Thread: yes 40k and month 65k a month what do you put down?

I have used the 400k based on marriage then switched to the 800k retirement visa...had no real income but money saved so used the about in the bank each year.....

Now my SS is going to kick in so I was curious..........

say ones income plus SS, pension, investment adds up to more the needed 65k and month for the retirement visa or permission to stay what ever it's called....say (not me) it adds up to 82k a month do you all say 82k or just the required about 65k and leave it at that..? or say your income adds up to 75k...do you just say 65K?

thanks guys...

I got a retirement visa at Chaengwattana and all they wanted was the my notarized statement from the U.S. embassy. I brought proof to the embassy and to immigration at Chaengwattana and neither one had any interest in seeing supporting documents. Your mileage may vary.

Ok got it, thanks guys.....Like I said just been using the money in the bank..but next year receiving SS.. with SS and the dividends I earn it's over 65K...not much but some what over....will just put down the whole enjalata. thanks again

Originally Posted by stewart888

Ok got it, thanks guys.....Like I said just been using the money in the bank..but next year receiving SS.. with SS and the dividends I earn it's over 65K...not much but some what over....will just put down the whole enjalata. thanks again

As long as your embassy letter states over 65k a month you should be ok.

Thanks 99...I just didn't want to be a showboat so I guess if needed I could just put down 66k and all would me ok...thanks!

Assume as you use the term SS you are a US citizen? If so make an appointment on line at US Embassy Bangkok. Tell them you want an income verification letter. They'll give you a form to fill out. Put down income as $2,200 per month. They will stamp the form for you after you pay them 2,000 baht. When you get your 1 year extension to stay immigration will multiply $2200 * 30 (at least) maybe more. Showing income of 66,000 baht.

You will not put down income of 66,000 baht at the US Embassy. Will put down income in USD.

Norton brought up a very good point!

The other week when I was out at Chaengwattana with someone using the US Embassy letter, when the officer did the conversion she did it at 30baht to the dollar!

I also have NEVER had Chaengwattana ask someone for proof that any of the foreign embassy's letters were backed up with anything, BUT, it doesn't hurt to go prepared! I mean, just in case you run into an officer who has a bug up their arse because the foreigner they helped before you was cranky!

Why not just bring in B400k or B800k & deposit in a Thai bank. No letter from Embassy.

A short trip to the bank - get bank balance confirmation - free coffee or water at bank.

In fact, I am going to CNX Immigration on 18 Dec.
On-line booking of course. 9am appointment.
If things are a little slow, I will be out in 1/2hr.
I have been doing this B800k deal for 12 years. It just gets better & better.
Even if you are married, if you deposit B800K, no photographs required of you & wifey.

Why make life difficult? It does not need to be? SERIOUS QUESTION!

Originally Posted by cnx37

Why not just bring in B400k or B800k & deposit in a Thai bank. No letter from Embassy.

A short trip to the bank - get bank balance confirmation - free coffee or water at bank.

In fact, I am going to CNX Immigration on 18 Dec.
On-line booking of course. 9am appointment.
If things are a little slow, I will be out in 1/2hr.
I have been doing this B800k deal for 12 years. It just gets better & better.
Even if you are married, if you deposit B800K, no photographs required of you & wifey.

Why make life difficult? It does not need to be? SERIOUS QUESTION!

This has been discussed ad nauseam and has been concluded the same.
Simply, one does not need the B400k/B800k in any bank for any such extension procedures.

I've been watching this subject on other forums. Many of the offices are asking for three months current bank statements in addition to an embassy letter. That was the case for me and many others recently at KapCheong. And Todd is right, they do the conversion at 30 so if you don't make the threshold you will have to show funds on account to cover the difference.

"cnx37"; how is using an embassy letter "making things difficult"?

It's not that much more difficult than you traipsing to your bank, getting the bank letter, updating your bank book on the day you apply to show the money's still in the account, making copies of the pages of your bank book, etc.. It might cost more for the embassy letter depending on your embassy but it's hardly a fraught with peril procedure..

Some (as in a FEW) places want documentation to show the money listed on the embassy letter is "real" but most don't and accept that letter without question.

Once again, I'll ask how is that "difficult". . .

I would think someone with 12 years experience of pushing extensions of stay thru based on "being over 50" (called "retirement by both foreigners and immigrations) would know the inz & outz of how the system works enough to know there's NO reason to bank close to 25K US in a thai bank..

"Humbert" that กาบเชิง (Kap Choeng) Immigrations office in Surin is one nit-picky, persnickety office. I called them last week to question some of the reports I'd read about concerning that office. Mostly because I'm just a nosy prick who likes to question stupid shit that thaiz try to pull. I've talked to Immigrations offices all over this country, and this was the ONLY one where the officer wouldn't give me their name and rank!

They are indeed a kingdom unto themselves out there...

^Yes, Kap Choeng is the subject of many complaints on the local forum out here. Many reports of embassy letters being refused on the grounds that they are fake. People having required documentation turned away for no reason.

This came from a Surin based forum:

"This weeks Stickman's column.

The Immigration Department in Chiang Mai is aware that statutory declarations made by Americans at the US embassy in Bangkok and the consulate in Chiang Mai do NOT verify that the statement made by the citizen is true, rather that the person who claims to have made the statement really is the person who made the statement. "Some Americans (and all other nationalities) get a stat dec from their embassy which states that they have income from abroad that fulfils the required criteria to qualify for a retirement visa. However, there have been a number of cases where it has later transpired that the person doesn't have that level if income at all. This loophole has long been exploited by some retirees and Immigration in Chiang Mai is cracking down. Previously, Immigration accepted the document at face value. Now, however, Americans using this method are asked to show proof that they do actually have such income. A printout of the account will suffice. At present it is only Americans targeted, but one would reasonably expect that all nationalities will be looked at as the practice is certainly not limited to Americans. Of course there is another means of meeting the financial criteria for retirement - showing a local bank account with 800,000+ baht deposited."

http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/Stick...-interview.htm

There seems to be more credibility given to some embassy letters than others. Some embassies issue letters based on a "declaration" made by the applicant. Statutory or not, people can state whatever they like and get a supporting letter.

In my own case the embassy demands an affidavit, counter signed and stamped by a lawyer...plus, full supporting documentation showing the income received. (I use income statements and tax documents) It has always pissed me off that they want such overkill with information, but the other side of it is never having an income letter questioned or challenged in any way.


At least some of the Thai immigration folks have figured out which embassies are just rubber stamping and which ones actually authenticate the applicants income before issuing a supporting letter. This may explain the different experiences at the immigration offices and why some demand backup documents when certain embassy letters are provided.

Just curious there "koman" what embassy do you use??

AFAIK; (in dealing with quite a few of the embassies here in Bangkok) there's only two embassies which aren't "rubber stamping" at stat dec or declaration of income from abroad and that's the UK and the Canadian Embassy. Those have the bar set quite high as far as you proving to them FIRST that the number you're declaring is actually backed up by something.
Now I haven't found one which is having stuff "counter stamped by a lawyer" but that's beside the point...

It's my personal opinion, most immigrations officials couldn't find their way out of a paper bag using Google Maps if they were pointed at the mouth of said bag, but that's a whore from another go-go bar, err a horse of a different color..

Face it, they're just mid level governmental paper pushers who like to flex their muscles is all. With that being said, I HATE with a passion those little "outposts" in the middle of nowhere which make up their own regulations about extensions of stay.

Originally Posted by toddaniels

Just curious there "koman" what embassy do you use??

I use the Canadian embassy. The affidavit costs me 1000 Thb (friendly lawyer) and the embassy letter is 1500 Thb. I visit the nice folks in the KhonKaen immigration office, who seem better than most although like all government officials they can spring a small surprise every now and then...

The thing I can't really understand is the need for an affidavit when I supply them with all kinds of income proof on their own governments letterhead?? I've asked them repeatedly to waive this requirement but they wont back off. Common sense is never in great abundance amongst embassy staff it seems.

Originally Posted by toddaniels

most immigrations officials couldn't find their way out of a paper bag

How true. Office I do my extension are happy with the monthly income statement from my embassy.

Even asked me the exchange rate.

Strange, because I just accompanied a Canuck out to Chaengwattana for a yearly extension of stay using the Canadian Embassy letter.

The guy had to show the downloaded statements of his monthly deposits into his Canadian bank at the embassy to get the letter. I think he had about 6 months of them plus some other paper from where he gets his money, but they just took the downloaded deposits without question or further scrutiny.

When we went out to Chaengwattana, even though we had the stuff from the bank with us, we didn't turn them in with the paperwork. All we gave was the embassy letter and it sailed right thru.

The officer googled the exchange rate herself. It came up as 28.something but she used 27 to 1 for the conversion!

Again, I'm just curious "koman"; what sort of "all kinds of income proof on their own governments letterhead" do you show them? I mean if you're working here legally, have a work permit, pay into the thai taxation system, you don't need an embassy letter.

When I got a lump sum pay out from a private pension fund, a few years back.
The lady at the Brit Embassy put this in the letter of yearly income, plus the yearly pension I was receiving.

The Immigration officer's fookin' eyes popped out of his head when he did the conversion.

Originally Posted by toddaniels

"cnx37"; how is using an embassy letter "making things difficult"?

It's not that much more difficult than you traipsing to your bank, getting the bank letter, updating your bank book on the day you apply to show the money's still in the account, making copies of the pages of your bank book, etc.. It might cost more for the embassy letter depending on your embassy but it's hardly a fraught with peril procedure..

Some (as in a FEW) places want documentation to show the money listed on the embassy letter is "real" but most don't and accept that letter without question.

Once again, I'll ask how is that "difficult". . .

cnx37 lives in Chiang Mai. As far as I know, the US, UK and Australian embassies are in Bangkok and not Chiang Mai. My guess is that it's just a teeny bit more difficult to get from Ciang Mai to Bangkok than it is to go to his bank branch in Chiang Mai.

Originally Posted by Neverna

cnx37 lives in Chiang Mai. As far as I know, the US, UK and Australian embassies are in Bangkok and not Chiang Mai.

The US Embassy does "out-reach" a couple times a year traveling around doin' stuff for Americans here.

Plus there is a US Consulate in Chiang Mai!

A while back immigrations had a "press blurb", not a police order just a sort of FYI from the head office in Bangkok for various immigrations offices scattered hither and yon around this country. It said the embassy letters would now have a validity of 6 months from the date you got them.

Next question?

Originally Posted by toddaniels

Strange, because I just accompanied a Canuck out to Chaengwattana for a yearly extension of stay using the Canadian Embassy letter.

The guy had to show the downloaded statements of his monthly deposits into his Canadian bank at the embassy to get the letter. I think he had about 6 months of them plus some other paper from where he gets his money, but they just took the downloaded deposits without question or further scrutiny.

When we went out to Chaengwattana, even though we had the stuff from the bank with us, we didn't turn them in with the paperwork. All we gave was the embassy letter and it sailed right thru.

The officer googled the exchange rate herself. It came up as 28.something but she used 27 to 1 for the conversion!

Again, I'm just curious "koman"; what sort of "all kinds of income proof on their own governments letterhead" do you show them? I mean if you're working here legally, have a work permit, pay into the thai taxation system, you don't need an embassy letter.

If your Canuck actually went to the embassy in person, with proper ID and all his income documents, I believe they would issue the letter based on that.

The affidavit is for those of us who do it all by mail. I suppose its their way of confirming that I'm really me, and it's my documents that they are getting, even though for a suitable fee, I'm sure an affidavit could be obtained that says anything you want...

I send them copies of my T4 and T5 slips... which are the forms on which employers, pension funds etc report earned and/or investment income paid to the recipient. They are submitted to the tax department, with the annual tax return.

To make life easy for them I also send the summary page from by annual tax return which lists all various income amounts and the annual "assessment" notice from the tax department These are all official government documents.

I'm retired and all my income comes from outside Thailand. I'm not desperate enough or crazy enough to try working here....so I have to go through all this nonsense every year to prove my worthiness to the immigration dept.

Okay "koman", got it. Sorry for being so thick ( stupid) about it..

You are correct, when I talked to the gurl at the Canadian Embassy, doing it by mail it seemed like more "hoop jumping" than it was worth, especially as this guy lives in Bangkok anyway.

Here's one which threw me off the rails.

A Canadian who is retired and lives (lived) in the US (has a US address even though he lives here most of the year). His pension or the money he gets every month gets deposited into his US bank account from some thing or other when he worked in Canada.

Even with his online deposit statements from his bank in the US and his year end letter stating the monthly pay out from some Canadian company, they wouldn't issue the letter; because the money was going into a US bank account! They said go to the US Embassy, but the US Embassy said nope, he's Canadian, not American!

We ended up having to go the banked money route!

Originally Posted by toddaniels

Originally Posted by Neverna

cnx37 lives in Chiang Mai. As far as I know, the US, UK and Australian embassies are in Bangkok and not Chiang Mai.

The US Embassy does "out-reach" a couple times a year traveling around doin' stuff for Americans here.

Plus there is a US Consulate in Chiang Mai!

A while back immigrations had a "press blurb", not a police order just a sort of FYI from the head office in Bangkok for various immigrations offices scattered hither and yon around this country. It said the embassy letters would now have a validity of 6 months from the date you got them.

Next question?

Will cnx37 be able to get US citizenship? How long will it take?