Retirement Extension: an interesting experience

[4evermaat]

I helped a friend of mine renew his retirement extension in Chumphon (in the bus station complex on the outskirts of town).  He was changing offices from a different province where he has extended for retirement for several years already.  I heard all the rumors and experiences from other expats in the area, but never actually had a need to visit the local immigration office until today.

 

 

From what I remember, the requirements that he had to bring in:

 

- passport + copy

- copy of departure card [yes, they expect you to still have it], the original extension of stay, the last entry he made or last extension made (I forgot)

- Original thai bankbook + copies showing 800k (she asked for the original)

- 3 month statement from bank showing 800k (100 baht at BkB)

- separate letter from bank verifying current balance was >800k (100 baht at BkB)

- copy of lease agreement

- copy of landlord's id card front/back + 3 pages of Tambien baan (1 of the first page, one of the page with landlord's ID #, and a 3rd page having the number of the property matching what was on the lease), signed by landlord

- 1 passport photo

- 1900 application fee**

 

My friend tried to argue that the requirements were not on the immigration website (like that was going to work).  But the immigration lady was nice and even showed some other packets of other foreigners who were able to bring the required information.  He had a letter already, but it had 2 bank accts on it.  One of them was sufficient to show as proof.  So a new letter with only 1 bank account was needed + 3 month statement.  Why not use the letter that already had the correct bank acct on it?

 

Some tips:

- go early (around 08:30).  Be prepared to spend about an hour if it is your first time.  It might be less if you already have an extension from that office.  They do have a lunch break from 12:00-13:00.  Going early gives you enough time to get any copies or additional paperwork and make it back the same day or the next day.

- there is a copy machine across the street in the bus station.  2 baht/copy, not sure if they do color.

- There is only 1 krung thai atm; so stop by the bank beforehand.  Or the PTT/7-eleven 2 km down the road should have some more atms.

- The big Tesco Lotus in Chumphon Town has most of the major banks there.  Or you can go a little further to Ocean Mall / Sa la daang Road, there are more branches there or in between.

- They have LINE app, but not sure how often they check it.  They also have phone # to call.   The English is not perfect, but there is a lady there that speaks ok and seems dedicated to helping the foreigners.

- keep an extra copy for yourself of everything you gave immigration.  Have a plastic paper holder so that next year you are better prepared.

- **1900 gets you a 30 day under consideration stamp; 30 days after current extension expires.  You must come back again after 30 day under consideration to receive 1 year stamp.  If you want your stamp quicker, there is an express option that will be presented to you towards the end when you are asked to pay.  So total will be 1900 baht or 4900 baht, depending on your needs.

 

In short, it is not overly difficult once you have everything.  But I do understand some of the frustration that I've read here over the years.  Instead of walking in and having a proper checklist for each category of extension (or the common ones anyway), they have a very generic checklist of the immigration requirements, and then they verbally give you the specifics expecting people to know exactly what they mean.  I got her to write down the bank documents needed in Thai, call the landlord, and we ran to get the necessary stuff.   Only 35-40km to go back home (and go back) vs 100+km one way for some of you.  They had no problems admitting that if you cannot meet the requirements, to go to a different office     Well, like any gov't bureacracy, it's something that you just put up with once a year  (90 day reports are a lot easier).

 

[Mattd]

18 minutes ago, 4evermaat said:

copy of departure card [yes, they expect you to still have it]

Would have thought it was obvious you should still have the departure part of the TM.6, why wouldn't you?

[YetAnother]

47 minutes ago, Mattd said:

Would have thought it was obvious you should still have the departure part of the TM.6, why wouldn't you?

recall , that time before we knew

[impulse]

51 minutes ago, Mattd said:

Would have thought it was obvious you should still have the departure part of the TM.6, why wouldn't you?

 

Then it would certainly be handy if they listed that on the required document list.  

 

There are lots of important documents that I keep but don't carry with me when I go to immigration.  Unless they're on the list.

 

[Mattd]

3 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Then it would certainly be handy if they listed that on the required document list.  

 

There are lots of important documents that I keep but don't carry with me when I go to immigration.  Unless they're on the list.

 

Then I apologise, as maybe I misunderstood the meaning, the way it was written I thought it meant that the OP friend was lucky that he had it at all, as opposed to not having it with him when going to immigration.

Must admit though, most of my dealings with immigration have required copies of the TM.6, last entry stamp and last extension stamp (actually they wanted every one of the extension stamps the last time), so would do copies and take it as a matter of course.

[giddyup]

Did my extension and 90 day report same time a couple of days ago at Jomtien office. In and out, all done in less than 30 minutes. If you have all your paperwork in order, it's a breeze.

[tropo]

4 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Then it would certainly be handy if they listed that on the required document list.  

 

There are lots of important documents that I keep but don't carry with me when I go to immigration.  Unless they're on the list.

 

My TM6 is always stapled to the inside of my passport. Do you keep it somewhere separate?

[BritTim]

5 minutes ago, tropo said:

My TM6 is always stapled to the inside of my passport. Do you keep it somewhere separate?

Sometimes, immigration staple it to a page. When they do, I leave it alone. When immigration leaves the TM 6 loose inside the passport (which I prefer as there is no damage) I place the TM 6 aside in a safe place.

[impulse]

10 minutes ago, tropo said:

My TM6 is always stapled to the inside of my passport. Do you keep it somewhere separate?

 

I keep my TM6, a few hundred $$$, passport photos, a couple of business cards,  and recent airline ticket stubs (where I haven't seen the miles accrued yet) inside my plastic passport protector.

 

Obviously, the $$$ USD, the passport photos, and other junk gets set aside before I hand the passport to anyone.  At which time, the TM6 is probably going to get left behind if I don't know it's needed.  It's been a coin toss whether that's at home or while I'm in line somewhere.  Until now...

 

[perthperson]

2 minutes ago, impulse said:

the TM6 is probably going to get left behind if I don't know it's needed.

The TM6 is required for most (All?) transactions undertaken at an immigration office.

[Emster23]

I go in with the attitude "Whatever I bring, it's not enough". Usually proven correct

[impulse]

7 minutes ago, perthperson said:

The TM6 is required for most (All?) transactions undertaken at an immigration office.

 

Wouldn't know for sure.  My company has visa fairies that take my passport in to the One Stop.  If I need to show up at all, they just tell me when, show me where to sit, when to go up front, what to sign and which IO to wave at and when.  I don't recall ever giving them my TM6 to take with them, but I can't say for sure in 30 or 40 visits for extensions, WPs, and 90 day reports.  Maybe they fill one out.  Maybe I've accidentally left mine in the passport every time.

 

Since there's a good chance my WP won't get renewed this year, I have a new found curiosity about such things.

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by impulse

[perthperson]

11 minutes ago, impulse said:

 My company has visa fairies

Obviously Nanny has taken good care of you.

 

You are wise to learn about the real world which, in reality, is easy to live in. 

[tropo]

40 minutes ago, BritTim said:

Sometimes, immigration staple it to a page. When they do, I leave it alone. When immigration leaves the TM 6 loose inside the passport (which I prefer as there is no damage) I place the TM 6 aside in a safe place.

It seems that Immigration has stopped stapling it (TM 6) to passports. They shouldn't be defacing passports with staples, but they staple receipts, reporting forms and most anything they want to your passport. They have no respect for your most valuable document.

 

I've always felt the attitude of immigration officers is extremely arrogant - you're lucky you can stay - don't you dare complain about anything. If you do they'll shout.

 

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by tropo

[perthperson]

1 minute ago, tropo said:

It seems that Immigration has stopped stapling it (TM 6) to passports. They shouldn't be defacing passports with staples, but they staple receipts, reporting forms and most anything they want to your passport. They have no respect for your most valuable document.

 

 

In the USA a **** Immigration Officer split a full mug of coffee over my passport -- That was real disrespect. 

[how241]

I have done this many times, at Jomtien,  without any problems.  Just have copies of everything.

[impulse]

43 minutes ago, perthperson said:

Obviously Nanny has taken good care of you.

 

You are wise to learn about the real world which, in reality, is easy to live in. 

 

Only an idiot would turn down free nanny services if such services were on offer.   I did fine for the 10+ years I was self employed in Asia before setting foot in Thailand.  But that's no reason to keep doing it the hard way.  Plenty of time to learn if and when it becomes necessary.

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by impulse

[perthperson]

4 minutes ago, impulse said:

Only an idiot would turn down free nanny services

Oh dear ! 

 

Did you lose the sense of humour or were you never in possession of one? 

[Jim7777]

What in the world is this guy going on about?  You don't have to bring bank statements to immigration in fact they don't even want to see them.  It's really simple you just go to your embassy and get a Proof of Income Affidavit and that's all immigration needs to see.  

[joebrown]

I always thought a 30 day 'under consideration' period only applied to marriage extensions. The longest I've ever had to wait for the return of my passport was  the next day, at Jomtien, when I applied on the basis of income/bank balance.

The offer of an express turnaround for 3,000bht sounds like a scam the corruption busting PM will stamp out in the next 20 years, as promised! 

[Eff1n2ret]

9 minutes ago, joebrown said:

I always thought a 30 day 'under consideration' period only applied to marriage extensions.

It happened to me once a couple of years back when I applied for a retirement extension. They said it was because the officer authorised to sign off the application was away. They phoned up a couple of weeks later to go and get the stamp, no problem. There was no suggestion that it could be done quicker for extra payment.

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, perthperson said:

In the USA a **** Immigration Officer split a full mug of coffee over my passport -- That was real disrespect. 

Did the officer then refuse you entry on the basis that your passport was damaged? That would really test your sense of humor!!

[perthperson]

2 minutes ago, BritTim said:

Did the officer then refuse you entry on the basis that your passport was damaged? That would really test your sense of humor!!

No!  But I created and the US paid for an ETD and a new Passport ! 

[BritTim]

10 minutes ago, perthperson said:

15 minutes ago, BritTim said:

Did the officer then refuse you entry on the basis that your passport was damaged? That would really test your sense of humor!!

No!  But I created and the US paid for an ETD and a new Passport ! 

That is actually pretty decent of them, albeit just. There is no way the Thai authorities would do the same. They would simply put it down to your having bad karma.

[habanero]

2 hours ago, tropo said:

It seems that Immigration has stopped stapling it (TM 6) to passports. They shouldn't be defacing passports with staples, but they staple receipts, reporting forms and most anything they want to your passport. They have no respect for your most valuable document.

 

I've always felt the attitude of immigration officers is extremely arrogant - you're lucky you can stay - don't you dare complain about anything. If you do they'll shout.

 

 

U.S. Embassy told me that if anything gets stapled to the cover or the first page of the passport, then it will be rejected.  I know this because I stapled the TM6 to the cover of the passport. They were kind enough to remove the staple carefully so that no damage showed.  Otherwise I would have had to get a new passport.There is to be no defacing of the passport. I took it as it's OK to staple to the visa pages. Still though, I wouldn't suggest it just in case.. 

[tropo]

2 hours ago, perthperson said:

In the USA a **** Immigration Officer split a full mug of coffee over my passport -- That was real disrespect. 

Unless it was an accident. 

[PhuketSarah]

All these threads on retirement extensions have me in a constant state of nausea lately- what calamity will befall me  when I go for an extension? Why did I move here?  Huge mistake, every aspect of it  is completely unreliable when individual govt officials  can force jumping through whatever hoops of compliance  they wish.  

 

[perthperson]

15 minutes ago, PhuketSarah said:

All these threads on retirement extensions have me in a constant state of nausea lately- what calamity will befall me  when I go for an extension? Why did I move here?  Huge mistake, every aspect of it  is completely unreliable when individual govt officials  can force jumping through whatever hoops of compliance  they wish.  

 

Must be a bit like those "low, slow" airplane you were complaining about ! 

[YetAnother]

9 hours ago, 4evermaat said:

 So a new letter with only 1 bank account was needed + 3 month statement.

please, please tell me you are joking; added to all the other nigglies of immigration here, we have to assume intelligence

[dennism53]

10 hours ago, Mattd said:

Would have thought it was obvious you should still have the departure part of the TM.6, why wouldn't you?

If, like me, you arrived on a one way ticket!