OK, so Bonnie and I went back to our bank, Krungsri, on Monday, Aug 30, with just 16 days left on our 30 day extension. Our branch was closed so we went to another branch. We didn't think the money would be there yet but low and behold, it was. So we had them update our passbooks and paid 100 baht each for a certification letter of the money deposit. We had to wait over an hour for that document. We wired the money and were surprised to see we got a rate of 32.67. The rate had been falling all week and we expected it to be much lower. Not as good as we originally saw, and not much lower than wise transfer, which was not an option. We asked the bank how immigration would know that it was an international transfer, they indicated a code on the passbook deposit shows that. That is not correct, but we didn't know that at the time. So we rushed over to CW immigration and got there right at noon, when their lunch break began. They opened back up at 1pm. It is counter c1 for new visas. It is not counter L as someone said, that is for extensions. They looked over our paperwork and gave us a ticket for the desks. They pretty quickly took us in, and just as quick told us we don't have everything we needed. What we brought:
Copy of:
data page
30 day extension stamp page
Tm 6 card
Tm 87 filled out
4cm x 6cm photo
Bank passbook updated same day
Letter from bank showing deposit
2000 baht
They never asked for a tm30. What was missing:
- They do want a copy of the entry stamp as well as the 30 day extension stamp. That one is easy. I don't know if they would want to see any other stamps that may have occurred in between those two, that didn't apply to us.
- A 3 month rental agreement. We had no such arraignment so that was a problem.
- House registration
- Location map of the hotel
- Immigration also needed to see a document from the bank showing it was an international transfer, a passbook code means nothing to them. Also, as someone else talked about before, an updated passbook on that day will only show the latest date of transaction. They told us we had to deposit or withdraw funds same day and then get the passbook updated. They did say the funds certificate letter was good for 7 days.
We left thinking the 60 day covid extension would be the way to go, and they even suggested that as we only had one more day to apply.
Our bank has a branch on the lower floor of the building so we went down there. They understood just the document we needed to show proof of international transfer, so we waited an hour for them to generate it for us. We left for our hotel room.
I created a simple rental agreement which the hotel front desk signed. I emailed the hotel for the other documents. In the morning on Aug 31 we went to a copy office to get copies of what we had. I still did not have the other two hotel documents. I emailed them again and asked that they email them now as we are headed back to immigration. They sent both documents just as we arrived. Just outside the building they have a copy office tent set up. I was able to email them the documents for printing. Back inside the building we went down to the bank and withdrew 100 baht each and had our passbooks updated, and copies of them made. It was lunchtime again for immigration. When we got in it was another quick move from counter c1 to them calling our number. They went through everything and took our 2000 baht and said come back on Sept 15 for our stamp.
What's my point? Well, I like to be long winded but wanted to show that they wanted more than anyone on here ever said. I couldn't find this info on Google, and what they want may vary with the office or the immigration officer. They did seem fairly consistent within that office. It was a pretty horrible day the day before, with what we thought was complete failure. The next day seemed to work out better. I wish we had started a month earlier. 🤷♂️