Renewed my retirement extension - quick & no problems

[2lz2p]

I went to Immigration this morning to renew my annual retirement extension at Jomtien Soi 5 Immigration Office.

Arrived about 8:10am and there were plenty of parking spaces on Soi 5 near Immigration (I did note when leaving and driving toward Jomtien Beach Rd, the space that used to be used for housing construction workers is now a parking area - it is almost opposite Immigration Office and sign said "parking 40 baht" -as I recall as I only got a glimpse as I was passing).

I already had my paperwork, but stopped at adjacent shop for photo. Entered Immigration at 8:20am receiving queue number 803 (# 3 in line). As usual they started calling queue numbers at 8:30am, my number was called at 8:32am and I was finished and walking out the door at 8:36am. I used the following documents, which are the same as I used last year, which took about the same amount of processing time:

TM.7 Application
Photo
Photocopy of Passport (identity page plus stamps - in my case, all pages as it has only the stamps showing data transferred from my prior passport plus my last two extension stamps)
Photocopy of TM.6 Departure Card
Original Embassy Income Letter
Photocopy of Current Lease for house where I reside
Photocopy of landlady's Thai ID card (she included as part of lease)
Photocopy of Landlady's House Book (obtained at time I moved in over 3 years ago)

and of course, 1,900 baht fee.

Pick up passport tomorrow (at which time I will do my 90 day address report as it is due next Monday).

[travelerjim]

Good to hear that you have had a good experience at Thai Immigration. It's as it should be.

I assume you are American.

Today at coffee shop in Tuk Com Pattaya I met a Canadian who is going to apply for his retirement visa.

May I ask from our Canadian friends in the forum...

What does the Canadian Embassy require to obtain the Notarized Income Statement Letter to give to Thai Immigration?

The gent from Canada is now 80 years old.
He has a Canadian Pension of CAD 1700 monthly.
He has a bank account here in Bangkok Bank Pattaya.
How much will he need to have on deposit and for how long each year to meet the combined income of 65,000 Thai baht monthly to be eligible for the retirement visa?

Or does the Canadian Embassy require documents to prove your income when obtaining the Notarized Embassy Income Letter?

Any replies welcomed. Just trying to help the gent get his visa without the need to have a visa service do it for him... Which is added costs annually.

Tj

[Smiles]

" ... Today at coffee shop in tukcom Pattaya I met a Canadian who is going to apply for his retirement visa.
May I ask from our Canadian friends in the forum...
What does the Canadian Embassy require to obtain the Notarized Income Statement Letter to give to Thai Immigration?

The Canadian Embassy requires proof of income before handing out a notorized Letter of Income. The fee is 1500 baht.
The 'Best Proof' according to the Embassy is a copy of the first 5 pages of his latest tax return (it MUST be a copy of Revenue Canada's tax return ... not a few scraps of paper of something other than the RC return). That is the easiest and quickest way to do it.

I've been doing this for years, and as long as I've got my tax return in my hands, the whole process takes about 10 minutes (5 of those are waiting for the notarizer to come back with your letter). I suggest he goes to the Embassy as early in the morning as possible. There WILL be a queue after 10am and the notarizing part of the embassy shuts down after 12 noon. After 12 it's next day!

The gent from Canada is now 80 years old.
He has a Canadian Pension of CAD 1700 monthly.

If he's relying on just his income, then $CA1700 won't cut it. That only 43,573 Baht. He'll need a letter from his Thai Bank showing an amount which will make up the difference (in this case he'll need another $C836 per month or 21,427 Baht having been in his bank for at least 2 or 3 months before Immigration trip ... I've forgotten which one). The bank has to notarize the letter .... his personal bank book alone is not good enough.
The bank letter MUST be dated, at the latest, the day before he goes to Immigration. I don't use the money-in-a-Thai-bank option, but I've heard the bank fee for the letter is 100 baht. He MUST take his passport with him to the bank.
If our old boy is a Sex Tourist the fee is waived and the staff gives him a standing ovation just because he can still "stand up".

He has a bank account here in Bangkok Bank Pattaya.
How much will he need to have on deposit and for how long each year to meet the combined income of 65,000 Thai baht monthly to be eligible for the retirement visa?

See above.

Or does the Canadian Embassy require documents to prove your income when obtaining the Notarized Embassy Income Letter?

See above.

Can I assume this old geezer ~ being 80 already ~ has been living in Thailand for some time now? If so, hasn't he already been doing this?

Any replies welcomed. Just trying to help the gent get his visa without the need to have a visa service do it for him... Which is added costs annually.

Tj

[Up2u]

Tj said he was using a Visa service which can be expensive. Just trying to save him some money. There shouldn't be any changes in documents required that he provided the Visa service. If he has mobility or transportation issues perhaps he should continue using the Visa service.

[Joachim]

Couple of days ago I was offered to get retirement visa by a guy from adjacent Visa service to Jomtien Immigration office. He said it would take only 30 days to get 15 month visa. I know that current procedure takes 4 months and I told him about that but he said he can do it in 30 days. Does it make sense? So far, I never used any visa services.

[travelerjim]

Thank you Smiles for your helpful reply.
I will share with the Canadian expat.
He is 80 and his Thai gf is 49. Known for a while.

A year ago he came to retire from Canada to Pattaya.
He had visited before over many years on holiday.

Smiles is correct... His pension income of 1,700 CAD $ does not meet the 65,000 The monthly requirement for the retirement visa. He needs added $$$ to qualify for the Thai visa.

Unfortunately he does not have the added $$$ to put into the bank ...he does not have 800,000 Thai baht.

Last year he retired and used a visa agency...
They arranged for the 800,000 Thai baht to be deposited in his Bangkok Bank account... And obtained the visa. The retirement visa was issued. Cost him 15,000 + visa fees.

This year he approached the visa service agency and the cost doubled. He paid 33,300 Thai baht for his one year visa extension.

I asked about his finances and family. He keeps about 20-30,000 Thb in his Bangkok Bank account. His pension is deposited monthly into Bangkok Bank via Canada.

He does have a brother which lives in the USA. He is wealthy. I suggested that he ask his brother deposit US $10,000 annually 4 months before his visa needs renewal by a wire transfer directly via Bangkok Bank NYC fbo his Thailand bank account.

Get the Canadian Embassy issue notarized letter of his income. And use the combination of income and bank account balance to reach the 800,000 ...65,000 monthly income. After the visa is issued... Wire the US $10,000 back to the brother.

He had never thought of this combo idea.
He will ask his brother to assist him.

Hopefully he will be able to save the costly fees of the visa agency... Save at least 30,000 Thai baht each year.

Thanks again Smiles for your reply.
And of course we all know the process of securing the visa he has had to use for two years is ....let's say... Questionable.

BTW... He used a visa agency Joachim. I will not state which one. Now he obtained the 15 months of visa... Which was 3 months plus 12 months... In the short time frame noted. Costly and the 800,000 Thai baht was not seasoned until it became seasoned... Presto! Like magic.

Tj

[Smiles]

Thank you Smiles for your helpful reply.
I will share with the Canadian expat.
He is 80 and his Thai gf is 49. Known for a while.

A year ago he came to retire from Canada to Pattaya.
He had visited before over many years on holiday.

Smiles is correct... His pension income of 1,700 CAD $ does not meet the 65,000 The monthly requirement for the retirement visa. He needs added $$$ to qualify for the Thai visa.

Unfortunately he does not have the added $$$ to put into the bank ...he does not have 800,000 Thai baht.

Last year he retired and used a visa agency...
They arranged for the 800,000 Thai baht to be deposited in his Bangkok Bank account... And obtained the visa. The retirement visa was issued. Cost him 15,000 + visa fees.
This year he approached the visa service agency and the cost doubled. He paid 33,300 Thai baht for his one year visa extension.

Visa 'agencies' are a total scam. The all-in amount spent (not including the money issue) for a 12-month extension should be around: 1900B Imm extension + 1500B Embassy letter + 100B Bangkok Bank letter + 500B transport to Can Emb for income letter + 100B for lunch for Imm Dude (not obligatory)+ 150B for some photos + 150B for 'pain au chocolat' & cappuccino @ Can Emb building = 4250B tops.
I suppose if the money issue cannot be fixed then he doesn't have much choice but to get a loan from the Visa Agency and pay their mafioso interest rate.
I know a few guys in my neighbourhood who do that, and they're all grouchy, whining, unhappy men.
Perhaps your friend can borrow some money from one of his friends? Or, as you say below, his brother. He could then shove the amount into his Thai bank account. It's not the best of all worlds but it can be done, and it's not uncommon. If he gets his extension he can then withdraw the loan amount and pay his friend back. This arrangement is of course fraught with potential problems.
Also, there are dates that need to be watched carefully: i.e. the money needs to be in the bank at least 2-3 months prior to applying for the extension.
Not a process I would be happy using.

I asked about his finances and family. He keeps about 20-30,000 Thb in his Bangkok Bank account. His pension is deposited monthly into Bangkok Bank via Canada.

So ... he uses a Visa Agency and "poof", all his money has disappeared from the bank to pay the extensional agency fees. Then he's down to $CA1700 a month ... and having to start saving money (not easy to do on that income) for the next extension-renewal date in 2018, when the agency fees are up to, let's say, 45,000B. Doesn't sound like a happy life in Thailand at age 80.

He does have a brother which lives in the USA. He is wealthy. I suggested that he ask his brother deposit US $10,000 annually 4 months before his visa needs renewal by a wire transfer directly via Bangkok Bank NYC fbo his Thailand bank account.

Get the Canadian Embassy issue notarized letter of his income. And use the combination of income and bank account balance to reach the 800,000 ...65,000 monthly income. After the visa is issued... Wire the US $10,000 back to the brother.

He had never thought of this combo idea.
He will ask his brother to assist him.

Hopefully he will be able to save the costly fees of the visa agency... Save at least 30,000 Thai baht each year.

Thanks again Smiles for your reply.
And of course we all know the process of securing the visa he has had to use for two years is ....let's say... Questionable.

BTW... He used a visa agency Joachim. I will not state which one. Now he obtained the 15 months of visa... Which was 3 months plus 12 months... In the short time frame noted. Costly and the 800,000 Thai baht was not seasoned until it became seasoned... Presto! Like magic.

Tj

[windwalker]

Couple of days ago I was offered to get retirement visa by a guy from adjacent Visa service to Jomtien Immigration office. He said it would take only 30 days to get 15 month visa. I know that current procedure takes 4 months and I told him about that but he said he can do it in 30 days. Does it make sense? So far, I never used any visa services.

Joachim, what you post above is confusing in some respects. First of all there is no Retirement Visa no matter what people may think. What is a 15 month visa? What do you mean by current procedure is 4 months?

In order to "retire" in Thailand you first must get an Non Immigrant O visa or an O-A visa. The O visa can be obtained in your home country or in Thailand. Probably the agent meant he would get you an O visa that permits you to stay 90 days. This would mean you are currently on a Tourist Visa or a Visa exempt of 30 days. During the last month of this stay you then get a one year "permission to stay/retirement extension" for a period of 12 more months = 15 months in total.

[travelerjim]

Windwalker you are correct....

However it appears that the flow of $$$ makes for a magically expedited 3+12 month visa... So called 12 month ...365 day extension of stay retirement visa + upon the conversion of the 3 month O visa into O/A = 15 months. It's all about connections with the $$$.

Tj

[windwalker]

I agree with you TJ. In some instances they are invaluable.