedule on someone saying they saw a post 2 weeks ago that stated a different validity period.

[Gsxrnz]

I understand that you can simply ask for a "statutory declaration" from the Aussie embassy in BKK that states that your income is sufficient to meet the requirements of the income for a retirement visa. No proof of income is required.

I have several friends who have done this here in Jomtien with no problems.

And Immigration recently relaxed the rules whereby the letter/declaration can be up to six months old.

Edited July 25, 2013 by Gsxrnz

[Lite Beer]

The official rule is that the Embassy letter must not be more than 6 months old.

[gazh]

thanks for all the information. I was puzzledd too about an Australian Embassy in Australia but I said nothing.

I have to go about 8th August, fortunately I have over 800,000B but on first application the visa will be 90 days and then have proof again - it would free up my capital if they would accept the letter. Thanks again for your advice

[lopburi3]

As said the official validity of Embassy letters is six months (but that was a change from 15 days rule in effect for several weeks prior to that directive about a month ago). The letter is issued by your Embassy/Consulate in Thailand and signed by a Consular officer there.

It appears if this was a visit this months the information was incorrect but if prior to that time they could have been right about the 15 days. You did provide the Embassy letter rather than the letter from your pension source (if you gave both they may not have seen/understood - especially if they believed it was invalid due to time).

[ubonjoe]

Maybe we have just gotten proof that not all immigration offices (or officers) are going to accept 6 month old income documents.

[asiaexpat]

There was a post here 2 weeks ago, stating that the embassy income letter was valid for six months and that immigration offices were being advised of this....

This was something I was interested in knowing so I took note. My letter came from the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, so they are feeding you crap, how many other foreigners here have got the letter from their embassy in Bangkok? Most if not all.

I was advised by an attorney that processes Visas for a living in Bangkok that the income letter needs to be very fresh. If Chiang Mai Immigration said within 15 days I would tend to believe them. I don't think you should base your schedule on someone saying they saw a post 2 weeks ago that stated a different validity period.

The quote about income letters was correct and Immigration's letter was actually posted. Do a search and you will find the post with the PDF file.

[aarn]

This is all tremendously confusing. The past two years I have gone to the Australian Embassy (37 South Sathorn Rd, BKK) and taken documents evidencing my income in Australia. Then I have written and signed a statutory declaration form in the presence of one counter staff (who perused my documents, and insisted I hand-write a stat dec form as provided). Charge was 630B.

Last year I took the stat dec the next day to Ranong Immigration, with other documents, and applied for the one-year extension.

This year I took the stat dec 27 days after signing, to another office functioning for Ranong Immi, and applied for the extension as previously.

I don't know if any of this helps old mate up in CM, good luck anyway gazh, AA

[gazh]

thanks for all the advice. I am going to go on 8th Aug and see what happens and if they agree to the Stat Dec then I'm going to be so happy - free up some capital. Thanks to all of you