Open bank account in Thailand

Assuming this is for retirement, 50+. My suggestion, firstly, stop listening to youtubers, but, under old ’covid’ times 60 day exemption qualified you to get the letter required from immigration to be authorised to open a bank account ’legally’, the new exempt status gets a stamp in your passport for ’max’ 29 days, the requirement for the letter is 30 days (compounded by the fact that the exempt stamp might be shortened yo your return flight date (requirement for exempt status). the fix is to get to thailand, request 30 day extension  ASAP, get the bank account letter, deposit the required money asap, apply for 90 day visa (requirement and this is the kicker so pay attension, most immigration offices dont allow you to apply for retirement 1 year extension until the last 30 days of 90 day visa and the required money ’must’ be in there (seasoned) for two months before you can apply (essential when you start the process to get the bank account and deposit the cash asap), i went two days early on the two months seasoning and was promptly sent away     this is easy if you work the dates out and get a shimmy on on arrival. BTW the only time  you can not leave Thailand in the whole process is during the application for the 1 year extension, takes 10 days or so….  Be warned though, apply for multiple entry visa… otherwise start the visa extension process again

@ThailandHereICome You can certainly open a bank account on a tourist visa, as my friend just opened an account at Bangkok Bank through an agent. A good agent is the key to unlocking matters like this.

he was talking visa exempt, not visa

@demolitionman55 @demolitionman55   yes on a visa as its 30 or 60 days validity but not exemption (29 days).   exemption and a visa are different beasts. Warning though, your visa will be stamped to the date of uour flight out so if its less than 30 days to your flight, immigration will not issue the letter, easy fix, if you have a visa, tell immigration on entering you need at leadtv30 days on your stamp to get the bank account and there is no reasom why they shouldnt, lots of instances of this on the internet, its the stamped date on the visa or exemption page that counts, not the allowance of the visa/extension 

@ThailandHereICome

Hello Thailand my name is Doug. I will be leaving for Thailand in early April and I am paying an immigration firm to process me. It’s s fee I’ll pay that some expats in our forum would tell me DON’T DO IT, IT’s a SCAM BUT I’ve verified the legitamacy of the company I’m using with the Thai government and they have a valid busIness licence and the address and phone numbers and business license number. I’ll find out soon enough if it’s all legitamate or a scam.

my process first involves getting a SIM card for my iphone and downloading the online banking app for Bank of Bangkok an hour or two after landing and sending my phone number to my rep. Once he receives my number he will call to tell me what branch and at what time we will meet to open my bank account. After a few days we will return to the branch so all my paperwork can be processed by the bank and certified with a stamp from the bank. Then we walk out of the bank and immdeiately go to immigration to obtain my Non-O visa (about an hours wait) and then go up one floor to have the Non-O visa extended to the one-year retirement visa (about a 30 minute wait).

So as i have 15 or more email relays in 2 weeks, I have been told i need to get a SIM card upon landing, download the Bank of Bangkok’s mobile app and to call my tep to provide my phone number and the hotel’s address, phone number and my room number ias we need to use it as my Thai temporary address for the bank documents so immigration has an address on file for me when then turn my Non-O visa into a temporary one-year visa (which i must renew every year for the first 4 years before i can get a long-stay visa). With the one-year renewable retirement Visa i must report my location to the police every 90-days so when i leave Bangkok and rent my apartment in the city of my choice, i must contact the police to update my address so the police update my location and every 90 days from the date of receiving my retirement visa i must contact the police to state my address whether it changes or not.

Now my understanding from other expats in this forum is that Thai immigration is a cluster f**k and other expats have received their visas other ways but all the stories i’ve read in this forum requires a bank account but some have said they received their visa WITHOUT showing proof of insurance as one expat stated that  there is a loophole.  Another expat strongly advised to buy private health insurance before arriving or upon arrival to show immigration and that he pays $85 per month . I will buy private health insurance before or on the day of arrival. you then have access to all private hospitals that all have the most modern machines and almost all the doctors and nurses speak English and access to public hospitals, clinics and their doctors.

i’d like to know when you’re thinking you’ll arrive in Thailand. I’ll be more than glad to share how everything went and if what i have been told is exactly the process I went through and if in fact i received my visa. i will also ask my visa rep for the answer to your question after my process is completed. To confirm in fact, that my bank account process was legitimate and if i was successful in obtaining my retirement visa. While some expats say don’t pay a visa company, I feel much more comfortable having a Thai visa rep who speaks English to serve as my interpretor at the bank and immigration and who will assist me in 2025 when i have to renew the visa.

One thing i must find out is why so many embassies in Thailand from western countries including the US, EU and the UK stopped providing us with the required Letter of Income Verification in Siamese as it is required by Thailand banks to verify our incomes. This discontinued service has caused a problem for us expats looking to get retirement visas or other visas that require income verification. My visa company has a work-around to this problem and it is this specific work-around  that i must confirm is legitamate and was used successfully to open my bank acccount and used to convert my Non-O visa to a temporary one-year retirement visa that must be renewed every for 4 years before I can apply for a long-stay retirement visa of 5,10 or 20 years.

sorry i wrote so much but everything, and every  step connects to another and each step needs to be true and completed successfully so my real life experience is based on facts and provides a truthful and accurate answer to your question with evidence to prove it.

So if you have time to wait for my arrival and processing, then stay in touch and i will let you know how it all goes. Doug

@ThailandHereICome

I arrived on a Visa -exempt (45 day). 10 days later I signed an apartment lease, and then the next day my Brit-expat apartment owner introduced me to his bank (Bangkok Bank). Everything was going good, until I was told I needed to have my passport certified-notarized at the US Consulate (Chiang Mai). After a 10 day appointment wait, the consulate punch my passport numbers in, and then issued me a document saying my passport was good. Not sure if this is a USA passport only policy.

The next day the bank took copies of my passport-visa-stamp (visa exempt), apartment lease, and passport document. 30 minutes later I was issued a passbook, ATM card, and bank account.

I'm not sure how much the apartment owners introduction helped out, but my personal feeling is that all banks have their rules, but the actual bank manager has leeway if they will  open an account. From what I've experienced, and from what others have told me...Bangkok Bank is widely used.

@obeiddoug172

The agent warning is not related to.scam..

It is very difficult to extend your visa yourself next time around.

They will use channels that are unknown to you

You will be in their hands for free and simple other visa related requirements like 90 days and TM30 registration ...

But good luck. Can't say we did not warn you...

***

@obeiddoug172

Thank you for your long post and please DO let us know how it goes, even if it does (or doesn't) turn out to be a scam. That process sounds like a dream (in more ways than one) and I hardly dare ask how much you're paying for this and what extra unexpected costs suddenly appear.

It seems to me this would be contravening normal banking practices but I'm no expert.

As pointed out above, even if it all goes smoothly then you might get problems when you try to extend again.

I managed to do all of what your agent is doing for you at virtually no cost to myself, just time. But if you have more money than time then I can see how attractive it sounds.

I think it's amazing that consulates ever did certify people's incomes, how can they possibly verify that?

Good luck and please let us know here on the forum how it goes. Thanks.

@martinoo2002

martin, i really am noting your posts. More than any others because it’s your knowledge and perspective that informs me the most of what pitfalls I can find myself. I am posing your warnings to my rep, to the American Embassy in Bangkok and non-profit help groups in Thailand. I’ve had discussions with all i listed above regarding the renewal process and collecting every groups responses. I will post my experiences so I can expand in more detail if possible on your warnings and advice.

@rbakker

Hi bakker: Two things, first could you expand on your statement:

“It seems to me this would be contravening normal banking practices but I'm no expert.”

As a former CEO, I find your observation very astute but would love to know what exactly brought that thought to your mind.

second, all American Embassies have a Social Security Administration Office within the embassy, most are located in the ”basement” which they reference jokingly. I’ve lived in Portugal, Spain, Brasil and Costa Rica  and all required my Benefits Verification Letter that SSA publishes every December with the increase for cost of living. In the EU and Brasil, I would request the Benefits Verification Letter (3 pages) from the U.S. Embassy and then I would have to pay to have the document Sworn Translated into Portuguese each year I lived in Portugal and into Spanish every year I lived in Spain and in Portuguese do Brasil each year I lived in Rio. But Costa Rica was the only country that required that the U.S. Embassy in San Jose write a one paragraph letter in Spanish that stated my monthly social security income. The Embassy in CR emailed it to me in 2 days and the service was free.  For some reason, the U.S. moved the SSA Office from the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok to Manila about 2 years ago so the U.S. Embassy in Thailand no longer has a SSA Office so the service of writing a short letter in Siamese that states my monthly social security income no longer exists. Thailand Immigration won’t accept my 3-page Benefits Verification Letter that could be Sworn Translated into Siamese by a certified translation company in Thailand. I have read that the inability for me to verify my income changed the process for qualifying for a long-term retirement visa. I have talked to Brits who also lost the income verification letter from their Embassy in Bangkok but no one I’ve spoken to knows why our countries stopped complying with Thailands process for income verification. I know that the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica is still providing the one paragraph verification letter in Spanish to CR immigration. Sorry for another long post.

ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: In Thailand, you can nearly always grease the wheels of bureaucratic regulations and rules. For some Thais, this is the very model they base their businesses upon.

Most "Visa Agents" in the tourist areas will be able to help you to open a bank account, get a drivers licence or get a visa with little effort or inconvenience. Just hand over the ฿AHT.

@wozzlegummich

Thankd wozzle for your words and perspective. Much appreciated. Doug

@obeiddoug172

Thank you for your detailed reply.

If I do an internet search on how to open a Thai bank account then almost every site says that a foreigner has to provide proof of residence in Thailand - hotel is not enough. That is also what I have read repeatedly on this website. The only websites that don't say this are the visa agencies who say they will provide a "guarantee" to the bank.

I too have lived all over the world (including Rio!) and I know some people in the banking business and they tell me banks are now much stricter about who they let open accounts. Something to do with money laundering. There are probably some Thai laws about this but I don't know where to find them and perhaps the government gives the banks some leeway. Or maybe it's just corruption.

I do know that I walked into a number of banks in Thailand as soon as I arrived and asked what they required of me and they all said they needed proof of residence - hotel or airbnb or PO Box was not sufficient. So I rented a condo, got the paperwork and opened an account.

I didn't want to use an agent because I don't like wasting money but I also don't want to support any possibility of corruption. That's just me. Corruption is a cancer that keeps poor countries poor, in my opinion. But maybe your visa service is above board, I don't know.

As for the income verification, I've noticed that many consulates around the world are limiting their activities more and more to save costs and maybe to avoid hassles. Also, perhaps some governments don't want to help their citizens set themselves up overseas and spend their money there. Pure speculation on my part.

Again, please let us know how it all goes! Good luck.