Visa info to thai authorities.....

[Johnnywastaken]

Hi,
I'm currently living in Jakarta, and have lived in Jomptien a few years ago but not on a retirement visa.....
I'm 50 now and should qualify for a retirement visa although my monthly income is not 60,000 bhat a month.....
I do however have investments and proceeds from real estate sales in North America and can demonstrate to the thai government that i can survive on this in my retirement quite comfortably....
So my questions to the expats in HH is this....
By revealing this info to them make me a target for corruption and future set ups??
Is there an amount that I need to prove I have make me eligible for a retirement visa without revealing everything...?
I would prefer to keep my savings and investments where they are in NA.
I'm sure this has crossed the mind of others in my same predicament...
Thanks in advance....

[Big Boy]

Johnny,

Welcome to the Forum.

Our resident expert will be asleep in bed at the moment, so I will give you my explanation for now, and he will clarify in the morning if I've got any of it wrong.

To qualify for a retirement visa you need 800000Baht per annum. This can be in income, or money in the bank. If your income is 600000Baht per year, you would have to show a further 200000Baht in a bank account each year.

It's a little bit more complicated than that, but that is basically it.

[lomuamart]

BB's right about the financial side of things. To get an annual extension on the basis of retirement (it's not a visa that you get from Imm here) you need to show an average monthly income of 65K THB or have 800K THB saved in a Thai bank account or have a combination of the two as long as the total is over 800K.
If you use the income method, you have to get a letter from your Embassy confirming it. Exactly what they are willing to count as income is up to the the individual mission.
You mention that you are American. The US embassy only require you to state on oath what your income is. They don't ask for any proof of it - unlike the UK Embassy who do want proof. If you make a false statement, it's a felony. Imm here have caught on to this now and some offices are demanding extra proof from US citizens when they apply for the extension (bank statements etc). I'm not sure if HH are doing this yet, but some offices are.
If your income falls short of 65K a month, you can make the difference up to 800K with savings, but they must be in Thailand. So, 60K a month provable income = 720,000 a year. If you have 80,000 in a Thai bank, you'll qualify. If you use the combined income and savings method, there is no need for the savings to be "seasoned" for any length of time. If you were going down the savings route exclusively, the 800K would need to have been in the Thai bank for 2 months (and not fallen below that figure) before your first application and 3 months for subsequent ones.
So, there are ways you can make the extension without having to tie up large sums of money over here. I'm afraid that there's no other way round the above. I also can't see how you'd be setting yourself up for scams etc by declaring your true financial position.
Hope that helps.

[PeteC]

For reference I quote part of an email received yesterday from an American friend who renewed at the Bangkok HQ office. Pete

"Immigration is getting to be a pain in the $%!. They are now sporadically asking for proof of income...not just the letter from the embassy when renewing the retirement visa and they want copies for the re-entry permit as well. They want photo page, last entry stamp, TM card and current visa pages copied along with the application.

I did the trifecta on Tuesday. New visa, 90 days report and re-entry permit in 4 hours (actually 3 if we drop their lunch out of the equation). Left the house 0800 got to Immigration at 0900, left with all 3 items done at 1300 and home at 1430. Glad this day only comes once a year. The 90 days reports are bad enough."