Here's a summary of what went on when I renewed my retirement visa last week. Note, I did this in Pattaya so if you do it somewhere else your mileage may vary. They wanted one copy of all the normal stuff like the passport pages, first and last page of the bank book, and the bank letter. I did mine based on an embassy letter stating income and my account had less than 100,000 baht in it but no problem. They did, however, want the original of the embassy letter instead of a copy like last year. Also, since this was a joint account with my wife they wanted a copy of the marriage certificate or her ID card. She has changed her last name to mine but I don't know if that makes a difference or not. They didn't ask for a health certificate. And, contrary to rumors, they didn't ask for a map.

What was significant is that they asked me why I was doing it in Pattaya instead of Nong Khai. I told them I had to come down to get a letter from my old bank in Pattaya. So they filled out a form for people that are out of the provence and had me fill in my reason and sign it. I got my passport back with the new extension without a problem but stapled in the back was a form that said:

"We, Immigration Pattaya, would like to notify you that you reside outside Jurisdiction of Pattaya Immigration Division. For you convenience in submitting an application for extension of stay next time, please submit your application at checkpoint: Nong Khai."

So... I guess that rumor is true and I won't be going back to Pattaya next year.

A minor new thing is that they stamped "RETIREMENT" by the extension stamp.

Good report. Thank you. It seems to confirm some things, and like may experiences with the immigration bureau, raises new puzzles.

I would compare your account with what happened last year, when they started requiring that those qualifying with an 800k bank deposit have the deposit in the back at least the months (or 90 day?) prior to the extension, for a while, they let it slide by having us sign a note saying that we understand the new requirement and will be held to it next year. After a few months, they stopped letting it slide. Maybe they are doing something similar in this case. The post that first mentioned the requirement to extend at one's local checkpoint mentioned an effective date of October 1.

I have had a red "Retirement" stamp the last couple of times I got extensions.

When I visited immigration in Bangkok a couple of weeks ago, I witnessed a fellow sitting in front of an immigration officer drawing some sort of map.

What is a little puzzling, is since you qualified on the basis of income, why would they care about your bank account, other than evidence that you have been moving money around? And why did they care whether you are married or not, let alone want a copy of your wife's ID card and marriage certificate? I guess they are just conditioned to get lots of proof of information presented, regardless of whether its relevant or not. One could conclude that it is better to not volunteer anything they don't ask for.

Congratulations on your extension.

I don't know why having a joint account aroused their interest either. After all, my name was on the account, money had come in from out of the country, and I wasn't qualifying on the basis of 800,000 baht.To be strictly accurate, when they saw it was a joint account they first asked for a copy of my wife's ID card. Since I had read here that they sometimes question joint accounts I was prepared with a copy of our marriage certificate but didn't have a copy of her ID card. So I offered that and they accepted it. Seems like it should have been enough that our family names were the same. Also, the second name was in written in Thai so it wasn't like the account could be used for two visas. Who knows what they were actually trying to find out.

I'm with you on volunteering things. I never open my mouth or try to explain anything except in direct response to a question.