A trip to Immigration

[snotface]

Mid-March is my retirement visa renewal time and I always like to get it out of the way late-February. Get bad or boring stuff done asap, that's me. I duly presented myself at my bank on the dot of 9.30 this morning to obtain the letter signifying that I have 800,000B in my account, the one time in the year when it earns its keep. On to Jomtien Immigration at 10.00am. People milling about outside and a new queue there to deal with overflow. Quite a confusing scene even for an old hand like me, goodness knows what first-timers make of it.

First stop the building adjacent to Immigration, which gets busier every year. It now handles, in addition to its other office functions, visa applications by Lao, Cambodian and Burmese citizens (yes, there are some who bother). Inside I was relieved to see the benign figure of dear old Barry Kenyon, who has long helped out at Immigration on meagre remuneration. He got all my paperwork photocopied and organised for me with his usual efficiency.

Then into the main building to join one of two queues at the Information desk. Inevitably I chose the slow one. A stroppy Russian lady was testing the patience of one of the Thai girls behind the desk. I got my ticket at last and joined the melee in the large room beyond. The usual purgatorial scene - people frowning, people tight-lipped, people with swivelling, silently pleading eyes (can YOU help me please, please?), people looking just plain bored and resigned. To my amazement I had no more than a ten minute wait to be served at Desk 8. In that time I registered the absence of that stocky, moon-faced, bespectacled Thai who seems to have worked in that section forever. In the old days he was one of the humble drudges processing visa renewals on the front line. In recent years he acquired a more supervisory role, consisting of nodding or muttering a few words when juniors brought documents to him and sitting there snacking the rest of the time. I don't think he's ever been absent on one of my visits before. I kind of missed him. Perhaps he's graduated to his dream role of lounging out back in a hammock all day, launching the occasional paper aeroplane made from that useless, ever-accumulating mountain of paperwork.

At the desk my application went without a hitch. I paid the 1900B fee (such a strange amount - is it meant to suggest that we're getting some kind of bargain?), took my ticket for tomorrow's passport collection and left, feeling the usual waves of relief. The time a brisk 10.45am. No reference, by the way, to having to return in three months' time to verify that I've not been dipping into the precious 800,000B. That bright idea seems now to have gone the way of many bright ideas before it into bureaucratic oblivion.

I walked the few yards to Jomtien Second Road, which is doing its best to match the chaos within Immigration. Both lanes of the dual carriageway have been reduced to single lanes so that re-laying can begin (when? I wonder). Red-and-white tape and concrete blocks all over the place. Long lines of traffic. Crossing the road can now be a bit of a nightmare (Smiles might have a tale to tell about that if he reads this). I made it across eventually, bought flowers and delicious seedless red grapes in the market, and headed back to my condo with a pleasing sense of having had a more than usually productive morning.

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[Zebedee]

Thanks, for an enjoyable and informative report.

[gerefan2]

5 minutes beurocracy condensed into an hour and a quarter.
You had a very lucky escape!

[snotface]

A correction to my post above. Nothing was said to me about having to return after three months to confirm that I still had 800,000B in the bank, which led me to suppose that the requirement had been dropped. But a friend who went to Immigration a day or two later saw a notice at the retirement visa desk (desk 8) saying that it is still necessary. I wonder how many other people have thought, like me, that because nothing was said, no further action was necessary. The notice doesn't exactly leap out at you. The position seems to be, as stated on another board, that the 800,000B must remain untouched for three months after renewal and can then be used, as long as the amount in the bank is returned to 800,000B at least two months before the next yearly renewal.

[2lz2p]

A correction to my post above. Nothing was said to me about having to return after three months to confirm that I still had 800,000B in the bank, which led me to suppose that the requirement had been dropped. But a friend who went to Immigration a day or two later saw a notice at the retirement visa desk (desk 8) saying that it is still necessary. I wonder how many other people have thought, like me, that because nothing was said, no further action was necessary. The notice doesn't exactly leap out at you. The position seems to be, as stated on another board, that the 800,000B must remain untouched for three months after renewal and can then be used, as long as the amount in the bank is returned to 800,000B at least two months before the next yearly renewal.

Jomtien and maybe one or two more Immigration Offices in Thailand require the return trip after 90 days to show the 800,000 has remained in the account during that period. And the sign still remains. BUT, it apparently depends on the whim of the Immigration Officer (IO) doing the processing whether you get the "paper" showing the date you are to return along with info re documents to bring & requirement for keeping the funds in the account. Recently, folks are reporting both that they were told to come back and nothing said about need to return in 90 days.

Also, it appears they have no tracking system anyway. Folks that have gone in after 90 days say the documents are glanced at with no record made of the visit or anything received to evidence they did the report.

But remember, after the 90 days, you can use the funds, BUT must keep at least 400,000 on deposit continuously and bring it back up to 800,000 2 months before the next renewal. It is most likely that for the next renewal, whether making the 90 day report with bank book or not, they will want to see evidence in your bank book (and maybe something from the Bank) to prove you met the 800,000 baht time period and did not fall below the 400,000 baht requirement.

What will happen if you didn't meet the requirements - well being refused another extension is probably a foregone conclusion. But, technically you could be considered to have had your extension cancelled when you fell below the required amount and, thus, been in overstay ever since. If I recall correctly, at the time of getting the extension, Jomtien has you sign a document acknowledging that you will notify them if there is any change in your meeting the requirements for the extension.