Retirement Extensions Procedures - Your Area

[Old Croc]

The procedures in the Phuket Immigration Office for these extensions have become frustratingly complex and time consuming in recent times.

As an example see this thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/806403-retirement-extensions-phuket-big-changes-since-last-year/

Are these same requirements part of an application in your local Immigration office? I'm particularly interested in the large, busy offices in cities such as Bangkok, CM and Pattaya.

Do you need to supply photocopies of practically every house, bank and passport document you've ever had? Are you sent from one queue to another as part of the norm? Do you need to come back on another day to collect your passport? Do you need to supply a signed copy of the house owners ID card?

I would appreciate a quick run down of your local procedures for this service. Thankyou.

[partington]

I don't know what possible use you could make of this information unless you're planning to move, but at Bangkok, Chaengwattana, it is done in a single visit, and excluding waiting time, takes about 20 minutes.

The documents are checked by one officer, then passed to a senior officer for rechecking and stamping.

All you need for money in bank method are:

photocopy of visa, last entry card, extension, and face pages of passport

photocopy of bank book with three months history of deposit shown

letter from bank confirming deposit, a day or so old,

photograph 4 X 6 cm

completed TM7 form

I have never been asked for any proof of address the last three times I've done it (but always take some and my lease just in case.)

Never been asked for any other forms or documents for the last three years.

It's very fast and very painless.

[Old Croc]

I don't know what possible use you could make of this information unless you're planning to move, but at Bangkok, Chaengwattana, it is done in a single visit, and excluding waiting time, takes about 20 minutes.

The documents are checked by one officer, then passed to a senior officer for rechecking and stamping.

All you need for money in bank method are:

photocopy of visa, last entry card, extension, and face pages of passport

photocopy of bank book with three months history of deposit shown

letter from bank confirming deposit, a day or so old,

photograph 4 X 6 cm

completed TM7 form

I have never been asked for any proof of address the last three times I've done it (but always take some and my lease just in case.)

Never been asked for any other forms or documents for the last three years.

It's very fast and very painless.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

That's the standard procedure as used by the Phuket office in previous years before they decided to make things as difficult as possible for customers. I know of long term retirees who've spent three days seeking more and more documents before Immigration was satisfied.

There are apologist's in Phuket who would have us believe instructions for these new impositions come from HO in Bangkok and are standard for all offices. However, I believe it's related to other matters which were highly publicized in the local press.

Making the procedures for extensions as difficult as possible would have the effect of driving clients to agents who would normally pay extra for services.

[nzexpat]

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I don't know what possible use you could make of this information unless you're planning to move, but at Bangkok, Chaengwattana, it is done in a single visit, and excluding waiting time, takes about 20 minutes.

The documents are checked by one officer, then passed to a senior officer for rechecking and stamping.

All you need for money in bank method are:

photocopy of visa, last entry card, extension, and face pages of passport

photocopy of bank book with three months history of deposit shown

letter from bank confirming deposit, a day or so old,

photograph 4 X 6 cm

completed TM7 form

I have never been asked for any proof of address the last three times I've done it (but always take some and my lease just in case.)

Never been asked for any other forms or documents for the last three years.

It's very fast and very painless.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

That's the standard procedure as used by the Phuket office in previous years before they decided to make things as difficult as possible for customers. I know of long term retirees who've spent three days seeking more and more documents before Immigration was satisfied.

There are apologist's in Phuket who would have us believe instructions for these new impositions come from HO in Bangkok and are standard for all offices. However, I believe it's related to other matters which were highly publicized in the local press.

Making the procedures for extensions as difficult as possible would have the effect of driving clients to agents who would normally pay extra for services.

Absolute nonsense !

I have lived in Phuket for a number of years and yes, from time to time immigration's requirements have changed but never to the extent that I have been "driven to an agent" nor have I ever spent 3 days "seeking more and more documents"

If you do a search you will discover a report I made of recently and without any "trauma" of securing an extension of stay at the Phuket Immigration office.

Why post such hyperbole ?

[merijn]

Every immigration office can and will sometimes introduce their own (extra) requirements for any short of application.

But believe it or not, almost all of them are introduced on order from Bangkok.

But overall Phuket does not differ that much compared to other offices.

[Maestro]

Removed a troll post.

[Jessi]

I understand where Old Croc is coming from.

I think you will find a lot of changes have taken place since the start of this year, the I O is telling people that these orders are coming from BKK. Is it true or not I dont know. All we can do is go along with what they want.

I think to answer Old Croc question only people that have done the retirement extension this year should comment.

[partington]

I did mine in Bangkok in mid-January this year, so 'new procedures', if any, would have to have been introduced after this.

[Pib]

When I did my last Retirement Extension of Stay in Sep 14 at Bangkok/Chaeng Wattana Immigration it was quick and painless. Application form with photo, copy of passport key pages including entry card, bank letter (I use the Bt800K in a Thai bank method), and copy of passbook. After my queue number was called I was at the immigration officer's desk for about 5-10 minutes as she handed me a couple of forms to read sign like in previous years, she took my picture for their computer system, and entered a new extension stamp in my passport....then I took the paperwork over to another immigration officer's desk for a quick check and some initials and I was done...good for another year. Quick and painless....and basically a repeat of previous years.

[Old Croc]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I don't know what possible use you could make of this information unless you're planning to move, but at Bangkok, Chaengwattana, it is done in a single visit, and excluding waiting time, takes about 20 minutes.

The documents are checked by one officer, then passed to a senior officer for rechecking and stamping.

All you need for money in bank method are:

photocopy of visa, last entry card, extension, and face pages of passport

photocopy of bank book with three months history of deposit shown

letter from bank confirming deposit, a day or so old,

photograph 4 X 6 cm

completed TM7 form

I have never been asked for any proof of address the last three times I've done it (but always take some and my lease just in case.)

Never been asked for any other forms or documents for the last three years.

It's very fast and very painless.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

That's the standard procedure as used by the Phuket office in previous years before they decided to make things as difficult as possible for customers. I know of long term retirees who've spent three days seeking more and more documents before Immigration was satisfied.

There are apologist's in Phuket who would have us believe instructions for these new impositions come from HO in Bangkok and are standard for all offices. However, I believe it's related to other matters which were highly publicized in the local press.

Making the procedures for extensions as difficult as possible would have the effect of driving clients to agents who would normally pay extra for services.

Absolute nonsense !

I have lived in Phuket for a number of years and yes, from time to time immigration's requirements have changed but never to the extent that I have been "driven to an agent" nor have I ever spent 3 days "seeking more and more documents"

If you do a search you will discover a report I made of recently and without any "trauma" of securing an extension of stay at the Phuket Immigration office.

Why post such hyperbole ?

You are basically calling me a liar here!

My next door neighbors' extensions did take 3 days as they were sent backwards and forwards for more and more documents to satisfy Immigration. I posted about it in another thread some time ago.

And, one long term, well known resident of Phuket has started a thread looking for an agent because he doesn't want to have to jump through the hoops this office has created. Why don't you do a search?

The fact that one Kiwi banker had a good run through the system doesn't change the fact that many other people haven't.

Why post such rubbish?

And I think the main apologist, who keeps defending the office at every turn, should declare the fact that he is one of the volunteers there!

[Old Croc]

I understand where Old Croc is coming from.

I think you will find a lot of changes have taken place since the start of this year, the I O is telling people that these orders are coming from BKK. Is it true or not I dont know. All we can do is go along with what they want.

I think to answer Old Croc question only people that have done the retirement extension this year should comment.

Thankyou.

Yes, these new, strict procedures seem to have appeared after publicity about their charges for free services resulted in a denial and then a back down from the top.

So current procedures elsewhere would help for comparison.

[Old Croc]

When I did my last Retirement Extension of Stay in Sep 14 at Bangkok/Chaeng Wattana Immigration it was quick and painless. Application form with photo, copy of passport key pages including entry card, bank letter (I use the Bt800K in a Thai bank method), and copy of passbook. After my queue number was called I was at the immigration officer's desk for about 5-10 minutes as she handed me a couple of forms to read sign like in previous years, she took my picture for their computer system, and entered a new extension stamp in my passport....then I took the paperwork over to another immigration officer's desk for a quick check and some initials and I was done...good for another year. Quick and painless....and basically a repeat of previous years.

Thank you for your input.

[Old Croc]

I did mine in Bangkok in mid-January this year, so 'new procedures', if any, would have to have been introduced after this.

Thank you.

[Pattaya46]

...

My next door neighbors' extensions did take 3 days as they were sent backwards and forwards for more and more documents to satisfy Immigration.

...

I think the interesting part would be to know what were these "more documents"

[Old Croc]

...

My next door neighbors' extensions did take 3 days as they were sent backwards and forwards for more and more documents to satisfy Immigration.

...

I think the interesting part would be to know what were these "more documents"

From memory the documents sought were copies of house lease, chanote, then house book!

They also had to revisit their bank several times for extra statements.

They've lived in the same residence for ten years, have had retirement extensions for about the same time so they knew the requirements, and hadn't been asked for those documents previously.

Do you have anything to contribute to the thread apart from asking questions with key words highlighted as if you also think it's bs?

[nzexpat]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

...
My next door neighbors' extensions did take 3 days as they were sent backwards and forwards for more and more documents to satisfy Immigration.
...

I think the interesting part would be to know what were these "more documents"

From memory the documents sought were copies of house lease, chanote, then house book!

They also had to revisit their bank several times for extra statements.

They've lived in the same residence for ten years, have had retirement extensions for about the same time so they knew the requirements, and hadn't been asked for those documents previously.

Do you have anything to contribute to the thread apart from asking questions with key words highlighted as if you also think it's bs?

The post would, of course, carry more credibility if it were related to personal experience rather than "hearsay" anecdote which counts for little.