c1samd

i had no problem,say's the op.this is how you do it,TELL ME.

go along to CIMB take your passport and proof of your address in europe.EASY EH.

but i live in THAILAND.

If you LIVE in Thailand then you must have a visa already that allows you to open a bank account.

This is a post for people in my predicament that either are here on visa exempt stamps or tourist visas.

i have 4 accs.with different banks here in thailand but CIMB in thailand refused me because i dont have a european address.30yrs.of having accs.in thailand so as you seem to take offence of my post, maybe you can explain why they refused me.

No I cant, I don't work there. If you have 4 accounts with different banks why do you need a fifth? This whole post has no relevance to you as you already have accounts. So why you are even commenting?

Tbh I think you have just made up that you tried to open an account with them to try and prove some silly point which is neither here nor there.

I am simply trying to be helpful and pass on information that I would have found useful a month or 2 ago. But for some reason you seem to find an issue with what is only is a simple post to try and help others.

Just because a Thai bank carries a western bank name does not make it a western bank because to open a bank in Thailand (under whatever name desired) the bank must follow Thai banking laws and Bank of Thailand regulations...be licensed by BOT---therefore you are a Thai bank for all intended purposes that just happens to have a western corporate bank parent. Being American (like me) should have no impact on your ability to open a Thai bank account other than you filling out a super short citizenship questionnaire and a social security number form....that's the only thing extra I've had to do over the last year in opening two more bank accounts here in Bangkok...one with Bangkok Bank (at their HQ main branch on Silom Rd) and one with Krungsri Bank (the one in the Chaeng Wattana/Bangkok immigration building)....I'm on a retirement extension of stay.

OP: glad you got a bank account open....based on many posts on ThaiVisa it can sometimes being challenging regardless of your nationality and type of visa/extension you may have since it seems to vary so much from branch to branch as to how farang-friendly each branch is regarding new account openings.

Thanks PIB appreciate that.

You are correct in Samui it is near on impossible to find a farang friendly bank as I have tried more than 20.

Hence the reason to post as others may find this information useful.

Also it was the lady who opened the account for me that explained that they couldn't open accounts for Americans, as to why I have no idea.

Happy new year

AEON is not a Thai bank either. Will they let me open a bank account? I think not.

I have no clue I have never even heard of them.

The post is here for people who want to open an account.

Not here for holes to be picked for no good reason apart from you having nothing better to do

Santander is not a UK bank nor is HSBC, you can still have a uk bank account with them, your point is mute.

HSBC is British and is head-quartered in London. It has dual primary listings in London and Hong Kong.

Santander UK is a UK bank, wholly owned by the Spanish Santander group.

I understand your point just as CIMB Thai is a thai bank.

I was trying to put simply to person who was trying to shoot down this thread with no thought or knowledge of what I was explaining that he is totally wrong and unhelpful.

But of course you are correct, as am I that my new CIMB account is a thai bank account

i had no problem,say's the op.this is how you do it,TELL ME.

go along to CIMB take your passport and proof of your address in europe.EASY EH.

but i live in THAILAND.

If you LIVE in Thailand then you must have a visa already that allows you to open a bank account.

This is a post for people in my predicament that either are here on visa exempt stamps or tourist visas.

Cimb is not a thai bank, so obviously great experience.

hence why it is easy to open an account and therefore have a thai bank account to show to immigration to get visas, have a thai debit card and your money in thb's

Santander is not a UK bank nor is HSBC, you can still have a uk bank account with them, your point is mute.

Hi,

A little xmas present to you all!

I posted a topic a while ago asking for advice on opening a bank account on Samui without a work permit.

There were a lot of replies but no-one managed to give exact details of where and how. So this is how to get one!

Firstly you cannot do this with an American passport, but European ones I was told are fine I'm from the UK.

Anyways go to CIMB bank opposite Tesco Lotus in Chewang. Take your passport and proof of address in Europe (I used my driving licence). You simply need to have a stamp from immigration for 30 days or more. So 30 day exempt entries and tourist visas are fine. Takes 20 minutes or so and you will have a shiny new bank book and if you want an atm card (visa) at a cost of 300thb (opening the account is free) You get full access to online and mobile banking with the account and they are fully aware of what immigration need to see with updated bank books etc and seem to be overly helpful, unlike the 20+ other banks I tried.

Feel free to post any questions you may have that I might not have covered

Happy new year

Makro has trees and plenty of decorations and quite cheap too.

Be wary in Makro, a 7 foot xmas tree there is 1799thb in Tesco (chewang) is 995thb. Fairy lights in makro were around 300thb and in Tesco around 150thb for like for like.

So my advice get into tesco and also the 20thb shops have some half decent stuff as well.

Merry Christmas!!

thanks kungbeng. I don't know the names of all the banks but do know the colours, so have tried Bangkok bank, the yellow bank, the green one, the pink government one, the purple one and the light blue one. All in and around Chewang so I don't think I could get more touristy if I tried.

The girlfriend has been with me throughout and has explained its to put money in for a marriage visa and a condo and all they repeat is "work permit"

I guess I will just keep having to walk into branches and hope for the best.

happynthailand thanks also, I think SCB is the purple one which I have tried (by Tesco lotus), but they do have a branch in Big C so I will try that one tomorrow

No ATM card. You have all your money under the bed ?

Hard to believe you lived here 2 years and you don't know bank names. There 5 banks in every mall and supermarket in the country. Not working ?

how do you support yourself ?

Good luck to your wife.

In answer to you ignorance

Where have you come to the conclusion I have no atm card?

I apologise if my knowledge of thai banks names isn't up to the standard you would expect,

Try reading my original post and it explains how I support myself, not that it has any relevance to this post or is any of your business

I have passed on your message to my girlfriend, again if you had bothered to read my post you would have noticed she is not my wife, she says thanks

thanks kungbeng. I don't know the names of all the banks but do know the colours, so have tried Bangkok bank, the yellow bank, the green one, the pink government one, the purple one and the light blue one. All in and around Chewang so I don't think I could get more touristy if I tried.

The girlfriend has been with me throughout and has explained its to put money in for a marriage visa and a condo and all they repeat is "work permit"

I guess I will just keep having to walk into branches and hope for the best.

happynthailand thanks also, I think SCB is the purple one which I have tried (by Tesco lotus), but they do have a branch in Big C so I will try that one tomorrow

thanks Gerry for that, that information is a bit old though and specific to BKK from my understanding the rules have been tightened since the bombing so was looking for more recent info hence the post.

Topburi thanks for your response also. I was planning to get my visa from Penang as it is an easier journey from Samui and my understanding is from that embassy funds need to be shown. Of course if worst comes to the worst then I will have to travel up to Savannakhet.

It just seems strange. I have even told the banks I need an account as I want to buy a condo so need to send a deposit across, but they just wont budge from the requirement of a work permit?!

Hi,

Apologies if this is not the correct forum to post this in and if has been covered recently. Mods feel free to move if necessary.

This is the background to my problem.

I have been living on Koh Samui for around the last 2 years with triple entry tourist visas (all issued from London) as I travel back there every so often.

I have been living with my (Thai) girlfriend) in a house that I rent.

I have an income from the UK that covers my expenses here, I am under 50 but cannot afford the thai elite visa.

I have discussed marriage with the girlfriend previously which she is excited about and with the introduction of the new METV I feel that it would make sense to make a more long term option with my visa choice, as the hoops needed to be jumped through to obtain the METV I find ridiculous.

I want to open a bank account in order to deposit the 400k bhat required to obtain the visa but every bank I have been to has told me I can only open a bank account with a work permit. I of course don't have one as I do not work here and don't ever intend to. Therefore I am asking for advice from anybody that has come across this problem and found a solution. As I am sure retirees do not have a work permit and they too need to show funds so there must be a way around this somehow

So please any help / advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance

This forum has helped me loads with getting the right information about visas, extensions and the like so thought only fair to contribute.

I currently have a triple entry tourist visa (issued in London) which is the third one I have received from the embassy. This visa was issued in May and I entered the Kingdom on the 31st May. So with the first 60 day stamp expiring next week I went to Nathon today to get a 30 day extension.

On previous visits to Nathon I have always arrived around 8am to get a good spot in the queue for when Immigration opens at 8:45. But unfortunately there isn't any really any sort of first come first served order when the staff begin work. More of a free for all of who can shove their application into the young ladies face first to get a ticket number On these occasions when I arrived early I have always managed to have handed over my passport and TM7 by around 9:30 and then told to come back in an hour to collect my passport. What I noticed when I did return was that by 10:30-11am there was no longer a queue for the lady who sits outside the main door who gives you your number to queue to go inside to get your passport, paperwork and fees handed in.

So this morning I had a lie in had a bit of breakfast and jumped on the PCX at 10am (travelling from Chaweng) and arrived just after 10:30am. When I arrived as I had noticed before there was no queue so said hello to the lady who issues the your queue number outside the main door. She looked at my paperwork and said to go straight inside no need to wait. So doing as I was told entered immigration once inside another friendly lady took my passport and paperwork photocopied the relevant passport pages handed them back for me to sign then gave them to another member of staff who wrote me a receipt took my payment of 1920thb (20thb for the photocopying I guess) handed back my documents which I then handed to another member of staff who took my photo gave me a another ticket number and asked me to wait outside.

At this point I used to go to a restaurant and have breakfast but seen as today I had already eaten I decided to wait it out at immigration. Well it wasn't much of a wait less than 10 minutes later my number was called and the young lady that sits just puside the main door of immigration had my passport with my extension stamp. Double checked the date and showed it to me as well. I thanked her and got back on my PCX and was home before 12pm.

So all in all a great service from friendly staff. So the moral of this story is (at nathon) don't worry about that early arrival to get your application in because whenever I have done this people are always trying to push in front of me and I despise queue jumpers, Much better to wake up late roll on in there mid morning and not have to deal with any rude Russians who love to try and push in front of anyone that is in their way of getting their application processed