GETTING THE FACTS RIGHT

Re: “Special treatment?” (PostBag, March 5).

When, oh when, are farangs going to get their facts right before writing a seemingly endless flow of letters complaining about Thai immigration and visa requirements?

No, “Concerned Foreigner”, you are wrong when you say “the major requirement for granting a retirement extension for expats is that the applicant is required to have 800,000 baht in his or her Thai bank account, which must have been deposited at least three months prior to application”.

This is but one of the ways that an expat can qualify for a retirement visa.

The alternative, and I believe preferable method, is to demonstrate to the Thai immigration office that you have sufficient funds to support yourself, and this is judged to be 65,000 baht a month. You do this by the simple device of a statutory declaration stamped and witnessed at your embassy. I have used this method for several years and have whisked through renewal of my retirement visa.

There are numerous visa agents who will offer to do all of your visa and immigration requirements for you, but at exorbitant prices. Why waste your money when it is so simple to do it yourself? All the information is at www.thailand-immigration.org/thailand-retirement-visa.

Follow the rules, which are set out step by step, make sure you have all your documents ready and present yourself with a smile at the immigration office. You will be surprised how easy it is.

Thai immigration is far from perfect, but it doesn’t deserve this continued inaccurate carping.

David Brown

Rayong