At Bangkok immigration today, a good friend of ours from Switzerland tried to renew his retirement extension. Unfortunately he was turned down because he submitted a different bank account he had used from his previous 2024 extension. He has 2 accounts, both of them has over THB 800,000 all the time so he didn't remember which one to use. In fact he didn't know he had to use the same account every year from then on. IO said if he couldn't come back with that same account, for example if he had closed it and used the other one, he had no other choice but to leave the country! ( Or use an agent) 😔😤
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TLDR : Answer Summary
A Swiss expat encountered issues renewing his retirement visa extension in Bangkok due to using a different bank account than the one he previously had approved. Airing frustrations about the strict requirements, several commenters explained that immigration mandates the account must remain consistent across years to prove compliance with the minimum balance of THB 800,000. They emphasized the necessity of demonstrating the balance consistency and the ongoing maintenance of funds. Despite frustrations with the rules, some noted the importance of following them to avoid complications.
NON-O RETIREMENT VISA RESOURCES / SERVICES
Go to the Retirement Visa Section for information on requirements, including age restrictions, financial requirements, and necessary documentation.
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Live and learn. Thanks for the lesson. The rest of us will now know. As for all the judgement, WHY? It is what it is, and we already know it can change any time, without making any sense, so why get your blood pressure up, whether you agree with it or not? People can be SO petty.
This is exactly the trivial red-tape nonsense that is doing damage to Thailand's reputation. It is not any business of immigration department to determine what bank account a traveller is using to fulfill the legal requirements of a security deposit so long as the 800,000 baht is evidenced in the paperwork.
I don't know why we stay here with all the bull shit we go through at our age most of us have thai wife's purchased homes support there family's buy cars motorcycle they stop eating soup because of us now they eat steak so why do we still want to stay I ask that question every day many times and I still haven't come up with and answer.
The money needs to be tracked from his last extension until this one, that's why they want the year statement to make sure the balances are within compliance.
I don’t know, but I don’t see why it would have to be. As long as you can show 12 deposits from abroad you should be good, no matter what bank it comes into. I could be wrong.
No, you just have to show twelve consecutive transfers of min 65K baht a month from oversea to your Thai bank account. The problem with changing accounts for the 800K baht is that you’ll also need to prove that the 800K baht stayed in your account for three months after the extension was issued and didn’t fell below 400K baht within the twelve next months. Therefore it has to be the same account as you where approved with.
Maybe the one he used couldn't show that the balance was 800k for the first 3 months of the previous extension and never fell below 400k for the rest of the 12 months before reverting to 800k
He needs to use the bank letter and the 800,000 THB minimum deposit on the same account he used to get his recent Extension of Stay Permit based on Retirement. Immigration wants to see proof that after having been issued the recent extension, the 800,000 never went below that sum during the next 3 months. For the rest of the year, a minimum sum of 400,000 THB must remain in the account. And then 2 months before applying for the next 1-year Extension, the deposit must be back to a minimum of 800,000 THB. That's the law, that's the wording of the police order. You cannot apply for the next 1-year extension using a different account than the previous one, because you have to show these proofs to Immigration - with a month for month updated bankbook and the "bank letter of guarantee"
Ya im not sure im following. Did he fail to get the print out from the new bank? Or the IO was flat out saying that he could not switch banks at all during his entire time in Thailand using a retirement visa?
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