I dont think he has got his wires crossed . you do have to prove you have income coming into Thailand and drawing of ATM machoines does not counrt . I have now 10.00.000 bath in a thai bank so I can draw my income from an atm machine direct from uk , however customs did tell me that next year if I apply for a new visa then i will have to prove that my money has come from Thaialnd . Thatys why if I can I will get another visa from outside the country , that why I only have to prove moiney in an english acccount , two years oin country and no having tpo prove where you income comes from . ie thai bank.

aj, I appreciate you trying to assist me, however I think your circumstances are slightly different, as you have been renewing your visa outside Thailand. I think you are also adding to the confusion with some of your terminology.

I presume you mean "Immigration" as opposed to "customs" and that you meant to say that you have to prove your money came from outside thailand, as opposed to "from thailand".

As far as I am aware it doesn't matter how one's money is brought into Thailand - TT, ATM or however (as long as it is provable). What I am trying to establish is, as I fulfill the condition in terms of amount of pension received, that I have to bring in at least 12 x 65K of it, over the year. I know I have to prove I bring money in, but I am not aware that it has to equate to 800K. And this would appear to be borne out by the use of the word "OR" in the notes given to me by Immigration.

I was rather hoping that a couple of ex-pats of long standing who use the pension income route to obtain their retirement visas would clarify their experience/understanding on the subject.

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I was rather hoping that a couple of ex-pats of long standing who use the pension income route to obtain their retirement visas would clarify their experience/understanding on the subject.[/quote]

Arjay hope my experiences may be of use to you.
Five years ago I got an affadavit from the British embassy showing my UK pension to be over the required minimum, which was then certified at the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I draw every month on a UK charge card about 40-50,000bht which I put straight in the Bangkok bank. I then draw this in on their ATM card. When my visa renewal is due, I get a letter from Bangkok Bank to say how much has passed through my account with them in the past year., this and a copy of every page of the pass book I present to Immigration along with my embassy / ministry confirmation of my pension and I never have a problem. its obvious that they take both documents into account as any mathmatician will realise the money passing through my Thai account doesn't equate to the 800,000 required for a retirement visa on its own.My wife and I also use Barclays Visa cards which are paid direct from my UK account but these have never been needed to justify further income.

Thank you Val.

Your experience/comments tend to support my thinking that one doesn't have to consume the whole 12 x 65k here, and that it should be reasonable to simply show that I access money from outside the country and consume a reasonable amount over the year.

In practice I may withdraw anything from 20K to 80K baht over the course of a month, but not as much as 800K over the whole year. Over the last year, I have also been drawing down some funds already in Thailand, as well as drawing on funds from outside, hence the above variations.

I get a letter from Bangkok Bank to say how much has passed through my account with them in the past year.

Val, as an afterthought, may I ask, when you say "how much has passed through the a/c", does the bank actually give a separate total for both the amount transferred in and the amount transferred out? As I suspect from something the Immigration Officer said today, he will be most interested in the amount actually transferred into the a/c here.

65000 a month pension which has to COME INTO the country.You cannot leave it sitting in an account in the UK.Local pensioner does it all on credit cards each month and takes the receipts to immigration.

arjay wrote:

I get a letter from Bangkok Bank to say how much has passed through my account with them in the past year.

Val, as an afterthought, may I ask, when you say "how much has passed through the a/c", does the bank actually give a separate total for both the amount transferred in and the amount transferred out? As I suspect from something the Immigration Officer said today, he will be most interested in the amount actually transferred into the a/c here.

In my case the book shows money in and out every month, the balance doesn't seem to interest them at all, for example when I renewed last month there was only a balance of 40,000bht still in the account. The letter from the bank just totals all my deposits throughout the year, obviously just a simple sum to take away balance and you have my expenditure but they never seem to worry about that. In my opinion they seem more concerned that you have used your money to live and don't have a secret income, maybe a job or dealing in something?

SORRY NO i HAVE NOT RENEWED MY VISA OUTSIDE OF THE KINGDOM . i HAVE NOT RENEWED MY VISA FULL STOP BECAUSE i HAD NO NEED TO DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE MULTI ENTRY VISA i HAD GAVE ME ANOTHER YEAR IN THE KINGDOM . TO MAKE THIS PLAIN LET ME SAY MY VISA EXPIRES IN SEPT 2006 AND THE DATE ON MY PASSPORT TO WHICH i AM ALLOWED TO STAY IN THE KINGDOM IS AUGUST 2007 .

tO BE HONEST I thought that everyone would have been interested in this due to the fact it allows you two years in the country from one visa and you have to show no documentation for second year nor have any money in thai bank.

I appreciate that you are about to try and renew your visa and get all the documentation for it correct. The experience I have had opens another door for you in that you may be able to take lesser documentation to a visa outside of the kingdom and gert a visa that will give you two years .

I have already transferred funds to thailand however once i FIND OUT IF I can continuously get a visa that will, give me two years in the kingdom without and documentation you can bet your ass moneuy will be back in the uK AND i WILL BE ABLE TO JUST DRAW ON INCOME FROM ATM MACHINES WITHOUT ANY WORRY .

I think Nong Khai imigration is brilliant they saw for me anyway what even Bangkok did not manage they exalined it all to me twice due to fact that we misunderstood the first time . and they have been so very helpfull . I also Have a definate feeling that whatever sgt Namoi ( Similar name anyway ) tells you will be right on the button. The man has earned my respect and a bottle of scotch if he will accept it.

thats all i have to say on the subject.

When I came here,I deposited aprox 2.5 M into a Thai bank.I never drew from that acct.,Just getting 20,000 at a time,by ATM, from an American bank as I needed cash.About 60,000 a month of my income was verifiable some of other income,rents and loan repayments, were not for many reasons,so I just used that money sitting in TFB ,each year I extended my visa.A couple of years ago,I took out 2 M to purchase land,leaving a balance of less than 500,000.Before I transferred more money into the TFB acct.(something I wish I had done ,considering the 15%drop in exchange rates),I thought I would try ''The letter from the Embassy'' to verify income,which I did not have to offer any proof to get!Just sign it stating the I told the truth.I took the letter to immigration,and although the still wanted the bank letter and passbook showing the existing balance,everything was acceptable.

I appreciate that aj is trying to share another way available to obtain visas to stay w/o having to transfer funds.I have never had to go outside the country to obtain extensions.I got my initial visa as a 60 day tourist visa,came here,applied for the 1 year ''O''visa and extended each year since.

To me,if an embassy will give the income statement w/o proof,I am surprised that a lot of expats have not taken advantage of it!

yES NOTORISATION IS A LITTLE STRANGE . you can affirm which is what you you did . ie swear you are telling the truth . ,or send a documernt and basically embassy say it appears to be genuine .. If you go to an english notory which I did , they cost you an arm and a leg and you can affirm with them . however if you take a document they are supposed to check with the author that it is genuine,,, Some notarys will do that but others mainly in l I think will only notorise a DOCUMENT IF IT IS SIGHNED IN FRONT OF THEM BY THE AUTHOR.
nONE OF IT REALLY MATTERS as Thzai embassy in london exceppt anything eoither from a notory or embassy . all I can say is that embassy a lot cheaper at around 1700 baht per document.

Thanks for the info aj.

I'll try and do the same, eventually.

EMBASSY PRICES ARE GIVEN ON THERE INDIVIDUAL SITES . YOU CAN GO IN PERSON OR JUST SEND DOCUMENTS , bRITISH EMBASSY IN tHAIL;AND SAYS ITS A SAME DAY RETURN POST , BUT MINE TOOK A WEEK . RING THEM UP FIRST TELL THEM EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT NOTORISING AND THEY WILL GIVE YOU PRICE. AND THE TWO YEAR VISA IS ON OA RETIRMENT VISA WIT MULTI ENTRY . COSTY ABOUT 90 QUID.