phutoie2

I am in a similar position to the OP, however I am due to visit Bangkok immigration in May and apply for an extension of stay due to marriage to Thai wife. I am ex HM forces and receive a monthly pension that I hope will satisfy the 40k per month required. The British embassy should send my letter back with proof of income letter soon, I hope. Due to living in Petchabun province, I thought it would be easier to send by post!.

Like the OP I was under the impression that you had to have this 400k deposited in the bank and went through a troublesome loop of opening a bank account and transferring money from UK etc.

Perhaps I should have been reading the forums much earlier!! for info.

I could not find anything on the Thai immigration website about the 40k income.

Isn't Swift every month expensive, better to open a nationwide account? Unless you need to show income for retirement visa i suppose.

Bangkok Bank NY charges $5.00 to SWIFT it from NY to Thailand. When it gets to Thailand, Bangkok Bank on Silom Road charges 200 baht to convert it.

I too have been a Nationwide account holder for several years now and both the debit cards and credit cards are commision free for use overseas, however I believe for cash credit card withdrawals there is a 1.67% handling fee.

On moving to Thailand this year on a more permanent basis, I transferred a largish amount of cash by "swift" to my Bangkok Bank account and was charged 20 GB pounds by NW and another 20 GBP by Bangkok bank in London.

I have only been in Thailand 6 weeks and tried to open account with non-immigrant visa with Bangkok Bank in Sri Thep, Petchaboon. No joy!! Had to go to British embassy for letter (1700 baht) plus expense of staying overnight/travel etc. to Bangkok.

Visited same bank following week and opened two accounts and now just collected ATM card. Branch manager very friendly after all done correctly.

If you want some real fun try and open a post office box number in local post office!! Had to get Thai wife of another Brit friend to open, cost 500 baht.