The Canadian embassy in Bangkok has announced that it will no longer issue letters of guarantee about the income of Canadian citizens wishing to obtain annually-renewable visas in Thailand. The ruling also applies to the Canadian consulate in Chiang Mai. The announcement parrots the line used by the British, American and Australian embassies in the past – officers have no way of verifying the truth of claimed income or cash reserves in the home country.
Those affected, principally retirees, will need either to show 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account (which never insisted on embassy confirmation) or use the method of transferring at least 65,000 baht on a regular and continuous basis for the preceding 12 months. Individual immigration offices may differ in the precise detail they require applicants to produce for retirement or marriage visas. The evidence can include detailed home-country bank statements and even proof of the source of the cash if monthly transfers are involved.
Pattaya City Expat Club has a useful and detailed summary of the matter in its current newsletter, though obviously the remarks apply principally to Chonburi provincial immigration offices. The Canadian embassy states that the issuing of letters of guarantee had always been an informal arrangement, not a mandatory service required by immigration authorities. The embassy does not claim that abuses have actually been found.
The latest ruling will likely require Canadian expats with annually renewable visas to have a bank account in Thailand. They may run into the problem that new bank accounts are more difficult to open at the moment because of the government crackdown on unrelated abuse relating to scams and fraud. New banking registration rules allegedly begin on March 1, including requirements for photo IDs and a restriction of one SIM card per bank account. However, there have not been any recent announcements by the Bank of Thailand about implementation.
