800k investment for retirement extension

[JimGant]

Yeap, the absolute highest interest rate on a saving account ain't everything...a person needs to consider other factors also such as purpose of the account, need to easily access the money, how much you plan to keep in the account, convenience, branch availability, etc...preaching the choir I know.

..... and probate. See post 260 in this thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/618983-the-importance-of-preparing-a-will-in-thailand/page-11#entry9013216

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Would be interesting to see if any one has gotten an extension by combining funds from multiple bank accounts to reach the Bt800K amount. Seems everything I've seen from immigration states or implies "a" Thai bank account as in meaning "one" account...but that may just be a Thai-English translation issue.

But I can image being able to use "multiple" accounts could lead to headaches for immigration officers when some folks would come walking in with maybe a half dozen bank letters from various banks and accounts and then the officer needing to review each one.

Below is a cut and paste of a few Q&As from the Bangkok Immigration website regarding the bank requirement...it does not say "banks or accounts" in the plural sense anywhere....to me, seems to imply "a" Thai bank account as in one account.

http://bangkok.immigration.go.th/en/base.php?page=faq

Unless things have changed, I had got an extension 3 years ago using 2 bank accounts from different banks.

I will have to do the same again this time, for the sake of having overlooked a few thousand Baht at the start of the 90 day seasoning, but this time it will be 2 accounts from the same bank.

Thanks for answering the question I posed above about whether it's possible to use two different bank accounts that together would satisfy the Immigration bank deposit requirement for extensions of stay.

Please do update/post here on how it goes with your latest application using that approach, and what Immigration office is/was involved.

[chris2004]

I see CIMB now have a 17 month deposit account offering 3.25%. Seems to be the one to go for. I assume this would be acceptable to Immigration.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I see CIMB now have a 17 month deposit account offering 3.25%. Seems to be the one to go for. I assume this would be acceptable to Immigration.

From what I remember, that particular promotion seems to have a companion requirement about also opening some other account with CIMB as well for some additional required minimum opening amount.

And, assuming you did open the 3.25% account and were able to get the branch to issue an Immigration letter for that account, would you also be able to get your bank passbook updated and/or obtain an ATM receipt/balance update for the account on the same day as your Immigration visit?

[chris2004]

I see CIMB now have a 17 month deposit account offering 3.25%. Seems to be the one to go for. I assume this would be acceptable to Immigration.

From what I remember, that particular promotion seems to have a companion requirement about also opening some other account with CIMB as well for some additional required minimum opening amount.

And, assuming you did open the 3.25% account and were able to get the branch to issue an Immigration letter for that account, would you also be able to get your bank passbook updated and/or obtain an ATM receipt/balance update for the account on the same day as your Immigration visit?

Thanks for this comment. This is why i started the thread. How does one know if any of these accounts will be accepted by immigration?

[Pib]

I see CIMB now have a 17 month deposit account offering 3.25%. Seems to be the one to go for. I assume this would be acceptable to Immigration.

From what I remember, that particular promotion seems to have a companion requirement about also opening some other account with CIMB as well for some additional required minimum opening amount.

And, assuming you did open the 3.25% account and were able to get the branch to issue an Immigration letter for that account, would you also be able to get your bank passbook updated and/or obtain an ATM receipt/balance update for the account on the same day as your Immigration visit?

According to the CIMB webpage on the 3.25% promotion you must open two accounts....one account which is the 17 month, 3.25% deal with a minimum one time deposit of Bt50K to Bt2M and then a second fixed 5 month account with a minimum deposit of Bt1 Million. Now, I'm not sure since their interest rate tables appear to only be in the Thai language, but I think the 5 month fixed account only pays 1.25%. Seems like they are offering one good promotion deal only if you take another not so good deal.

http://www.cimbthai.com/CIMB/en/personal/promotion/deposit/fixed_deposit_17-month/

[Pib]

Thanks for this comment. This is why i started the thread. How does one know if any of these accounts will be accepted by immigration?

If the money in the accounts is immediately accessible (ie., you can withdraw at anytime even through an interest penalty may apply), then they will be acceptable. Of course you would probably take a BIG interest penalty if you accessed the accounts before they matured which pretty much negates the reason for opening a high paying fixed deposit account.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I tried to address this in my earlier comment above.

It's not just whether Immigration will accept this type of an account -- the answer to that is, MOST Immigration offices will accept regular Thai bank term deposit accounts.

But it's also a question of whether YOU can comply with Immigration's process for dealing with Thai bank deposit paperwork.

In order to use such a bank account to satisfy Immigration, you need to:

1. get the bank holding your account to issue you a statement of account/balance letter for Immigration dated the day of or shortly before your Immigration visit. So, you have to be able to get the bank staff to know that's what you want, and they have to know what to produce for you. Do the staff at your CIMB branch speak any English?

2. either update your bank account passbook on the same day as your Immigration visit and/or produce an ATM slip for the account the same day of your Immigration visit showing the same balance matching the bank's income letter. Is the CIMB branch you intend to deal with in a convenient location to be able to accomplish that on the same day as your Immigration visit.

Note, the bank letter can be dated the day before or perhaps a couple days before your Immigration visit. But Immigration is insistent for extension applications that the bank passbook update and/or ATM receipt must be the same day as your Immigration visit.