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"Source of Funds" Issues for Thai Retirement Visas
Transcript of the above video:
As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Source of Funds related to Retirement Visa Extension here in the Kingdom of Thailand. What are we talking about specifically? Well in this video, we are talking really about pensions or the income requirement associated with Thai Retirement Visas. We are not specifically talking about those who keep just an annual bank balance of 800,000 Baht on hand in a Thai Bank account; that is not who we are talking about here. We are primarily talking about folks who are on a pension or who just bring in the minimum 65,000 Baht per month, each month in order to use that as financial evidence to maintain Retirement Visa status.
Long story short, source of funds is an issue. We deal with source of funds also in the context of US Immigration. We see this a lot for example in EB-5 Visas, certain other types of investment visas to the US. Basically the United States Government wants to make sure the source of funds is legitimate. In Thailand where we are seeing this is where they seem to want to make sure the source of funds is coming in from abroad. We have seen situations, in fact we have some anecdotal evidence from some Immigration Offices given to us by various people who have told us some things about how their process went at various Immigration Offices here in Thailand where they have said, yes source of funds became a real issue and the actual label on my bank book that showed the money coming in, they scrutinized that and they had an issue with it if it looks like it was a domestic transaction as opposed to a foreign transaction and that became a really critical issue with respect to being able to extend their visa because in some cases it was determined not to be foreign income and therefore the Immigration Officer made the decision not to extend that Visa or that they wanted to see further evidence.
Yeah this can be something nobody really wants to deal with but yes it can be a problem. Again the specific facts of a given case are going to be where to start with respect to the analysis on how to deal with this issue. We have seen a number of solutions that ultimately have proven effective. It is probably a good idea if you really think you have got a problem with this it is probably a good idea to get on it sooner rather than later. If you think this could be an issue start probably looking at it three to six months out from when you need to deal with your next extension and it may be a good idea to contact a legal professional to gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.