Transcript of the above video: 

We have been doing a number of updates recently regarding issues we are seeing in the intersection and interplay between Banking and Immigration documentation. This is sort of the latest in that series. I made a video that went up yesterday as of the time of this video yesterday, or today this will probably go up for tomorrow, and so we will be talking about yesterday when this goes up. In any event, we were talking at that time about how basically prospective retirees should be, if you are not in Thailand yet, do not make presumptions based on even very recent information going back within the last month. And those folks should be talking to somebody here in Thailand before they come - it would be optimal - because they may need to get certain ducks in a row before they get out here. 

This video is less about folks that are currently abroad and more about folks that are here, and this may pertain to folks having to deal with things like extensions in the very near future. What are we talking about? Well my team, my staff here in the office deal with Retirement Visas quite frequently. We also deal with things like Marriage Visas. We certainly deal with things like Business Visas and Work Permits and Extensions thereof. So long story short, we deal with all different kinds of Visa categories: Long-Term Residence Visas, Destination Thailand Visas, so-called Digital Nomad Visas, as well as the Smart Visa; from time to time that will pop up. And we also may be dealing with things like the Elite Visa from time to time. But my point is we also deal with the really nuts and bolts kind of visas, what I call the fundamental visas; the Immigration Act of '79 visas. Things like the standard Business Visa, the standard O Marriage Visa, the standard O Retirement Visa which stem primarily from that Act and weren't sort of created later in all of this hodge podge that we have seen, different times they have created different visas, some of which have sort of been effective to varying degrees. 

That said, the point I am trying to make with this video is, the prior video I made was talking about retirees especially and those looking to come to Thailand. If they are not here yet, it is a good idea to contact us before coming because it is probably a good idea to make arrangements before you come under the current prevailing rules that we are dealing with here in Thailand regarding Retirement Visas. This video is more for folks that may be extending in the future. What are we talking about? Well as the title suggests, all I am going to say is there is a "Big Bank”, "Big Bank” - that's it, that is all I am going to say, that is creating a new policy or has created a new policy regarding affidavits regarding balances of bank accounts for those who are looking to extend their visas. And what we are seeing right now from this "Big Bank" - enough said there - is they are requiring that basically funds be put on hold for as long as 4 months, before they will issue the Affidavit associated with getting a Visa Extension. So basically for example if you are in a Retirement Visa or a standard O, even an O-A you could be doing this, you basically show, “hey I have got money in the bank; I have got my 800,000 Baht." In the past, a document could be issued the day of your extension, the day before, a week before, whatever, shortly before. Currently, one of these “Big Banks”, again enough said on me name of the bank, I will just leave it with “Big Bank”, this bank is saying, "no, no, no", it is our policy, we want to hold your 800,000 Baht for at least 4 months before we will issue the affidavit. Now understand, not all banks are necessarily requiring this. Just for now and we are dealing with this, not just anecdotally, we have had hands-on experience with this, but one Bank in particular that a large number of people happen to use, is implementing this policy apparently, and people are pretty upset. Even our contacts within Immigration are kind of like, "hey, what the heck, what are you doing here? we are not even requiring that? why are you doing it?" and it is all coming through this rubric of "know your customer", and anti-money laundering, and we are going after so-called scam accounts which all looks to me like a bunch of World Economic Forum, OECD nonsense that we have seen brought in frankly in the last two years under this present government, which I frankly hoping we are turning a corner on now and we can get past this. But long story short, we are still dealing with the ramifications of this in real time and the upshot of it is as a practical matter I can see where this banking affidavit stuff is going to be a real problem possibly for folks who are possibly going to extend their visas moving forward. 

Now is it a foregone conclusion that this will stay the current rule? No not so much. Is this an immigration rule? Not exactly. As discussed, the folks that we have talked to at Immigration, or I should say my staff primarily talk to all the time at Immigration are not overly thrilled about this either. They are sort of nonplussed about it because they are sitting there saying, "hey this isn't us asking for this, and a lot of people are blaming us, when this appears to be an internal bank policy." As discussed in other videos about banking specifically, we have often discussed the fact that look internal Bank policies are their own; they can set their internal policies and deal with their customers how they want. Me personally I would not love the idea of the bank saying “hey we get to hold on to your money and if you want this document this is what we are going to do.” There are possible other banking options that we have come across ourselves here in the office. Again, how this evolves remains to be seen. But that said, I am basically making this as sort of an advisory if you will, not exactly an alert. I didn't put an alert on this because I don't think it quite rises to that level. I don't want to scare people; I get constantly accused of fear mongering on here. All I am trying to do is put out relevant real time information that may be of use to the expat community. Long story short, this “Big Bank” Affidavit Policy probably will have tremendous ramifications on the expat communities. So that's my point in making this video. Those who may be needing to do their extension especially sometime possibly in the next 4 - 6 months, it may not be a terrible idea to look over your situation, sort of figure out where you stand with this; figure out if you are going to be directly impacted by this. Is this a bank that you are going to need deal with?  Now I get into more in-depth analysis regarding expat matters on our paid news service. Those who are interested in that can email us at [email protected] where I am getting into many different things. I actually recently made a video about a story I had dealing with the US Embassy here in Bangkok and the evolving nature of Administrative Law in the context of the American system, folks might find that somewhat interesting. I expect in the coming days I will be making some more in-depth videos regarding again, issues associated with Thai Immigration and kind of the ins and outs I am presently dealing with. I make these videos in an anecdotal way talking about what we are kind of dealing with in the office in real time, so anybody that is sort of interested in that again, [email protected]. 

Also very quickly here, I want to throw in a plug for. Pancake Palace. My better half and I have opened a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok. I'll put a link in the description below where you can go to find us, but Pancake Palace, as you can imagine, breakfast anytime. We also have American diner food, chilli, cheeseburgers, buffalo wings. We have got French toast as well. It is not just pancakes, we have got French toast at Pancake Palace as well; all-day breakfast, bottled Coke, glass bottled Coke, the old-fashioned way. So folks that are interested in having some good old American diner food in downtown Bangkok, you might want to stop by. 

That said, circling back and sort of in conclusion on this video, the thing to take away is internal banking policies are having a tremendous on the ground impact that we are seeing for folks that are looking to extend their visa status, and these internal policies can have an impact that might not necessarily be foreseeable for somebody as far as 4 months out. So the point I am trying to make with this video is you may want to contact a legal professional regarding these matters, as you may want to have your ducks in a row as far out as months in advance so as to be prepared to deal with your Visa Extension here in the Kingdom of Thailand.