'How To' - Requirements for visa extensions etc

[Dannie Boy]

I agree, I’m sure the letter and the bank book have to be the same - I certainly wouldn’t risk it.


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[handdrummer]

The letter can be 7 days but the bankbook has to be updated no more than 2 days before applying for the visa. You can do it at an ATM.

Is that right? And if the amounts are not EXACTLY the same, it will not be accepted.

Mine was accepted. The ossifier just wanted to see that there was money in the bank within 2 days. But, as you know, it's up to the officer and what he's had for breakfast or lunch.

[Scout]

I’ve had a Non-OA which I’ve been doing annual renewals for the last 10 years. Several years ago they started requiring Health insurance from a Thai insurance company to process Non-OA renewals, with minimum coverage of 400,000 baht inpatient coverage and 40,000 baht outpatient coverage. The last 3 (or 4 ?) years I’ve been purchasing this insurance, solely to meet the immigration requirements, in addition to my normal, primary health insurance policy written by non-Thai insurance companies. The first year it cost me 18,000 baht (even after accepting a 50% co-pay to reduce the premium. Subsequent years the cost decreased to 7,500 baht per year, again with 50% co-pay deductible. This year Thailand raised the coverage requirements to be 3,000,000 baht inpatient coverage (up from 400,000 baht). I was looking at an increase in the annual premium from 7,500 baht to roughly 65,000 baht. I planned to submit insurance certificates from my foreign insurance carrier to see if by chance these documents would meet the requirement without having to buy an additional policy. If this did not work for my renewal, I planned to kill my Non-OA visa by leaving the country without a re-entry permit, coming back in on 45 day tourist visa exempt, and starting over with an application for Non-O visa, which currently does not have a health insurance requirement. Last week I visited Hua Hin Immigration to try to renew my Non-OA using my foreign insurance. Happily, I was successful. Immigration accepted the Certificate of Insurance (and COVID INSURANCE certificate) from my foreign insurance company and processed renewal of my Non-OA visa. AA said I was the first person they had heard that was successful in using foreign insurance to meet the requirement. Hopefully this isn’t an anomaly or only relevant at Hua Hin immigration.

[laser]

I’m only giving the experience I have of entering the country on the visa-exempt basis, the same as the OP asked and what I was asked to provide by immigration - albeit at Tha Yang, not HH immigration.

It may be because you did not have a visa of any type. You cannot "convert" what you do not have, so I am guessing that they were just being awkward, as both of you had been here legally previously.

Yes I’m sure they were being awkward and of course I had to do as they asked - normally you get a “retirement” visa in your home country so they delight in making you jump through hoops. Anyway, hopefully the OP will be able to apply for his O visa and get it without too much hassle.

Just done it.
The 2 doorkeepers of Immmigration like to parrot "Letter of Credit", which makes no sense. What you really need is records of money transfers to you account (i.e. remittances). Once asked, (not by themselves) the bank printed 6 such pages, starting sometime 2018 (and not earlier)... for free. That satisfied the officer upstairs.

[laser]

It may be because you did not have a visa of any type. You cannot "convert" what you do not have, so I am guessing that they were just being awkward, as both of you had been here legally previously.

Yes I’m sure they were being awkward and of course I had to do as they asked - normally you get a “retirement” visa in your home country so they delight in making you jump through hoops. Anyway, hopefully the OP will be able to apply for his O visa and get it without too much hassle.

Just done it.
The 2 doorkeepers of Immmigration like to parrot "Letter of Credit", which makes no sense. What you really need is records of money transfers to you account (i.e. remittances). Once asked, (not by themselves) the bank printed 6 such pages, starting sometime 2018 (and not earlier)... for free. That satisfied the officer upstairs.

[thecolonel]

I've never had to prove where the funds came from. I literally transferred from one Thai account to a 'high interest' account in the same bank. It's always worked so far.
Different from the monthly income where the funds each month have to have a proven source.

But 'when' did you do this would be my question?

So, here's a scenario....

Within 3 months of (retirement) visa expiry date, you withdraw the 800k baht from your fixed account but only to immediately put it in another one paying a higher interest rate. So you haven't accessed your money for spending purposes, just managed it for better returns.

So, could Immigration say you don't qualify as the money has not been in 'the account' for a minimum of 3 months?

Bit pedantic I know, but thoughts please?

One things for sure, you would clearly have to prove that you simply moved it from account A to account B. But would that be enough?

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[HHTel]

It was 2 years ago and I opened a 'high interest' account and transferred cash from one account to the new one. I did this allowing the required time in the new account.

[handdrummer]

It was 2 years ago and I opened a 'high interest' account and transferred cash from one account to the new one. I did this allowing the required time in the new account.

I think that the only possible answer is that it depends on the officer.

[Governor]

My extension of stay expires on 22 April and for the last fifteen years or so I've always renewed in early April to aviod the Sonkgran breaks.
We are visiting the UK on the 12th of March and won't be returning until May, so I'll need to obtain a further extension before our departure, to aviod the need to start the whole process again.
I was wondering if anyone has renewed this early, mine would be six weeks?
As I use the income route, I would need to transfer the funds at the begining of March, in order to obtain the necessary statements in time for my early application, might this be an issue, though that might be tight?
Ideally I could obtain evidence of March to February, but given the transfer for March 2022 was used for last years extension, it might not be acceptable, or would it?
I could go an ask Immigration I suppose, but the person I asked may not be the officer who deals with my extension, and may have a different view.

[Scout]

My extension of stay expires on 22 April and for the last fifteen years or so I've always renewed in early April to aviod the Sonkgran breaks.
We are visiting the UK on the 12th of March and won't be returning until May, so I'll need to obtain a further extension before our departure, to aviod the need to start the whole process again.
I was wondering if anyone has renewed this early, mine would be six weeks?
As I use the income route, I would need to transfer the funds at the begining of March, in order to obtain the necessary statements in time for my early application, might this be an issue, though that might be tight?
Ideally I could obtain evidence of March to February, but given the transfer for March 2022 was used for last years extension, it might not be acceptable, or would it?
I could go an ask Immigration I suppose, but the person I asked may not be the officer who deals with my extension, and may have a different view.

The immigration rule is you can go for your renewal once you get within 45 days of your expiration date. By my calculation, from March 8th and later you can go process your renewal. This should give you ample time to do your March Bank wire transfer prior to going for your renewal, but you will only have 3 or 4 days to renew before you fly out.

[thecolonel]

You're lucky that you have a window of time to do this

I once went 48 days before due date, reason being I was flying to UK 2 days later. And I wanted to return with a full 1 year visa and not have to start from scratch again.

The answer was a big fat NO.

After some discussions it was approved.

You know the rest of the story!



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[Governor]

Thanks guys, I'll go for it, the hold up for me is the week it takes to get statements from Bangkok Bank, but I'll just have time..

[PJG]

You can print 6 months of statements online from the BBL App . Do that twice a year then no need to wait the 7 days at the bank.

[Scout]

Several years ago I stopped getting the formal bank statement from Bangkok Bank (the one that takes 7 days because it has to be printed in Bangkok) and instead started making copies of my Bank book. On these copies, I use a yellow highlighter to highlight the transactions coded FTT ( foreign transfers). Immigration Hua Hin has accepted this without any comments. Now I just make sure I update the passbook every couple months. If you go over 3 months, the machines (and / or tellers) update your passbook with a single summary line item covering the 3 or more months and your book will no longer have a detailed line by line accounting of your transactions.

[Dannie Boy]

The letter can be 7 days but the bankbook has to be updated no more than 2 days before applying for the visa. You can do it at an ATM.

Is that right? And if the amounts are not EXACTLY the same, it will not be accepted.

Mine was accepted. The ossifier just wanted to see that there was money in the bank within 2 days. But, as you know, it's up to the officer and what he's had for breakfast or lunch.

As many of us have experienced, it depends which immigration office you go to and even the individual officer. This morning I went to Tha Yang to renew my Non-O visa having gone to the bank yesterday to complete the formalities for immigration. Today the immigration officer called me over to tell me that my bank letter and passbook update were done yesterday not today - I was then told that this time they’ll allow it, but next year I have to do the bank letter the same day as I go to immigration.

Whether they're correct or not (I guess they’re never wrong), next year I’ll do both on the same day!!