FYI... EXTENSION OF STAY REPORT

Here is a detailed report from an Expat living in Pattaya getting his annual 365 day Extension of Stay for his retirement from Jomtien Immigration in Chonburi Province.

Note that he went to Jomtien Immigration 30 days early to avoid last minute scrambling for needed documents for his extension. He was wise to do that. And his Extension of Stay is now to July 2020.

"On Wednesday, I went to Jomtien Immigration Office to renew my retirement extension using monthly income of at least 65k. I had one hitch regarding my bank information, took care of that, and picked up my passport yesterday with my extension stamp good for another year (until July 2020). See end of this message for a listing of my documents which they accepted.

If I had seen a fellow expats post as well as an email I rec'd a few days ago regarding the bank letter that shows all foreign deposits, I could have avoided the "hitch" - However, I had already arranged for Bangkok Bank statements attested to by the Bank (obtained from Bangkok Bank Customer Service at Tesco-Lotus South - had to wait one week as they obtained the statements from Bangkok HQ). I decided to give it a try with the bank statements.

Nope! As the expat mentioned, they want a bank letter listing all foreign deposits to the account for the past 12 months. The Immigration Officer, a very nice lady, checked all my paperwork and said I still needed to get the bank letter for it to be complete. She gave me an "example" to show the bank and told me she was sure that only the Branch where I opened my account could provide me with 12 months of activity. She also gave me back my "packet" but affixed a note to it and told me to bring the letter and my "packet" back to her and there was no need to get a queue number.

I went to my Branch where I opened the account and did get it there, but it took over an hour rather than 10 minutes, but then again, I had a lot of deposits during the past 12 months (for a period, I was using both Bangkok Bank NY Branch & Transferwise - sending more than 65k through Bangkok Bank through March so I would have one deposit in each month that exceeded the minimum, then a similar 65k plus deposit from Transferwise for April - June). It seems they have to print out "credit advices" for each deposit, then enter the amount onto the required letter - fee was 500 baht for the "advices" and 100 baht for the letter.

Back to Immigration Office in Jomtien and went direct to where she sat at Desk 8 - caught her between customers so she took care of me right away. I gave her only the bank letter, not the "advices." It took only a few minutes for her to go through the letter using a highlighter on the monthly amounts that met the requirement. She then collected my 1,900 baht for the fee and told to come back on Thursday to pick up my passport.

Here is a list of the documents I provided that were accepted:

• TM.7 Application for Extension of Stay + Passport

• Photograph (obtained at shop next door)

• Photo copy of pages from passport - Identification page and all transfer stamps for information from my previous passport to my latest one, which would show information on Non-Immigrant Visa, All Extensions of Stay, and Last entry into Thailand

• Photo Copy of TM.6 Departure Card

• Photo Copy of Bank Passbook pages showing all transactions for previous 12 months up to Tuesday, the day before I went to Immigration.

• Bank Letter showing transfers from source outside of Thailand for previous 12 months (as mentioned above).

• Copy of my Rental Agreement which included copy of owner's ID card and a Housebook page

• Copy of document showing source of income - in my case obtained from online website for the US Office of Personnel Management, dated 2 February 2019

As to my bank passbook, prior to Jan 1 this year I did not update monthly, so it had a few net (combined) amounts. I also on Wednesday morning stopped at the Bangkok Bank branch close to Immigration and withdrew funds from ATM & then updated my passbook, but the Immigration Lady did not mention the need to do that or ask to see my original passbook - BUT, as was mentioned, I would recommend you withdraw and update passbook on the date of application as I have rec'd several reports from folks that said they were sent by Immigration Officer at Jomtien to do this before they would process their application."

Helpful information from Pattaya City Expats Club...updated June 20, 2019

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