Retirement Visa Extension and Wise (Transferwise)

[Governor]

Plan D will be to examine 'Instarem' which offers a very similar, but cheaper service than Transferwise, but is actually backed by Kasikorn Bank. I'd probably benefit about 150 Baht/month by switching, but even though a Kasikorn product, I doubt they will even know about it.

I've just looked at them and thought I would register and make a test transfer, one of the questions you're asked is which country are you resident in, it doesn't accept Thailand.

[Governor]

Personally I don,t really care how other Immigration offices interpret the current Regs.

Nor do I particularly, but neither do I want to ignore what seems to be going on in the rest of the country.
It seems that under the current management here they seem to be taking a pretty pragmatic approach but that hasn't always been the case here and things could change in a heartbeat.

[T.O.M.]

BB
After following your trials and tribulations on various threads here, makes me wonder ....why not plan E?
Extension based on marriage....That will limit your paperwork headache to once a year and you will never come in a situation where a 'wrongly' marked transfer (domestic) will cause your extension to be denied by a not so lenient immigration officer.
Admire your stamina...but sometimes you remind me of this guy...

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[Big Boy]

OK guys, I'm just back from Immigration with my bit of paper from Kasikorn and supposedly wrong code in my passbook. Everything is acceptable for next year, so Plans B to Z are on the scrapheap.

The all important piece of paper:

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2 different officers inspected my paperwork, including the nice lady who issued my current visa. Yes, I know somebody else may have a different opinion next year, but you can only do so much.

why not plan E?
Extension based on marriage

Because in all of my planning for retirement in Thailand, I made sure I was compliant with the requirements, so why should I? If my monthly transfer needs to cost a little more, I wouldn't be happy, but so be it and I'd still be compliant with the regs. As it turns out, I don't have to pay more.

Problem is, there are still too many know it alls, claiming this and claiming that, and casting a lot of doubt on the whole thing. In reality, although they sound knowledgeable, their knowledge is lacking. This is why I've created this thread, and have asked my fellow moderators not to merge it with other threads, because it will be useful to some to hear first hand experiences.

[Governor]

I think there is a difference between being a know it all, casting doubt on just about everything and expressing concern on the way this whole debacle is being handled, or mishandled by those in authority.

I suspect I'm not alone in just wanting to spend my remaining years here without any drama or concerns about what the future holds, I've complied with the requirement of transferring 65,000 Baht from my pensions every month for twelve years, for most of that time I showed the Consular Staff in the British Embassy my pension letters and they were happy to sell me a letter confirming what they'd been shown. When they stopped selling those letters, despite what the Consular Officer told Tommy Robson in her interview with him on Pattaya radio, I thought that it wasn't going to be a straightforward system to prove incomes, and that now seems to be the case, we're all reliant on the interpretation of individual IO's how they decide whether we meet the required standards or not.

I trust I'm not one of the members who is thought to be a know it all, I'm far from that, I certainly don't cast doubt on anything, but I do ask questions, I've always thought that what forums are for, we're all on the same side and we all want the same outcome.

[Big Boy]

When I talk bar room lawyers etc., I am mainly talking about what I read elsewhere. However, some of that is obviously brought and shared on the forum. Even talking offline with friends, it is sometimes difficult to sort good and bad information. The entire thing has been badly handled, but I don't think anybody expected the Embassies to revolt. It really does seem to be getting put back together piece by piece, so of course there is confusion.

It is human nature, if somebody tells you half a story, you're going to make up the other half. I think some of the bar room lawyers actually believe what they're saying. This entire episode has been difficult, and I sincerely hope we can put it to bed.

[PJG]

Received my monthly pension transfer by TW on Tuesday. Use Bangkok Bank and the funds have come in as International Transfer clearly shown in my BB online account, also showing as FTT in pass book. So far this has been the case every month. Perhaps I have been lucky and so far have not had problems.

Seems to me that BB would be far better off just opening a BB account and saving a lot of stress and hassle.

[Big Boy]

Seems to me that BB would be far better off just opening a BB account and saving a lot of stress and hassle.

I don't understand why. The Kasikorn solution is fine now.

It was pointed out to me a couple of days ago that Transferwise was having problems with Bangkok Bank, and this was confirmed by a good friend of mine at about 11pm last night. It won't happen every time, but it is definitely happening. Please check every transfer.

The bit I'm wondering is where this need for a FTT transaction is quoted in the instruction. I received my extension a couple of weeks ago, and no FTT transaction to be seen. Also I have been to Immigration today, and still no FTT transaction in sight. I was told that what I'm doing is just fine by 2 officers.

I wonder if the need for a FTT transaction (which had me fooled ) is the product of a bar room lawyer, which has now become the truth.

[T.O.M.]

^^
My understanding is...that with 12 monthly transfers (65.000+) marked FTT in your pass book, there is no need for additional monthly or yearly bank letters...

And just because we don't agree with your interpretation of the rules, don't make us bar room lawyers or make us guilty of scaremongering.
We are offering our interpretation of the rules....we might be right or we might be wrong.....But this is a forum after all.

[Big Boy]

^^
My understanding is...that with 12 monthly transfers (65.000+) marked FTT in your pass book, there is no need for additional monthly or yearly bank letters...

These letters from the bank are the key requirement together with the 12 x monthly credit advices and the pass book. At least this is what I've now been told by Hua Hin Immigration 3 times.

[lomuamart]

Good to see that KBank credit advices are acceptable as part of the equation.

I went to Imm about a month ago and showed three of mine from earlier in the year and the lady said they wanted something else and quickly showed me something someone had submitted for their extension but I didn't get a good look at it - perhaps it was the bank letter as I didn't have one then.

I'm not sure what my passbook can show as it maybe gets updated once every 4-5 months so just shows a lump sum credit for those months and as internal transfers not international.

I'll go to see Imm again when I get back to lala land and hopefully get the same instructions as you, BB.

[huahinjim]

Thanks BB for all your efforts in this. All very much appreciated.

When I went to Kasikorn Bank in Market Village last week it appeared they knew nothing of this letter and nor did the contact I spoke to at their Help Centre. While they were extremely keen to help and spent quite some time on my query they seemed to want to issue a letter based on the 800,000 Baht requirements. Armed with a copy of your letter I will try again after my next transfer which will be the first in my next 12 month renewal period.

To mitigate some hassle this year I obtained an Embassy letter in late December and used that in mid June to renew the extension for 2019-2020. No problems with that despite the 6 months validity expiring 19 June and my visa renewal date was some weeks in July. As you have said Immigration were true to their word and gave me the extension without any bother. In fact over the 13 years of renewals I have never had anything but good and polite service at Hua Hin Immigration.

Thanks again BB.

[migrant]

^^
My understanding is...that with 12 monthly transfers (65.000+) marked FTT in your pass book, there is no need for additional monthly or yearly bank letters...

These letters from the bank are the key requirement together with the 12 x monthly credit advices and the pass book. At least this is what I've now been told by Hua Hin Immigration 3 times.

Did you get the credit advices from the bank each month? Or could they recreate them and print for you?

[lomuamart]

I got three months worth - Dec 2018, Jan and Feb 2019 - back in February. Was told at the time that three months previous is free but further back than that there's a fee - can't remember how much.

I assume they can recreate for a year at least but will get Mar - July when I return.

[Big Boy]

Did you get the credit advices from the bank each month? Or could they recreate them and print for you?

For this year's extension I did not need any credit advices. This was my references to leniency and learning together. I had (the wrong) proof that I had been transferring money monthly since December 2018. I was issued with my extension for this year, and told what I needed for next year. It was my education on that day, which set me off on this week's paper chase.

This was the first transfer this year, so I only have experience of the single credit advice.