Zyxel

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On Tuesday 17 June I went to renew my retirement visa at the immigration office in Suan Plu in Bangkok. Everything went smoothly except this time I was asked to photocopy my passport pages with the previous visa stamps from 2004, 2005, 2006. I used to photocopy the page of the current visa before and no problem but not this time. When I went to the desk of the "boss" to have the visa signed I asked her about the 30 days limit for renewal before expiry and she confirmed it and also added that I must have the 800 000 TB in my account 3 months before renewal. So different offices, different rules.

I think that if you tell them that you will be away from Thailand at the renewal date then they let you do it earlier. I read a post once on Sawatdee I think about somebody renewing it 4 months earlier for that reason but it was before the 3 month deposit rule. I know for sure that immigration offices have different rules, like embassies or consulates around the world. Sometimes you will even get different answers from different people within the same office ! Anyway I'll let you know next month about this 30 days advance renewal, it might be useful for some who go to Suan Plu. I believe you are right, it must have been Suan Plu own rule before, may-be due to too many applicants coming at the last minute.

Thank you GayButton and fountainhall for the correction and confirmation. Back in 2004 when I applied for retirement visa, I got first as normal a 3 months O visa with starting date of my last entry in the country which was 1.5 month earlier. The immigration officer told me that I had to change this O visa into retirement visa 30 days before it expired. So I was left with 2 weeks to do it. 3 days later I went back to Suan Plu with all the same documents I already presented for the O visa a week earlier and got my retirement visa. At that time an other immigration officer specifically told me that I will have to renew my visa no less than 30 days prior expiry. So I thought that this rule was still enforced now. Apparently not. Any way next month I will renew it again and will play safe and do it more than a month before it expires. I will ask then to the officer about this 30 days advance. Something that I am sure is that the 800 000 TB have to be in the account 3 months before renewal and not expiry of the visa.

Having renewed my visa 3 times already I still learned a bit from this post in particular that the balance letter can be 1 or 2 days old and not issue on the same day of renewal. So I can get it the day before and go early the next morning to Suan Plu and avoid the wait. But I always thought that the 800 000 TB had to be in the bank account at least 3 months before RENEWAL and not expiry date of the visa. Since you have to renew your visa at least 30 days (29 days will be too late and you will have to do all over again) before it expires then the 800 000 TB have to be in your account 4 months before your visa expires. Please tell me if I am wrong. Last time (June 07) when I did the renewal I was missing 2 days for a full 3 months and the lady warned me but it was just after this new rule had been set so I got a green light to proceed.