Are there any unknown (to me) wrinkles about only using the Embassy income letter of more than 65,000 per month to gain a retirement extension and not using any deposits in my sole name  in a Thai bank?  Most of the post I have read seem to concentrate on the issue of 800k in the Thai  bank for 3 months, rather than an income only approach .  We only transfer from our joint UK bank what we need to use here and don't want to keep large (ish) deposits unprotected in Thailand.   

Some immigration officers want to see a bank book even if you use the income option. 

Here on Samui it's enough to show a bank book with 5.000 baht. 

No issues and the letter allbeit a rip off ar £52 each year is easy to obtain by mail. 

 

As offices vary might be aswell to check with other expats at your location too.

Been using the income option for 9 extensions without a problem.

You can get it up to 6 months early and immigration will accept it if it is not older than 6 months old on the date you apply.

10 minutes ago, PoorSucker said:

Some immigration officers want to see a bank book even if you use the income option. 

Here on Samui it's enough to show a bank book with 5.000 baht. 

I thought that may be the case, so thanks for the heads up.  

3 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Been using the income option for 9 extensions without a problem.

You can get it up to 6 months early and immigration will accept it if it is not older than 6 months old on the date you apply.

good news, thanks. 

I believe that you are on the top of the "food-chain", and I believe that the immigration-people thinks so too. When using the income-method, it clearly shows that you got grounds to stay for ever, without any financially problem.....

 

Have done it myself for 9 years now, and must say that the only thing that could make life a little bit easier, would be to have that kind of money in the bank, and let it stay there for ever, so I do no have to go 680 kilometers once a year, down to Bangkok for the affadavit at the embassy.

 

But besides that,, I am happy as a lark with my regular pension....

 

Glegolo

7 minutes ago, glegolo said:

When using the income-method, it clearly shows that you got grounds to stay for ever, without any financially problem.....

I do hope that's true, although it does depend on the exchange rate. I did once calculate to what rate the pound sterling had to sink before I no longer qualified, and at the time it appeared comfortably below the status quo. (I can't remember now what the figure was). However, a turbulent exit from the EU and a Corbyn government could easily land us there.

27 minutes ago, Eff1n2ret said:

I do hope that's true, although it does depend on the exchange rate. I did once calculate to what rate the pound sterling had to sink before I no longer qualified, and at the time it appeared comfortably below the status quo. (I can't remember now what the figure was). However, a turbulent exit from the EU and a Corbyn government could easily land us there.

Of course you are correct Sir, I remember when I came here, the swedish crown dipped (decreased) so much so I lost more than 180.000 baht yearly, in comparizon between july 2008 up to october 2008....  That was a close call I might say.

 

Glegolo

Edited August 1, 20178 yr by glegolo

I have now had 5 retirement extensions in Phangnga province on letter only basis.

1 hour ago, Eff1n2ret said:

I do hope that's true, although it does depend on the exchange rate. I did once calculate to what rate the pound sterling had to sink before I no longer qualified, and at the time it appeared comfortably below the status quo. (I can't remember now what the figure was). However, a turbulent exit from the EU and a Corbyn government could easily land us there.

I suggest to anybody that is close on meeting the 65k baht number that they put some money in the bank to use with your income to meet the total of 800k baht combination option requirement.

For example if a 3 baht devaluation of your currency would be a problem you could put in 20k baht to make up the difference between a annual income of 780k baht to reach the 800k baht total plus about 22k baht that would cover the 3 baht change. You could put it in a fixed term account and just leave there in case.

This it`s you most have in Phuket Immigration  fore extension :

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Been using the income option for 9 extensions without a problem.

You can get it up to 6 months early and immigration will accept it if it is not older than 6 months old on the date you apply.

I think it depends on the province. I used to use the income option and was told the proof of income couldn't be more than a week old. That was in Bangkok.

I’ve been using the embassy income letter for the past 6 years for my retirement extension with no problems.  A couple of points worth mentioning though:

 

1..... A few (3 or 4) immigration offices around the BKK area are now asking for the embassy letter confirming income to be authenticated by the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  They say the reason is that they have been getting fake letters.  So worth checking with your local IO before turning up to have the goal posts moved.

 

2....The British Embassy in BKK has recently changed the application procedure for letters confirming income.  The service enhancement is that you can now apply for your letter by email    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/631665/thumbnail_Attachment_2.pdf.png

They will send your confirmation letter back by SMS at an additional cost (100BHT).

10 minutes ago, Dan5 said:

I think it depends on the province. I used to use the income option and was told the proof of income couldn't be more than a week old. That was in Bangkok.

That was changed back in June 2013 when immigration issued a directive that they would be accepted that are up to 6 months old.

In Bangkok it would not matter that much since that is where most people have to go to for their income letter but I have heard of them saying only a week.

The only office that I am aware that says 30 days is the Loei office.

I have used income letters that were 3 or 4 months old for my extensions for past 3 years.  I have one for my extension this month that I got in early June.

 

14 minutes ago, 007 RED said:

2....The British Embassy in BKK has recently changed the application procedure for letters confirming income.  The service enhancement is that you can now apply for your letter by email    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/631665/thumbnail_Attachment_2.pdf.png

They will send your confirmation letter back by SMS at an additional cost (100BHT).

Your link is bad it is only a thumbnail of the form. Go to this webpage to download the form and the credit card payment form. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-obtain-a-pensionincome-letter-for-thai-immigration

7 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Your link is bad it is only a thumbnail of the form. Go to this webpage to download the form and the credit card payment form. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-obtain-a-pensionincome-letter-for-thai-immigration

Thanks Joe for correcting my mistake.... problem is that you cannot check until you post.

1 hour ago, Dan5 said:

I think it depends on the province. I used to use the income option and was told the proof of income couldn't be more than a week old. That was in Bangkok.

As I recall some of the embassies complained to the Ministry about the difficulty for many to manage that and the rule was changed to 6 months.

Chiang Mai immigration only need your embassy 's income  letter. Bank statement not required. 

16 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

As I recall some of the embassies complained to the Ministry about the difficulty for many to manage that and the rule was changed to 6 months.

Yes, as I recall, Immigration were proposing some barmy rule that such letters should be no older then 15 days, and the American Embassy made strenuous representations to them on the basis that the frequency of their outreach sessions made such a tight deadline impracticable in most cases. Kudos to the American Embassy for taking up the cudgels on an issue with an outcome which has not just proved beneficial to American nationals in practice - I strongly suspect that my (British) Embassy would have merely lied down and accepted this ridiculous Immigration proposal without demur like an obedient lapdog had they been left to their own devices.

Edited August 1, 20178 yr by OJAS

4 hours ago, glegolo said:

I believe that you are on the top of the "food-chain", and I believe that the immigration-people thinks so too. When using the income-method, it clearly shows that you got grounds to stay for ever, without any financially problem.....

 

Have done it myself for 9 years now, and must say that the only thing that could make life a little bit easier, would be to have that kind of money in the bank, and let it stay there for ever, so I do no have to go 680 kilometers once a year, down to Bangkok for the affadavit at the embassy.

 

But besides that,, I am happy as a lark with my regular pension....

 

Glegolo

Thanks to the USA embassy outreach. Truly a blessing and something they don't have to do. The amount of time and money this saves American citizens must be staggering. 

Edited August 1, 20178 yr by csabo

9 minutes ago, csabo said:

Thanks to the USA embassy outreach. Truly a blessing and something they don't have to do. The amount of time and money this saves American citizens must be staggering. 

what kind of crap is that? what have my post to do with your answer?

 

Glegolo

8 minutes ago, csabo said:

Thanks to the USA embassy outreach. Truly a blessing and something they don't have to do. The amount of time and money this saves American citizens must be staggering. 

My danish embassy don't do outreach, but I just e-mail them a copy of my passport and my taxreturn for last year and for the price of 1000 thb and 40 thb for EMS they send me a letter for renewal of my extension.

 

Easy and cheap.

5 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

Some immigration officers want to see a bank book even if you use the income option. 

Here on Samui it's enough to show a bank book with 5.000 baht. 

I arrived in Bangkok went to Australian Embassy had a statutory declaration signed by Embassy staff (cost Bt1,900) stating that I had a bank account in Australia  with Aus $166,000 in it, (Bt 4,200,000 )also a Aus Govt. pension  of $23,000 p/y plus Aus $12,000 super pension total Aus $35,000.  My pension alone was $35,000 P/y or Bt 900,000  I went immigration for advice, they looked and told me to put Bt 800,000 in a Bank and come back in 2 months.  3 days later I was contacted  by someone to see if I would like to pay Bt 30,000 all may troubles would go away.  I would have my retirement visa in 3 days...TIT

Edited August 1, 20178 yr by David Walden

6 minutes ago, David Walden said:

I arrived in Bangkok went to Australian Embassy had a statutory declaration signed by Embassy staff (cost Bt1,900) stating that I had a bank account in Australia  with Aus $166,000 in it, (Bt 4,200,000 )also a Aus Govt. pension  of $23,000 p/y plus Aus $12,000 super pension total Aus $35,000.  My pension alone was $35,000 P/y or Bt 900,000  I went immigration for advice, they looked and told me to put Bt 800,000 in a Bank and come back in 2 months.  3 days later I was contacted  by someone to see if I would like to pay Bt 30,000 all may troubles would go away.  I would have my retirement visa in 3 days...TIT

No financials at all are required if using an agent.  Can you guess where some of that 30K Baht goes, besides the agent's pocket? 

 

That's the irony of it all - you can have just enough to barely survive per-year, plus an agent's fee, and live here forever on retirement.  But heaven forbid someone under 50 stays here for longer-periods spending foreign-sourced capital into the economy - making frequent travels to other countries, proving bank-funds, etc to stay legal.

And then you have the Chang Mai "don't get up at 4AM and wait in the all-day line" agent-racket. 

I believe this web site (Pattaya City Expats Club) has all the information you are looking for.

 

http://www.pattayacityexpatsclub.com/expats/visa.html

 

There are links to other areas including Residency guidelines and procedures.

 

http://www.pattayacityexpatsclub.com/expats/docs/Residency.pdf

1 hour ago, JackThompson said:

No financials at all are required if using an agent.  Can you guess where some of that 30K Baht goes, besides the agent's pocket? 

 

That's the irony of it all - you can have just enough to barely survive per-year, plus an agent's fee, and live here forever on retirement.  But heaven forbid someone under 50 stays here for longer-periods spending foreign-sourced capital into the economy - making frequent travels to other countries, proving bank-funds, etc to stay legal.

And then you have the Chang Mai "don't get up at 4AM and wait in the all-day line" agent-racket. 

I come to Thailand for 2 or 3 months at a time, West Aus is quite easy to go to and from and cheap.  Even getting a  2 months Thai tourist visa and extending to 3 months is a pain in the neck, it can take you all day.  Getting an extension in Thailand is really applying for a new visa in the country, ( all stuffing around) .  You need forms more photos, copies of this and that and as you say Jack heaven forbid if you take all you extension documents outside your province, immigration office you will be send packing "you have to go to correct office" and "they are the rules".  We all know about how rules are kept in Thailand.

 

It seems that applying for retirement visa in your home country is more likely to succeed then trying to do it in Thailand...THIS IS HOW I WILL BE DOING THINGS NOW.  

 

PS...When yo go to Malaysia everyone gets a 3 month tourist visa on arrival free even if you are going for a few days only or passing through...put you thumb on the spot, put your passport face down on the mark, look at the camera, smile a bit, stamp the book and you have got a 3 months tourist visa and to boot "have a nice holiday"

 

 

Edited August 1, 20178 yr by David Walden

11 minutes ago, David Walden said:

I come to Thailand for 2 or 3 months at a time, West Aus is quite easy to go to and from and cheap.  Even getting a  2 months Thai tourist visa and extending to 3 months is a pain in the neck, it can take you all day.  Getting an extension in Thailand is really applying for a new visa in the country, ( all stuffing around) .  You need forms more photos, copies of this and that and as you say Jack heaven forbid if you take all you extension documents outside your province, immigration office you will be send packing "you have to go to correct office" and "they are the rules".  We all know about how rules are kept in Thailand.

 

It seems that applying for retirement visa in your home country is more likely to succeed then trying to do it in Thailand...THIS IS HOW I WILL BE DOING THINGS NOW.  

 

PS...When yo go to Malaysia everyone gets a 3 month tourist visa on arrival free even if you are going for a few days only or passing through...put you thumb on the spot, put your passport face down on the mark, look at the camera, smile a bit, stamp the book and you have got a 3 months tourist visa and to boot "have a nice holiday"

 

 

You'd definitely want to start with a 90-day single-entry Non-O from your country, if going the "legit" retirement-extension route.  How easy that is in your country may vary.  Conversion to Non-O from Tourist is possible, but difficulty depends on your local immigration-office. 
You could also get an Non-O-A Multiple-Entry 1-Year visa (which can be stretched to 2 with planning), though that requires a good bit of paperwork for the Thai Embassy in your home-country.

 

I intended to do a conversion to a Non-O here (based on marriage, in my case), but the staff in my office which handle conversions have added extra things (not on the official list), so I gave up, and am going to Lao to get my 90-day Non-O.  Fortunately, my office purportedly has good staff doing the actual "annual extension" part of things, so hope to do that part of the process here.  I'm crossing my fingers that doesn't change before I reach that point.

Edited August 1, 20178 yr by JackThompson

1 hour ago, KenKadz said:

 

I would NEVER EVER use a site like that!! I have Thaivisa.com who is a reliable source of information.... Pattaya sites is like the rest of Pattaya, a bit out there...

 

Glegolo

Can the monthly income be foreign rental income from a property?

Does the embassy have to confirm this from bank statements, or can it be verified with regular transfers to Thailand?

Thanks