John207

If I remember well, since I opened both THB and USD account at the same time, by handing them over a couple of thousand baht, they converted some of it into USD and they opened both accounts without me requiring to do anything else. Around 5 years ago one of the employee at the same branch, told me that the plan of having online banking transfer of USD going out of Thailand was on the pipeline and soon was going to be implemented for all the FCD holders. So no more trips to the bank spending 20 minutes to fill in forms should one require to transfer out of the country. Still waiting though! That would be putting BBL to a similar level of Western banks in terms of foreign cash transactions.

I've been holding an USD account with Bangkok bank for around 7 years and I can confirm the online conversion from USD to THB is possible only during business hours though and only through the online account and not with the Bangkok bank phone app. My last conversion was done around 6 months ago.

I wore a pair of jeans, trainers and a polo neck t-shirt same as when I travel through most airports. No member of staff looked at me in a condescending manner. Inside the BOI office I did notice that some other visa applicants were wearing similar clothes to mine and some were wearing proper trousers and long sleeve shirt.

I couldn't agree more! That of course is not taking anything away from the outstanding work that Mike Lister has done on the subject in other threads.

New video made by Turner and Kulikovska where towards the end it's mentioned that the LTR visa holders are tax exempt in Thailand and other things...

Hi guys thank you all for your useful comments! This morning I went to the transport office in Chonburi to do the IDP based on my 5 year Thai licence and first thing she said it was that unfortunately I couldn't do it because my licence had less than 6 months validity left! 🙄 Then she added that I needed to renew my Thai licence first and low and behold I got there at 10am and at 2pm I was out of there with both my new 5 year Thai licence and the 3 year IDP. Hard to believe but sometimes miracles do happen! 😀 Fortunately the docs needed for both licences were the same except I had to go to a local clinic to do a medical check up; probably the quickest and cheapest I ever done in Thailand for 100 baht just 3km away from the transport office run by a doctor called Jakawut Aonanong. For the record it was a good experience overall and considering that my Thai is still shamefully <deleted>e, everybody was really helpful and polite with a smile!

Thanks for looking....well....I guess I won't be wasting anymore money with those guys then!

Did they ask you further proof of UK address (and in which form) when you applied or the address on the UK licence did suffice?

I've got the online UK IDP from https://internationaldriversassociation.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search Ads WW minus USA - English&utm_term=International Drivers Association&utm_content=Ad Group 1 It seems legit to me and we had several exchanges via email. They give you the paper licence very similar to the one I got from the post office many years ago, and the plastic one as well they both look pretty professionally made and they were accepted last year in Bali airport from one of the car rental places and in Penang airport from one local car rental place. However like some of you say it might well be fake so I hope the Thai IDP will help me to rent this car in Hanoi and the next time I'll go to the UK I'll probably make one in the post office or in one of those nominated Pay Points.

The difference between the two IDP's - the one bought on line and the one made here - appears to be that the former adheres to Genevra traffic convention 1949 where as the latter adheres to Vienna traffic convention 1968.

Thanks for all the info guys very helpful indeed! I've been chatting with a guy who's renting cars in Hanoi and he's saying that the UK based IDP I'm holding already bought online for $79 and successfully used in both Indo and Malaysia is not accepted by the local Hanoi car insurance. But he said he had farangs coming in with Thai IDP and no problem with that. Hope he's sincere! Finger crossed!

Hi all, has anyone obtained an IDP in Pattaya of lately? I'm getting conflicting information so I was wondering what are exactly the documents needed and which transport office to go to if the one in road 7 just outside Pattaya or the one in Chonburi city centre. All comments welcome thanks

There is not much choice with international providers. Avis seems to be the only one that provides cars in Hanoi but in Avis website only chauffeur driven cars are available where as through third parties like Klook or QeeQ.com they say they can provide same Avis cars but self driven and the insurance deal with Axa for example seems to be separate from the renting! Quite odd methinks. Anyway thanks Richard for your input!

Has anybody got any experience on renting a car in Vietnam using an IDP - International Driving Permit? The way I understand it if you're not native of any ASEAN countries you need to produce an IDP backed by your home driving licence which I have. Even after a long discussion with a car rental guy in Hanoi via whatsapp, it's still uncertain that the insurance will pay the basic cover should anything bad happen to the car. Tried to get the insurance details from him a few times to check with the insurance people directly but he never disclosed them to me so it's becoming a hard one. If anybody has any experience with driving using an IDP I would be interested to hear. Thanks

That's good advice thanks!