What is the experience of renewing a retirement visa extension at the Hua Hin Immigration Office?

To Admin: I am unsure about what you class as relevant, but I'll give this post a run, as an extension of a visa would seem relevant to me. If it doesn't fulfill your criteria, feel free to delete it, I'll post it elsewhere anyway, for the information of people who might find it useful.

To All Members.

I thought I might post a bit of good news and whilst I appreciate that it involves only one particular immigration office and a particular immigration officer at that office, it may still be of interest.

I previously posted about two potential problems I was anticipating, when I planned to visit the main Hua Hin Immigration Office last Monday, to renew my retirement extension. At which point I was also hoping to transfer all the necessary stamps to my new passport.

Firstly, Kasikorn Bank had been unable to evidence my 12 months of overseas bank transfers as being from overseas, apart from two which has gone through the Kasikorn system and secondly, my transfers using TransferWise in September and October last year, were respectively 1861 & 825 baht under the 65000 required. Well they hadn't actually changed the rules at that point, otherwise I would have been sure to bring in what they required, rather than what I required.

I had not idea what to expect, but thought I'd see how it went, before exploring other avenues and I took the precaution of taking my Thai girlfriend with me, something I have never needed to, or felt the need to do, before.

When it was my turn, I presented myself to a smiling and friendly, young, male immigration officer, who spoke a little English and handed over a Brazilian rain forest of paperwork. The usual stuff, plus a bit extra and including a letter from Kasikorn bank that simple stated that I had an account with then and for how long I'd had it, which cost 100 baht. A certified original copy of my bank statement for the past 12 months, cost 200 baht and 12 months of TransferWise receipts, with which we are all no doubt familiar, and leave no doubt as to the fact that money has been transferred from overseas.

After what appeared an age, during which time the IO appeared to be going through the paperwork with a fine tooth-comb, although I could not see because of the height of the desk and after some light hearted chit-chat between the three of us, he got serious. He pointed out that the rules stated that I had to bring in a minimum of 65000 baht per month and I had failed to do that in months 1 & 2 of the 12 preceding months. I explained that this was an oversight, caused by the fact that there were no such directions at that time and that had I known I would, of course, have done so and that I was perfectly able to have done so, as he could see by the subsequent 10-months transfers, some of which were considerably over the minimum.

At that stage I did not feel the need to mention the fact that the rules had not changed until January, nor that a request had subsequently been sent out asking IO's to show some leniency. I had copies in English and Thai of both the order invoking the new rules and the letter, for if and when there was further explanation needed.

He seemed to accept my explanation, smiled and nodded positively. There was no mention whatsoever of the TransferWise receipts, or the fact that Kasikorn Bank themselves had not verified that the transfers, which clearly showed on my bank statement, were from overseas. He then took the paperwork to an older lady IO, sitting further back in the office.

There was a conversation between the two, which my girlfriend clearly overheard and which, basically, consisted of him explaining that everything seemed to be in order, apart from the short transfers of September & October. She said that therefore I had not fulfilled the requirements and should be knocked back, he stood his ground and reasoned with her and she accepted that, somewhat grudgingly, it appeared.

Obviously, this conversation was in Thai and therefore I was wholly dependent upon my girlfriend's explanation, but body language seemed to back this up. My IO then disappeared out of sight for 5 minutes or so, maybe to get a final seal of approval from the boss, who knows, but when he returned, he sat down with a smile, but without saying a word and reached for his box of stamps.

At this point I got the feeling things were going well and after a while I was asked for 1900 baht for the visa extension and 500 baht for the transfer to my new passport. At this point I was advised that some discretion had been used with regards to my short transfers and not to make the same mistake again. I happily agreed.

A short time later I was duly presented with my old passport and my new passport, with the 1-year visa extension, for the purpose of retirement and all the other stamps that needed to be transferred over.

So that's my story. Firstly, it appears that TransferWise receipts are acceptable and secondly, some discretion is allowed, but that not every IO wants to exercise it, at least at the Hua Hin office, but both seem dependent upon the IO. I guess I was lucky.