Originally Posted by
OhOh
Thank you all for chipping in.
As Norton post the time is 3 months. I checked with my info and it does say 3 months "seasoning" is required.
As for my concern I will explain.
My route for extending my Thai AO visa is by the "Retirement" option. Purely as the "paperwork" required is less and I can manage the collection my self and it has been a very easy quick process in the past.
The requirements is for an income of at least 800,000, which can be pension amounts, bank deposit amounts or a combination of the both.
The paperwork for this is:
1. Sundry Thai bank info -
1. A letter on the date of extension issue confirming the amount in the Thai bank account.
2. Up to date copies of the bank account passbook confirming the "cash in bank" amount has been "seasoned" for 3 months
2. An official, embossed statement from the UK Embassy in Bangkok confirming the amounts of my pensions. To obtain this paperwork is required from the pension providers to the Bangkok Embassy for their perusal and confirmation.
3. Two photographs.
So minimal time and effort and a one hour procedure.
For example of the split. If I had confirmed pensions of say 15,000 GBP last year at an exchange rate of 43 the amount in THB would have been 645,000THB. To top that up to the 800,000 THB required, I would have had to have 155,000 THB or more for the 3 month seasoning+s.
This year, because of the FX rate which was 43, some 3 months ago, is now near 41 THB / GBP the pension amount is now only 15,000 x 41 = 615,000 THB. To top that up to the 800,000 THB required I would have had to have 185,000 THB or more for the 3 months.
In three months time if the FX rate drops another few baht to say 38 THB / GBP the pension amount will only be worth 15,000 x 38 = 570,000 THB. Which would mean there is a requirement for the Thai bank amount to have remained above 230,000 THB or more for the 3 months.
It appears from comments here that the FX rate used, is the rate of the day one applies for the extension. If so to ensure sufficient funds are being seasoned one has to foresee the exchange rate 3 months hence. As the Thai requirement is for the money to be seasoned for three months I assumed that the Fx rate at that date would be the one used. Which may have been an error.
As this is the first time for the FX rate to move like this for me, it's new territory. Hence my query here.