Proof of income or money in the bank

[gk10002000]

The U.S. Embassy doesn't ask anyone to present any proof of income and have no desire to look at the details of someone's brokerage, investment and retirement accounts. However, the local immigration office may ask an application to prove regular monthly income of 65,000 baht each and every month and they aren't going to be willing to pour over reams of print-outs from the internet about how (in theory) there could be 65,000 baht of income. The immigration officer is going to want to see a Thai bank book with regular deposits each and every month, ATM withdrawal slips or other easy-to-understand evidence that 65,000 baht is coming into Thailand each and every month.

I understand. However, I will not be making regular deposits into a Thai bank. Some of my investment income comes in leaps and bounds and while regular over the course of 3 months or a year, is not regular over the course of a single month. I will typically be making maybe quarterly transfers to Thailand at best. Well, if anybody at the local immigration asks for details, and then actually expects me to make monthly inputs, I guess I will deal with it as required. It is not impossible to do, but it would cost me time and trouble and fees should it prove to be necessary. However I doubt it happens much.

[CMBob]

The form the consular official signs is essentially only a notarization (a verification that the named person is the person who signed the document) and there's nothing on the form that indicates that the consular official is verifying that anything the signor wrote is true or not true (other than his/her identity). I do realize that many embassies/consulates on their own require proof of the income although, as noted many times, the US doesn't do that. Does anyone have any idea how the verification tradition started by the non-US embassies/consulates? Were they asked to do that by Thai authorities or did they simply decide to do that on their own?

[NancyL]

It's my understanding that the Thai authorities asked the Embassies/Consulates to verify pension income and the Americans won't do it. They can't possibly research the veracity of every document presented in support of an income claim. It's not their role to enforce Thai immigration law. The notarization of a sworn statement was a compromise worked out between Thai Immigration and the Americans. Other countries have a similar arrangement, incidentally, it's just they aren't as well-known or as disliked by others as the Americans.

[NancyL]

I can't possibly see Thai immigration requiring proof that everyone on a retirement visa is bringing in (and presumably spending) 65,000 baht/month. Many retirees live on much less than this. I know many who have a 800,000 baht account, often because they don't want to deal with the hassle and expense of getting an income letter from their Embassy/Consulate and they live a nice life on their pension of 30,000 - 40,000 baht/month. If asked by Immigration how they live since they never touch their 800,000 baht account, they only have to show the bank book or ATM slips with the regular cash flow so that it's evident they have a source of pension income and aren't working.

[Barin]

On the TM7 simply state RETIREMENT as the reason for extension (that's what I do).

But as regards income proof, I would strongly recommend that you provide the Embassy with your pension provider's latest statement with details of your current gross pension rates (again, as I do, with no problem) instead of bank statements. It is gross figures which are taken into account in reckoning compliance with the 65,000 THB minimum monthly income requirement. Bank statements, of course, only indicate net figures after the jolly old taxman at HMRC has taken his share.

I don't know about other Immigration Offices in Thailand but I've been officially advised by the Immigration Office in Nongkhai that from now on they will not accept any Letter from the Embassy as a proof of income for the so called "Retirement" non O-A visa extension any more.

Only a letter from Thai bank will be accepted in the future.

Did anyone have the same experience at Chaeng Wattana or Pattaya?

What about the Immigration Offices in Udon Thani and Khonkaen?

I have seen reports of Nong Khai wanting a bank book showing the money coming in every month as a back up to the income letter.

Are you sure they said they would only accept 800k baht in the bank.

I have not seen any reports of any other office wanting it like that.

The new rules in Nongkhai are supposed to be implemented as from the new year 2016.

Anyway the Nongkhai Immigration is giving a notice well in advance. In March this year I was requested to sign a notice stating that next year just a Letter from the Embassy stating your monthly income will not be enough for the Retirement visa extension. What they want to see now is the proof from a Thai bank that either 800,000 Baht (or over) was present on your Thai bank account during the last 3 months prior to applying for Extension or at least 400,000 Baht was kept on your account for 3 months and another 400,000 Baht per 3 months is being transferred from abroad on a regular basis. It means 400,000 Baht to be kept on your Thai bank account for the duration of 3 months prior to extension application AND the proof from Thai Bank that during those 3 months you had International Money Transfers from abroad directly to your Thai Bank account totaling another 400,000 Baht per the same 3 month period.

[Mario2008]

That would not be according to the rules and one could challenge them in administrative court. I doubt immigraiton will let it come that far as they know they will lose.

[Expattaff1308]

For income method applications, there is absolutely no legal requirement to actually import that money into Thailand.

For example if you're claiming 80K per month and the income requirement is 65K, the required amount to IMPORT into Thailand monthly is ZERO baht.

Now if you're talking about enforcement tactics if immigration feels they need to verify income stated in embassy letters, they can demand whatever they want, but in reality there is absolutely no rule requiring IMPORT of stated income.

I am afriad that may be what the new immigration laws will state--that we have to bring the B65k/mo into Thailand.

There is no new immigration law.

I agree with Jingthing & other posters, 65,000 is not needed to be imported, what if you want to use the 'combination' method 200,000 in a bank and 50k a month??

I think Nong Khai Imm has had some issues where the income letter cannot be backed up, so this is a way to overcome it.

I use Udon office and the letter is acceptable there, tho I do also supply them with the letter from my pension provider & copies of my bank book to show them money coming from abroad, I certainly don't or won't transfer 65,000 a month I live on a lot less than that.

[jpinx]

I recommend the OP to take the original letter he got from DWP saying his pension has started. That was the deal clincher for me.

[phuketrichard]

PHUKET!!
did my extension today

they wanted a copy of my us visa/mc as i use the combo method. ( he used his calculator)

Letter from us embassy accepted with no back up.

Letter from bank an stamped copies of each page of the Bankbook

no big deal

u do NOT need import 65,000 baht./month

today took over 90 minutes an not that busy but so many people u need to go see

1. first the Farang who checks ur paperwork

2. than passed to the immigration who checks again

3. than to the lady who records it in the computer

4. than passed to another immigration who CHECKS AGAIN an places stamp in and collects the 1,900

5. than u need go get ur photo taken

6. than u get ur receipt to pick up passport after 2:30

2 years ago in and out in 15 minutes, see one person

[Jingthing]

That seems wrong ... demanding a foreign credit card. What if you didn't have a current one not to mention privacy issues?

[IMA_FARANG]

If they wish to the immigration can ask to see a passbook for the Thai Bank account.

All incoming foreign funds transfers are indicated by a code....for Bangkok Bank it is FTT.

Immigration officials that deal with such things regularly quickly learn the bank codes that are printed n the passbook.

If you claim that you are getting $XXXX dollars a month from outside Thailand on your U.S embassy statement and the immigration official does not see a pattern of those FTT transfer codes they MAY, if they want to, ask you why your bankbook doesn't show that monthly or regular pattern of transfers into Thailand.

Many times they won't ask, but don't be so foolish as to think that a experienced immigration official can't tell when you are b- - - - - tting them about your income statement

They are not idiots, you know.

On my first application for a retirement extension I actually had a female official make a copy of the last page of my Bankbook.

I had the 800k required so there was no problem. She went through That copy of my bankbook with a yellow marker and outlined each FTT transaction.

It showed a pattern of monthly transfers into Thailand, so she put a checkmark on the top of that copy, wrote O.K. on top of the copy, and stapled it to my embassy income statement.

She smiled wrote pass on the pile of forms and sent me to her supervisor for a signature.

Obviously I passed.

[smotherb]

If they wish to the immigration can ask to see a passbook for the Thai Bank account.

All incoming foreign funds transfers are indicated by a code....for Bangkok Bank it is FTT.

Immigration officials that deal with such things regularly quickly learn the bank codes that are printed n the passbook.

If you claim that you are getting $XXXX dollars a month from outside Thailand on your U.S embassy statement and the immigration official does not see a pattern of those FTT transfer codes they MAY, if they want to, ask you why your bankbook doesn't show that monthly or regular pattern of transfers into Thailand.

Many times they won't ask, but don't be so foolish as to think that a experienced immigration official can't tell when you are b- - - - - tting them about your income statement

They are not idiots, you know.

On my first application for a retirement extension I actually had a female official make a copy of the last page of my Bankbook.

I had the 800k required so there was no problem. She went through That copy of my bankbook with a yellow marker and outlined each FTT transaction.

It showed a pattern of monthly transfers into Thailand, so she put a checkmark on the top of that copy, wrote O.K. on top of the copy, and stapled it to my embassy income statement.

She smiled wrote pass on the pile of forms and sent me to her supervisor for a signature.

Obviously I passed.

I spend more than B65k/mo, but I use the ATM--my financial institution reimburses me on ATM charges and gives me the FX rate that day. I do not want to to transfer money to a Thai bank for monthly expenses; I do so only for large purchases--why go through the transfer and exchange rate hassles and I already earn more on my money than I can earn in Thailand. I could keep ATM receipts.maybe I should.

[phuketrichard]

That seems wrong ... demanding a foreign credit card. What if you didn't have a current one not to mention privacy issues?

not wrong at all an makes sense to me

using combo method and most of money goes into my US account and NOT transferred to my thai bank account, they want to see that i can access it

.... I had the 800k required so there was no problem

It showed a pattern of monthly transfers into Thailand, so she put a checkmark on the top of that copy, wrote O.K. on top of the copy, and stapled it to my embassy income statement.

why did u have the embassy letter if u had 800,000 in the bank? You do NOT need monthly transfers to reach the 800,000 baht mark