Marriage versus Retirement extension

[PGThompson1]

I've posted this in the Chiang Mai Forum as we all know each immigration office seem to have their own rules.

 

What do I actually need for either extension. I don't have a monthly income but have a reasonable sum of money in a UK bank.

 

I'm loathed to transfer any money at the moment due to the dire exchange rate.

 

Would a letter from the British Embassy confirming my savings be suffice in either extension?

 

Tanks.

[trainman34014]

In a word...No !   For a Retirement Extension you need 800,000 Baht lodged in a THAI BANK for a three month period before you can apply or 400,000 Baht for a Marriage Extension.

 

Many other papers needed as well and you would do best to post your question on the Visa page as there are experts there who can help you.

 

Good luck. 

[Bill97]

Transfer into foreign currency account then exchange for baht when you choose.

[Greenside]

31 minutes ago, Bill97 said:

Transfer into foreign currency account then exchange for baht when you choose.

I don't think that a currency account will be acceptable for either visa and if the dire exchange rate is referring to GBP then you could be waiting several years, thanks to Brexit.... 

 

[CMKiwi]

Unfortunately it's only the Yanks (Sorry...Americans) that are able to rock up to their embassy/consulate and swear an oath to say they have the required funds for the appropriate visa.  

 

The rest of us have to prove it in cold hard cash.

 

With the comparison between marriage or 'retirement' I am led to believe that the 'retirement' visa is a lot less hassle paperwork wise.

 

I've had a few friends that reverted back to retirement visa as the marriage visa is a crock to work thru/abide by. Too many hoops to jump through.

 

You can always chat to the friendly staff at Assist Thai Visa or any other like minded agencies.  They do provide a great service.

[thaibeachlovers]

If you don't want to transfer money because of the exchange rate, you might want to look at the new 10 year visa, which I believe is now available ( someone will tell me if I'm wrong ). That way no need to prove funds in Thailand.

If you can afford it, the Elite visa is also an option, but don't remember off hand how much it is- might be cheaper transferring money at a loss to cover a visa extension.

 

I'm one of the world's great losers on exchange rates- probably lost thousands of $ due to changing at the wrong time. Sometimes one just can't win.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, CMKiwi said:

Unfortunately it's only the Yanks (Sorry...Americans) that are able to rock up to their embassy/consulate and swear an oath to say they have the required funds for the appropriate visa.  

 

The rest of us have to prove it in cold hard cash.

 

With the comparison between marriage or 'retirement' I am led to believe that the 'retirement' visa is a lot less hassle paperwork wise.

 

I've had a few friends that reverted back to retirement visa as the marriage visa is a crock to work thru/abide by. Too many hoops to jump through.

 

You can always chat to the friendly staff at Assist Thai Visa or any other like minded agencies.  They do provide a great service.

At the moment a retirement extension is easier in C M, but that could change of course. I believe from reading the Samui subforum that the retirement extension is almost as problematical as a marriage extension there.

[thaibeachlovers]

PS. Just remembered that if you are happy to return to the UK once a year you can get a new OA visa based on retirement which does not require 800,000 in a Thai bank.

[ross163103]

1 hour ago, CMKiwi said:

With the comparison between marriage or 'retirement' I am led to believe that the 'retirement' visa is a lot less hassle paperwork wise.

I've done the retirement extension many years then for various reasons decided on trying based on marriage. As people have mentioned the retirement is a lot easier, less hassle. I actually stopped half way through the marriage process and switched back to retirement the next day. 

[Dante99]

3 hours ago, Bill97 said:

Transfer into foreign currency account then exchange for baht when you choose.

 

2 hours ago, Greenside said:

I don't think that a currency account will be acceptable for either visa and if the dire exchange rate is referring to GBP then you could be waiting several years, thanks to Brexit.... 

 

I never had a problem using a foreign currency account as part of my money to satisfy CM Immigration.  I show them bank books for that account and a Baht account, they convert the foreign currency to Baht and get a total Baht figure.

 

Do you know people who have offered a foreign currency account and been refused by Immigration?

[wombat]

26 minutes ago, ross163103 said:

I've done the retirement extension many years then for various reasons decided on trying based on marriage. As people have mentioned the retirement is a lot easier, less hassle. I actually stopped half way through the marriage process and switched back to retirement the next day. 

stopped half way........you balked at the marriage part?

[TerryLH]

"PS. Just remembered that if you are happy to return to the UK once a year you can get a new OA visa based on retirement which does not require 800,000 in a Thai bank."

 

If done right you would only need to do this about every two years.

[trainman34014]

Can never understand why people complain about the process for Marriage Extension...unless they are just lazy.     Did mine again last week for the tenth time and it was a breeze, no difficulty whatsoever and i have never used an agent.

[StevieAus]

2 hours ago, CMKiwi said:

Unfortunately it's only the Yanks (Sorry...Americans) that are able to rock up to their embassy/consulate and swear an oath to say they have the required funds for the appropriate visa.  

 

The rest of us have to prove it in cold hard cash.

 

With the comparison between marriage or 'retirement' I am led to believe that the 'retirement' visa is a lot less hassle paperwork wise.

 

I've had a few friends that reverted back to retirement visa as the marriage visa is a crock to work thru/abide by. Too many hoops to jump through.

 

You can always chat to the friendly staff at Assist Thai Visa or any other like minded agencies.  They do provide a great service.

It's not only Americans I did mine in Chiang Mai last Friday when the Australian Embassy staff visited as they do very two months a good service

[thaibeachlovers]

Just now, trainman34014 said:

Can never understand why people complain about the process for Marriage Extension...unless they are just lazy.     Did mine again last week for the tenth time and it was a breeze, no difficulty whatsoever and i have never used an agent.

You must have been lucky then. Plenty of horror stories on TVF.

[Jip99]

10 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

 

I never had a problem using a foreign currency account as part of my money to satisfy CM Immigration.  I show them bank books for that account and a Baht account, they convert the foreign currency to Baht and get a total Baht figure.

 

Do you know people who have offered a foreign currency account and been refused by Immigration?

 

 

I had had an issue with Buriram Immigration wanted the FCD passbook updated. Buriram branch of Bangkok Bank could not do that but provided an "update letter" (in addition to the normal bank letter).

 

That wasn't good enough so the passbook had to be sent to Bangkok for updating.

[Jip99]

3 hours ago, Greenside said:

I don't think that a currency account will be acceptable for either visa and if the dire exchange rate is referring to GBP then you could be waiting several years, thanks to Brexit.... 

 

 

 

Typical Remoaner.....wrong on all counts!

[trainman34014]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You must have been lucky then. Plenty of horror stories on TVF.

Some stories will be fiction but many people just do not prepare properly and suffer the consequences.

[The Dark Lord]

2 hours ago, CMKiwi said:

Unfortunately it's only the Yanks (Sorry...Americans) that are able to rock up to their embassy/consulate and swear an oath to say they have the required funds for the appropriate visa.  

 

The rest of us have to prove it in cold hard cash.

 

With the comparison between marriage or 'retirement' I am led to believe that the 'retirement' visa is a lot less hassle paperwork wise.

 

I've had a few friends that reverted back to retirement visa as the marriage visa is a crock to work thru/abide by. Too many hoops to jump through.

 

You can always chat to the friendly staff at Assist Thai Visa or any other like minded agencies.  They do provide a great service.

Absolutely spot on my friend.

 

Khorat immig, at my last marriage visa renewal asked me why I did not go for a retirement visa ( his words not mine ) 

 

his explanation went as follows;

 

with a marriage visa you submit (considerably more) papers here (DanKiwan) then we send them to Bangkok who will take anything up to 3 weeks to maybe approve. 

 

Retirement is less paperwork and we will sign off on it and give you back your passport and visa within the day.

 

He was true to his word.  

[Phuket Man]

A marriage extension really is easy and only slightly more difficult than retirement.

Don't believe the doom and gloom merchants.

[Suradit69]

3 hours ago, CMKiwi said:

Unfortunately it's only the Yanks (Sorry...Americans) that are able to rock up to their embassy/consulate and swear an oath to say they have the required funds for the appropriate visa.

No, it's not just the Americans whose government assumes its citizens are telling the truth when taking an oath.

 

3 hours ago, CMKiwi said:

 

I've had a few friends that reverted back to retirement visa as the marriage visa

The O/P asked about extensions of stay, not visas.

 

3 hours ago, Greenside said:

I don't think that a currency account will be acceptable for either visa

The money needs to be in a Thai bank. It can be in a foreign currency account.

 

37 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You must have been lucky then. Plenty of horror stories on TVF.

Well if you read something on TV it must be true and accurate.  Unfortunately there are (obviously) some clueless and ill-prepared people going into immigrations offices and if they don't understand something or they screwed up, the first thing they do is blame immigrations. This thread alone is awash in misinformation and confusion.

 

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

PS. Just remembered that if you are happy to return to the UK once a year you can get a new OA visa

Actually with one border hop before the visa expires, you would only need to return to UK about every two years or you could choose to apply for an annual extension of stay in Thailand.towards the end of the second year if exchange rates were more to your liking.

 

 

 

 

[toddsaed]

in Penang get a marriage visa for one year for two hundred dollars,  money in the bank does not have to be

the four hundred thousand baht,  showed wifes bank book , once, the catch, you must go in and  out every

three months,  Pattaya has some visa services , seven hundred for one year retirement visa, no need

to show money from your bank, they do it

[natway09]

What is it with you guys ???

U wanna live here  ?????? suck it up & bring your money over. Marriage visa 425000. Bht 

You need that much to live for 6 months anyway & then just top it up

Not Thailand's fault that the BP has gone down & with this Brexit mess cannot see improvement for 5 years or so

 

[Just1Voice]

I started off with a Marriage Visa here in Chiang Mai, and hated all the crap you had to submit.  Lady at the office suggested I go with Retirement, as it was less hassle.  I said good, so she moved me to another desk. Five minutes later I was out the door.  For the last 8 years I show copies of my passport, and a statement from the American Embassy verifying my income.  That's it.  They have never once asked to see bank books or bank balance.  The Embassy verification of Income is all they need. 

[KKr]

my cynical ten cents:
If you are on a retirement visa you can stay here in case the marriage goes south.

After putting 800.000 in the bank, just forget about worries concerning paperwork.
I consider the money as a reserve fund in case unexpected medical bills need to be advanced.
Extension and Multiple re-entry visa usually take a few hours only.

[Rotweiler]

Not sure, but are you suggesting

 a marriage visa costs 4525,000 B?

 

22 minutes ago, natway09 said:

What is it with you guys ???

U wanna live here  ?????? suck it up & bring your money over. Marriage visa 425000. Bht 

You need that much to live for 6 months anyway & then just top it up

Not Thailand's fault that the BP has gone down & with this Brexit mess cannot see improvement for 5 years or so

 

 

[Wallich]

4 hours ago, CMKiwi said:

Unfortunately it's only the Yanks (Sorry...Americans) that are able to rock up to their embassy/consulate and swear an oath to say they have the required funds for the appropriate visa.  

 

The rest of us have to prove it in cold hard cash.

 

With the comparison between marriage or 'retirement' I am led to believe that the 'retirement' visa is a lot less hassle paperwork wise.

 

I've had a few friends that reverted back to retirement visa as the marriage visa is a crock to work thru/abide by. Too many hoops to jump through.

 

You can always chat to the friendly staff at Assist Thai Visa or any other like minded agencies.  They do provide a great service.

NOT just the yanks

[Sparkles]

1 hour ago, Phuket Man said:

A marriage extension really is easy and only slightly more difficult than retirement.

Don't believe the doom and gloom merchants.

Very true .We have friends ona marriage visa and the only hassle is us taking a photo of them  by their front gate showing the address.Not quite sure what that proves but is mandatory.So the paperwork goes to Bangkok, which is totally unecessary, but helps provide employment,why is that a problem ?

 

I have a retirement visa and the 800,000b  will go to by lovely wife of 13 years when I fall off the perch,for me its form of compulsory savings..

 

I was told by a CM Imm officer that they do not like people transfering from a marriage extension to a retirement extension .I guess it reduces the banks reserves which is what this 10 years visa nonsense is all about (sorry 5 years with renewal)

[TKDfella]

3 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

Can never understand why people complain about the process for Marriage Extension...unless they are just lazy.     Did mine again last week for the tenth time and it was a breeze, no difficulty whatsoever and i have never used an agent.

Well, that may be so but there is no doubt that Retirement Extension is less work for the officers (and even less still if you have 800,000B and don't do it via the combo method) and in some I.O's that might be important.

[hobobo]

No matter how many "tanks" (sic) you deploy, the answer is still NO. Exchange rate will be poo for at least 2 more years, maybe a lot longer. So transfer some of your UK Pounds that earn you at least 0.01% interest over there, and get 2% here!