What documentation do I need to use US Social Security income to meet financial requirements for a Thai visa extension?

Jul 14, 2023
a year ago
David *********
ORIGINAL POSTER
For the past two years, I've kept 800,000 baht in a Thai Bank to meet the visa financial requirement. If I decide to use my US social security income to fullfill the requirement instead of the bank account, what documentation is needed for Immigration?
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TLDR : Answer Summary
To use your US Social Security income for financial proof for your Thai visa extension, you need to transfer at least 65,000 baht monthly to your Thai bank account for 12 consecutive months. Documentation from the US embassy is no longer available for affidavits of income, necessitating the direct transfer method. You must maintain your current Thai bank balance (800,000 or 400,000 baht) while switching to this new proof method.
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Craig *******
So this 65k does not have to come from a third party? In other words you can simply do a transfer from your home bank to a bank in Thailand. Is there anything to prevent you from recycling either some or all of the 65k over and over again?
Tod *********
@Craig ******
This is WAY off the beaten path about "visas" BUT here's an anecdotal story.

I have a friend who worked in Cambodia for years and years, they retired here, used the US embassy affidavit for their proof of funds for many years. When it was discontinued they went to monthly transfer method. They transfer 65K baht from their cambodian bank to their thai bank (meeting the international transfer requirement) then withdraw that money and go to Dee money and send it back to their cambodian account. They lose a tiny bit each transaction in and out but they've "recycled" that money for years now and never had an issue from immigrations getting their yearly extensions by monthly income method with international transfers.

Keep in mind though SOME offices require you to show the source of the funds, (pension letter, S/S document, etc) but most do not.
Fabio *******************
@Tod ********
but doesn't immigration check the annual bank statement, seeing that the money goes in and out every month or do they just check if the 65k baht goes in every month?
Tod *********
@Fabio ******************
READ what I wrote, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ด๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐——๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐˜. <- that means they take out CASH from their thai account and go to the Dee Money store and send the money back to Cambodia that way. There's just a cash withdrawal, and he said he splits it to a few withdrawals so it's not exactly the same amount one time
Graham ******
@Fabio ******************
They check that the money is received for all 12 months, it's free to use (or recycle) immediately after receipt
Fabio *******************
@Graham *****
but don't they see on the account statement which then go out every month always directed to the same foreign current account?
Graham ******
@Fabio ******************
Withdraw cash every month, no record where it's going
Graham ******
@Craig ******
yes, your own money will be ok and it can be recycled
Ellie *******
Unfortunately, you cannot use directly US social security in US as financial proof to meet the requirements for a 1-year extension based on being over 50.

You need an affidavit from your embassy in Thailand to use funds in your home country, but unfortunately, US embassy no longer issues affidavits for that purpose.

What you can do is start international transfers with a minimum of 65k thb monthly to your Thai bank account, after you've done 12 months transfer, you can use that record for your 1-year extension based on retirement. You also need to keep your 800K / 400K thb deposit to meet the requirements for your current extension which is using the banked money method.

Attached is a rough explanation of how to switch the financial proof method from banked money to monthly transfers.
Khun *****
@Ellie ******
US Social Security payments can be direct deposited into certain Thai banks, so why would that not be considered an international transfer?
Ellie *******
@Khun ****
, I mean you can not use funds in the US.
Tod *********
the ONLY way to use any monthly income from the US to meet the proof of funds requirement here in thailand would be for you to transfer in a minimum of 65K baht a month, each month, every month for the previous 12 months before you apply for the yearly extension.

That is because the US embassy stopped issuing the 'affidavit of income from abroad' notary statement on Dec 31st 2018 <- meaning IF you want to use monthly income you have to do it by international transfer to a thai bank account in your name only..
Tod *********
also remember IF you want to switch methods of proof of funds, from banked money to monthly income you need to continue to keep the 800K baht in the bank for the requisite time for THIS extension (800K baht in the account for 3 months after the extension is granted and then not let the balance go below 400K the rest of the year..

AND

you need to transfer in to your thai bank account 65k baht a month for the next 12 months as well.

it definitely CAN be done, but you have to be mindful of how it works
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