retirement visa bank account confusion

[twozeds]

hi…just following on from my previous post…My fixed deposit account has matured…so i called in at immigration this morning and asked the farrang guy who helps out, if the fixed deposit account was still accepted for the retirement visa.

He said a definite no, and that it had to be a normal everyday savings account…..upon calling at my SCB branch to update my fixed deposit account book and had a chat to the young thai guy who deals with the retirement accounts etc, he told me he is still doing the fixed deposit accounts for retirees.

If anyone can help me clarify this information i would be truly grateful as at the moment I'm a little confused, as last year i was told by immigration it had to be the fixed deposit type account….have the rules changed? or is it me not understanding correctly?

                              Many thanks in advance

[ubonjoe]

You were told wrong as far as I know. Since you mentioned a farang guy I assume that was at Jomtien or Phuket. It would not the first time a volunteer gave out incorrect info. Best to ask a real immigration officer.

Both those offices will accept a standard fixed deposit account.

[twozeds]

thanks ubonjoe…..yes i forgot to mention .....you are correct it was Jomtien…many thanks

[KhunBENQ]

Ignore the farang volunteer.

Can't remember a report that someone has been refused at Jomtien with a fixed deposit account.

 

Even if it doesn't help in your case: using fixed deposit accounts in Khon Kaen for four years without a problem.

 

But on the other hand: that is HAS TO BE a fixed deposit is also wrong.

obviously a misunderstanding. Of course a normal savings account is ALSO accepted. Just make sure that the balance never goes beyond the limit during the seasoning period.

I used a savings account for my first extension in 2012.

 

[dotpoom]

I asked the TMB bank the same question this week.....she gave a positive yes, fixed is OK......and added that when the letter is issued by the bank, it is valid for 3 days. That surprised me a little, but if the book (after been updated on the morning one is presenting it to Immigration) tallies with the letter then I cannot see a problem I suppose.

[offset]

It has to be a Fixed Deposit Account that you still can withdraw your money anytime before the maturing date

 

[twozeds]

thankyou for all your responses….I feel a lot clearer now on the matter….appreciate it very much

 

[TheFishman1]

I think bank letter good for 7 days

[swissbie]

OP, i'm not sure, why your account got matured (special conditions?), because normally they get rolled over automatically. But ask your bank, maybe you still can get it rolled over. If not, try to explain it at the immigration, if you're lucky they will accept it against the odds. Most IO's will ask for bank guarantee letters from the same day up to two days, some places the bank book has to me updated manually (as at mine in N.Pathom, even if i don't really understand why as fixed deposit accounts are not connected to ATM-cards, however, i do what they ask for), because the machine will only print the date of the last rollover.

[wgdanson]

Can a Foreign Currency Account be used towards Retirement Visa requirements

[ubonjoe]

6 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

Can a Foreign Currency Account be used towards Retirement Visa requirements

Yes you can but not all immigration offices will accept them. You should contact you local office to find out if they will accept them.

You would need a letter from the bank stating your balance in baht on the date the letter is written.

[thailand49]

The choice is yours but what is the interest rate for the fix and what is the interest rate for the everyday saving account. The difference surely couldn't be that great to be worrying about the problem.  You do know if you are getting retirement income you can also use that alone if it reaches 800,000 baht a year or 60,000 baht a month.  Another example you can use 400,000 baht in savings and 400,000 = 800,000 to reach your goal.

 

Last time I used a bank letter was a number of years ago at Jomtien I was told 3 days, but as many of us know it could be 3 today and 7 the next it all depends if the people working are happy that day?

 

 

[yardrunner]

25 minutes ago, swissbie said:

OP, i'm not sure, why your account got matured (special conditions?), because normally they get rolled over automatically. But ask your bank, maybe you still can get it rolled over. If not, try to explain it at the immigration, if you're lucky they will accept it against the odds. Most IO's will ask for bank guarantee letters from the same day up to two days, some places the bank book has to me updated manually (as at mine in N.Pathom, even if i don't really understand why as fixed deposit accounts are not connected to ATM-cards, however, i do what they ask for), because the machine will only print the date of the last rollover.

I use the Bangkok bank in khonkaen and when the fixed deposit account account matures it reverts to an ordinary savings account at a lower rate that is still acceptable to immigration and does not lose the 3 month seeding period, you then have to go in to the bank to start a new fixed deposit account but you have to make sure that it is more than 3 months from the date the account starts to when you need to renew your yearly extension of stay as immigration consider it as a new account

[twozeds]

I did go to the bank and they rolled it over or started it again for 12 months…I think the interest rate is only 1.3%…..So  this should be ok?….my retirement visa runs out in January 2017…. ….  

 

thailand49….I wasn't really concerned with the interest rate...I just wanted to be sure that this account was acceptable…thanks

[phuketjock]

7 minutes ago, twozeds said:

I did go to the bank and they rolled it over or started it again for 12 months…I think the interest rate is only 1.3%…..So  this should be ok?….my retirement visa runs out in January 2017…. ….  

 

thailand49….I wasn't really concerned with the interest rate...I just wanted to be sure that this account was acceptable…thanks

 

You do not have a retirement VISA as there is no such thing.

You probably have an extension of permission to stay on the grounds of Retirement,

which is NOT a VISA.

 

1 hour ago, wgdanson said:

Can a Foreign Currency Account be used towards Retirement Visa requirements

 

Yes at Phuket.

[twozeds]

 phuketjock…sorry my mistake in the wording…thanks for correcting me

[chiang mai]

BOT rules are that funds in ALL bank deposit accounts must be immediately available, upon request. That means loss of interest in the case of a fixed rate deposit, there is no such thing as a fixed term bank deposit in Thailand.

[pieeyed]

I was told at Chiang Wattage more than a year ago that they would no longer accept a foreign currency account. Had to be in Thai baht

[Estrada]

2 hours ago, phuketjock said:

 

You do not have a retirement VISA as there is no such thing.

You probably have an extension of permission to stay on the grounds of Retirement,

which is NOT a VISA.

 

 

Yes at Phuket.

Wrong Info. The Non "O" VISA for retirement (as stamped in Thai above the VISA explaining that it is issued for retirement purposes) is the only visa routinely issued in Thailand by Changwattana Immigration. If you think about it logically you will realize that Thai Immigration can only issue a Non "O' Visa in Country providing they stamp above it that it is for retirement purposes only. They cannot issue a Non "O" in Country currently for any other purpose than for retirement. I have posted screen shots of the stamps in my passport several times before to prove this point. 

[Estrada]

2 hours ago, chiang mai said:

BOT rules are that funds in ALL bank deposit accounts must be immediately available, upon request. That means loss of interest in the case of a fixed rate deposit, there is no such thing as a fixed term bank deposit in Thailand.

All Thai banks offer fixed rate fixed term bank deposit accounts. Bangkok Bank market them as fixed interest rate time deposit accounts. The funds are immediately available with loss of the premium rate of interest so that meet the criteria of funds that are readily available. Immigration officers prefer to see the fixed time deposit accounts as there is only one entry of say B800,000, whereas the savings accounts can have many entries that are hidden due to consolidation, so that it is hard to tell whether the funds have dipped below the magic B800,000 minimum. Last year I used a 5 month maturity Time Deposit and this year I am using a 7 month Time Deposit Account to extended my permission to stay based on retirement for the 5th time.

[swerver]

3 hours ago, swissbie said:

OP, i'm not sure, why your account got matured (special conditions?), because normally they get rolled over automatically. But ask your bank, maybe you still can get it rolled over. If not, try to explain it at the immigration, if you're lucky they will accept it against the odds. Most IO's will ask for bank guarantee letters from the same day up to two days, some places the bank book has to me updated manually (as at mine in N.Pathom, even if i don't really understand why as fixed deposit accounts are not connected to ATM-cards, however, i do what they ask for), because the machine will only print the date of the last rollover.

 

Yes it rolls over. But the rollover carries the Savings book interest. Not the expired Fixed Account interest rate. But this has nothing to do with Immigration. Their only concern is that there is 800,000 TB for the past 3-months in the bank.

As for Freddie the Belg stay away from him he makes the rules on the fly. Deal with the REAL Thai Immigration Officers.

[henry15]

Since april Nonthaburi immigration don't accept Fixed  accounts anymore.

[hobobo]

9 hours ago, twozeds said:

thanks ubonjoe…..yes i forgot to mention .....you are correct it was Jomtien…many thanks

Ubonjoe is absolutely correct: my first retirement extension (also Jomtien), about 6 years ago, I had four accounts with the same bank - 9 months fixed term account (Baht), Baht Savings account, a Pound Sterling account, and a Euro account. None of the accounts amounted to 800,000 Baht, but the total was close to 2 million Baht. Immigration didn't bat an eyelid, and the following day I got my yearly extension.

[DogNo1]

The non-O visa issued in country for purposes of retirement grants a period of stay of 90 days and is immediately stamped "Cancelled."  All subsequent stamps are extensions of the period of stay, not of the visa.  It's rather confusing but mistaking an extension of stay as being a visa has caused various members lots of trouble.  The details are in the pages of the forum.  You must obtain a one-year extension of your permission of stay before the end of the original 90 period of stay granted by the non-O.  You can then only obtain another visa by leaving the country but you can extend your permission of stay without leaving.

By the way, someone said that 60,000 per month in retirement income is sufficient for receiving an extension of stay.  It isn't.  I think that the correct figures are 65,000 per month or 800,000 per year.

[chiang mai]

6 hours ago, Estrada said:

All Thai banks offer fixed rate fixed term bank deposit accounts. Bangkok Bank market them as fixed interest rate time deposit accounts. The funds are immediately available with loss of the premium rate of interest so that meet the criteria of funds that are readily available. Immigration officers prefer to see the fixed time deposit accounts as there is only one entry of say B800,000, whereas the savings accounts can have many entries that are hidden due to consolidation, so that it is hard to tell whether the funds have dipped below the magic B800,000 minimum. Last year I used a 5 month maturity Time Deposit and this year I am using a 7 month Time Deposit Account to extended my permission to stay based on retirement for the 5th time.

 

Again, there is no such thing as a fixed term deposit, they may be sold as that but in practise they don't exist.

[jacko45k]

12 hours ago, swissbie said:

OP, i'm not sure, why your account got matured (special conditions?), because normally they get rolled over automatically. But ask your bank, maybe you still can get it rolled over. If not, try to explain it at the immigration, if you're lucky they will accept it against the odds. Most IO's will ask for bank guarantee letters from the same day up to two days, some places the bank book has to me updated manually (as at mine in N.Pathom, even if i don't really understand why as fixed deposit accounts are not connected to ATM-cards, however, i do what they ask for), because the machine will only print the date of the last rollover.

In my bank (Bangkok Bank) they do not get rolled over, interest rates change and offered fixed term periods may also get changed so my Fixed term account of say 7 or 11 months will become a 3 month FTD at the prevailing rate on maturity, and I normally have to go to the bank and close it, and open a new one.

Seems like the OP got 2 lots of incorrect information.......

I have used my savings account for retirement extensions for over 5 years now, I keep the balance above the requirement. Interest rates being what they are the FTD accounts are less of a pull.

[maoro2013]

In my case, Kap Cheong, they insisted that the funds be in a fixed deposit, then complained that the banks letter was a couple of days old when I applied for the extension of my marriage visa, and I had to get another one dated the day I went to the immigration office defies logic as anyone could, conceivably, get the bank to write the letter and withdraw the funds 5 minutes later with a savings account. I though the fixed deposit was to, more or less, get around this possibility. Anyway I thought the funds were there to ensure you could survive for the next year, if they are in a fixed deposit they are not always  available to you. The whole thing defies logic.

[chiang mai]

2 minutes ago, maoro2013 said:

In my case, Kap Cheong, they insisted that the funds be in a fixed deposit, then complained that the banks letter was a couple of days old when I applied for the extension of my marriage visa, and I had to get another one dated the day I went to the immigration office defies logic as anyone could, conceivably, get the bank to write the letter and withdraw the funds 5 minutes later with a savings account. I though the fixed deposit was to, more or less, get around this possibility. Anyway I thought the funds were there to ensure you could survive for the next year, if they are in a fixed deposit they are not always  available to you. The whole thing defies logic.

 

The bank letter does need to be not more than about one day old, difficult to do sometimes based on where you live but usually it can be managed. Also, the fixed deposit means fixed rate, not fixed term since all fixed deposits can be broken by the customer, at any time, on request.

[maoro2013]

10 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

 

The bank letter does need to be not more than about one day old, difficult to do sometimes based on where you live but usually it can be managed. Also, the fixed deposit means fixed rate, not fixed term since all fixed deposits can be broken by the customer, at any time, on request.

Still doesn't get around what I conceive as a problem. You could get a bank letter and withdraw all of the funds the next minute.

 

Immigration told me the letter needed to be done the day I applied for the extension. Maybe impossible sometimes. Rules made up separately by each individual office, as appears to be the norm for Thailand.

 

Furthermore a fixed deposit is for a fixed term, at least mine is. I assume it could be broken though, with some penalty attached.

[carlyai]

14 hours ago, yardrunner said:

I use the Bangkok bank in khonkaen and when the fixed deposit account account matures it reverts to an ordinary savings account at a lower rate that is still acceptable to immigration and does not lose the 3 month seeding period, you then have to go in to the bank to start a new fixed deposit account but you have to make sure that it is more than 3 months from the date the account starts to when you need to renew your yearly extension of stay as immigration consider it as a new account

Yes, I found this out the hard way. I had the bankbook from the expired fixed deposit, and the one from the new fixed deposit. You could plainly see the same money on rhe same day going from one bankbook to the other, but they wouldn't accept it. So I learnt. Anyway they were nice enough to suggest a way around it and I now have a marriage visa.