Retirement visa extension restrictions for foreign married couples

[ubonjoe]

"Letters from an embassy are still required as proof of the income whilst the 800,000 baht in a Thai bank must have been there for three months prior to the application (2 months 1st application) and be supported by a letter from that financial institution."

 

I believe I read in TV some time in the last few months that a letter from a financial institution is now acceptable as confirmation of regular monthly income (not the 800,000 baht on deposit). When I read it, I took it to mean that the silly notarized letter from the consulate was no longer necessary. Can someone clarify, please? Is the news item (quoted above) correct, or was there a slight rule change this year?

Letter from bank is for proof of 800k baht in the bank. For income it has to be proven by letter from embassy. Or both for using combination of the 2 to reach a total of 800k baht.

[allucero]

What if you have a joint bank account with your wife with 800.000 THB?

I VOTE FOR YOU... Unless they want the Thai wife to have their own money when they separate??? I don't know one Thai women who has that type of cash without her foreign husband.

[allucero]

I though I could afford Thailand, now I will stay in America...

[Baerboxer]

"It sounds fair. Two people, two incomes."

So if you are a UK citizen married to a Thai citizen and are the sole provider in the relationship then you only need half as much income to support your partner than you would if your partner was also British. I can understand there needing to be proof that the relationship is genuine, and continuing, but in the UK it is not all that uncommon fo have shared bank accounts and shared assets and two people living together do not need double the amount of money to live anywhere - accommodation accounts for a large part of the cost and a one bedroom apartment will cost the same whether it is for one or two people. If they said that a couple needed 50% extra income I could understand it but to require 100% income seems somewhat unreasonable to me. I am not quite sure what they are worried about because it is not like the UK where someone in long term settlement can qualify for benefits, support and free health care. It is unfortunately the health care issue that prevents my Thai partner and I from living together in Thailand. However at least the UK government only required proof for the initial application to become permanent and eventually grant citizenship. I would have thought it was in the interest of Thailand to have people retiring there, they pay into the Thai economy without taking anything out of it - if they run out of cash then eventually they will have to leave because no one is going to support them - at least they should be given long term security without having to prove their income every few years.

I guess they view it as 2 retired foreign people who cannot legally work in Thailand. Therefore, 2 incomes, deposits or combinations are required.

Arguments about 2 living as cheaply as 1 or 2 not requiring double the amount to live won't wash with them.

How the UK or any other country operates its rules is immaterial. How would the UK treat a Thai married couple who wanted to retire to the UK?

Myopic, unfair, it may be. But a foreign married couple are seen as 2 foreigners. You need a Thai partner to be a couple!

[Gatorade]

What if you have a joint bank account with your wife with 800.000 THB?

Joint account would require 1.6 million baht. It is already that way for joint accounts.

Or presumably a joint account income of around 140.000 baht per month.

Am I now supposed to set up a separate UK bank account for my wife?

[Keesters]

Everyone starts howling about "farangs" without considering that most immigration changes have Chinese, Indian, Burmese, Cambodian, Vietnamese, etc. reasons and concerns behind them.

And just how many of those nationalities do you think have retirement visa status? Most of those nationalities are here on tourist or work visas. This rule change would not affect them.

[crazykopite]

maybe it is time to move to another asian country, what about falangs married to thais or are we now going to have total discrimination its bad enough that a falang married to a thai only has to show 400,000 as oppposed to 800,000 which a falang couple have to show but what would you expect in amazing thailand.

[SpokaneAl]

What if you have a joint bank account with your wife with 800.000 THB? 

Joint account would require 1.6 million baht. It is already that way for joint accounts.

In knowing our personal situation with everything in joint accounts, that was my next question. That sounds reasonable.

In re-reading the press release, it says in part:

The requirement for each partner to show evidence of 800,000 baht in cash or income, or a combination of both, is seen as the best guarantee from an Immigration Bureau viewpoint. Nor is it possible for a married couple to present a joint bank account. Each partner is now treated as a separate entity.

Ubonjoe, does that not change things?

[Halion]

For a country so dependent of foreign exchange and investment this simply does not make any sense and is yet another tripping stone in the highly convoluted Thai Immigration system.

[crazykopite]

What if you have a joint bank account with your wife with 800.000 THB?

I have a joint account with my Thai wife and need a minimum of 1.6 million baht in that account in order to qualify for my 1 year retirement visa extension.

So it`s only fair that the same rules apply to ex-pats married to ex-pat wives also regarding joint bank accounts.

I can remember some years ago Immigration introduced this rule, then after a few months and after a few thousand farang married couples of little wealth left the country, the Government done a U turn and changed their minds. Only fair, 2 foreigners staying long term in Thailand should be independently assessed regarding their financial status for remaining in the Kingdom.

800000 baht ($25000) is peanuts in today`s terms and quite honestly for the individual farangs who cannot afford to have this amount as savings in a bank, well, tough, they can find somewhere cheaper to plonk their butts.

falang married to a thai requires a bank account with 400,000 or an income of 40,000 baht per month or it can be combined so i do not know where you get this 1.6 million requirement from are you sure you are not getting taken for a ride

[Moo2cm]

Fair enough. If you cannot afford you should stay at home. There are enough 'cheap charlies' here already.

Well, once you been there for a while and you see the tide is turning against you more than you care for, you might change your mind.

true enough Thailand is filled with foriegn halfwits. yep, yep, yep.

you might even stay there so long you see a leader cracking down on foriegners because they love their own people so much... go

scurry off to some foriegn country for their own protection...yep yep, yep. good laugh on your post. Thanks.

[phitsanulokjohn]

Another fine example of Thai discrimination at it's best.

[ubonjoe]

 

What if you have a joint bank account with your wife with 800.000 THB? 

 

I have a joint account with my Thai wife and need a minimum of 1.6 million baht in that account in order to qualify for my 1 year retirement visa extension.

 

So it`s only fair that the same rules apply to ex-pats married to ex-pat wives also regarding joint bank accounts.

 

I can remember some years ago Immigration introduced this rule, then after a few months and after a few thousand farang married couples of little wealth left the country, the Government done a U turn and changed their minds. Only fair, 2 foreigners staying long term in Thailand should be independently assessed regarding their financial status for remaining in the Kingdom.

 

800000 baht ($25000) is peanuts in today`s terms and quite honestly for the individual farangs who cannot afford to have this amount as savings in a bank, well, tough, they can find somewhere cheaper to plonk their butts.

 

 

 

 

falang married to a thai requires a bank account with 400,000 or an income of 40,000 baht per month or it can be combined so i do not know where you get this 1.6 million requirement from  are you sure you are not getting taken for a ride

 

He is doing his extensions based upon retirement and has a joint account with his wife. So he has to have double the money in the bank.

There is no combination for extensions based upon marriage.

[CIHUAHUA]

Well our stay is on a count-down. It was real and it was nice but now I can say it is not real nice.

[ubonjoe]

What if you have a joint bank account with your wife with 800.000 THB? 

Joint account would require 1.6 million baht. It is already that way for joint accounts.

In knowing our personal situation with everything in joint accounts, that was my next question. That sounds reasonable.

In re-reading the press release, it says in part:

The requirement for each partner to show evidence of 800,000 baht in cash or income, or a combination of both, is seen as the best guarantee from an Immigration Bureau viewpoint. Nor is it possible for a married couple to present a joint bank account. Each partner is now treated as a separate entity.

Ubonjoe, does that not change things?

First it is not a press release from immigration. We have nothing official from immigration yet.

They could probably have a joint account with 1.6 million in it.

The requirements appear to be that both will have to apply for an extension based upon retirement.

Now the question arises as to what happens if the spouse is under 50.

[ZAKY]

How fortunate are those who live outside Thailand with their married Thai wife

[OMGImInPattaya]

Seems perfectly logical to me...if 800k for one person...why not 1.6 for two? Maybe could have gone with 150% percent more as it doesn't cost twice as much to be a couple (rent is shared for example) but again most costs like medical and food will be more. And think of the plus side, we may see fewer old farang ladies waddling around the retirement destinations like pattaya, Hua Hin, and the like.

[hansnl]

This was to be expected! Any idea whether "grandfather" rule will be applied here as well, i.e. couples already on an extension of stay will be able to extend under previous rule of only one income/1x800K?

I seem to remember this rule was applied some time ago.

And withdrawn posthaste.

Too many couples left.

Not many married couples have a total income of 130,000 baht a month.

Guess, like last time, many will leave.

Birma, Vietnam, Phillipines, Indonesia, Laos nowadays, Cambodia will be happy to receive those fugutives from Thai hospitality.

Sorry, I forgot Thailand only want affluent expats nowadays.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

First it is not a press release from immigration. We have nothing official from immigration yet.

Well, respectfully speaking, then in what form did this supposed Immigration policy change arrive to Thai Visa?

The OP report says "Immigration announced..." And the end of the OP lists Immigration as the "source."

So if Immigration has actually announced something, where and how did they announce it? And what's the exact wording of what they announced?

As opposed to, some quasi news article that presumably someone associated with ThaiVisa has written, based on what, we don't seem to know.

[GMeel]

So let me see if I understand this correctly, an elderly married couple of let's say 67 & 64 with little savings that bought themselves a small condominium so they could have a nice place for themselves and retire in Thailand, BOTH now have to prove they have an income of 800.000 THB each (net, I suppose) per year (approx. 18.000 Euro or 1.500 Euro per month).

If this is correct there will be a mass exodus (again) of expat couples living here on a small pension.

[Moo2cm]

What if you have a joint bank account with your wife with 800.000 THB?

I have a joint account with my Thai wife and need a minimum of 1.6 million baht in that account in order to qualify for my 1 year retirement visa extension.

So it`s only fair that the same rules apply to ex-pats married to ex-pat wives also regarding joint bank accounts.

I can remember some years ago Immigration introduced this rule, then after a few months and after a few thousand farang married couples of little wealth left the country, the Government done a U turn and changed their minds. Only fair, 2 foreigners staying long term in Thailand should be independently assessed regarding their financial status for remaining in the Kingdom.

800000 baht ($25000) is peanuts in today`s terms and quite honestly for the individual farangs who cannot afford to have this amount as savings in a bank, well, tough, they can find somewhere cheaper to plonk their butts.

Or another way to look at it is your giving $50,000 to the Thai government. If your ending your life here and deposit $50,000 for the pleasure of living here for the rest of your life with only the hassle of reporting where you are every 90 days and renewing a visa once a year ,then that $50,000 is there until you die, and of course as you say that's chicken feed so your heirs won't even bother to try and get that back from the banks/gov.

BTW: since the money is left on deposit, it's a means test... and at some point we are all excluded by a means test. Peanut's indeed

[ubonjoe]

 First it is not a press release from immigration. We have nothing official from immigration yet.

 

 

Well, respectfully speaking, then in what form did this supposed Immigration policy change arrive to Thai Visa?

 

The OP report says "Immigration announced..."  And the end of the OP lists Immigration as the "source."

 

So if Immigration has actually announced something, where and how did they announce it? And what's the exact wording of what they announced?

 

As opposed to, some quasi news article that presumably someone associated with ThaiVisa has written, based on what, we don't seem to know.

 

 

Original source is: http://pattayatoday.net/news/latest-edition/visa-restrictions-for-married-couples/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

But has also been confirmed by Hua Hin immigration.

[wolfmanjack]

So they think "farangs" will marry each other to get a thai visa? Yeah, we are the scammers here,right?

...and what married retired couples in Thailand have a joint annual income equivalent to GBP 32,000...? If we placed such a restriction on Thais entering the UK, they'd be screaming "racists"....!!

i should think most of them have this income or more and UK makes it much more difficult than here for Thai wives to enter unless like here and everywhere you can show very substantial funds and income.

The USA only requires 125% of the poverty level and once they have been there for 2 years you never have to show anything again. I would much prefer if thailand followed the USA rules.

[ubonjoe]

More off topic posts removed.

[Sceptict11]

So they think "farangs" will marry each other to get a thai visa? Yeah, we are the scammers here,right?

...and what married retired couples in Thailand have a joint annual income equivalent to GBP 32,000...? If we placed such a restriction on Thais entering the UK, they'd be screaming "racists"....!!

i should think most of them have this income or more and UK makes it much more difficult than here for Thai wives to enter unless like here and everywhere you can show very substantial funds and income.

The USA only requires 125% of the poverty level and once they have been there for 2 years you never have to show anything again. I would much prefer if thailand followed the USA rules.

Poverty in the USA!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/06/us-usa-economy-poverty-idUSBRE9A513820131106

Makes for good reading.

However this unconfirmed report is not really a surprise !

Edited December 3, 2013 by Sceptict11

[wileycoyote]

Bureaucracy gone daft !

[10baht]

Comment # 24 may be right about the grandfathering but comment # 25 is 100% correct, this is nothing new in the past few years. But maybe some of the Euro- - -- , who have been slumming here will get to go back to their economically broke socialistic societies where they think Obama is so great.

[simple1]

So they think "farangs" will marry each other to get a thai visa? Yeah, we are the scammers here,right?

...and what married retired couples in Thailand have a joint annual income equivalent to GBP 32,000...? If we placed such a restriction on Thais entering the UK, they'd be screaming "racists"....!!

i should think most of them have this income or more and UK makes it much more difficult than here for Thai wives to enter unless like here and everywhere you can show very substantial funds and income.

The USA only requires 125% of the poverty level and once they have been there for 2 years you never have to show anything again. I would much prefer if thailand followed the USA rules.

USA currently does not provision non immigrant retirement visas for foreigners. JOLT Act 2013 may be passed into legislation, but to obtain a non immigrant retirement visa would require a minimum cash purchase of property of US$500k, visa to be reviewed every 3 years & must have health insurance. Alternately a cash property purchase of minimum US$250k to be permitted stay of six months a year, plus health insurance.

[wolfmanjack]

i should think most of them have this income or more and UK makes it much more difficult than here for Thai wives to enter unless like here and everywhere you can show very substantial funds and income.

The USA only requires 125% of the poverty level and once they have been there for 2 years you never have to show anything again. I would much prefer if thailand followed the USA rules.

USA currently does not provision non immigrant retirement visas for foreigners. JOLT Act 2013 may be passed into legislation, but to obtain a non immigrant retirement visa would require a minimum cash purchase of property of US$500k, visa to be reviewed every 3 years & must have health insurance. Alternately a cash property purchase of minimum US$250k to be permitted stay of six months a year, plus health insurance.

If you look in the quote box above my response you will see the post I was responding to.

[captspectre]

This was to be expected! Any idea whether "grandfather" rule will be applied here as well, i.e. couples already on an extension of stay will be able to extend under previous rule of only one income/1x800K?

In your dreams! there is no such thing as a grandfather clause. if so than the people who have been here for fifteen or twenty years would have it made. each time a change is made, ALL the people will have to abide by it or leave.