Your experience is not unusual. Basically, it’s up to the Immigration Agent if you breeze through or have show a return ticket and where you are staying - but it’s very rare. Enjoy I’ll arrive there in 2 more weeks for 90 days for the 27th time.
I’m going to Bkk 29 November for 3 months. Looking at the wording you provided it does not specifically say the government pension must be deposited directly to your Thailand bank account. It seems one can just provide proof of a pension equal to or exceeding 65,000 TB a month. With that said, if I decide to relocate there I’ll probably have my pension sent directly to the Bangkok Bank in New York City just to avoid a hassle. Tks Mitchell.
The last time I stayed in Thailand was 2019-2021. I always used the monthly minimum income of 65,000 method, although much more was deposited. I always did the paperwork with my Thai wife’s help. All was ok for the first year. The second year again doing it ourself the Immigration Boss started yelling at us saying the money going into our BKK bank account had to be coming from a U.S. government agency. This had never been a requirement before and I could not find a Thai Immigration documented policy stating that. I had been transferring funds via Wise to my Thai bank account. All my documents from the bank were correct, my bank book was updated that morning with the appropriate bank letters, statements, etc. But, he still gave us a hard time, but eventually approved my visa. I suspect he was upset because we did not use an agent for the reasons we are all aware of. Anyone else ever hear of this requirement or experience this situation?