Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing US Social Security. We are specifically discussing this in the context of Thai Visas. Specifically I am going to say Retirement Visas primarily and Retirement Visa Extension although this could pertain to those who are married to a Thai National; I think this analysis holds up for those as well. 

In a recent letter to the Bangkok Post, it was in their Postbag section, from the print edition December 19th, 2020. The letter was titled: Immigration Games and it was from Farangs Anonymous. Quoting directly: "Why does Immigration refuse to accept notifications from Government agencies and/or Insurance companies that clearly state bona fide payments to recipients on a yearly basis? I am talking about Social Security payments, Government pensions as well as private pension payments. Stated requirements say they are perfectly acceptable as a proven source of income."  

Well a couple of things at play there. First of all "stated requirements". What is on a website is not necessarily dispositive to what the laws and regulations say. Also, it is the issue of "proven". We saw a lot of this issue come up with respect to what were once called Income Affidavits that were issued by the American Embassy or in some cases the UK and the Australian Embassies were doing this as well, where folks would go to the Embassy and they basically fill out an affidavit which stated “I make X amount of money” or “I have X amount of income every month or year” and then they would sign that. That would be notarized and then that could be used to extend Retirement status or your Marriage Visa status here in the Kingdom. That fell away; they stopped doing that. It has been about 2 years now, maybe a little longer since they stopped allowing that to happen that way; since they stopped processing Income Affidavits that way. One of the reasons for it, and the reason I bring it up in this video, is it speaks directly to this question which is "veracity". Thai Immigration is concerned with knowing whether or not that person does indeed receive that income. With respect to Income Affidavits, the issue there became well people were going in they would sign something and the Embassy was simply notarizing their signature so the Thai Government it was my understanding went to the Embassy and said "Hey, are you attesting to the veracity of these statements or what are you doing?" and the US Embassy said "We are just notarizing their signature," and basically the Thai authorities said well we would like to discontinue this practice and it stopped because they want the veracity of these statements to be, they want it proven for lack of a better term and that is what we are talking about here. US Social Security documentation is not Thai documentation; it is not from the Thai Government. They have a difficult time proving the authenticity of foreign government documentation. 

Now it seems easy to us because we look at something and it is, "well clearly that is from the US Government". That said, the Thai government is a foreign government with respect to its relationship with the US and for that reason concepts like full faith and credit don't necessarily apply. They don't recognize that documentation the way we do. Also, something else to keep in mind, it is not in the Thai language and that is important because Thai Immigration officers need to see that information in Thai. 

Now I could see circumstances where certified translations may work but what we have seen as a practical matter, which is what tends to work time and time again, is proving up income via bank statements, showing that income is indeed coming into a Thai bank account on a monthly basis or one is maintaining a long-term balance of the requisite amount in order to be able to extend Visa status. That is basically the long and the short of it right now. That is proving to be the best evidence notwithstanding the fact that somebody may be receiving Social Security through different ways, a bank statement showing the money coming into the bank account and that the money is meeting the requisite threshold, and that may depend; if it is a Marriage visa it is a little bit less, if it is a Retirement Visa it is a little bit more but that it is meeting the requisite monthly income threshold in order to meet the requirements to obtain an extension of Visa status.