DrJack54

Glad it's funny for you. Lot of advice has been posted. 1. Use agent to open bank account 2. Obtain residence certificate from the immigration office that you plan to deal with. 3. Obtain non O in your country prior to travel to Thailand. 4. Enter Thailand visa exempt and obtain non O nearby country. You have added to morph into money transfer options. Completely unrelated

Where is the "stay until date" I don't recall that. Must have overlooked that field

This thread has gone so off topic . Transfer options have been covered in SO many threads in banking and finance forum along with general topics forum . Fact is WISE often comes out on top. It's not about bank charges. That is clearly stated charge. The exchange rate is key. Here is screenshot of 2mil baht transfer I did recently in March. The charge from wise is a whooping $500+ aud. Was still the best option. I did 3 transfers as WISE limit to Thai banks (only 3 banks) has limit 2 million per transfer. Back to the OP: use agent to open bank account.

One reason I love AseanNow is that every day I can find a thread that trump's the pervious day for Stupid Idea. One caveat on that is guys with very experienced thai wife with experience in bars and having contacts and business experience re bars. I obviously won't name the bars but personally was frequent visitor to Udon Thani. Many bars there with farang owners and Thai wife basically running the show.

Thanks for the post. Lot to digest there. I'm reasonably happy with Netflix. Yes I do prefer crime and series. Have been some good watching. Seems to have a lot of Thai content but the cards are 169b per month. The quality of picture is fine for my needs.

Most threads on certificate of residence state info from various offices. Pathum Thani does not get mentioned often.... Here is cut and paste from one thread.... 'In my experience, which admittedly is limited to 2 different immigration offices only , it varies from office to office. I paid 500 baht in Pathum Thani and zero baht in Ayutthaya, on both occasions it was issued immediately."

I'm at 101 level for technology. The condo where I rent is owned by a private owner with no privately owned apartments. No cabling would be possible. Off topic but... Very strict friendly staff. No noise here. Nothing left outside room etc etc We have a couple of rental places and I'm aware that the tenants do various things to enable wifi and tv etc. In any event for my needs, which is watch movies etc from Netflix or YouTube etc .....using my cell to connect to room wifi and hotspot to use TV works fine. No buffering etc. I can watch a streaming movie and at same time watch various things on my phone. So all good. Picture quality excellent. I'm sure that there are possibly better options but I'm content.

There is also another, however not available in many countries. It is available in UK. A Multiple entry non O retirement valid for 12 months. Allows stays of up to 90 days.

No problem.

Thanks for very clear feedback. Which immigration office do you deal with asking regarding your province

One last point. I realize you indicate dealing with Pathum Thani ....there may be possibility of you moving to Bangkok and using CW. SCB does not have branch at CW. Suggest Bangkok Bank and Kasikorn best options for you.

The OP asked simple question and it was regarding obtaining a tourist visa. What "proper visa" did you have in mind. You also state "abuse the system" Very sad fella.

As I pointed out earlier....open an account with one of the 3 banks I listed. Personally I used Kasikorn and one month ago needed transfer for condo purchase. WISE limit to those 3 banks is 2 million baht per transfer. So I did 2 transfers simple and quick. All online of course. This Thursday just gone I transferred 10k aud midday. Was very surprised it arrived few hours later. Perhaps because smallish amount.

You are the OP and glad you are aware of best ways to do transfers. Some ridiculous posts in thread you can disregard.

You are really sounding foolish. To refer to WISE and other companies eg OFX as "sketchy" just shows you to be very naive. Many of these threads concern obtaining non O with extensions and that requires minimum 800k baht transfer. Purchase of condo 2 mill plus. Hospital operation 400k perhaps. etc etc. It's not a "few baht". Seriously ridiculous.

Wise does have a hefty fee based on amount , but what you refer to is "mid market rate". That's the rate that you will see on for example XE app.

You are ill informed even for smaller amounts. You can lead a horse to water. Giddy up. Not really interested how you transfer money and all this is off topic.

Spend some time in the Finance and Banking forum and get back to me. If you live in Thailand or familiar with folk doing transfers (especially larger amounts) then the options have been done to death. Just did a search for transfer. Did not hand pick. The first one was from UK. Note WISE was formally Transferwise.

Don't be too concerned. With a non O bank should open account. A lease would be handy but not essential. Your fall back would be agent. Approx 4-4.5k In Bangkok you could chat directly with Siam legal or other agents for advice.

Have silly limit if using WISE to transfers. I suggest Bangkok Bank or Kasikorn Bank https://aseannow.com/topic/1185032-best-thai-bank-for-foreigners/

QLD..,. Remember very well.

If you are obtaining a non O in your own country you won't have an issue in opening a bank account. Kasikorn (one example) will open an account if you have a non O.

Bank account etc not accepted. Needs to be is cash in baht or equivalent currency.

Think I can call and raise you one. Flying X Melbourne to Saigon with a visa for Vietnam, Jetstar would not issue me with boarding pass as my visa for Vietnam only had 3 days remaining. I had to show my flight Saigon to Bangkok couple of days later and my reentry permit to Thailand to be given boarding pass.

Haven't heard that but certainly a possibility. We don't see many reports of the process in recent times. Certainly in Bangkok reports of very smooth process but thinking that was prior to conflict.