ADCZ

See, this hits on a crucial point, i.e. that there is any difference in how one can meet the financial requirements depending on whether the visa is issued inside or outside Thailand. No such difference is plainly stated anywhere in the lists of the visa requirements I've seen on Thai embassies, consulates, or Ministry websites. They all quote the required bank balance as being "Thai Baht"; they never say "(or the equivalent in your national currency)" to even suggest that is acceptable under any circumstances, so that would force anyone to assume that they mean literal Thai Baht under any and all circumstances -- that is, only except for the fact that it would be so illogical to ask of most foreign applicants who haven't even set foot in Thailand before and therefore couldn't possibly have Thai Baht in a Thai bank account at the time of making a visa application from abroad. So, can I ask where you found evidence that this distinction exists? Although in China on a residence permit, I keep my money in my US bank accounts. Chinese banks are not a safe place to keep one's money lately, given recent events, and they arbitrarily started cancelling foreigners' bank accounts recently anyway. So, hopefully this is true and that I can use my US bank as the source of deposited USD funds equivalent to 800k THB in an O or OA application from here on thaievisa.go.th. I would much rather get a 1-year OA initially on that financial proof basis and not have to worry about having 400k ($11,000) tied up in a Thai bank for the majority of the first year.

Yes, this example form you quoted (at least as it pertains to changing from a tourist visa to a 90-day Non-O visa) adds to the confusion on the whole issue of whether Thai immigration generally expects a foreigner to use a Thai bank account when it asks for financial proof: This form can apply to those who are in Thailand on visa-exempt entries and yet indicates (when you factor in the fact the "letter of guarantee from overseas embassy or consulate" is totally impossible for applicants in the US, UK, Australia, etc. to get) that the only remaining options (either of which involves points 5.1-5.3) require providing a letter of guarantee from a Thai bank, which effectively means money must be in a Thai bank. So, you mentioned earlier that a Thai bank is not required, whereas here there is no other possible intepretation than that one is required for this major group of countries.

Friend, it was never my assertion that a Thai bank account was required, although, yes, indeed, much information is out there both on this forum and even on agency websites claiming that one is. In my original posting, I pointed out what is said (versus what is not) on Thai government lists of visa requirements for the OA and trying to reason my way through it, concluding that under the circumstances in the range of random to impossible, generally speaking, of a foreigner's ability to open a bank account without being in Thailand and having a visa that they could only reasonably mean (in my case, for example) my US bank account balance rather than a Thai bank account...

Goodness. What was it that I didn't read carefully? Do you mean the requirements of the particular bank that you happened to have come across and quoted (which I appreciate), or the visa requirements that are so varied from source to source and full of so much ambiguity that one needs to either infer the reality from the shadow of what's left unexplained or come to a site such as this to ask for clarification?

Thanks for your response and suggestions. Earlier today, I had also come across a notice about the 30-day visa exempt period (temporarily?) changing to 45 days some time in October. So, if I get you correctly, you are suggesting: come in on the visa-free exemption, get it extended another 30 days for the 1,900 Baht or thereabouts, to take advantage of this time to open a bank account to deposit the 800k Baht in order to apply for a "Non-O", which I understand is a 90-day visa. You said I could then apply to extend the "O" by 1-year: by that, do you mean into an "OA"? So, in summary, this is a workaround for being able to get in and get the bank account rolling first before eventually achieving the OA, rather than trying to come in under the OA initially, right? What about any problem opening a bank account with no actual visa in hand? Is your understanding that the bank funds need to be held static for 2/3 months before application? I hear versions of this everywhere but have yet to see it in writing on any immigration requirements list online.

Yes you are wrong. But the account does not need to be in a Thai bank. In your case a Chinese bank will be OK Thanks for your reply. I did email Siam Commercial Bank back in July, after reading that they required foreigners to hold work per,mits to open accounts. I asked about the possibility of my wife's opening one using an ED visa, as she'll be going there to study. They said an ED visa with a letter from the university would suffice. As for the idea that they would open an account for someone without a visa, the impression was quite to the contrary. Various sources online also strongly suggest that foreigners who are without work permits need visas, at least, to open bank accounts (such as Opening a Bank Account in Thailand | ThaiEmbassy.com (a commercial website) and Bank Account Opening in Thailand for Foreign Expats (konradlegal.com). Based on the information I have seen, unless I find new evidence otherwise, I will have to stick with the idea that I am not wrong about foreigners normally needing to already have visas (and certainly to be present in Thailand) to be able to open bank accounts in the country. It's good to know that --as you said-- the bank in question does not need to be a Thai bank, especially in light of the above, as that would otherwise be a built-in Catch-22 situation for visa applicants --who haven't even set foot in the country yet to open a Thai bank account-- to be required to have funds in a Thai bank account they couldn't possibly have yet opened. Having said that, I'm aware that visa agents may be able to get bank accounts opened for out-of-country applicants, but, really, I think that complying with the visa application process should be set up so that average people can accomplish it without the necessity of invoking the gray-area magic of paid third party services to do so. Thanks again for your time in replying and the info.

U.S. citizen here. Considering a Non-immigrant O-A visa application. I just emailed an inquiry to the Thai Consulate in Los Angeles but am not holding my breath, since I had emailed the Thai Embassy in Washington three months ago and never got any reply. I see discrepancies among the sets of visa requirements published online by various Thai government agencies, ranging from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to numerous embassies and consulates. It's scary that you can get denied and lose up to $200 for reason of not providing exactly the required documentation with your visa application, even though there seems to be no single most-authoritative set of requirements to go by. I'm hoping I can get some clarification from people who have dealt with these issues personally, as well as solid references to immigration policies online where available, though I realize those references may not always exist and reality is just whatever the de facto way of things is. For the moment, I'm referring to the Thai Embassy L.A. website's list, since it seems to be more updated than some others (e.g. with the health insurance coverage amounts having been changed from the inpatient/outpatient minimums to the one single total coverage amount): https://thaiconsulatela.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/non-o-a-long-stay-retirement-up-to-1-year 1. About Eligibility (#4) "4. must have the nationality of or permanent residence in the country where application is submitted;" I'm an American citizen but am living in China on a 1-year Chinese residence permit (family reasons). On some sites, I have read that Thai immigration regards permission to live in a place at least one year as equivalent to "permanent residence" on this point, but here there is no mention of that. So, is it any problem for me now (from within China) to apply for the visa online at https://thaievisa.go.th ? 2. About Eligibility (#6) "6. must have a health insurance for the duration of stay, with coverage for covid-19 disease with the total sum insured of THB 3,000,000 (100,000 USD) per policy year." Further down, under Required Documents (#8) it says it can be a foreign or Thai insurance provider. It says that participating Thai providers are listed at http://longstay.tgia.org, but it does not say that a foreign insurance provider must be on any particular list of approved insurance providers. I already have a "foreign" expat health insurance policy through Healthcare Intl. which covers me everywhere except the USA, providing more coverage than mentioned above. So, will my insurance meet the requirement? If not, does the Thai government state that anywhere publicly? 3. About Required Documents (#4) " 4. Bank statement or evidence of adequate finance showing – a deposit of the amount equal to and not less than 800,000 Baht; or – an income certificate (an original copy) with a monthly income of not less than 65,000 Baht; or – a deposit account plus a monthly income totaling not less than 800,000 Baht. – In the case of submitting a bank statement, a letter of guarantee from the bank (an original copy) is required. " I find this one to be a huge mind-bender, because... You can't normally open a bank account in Thailand UNTIL you actually get there and have a visa. Am I wrong? So, before applying for the visa, this could only reasonably mean (Thai Baht equivalent of) dollars in my USA bank account balance. Or what else could they expect, given the above in "1."? And yet...the word on the net seems to be that U.S. missions are no longer (since 2018/19) providing those unverified affidavits of income anymore that the Thai immigration is still referring to as "income certificates". And what exactly is a "letter of guarantee?" from the bank (in this context), anyway? Level with me, okay: Is the situation just engineered such that no acceptable proof of having the requisite funds in an overseas bank is actually possible to provide, so that the only really possible option is to loan money to the Thai banking system? Thanks, Folks