oldcpu

I believe this may be Krungsri bank branch specific and YMMV (your mileage may vary). My wife contacted our local branch of Krungsri. They stated there was no point to use Krungsri Biz online, as that too would have it online closed in the relatively near future. Frankly - I don't believe that. But according to what my wife was told by the Krungsri rep, it is Bank of Thailand recent policy for all banks to have their computer based online banking (ie access via laptop.desktop computer) to be closed, while banking via the bank's smartphone apps, will continue. Again, according to that (which as noted I am skeptical) ALL banks will be, sometime in the future, closing their online computer based banking (but not their smartphone banking). Did I say I was skeptical? Reference the age-71 limitation. She was advised that indeed those age-71 and older could not activate smartphone if activating a Krungri smartphone app for the first time. But she was also told existing users of the Krungsri app could continue using their app. My wife also claimed she she was told that for existing users, age-71 and older, moving their app from an old to a new phone would not be an issue - but here I don't yet believe my wife ... lol !! ... my wife was 'fuzzy' in her reply and my experience is when that occurs, she is making up her own answer as to what the bank actually stated. And I have learned from experience, that unless absolutely necessary, not to press my wife on such things. If i want to find out for certain the approach of the branch of Krungsri where I bank, I will likely have to go to the bank in person, find a good English language speaker, and ask myself. Anyway - I came away with the view point - that quite possibly different branches of Krungsri bank will have different policies on the details of this topic.

At the risk of beating a 'dead horse' in repeating what I have posted in the past, i had an issue where a bank in Canada froze my funds until I could provide a Thai tax-ID. Further at the same time in attempting to open a trading account in Canada, I was asked for a Thai tax ID. I actually applied (on line) for a Thai tax-ID (my wife did this for me as it was in Thai language), but that application (which goes to Bangkok) was then forwarded to the Phuket office who contacted me. Since they spoke in Thai my wife handled all the communications. Since I was remitting no money to Thailand, the local Revenue Department would not provide me a Thai tax-ID. They did note thou, that if they were to provide me a tax-ID, that my Thai pink-ID # (which comes from the Yellow Book #) could be my Thai tax ID ( if they activated it as a tax-ID ) . But they had not done so since I was remitting no money to Thailand. I then passed to the Canadian organisations my Thai Pink-ID #, with a written comment from me that it was not yet activated as a Thai tax ID per the Thai Revenue department decision. Those organisations accepted that. .

I know of those who obtained ( at Phuket Immigration) the certificate of residence on Visa exempt, and also on Type O. No previous 90 day report required. They obtained such a couple of days after their arrival in Thailand. Edit: I see now others noted where you encountered this arguably rogue behavior

Most banks will allow one to open a bank account on a 90-day type-O visa. As was pointed out, one merely needs to go to immigration and ask for a residence certificate letter. Typically such is valid for a week or so. One needs a passport sized image of themselves to pass to immigration and possibly a TM30 (or other document). Immigration produces the certificate letter and gives it to the expat (for some nominal small fee). With that immigration residence letter/certificate, and the type-O visa in one's passport, one can then open a Thai bank account in most banks. (For example, here is the Phuket Immigration volunteers webpage on that document: https://piv-phuket.com/residence-certificate/ ). Typically then, this means one needs to obtain a type-O or type-OA visa from one's home country first, in order to establish a bank account in Thailand. There was a time when bank accounts could be opened on a visa exempt status (by use of an agent) but that possibility may have been closed recently ( i am not certain there).

The purpose ? I don't know. But in Phuket back when I was on a Type-OA visa and changed to my permission to stay for reason of marriage, to reason of retirement, they advised me they would drop by to pay a visit. In the coming weeks they phoned me a couple times to make an appointment to drop by my condo, but each time they phoned i was out of province. In the end, they never showed up. Then years later when on a Type-O visa (for reason of retirement - for my 1-year extension of my permission to stay), instead they exchanged "Line" social media contacts with me, and did a Video chat with me, where they had me walk to me condo front door and position my phone so that they could see my face and my door #, and then walk to the front of the condo complex, where they could see the condo complex sign and my face (all at the same time). They told me they were doing screen captures when they had my face together with the background they wanted to see.

I don't know what Krungsri branch you deal with, but a few years ago (when on a type-O visa) when I opened a new Krungsri account they wanted proof of residence. In that case I provided my yellow book/ pink ID, but the branch manager also noted a letter/certificate of residence from local immigration would also have sufficed, Recently when I opened an account at SCB, because I am on an LTR visa, they (SCB) required a specific piece of paper work from BoI (Thailand Board of Investment) - specifically the "Notification of qualification endorsement for LTR Visa". That is unique to the LTR visa. I doubt most Krungsri branches will allow one to open account without such proof (such as a letter/certificate from immigration).

My view. 1. no appetite 2. no appetite 3. This might be accepted if you can prove the paper trail 4. For me it was 2 years of income tax returns, but others have stated 1 year. Frankly, I speculate it depends on the specific individual in BoI who is handling one's case. ie. no standard at BoI. TiT. 5. I have read of others who had regular income sources, but no need to file an income tax return in their foreign income sources country have simply provided their income proof. That strikes me as a more difficult route than showing a tax return, but I believe it doable. For example the German-Thai DTA states if one is a Thai resident, that Germany can not tax one's German pension (only Thailand can tax that pension) so its possible someone on a Type-O visa switching to a LTR, whose pension is from Germany, will have no recent German tax returns going back years. So instead they need to show BoI their annual letter from the German pension authority indicating what their annual pension income is. 6. Good question. I don't know. I avoided this by simply bringing no money into Thailand. I brought a lot into Thailand in previous years when I was not a Thai tax resident, and then when Thai ministerial directives Por-161/162 came out, I bought a bunch more savings (dating back decades) into Thailand prior to 1-Jan-2024.

As noted before, I am sorry to read of your timing issues with Wise. I hope you end up with a more satisfactory setup. In regards to what I highlighted in bold, I do not believe that by simply paying Thailand bills by direct transfers from outside of Thailand, you will be legally able to avoid such 'remitted money' being subject to consideration for taxation. It is still money that you are remitting to Thailand. I do thou concede, that by transferring money that way (direct to an organisation/company, as opposed into your account), you do complicate the government ability to track and understand the implications of the money transfer. However it is still money you are remitting to Thailand. I think in such a case you still should still maintain records (if you have the money outside of Thailand to support what I note) to show that the money you remit to Thailand to directly pay Thailand bills, is from pre-1-Jan-2024 savings. Best wishes in your efforts.

Better yet - I will repost. Its not long: With regard to declaring, I suspect only if you meet some conditions, where it only needs to be declared if: (1) you remit the interest to Thailand when a tax resident of Thailand and (2) your combined income with this remitted interest meets or exceeds the Thai threshold for income tax filing, and (3) you don't have an LTR visa. However i am no tax expert. As always, its best to double check and obtain better advise elsewhere.

I am saddened to read of those having issues with transfers of money into Thailand taking longer than they want. Why not keep a small amount in a Thailand bank as a 'buffer' ? Why all this last minute money transfer of money? ie have enough money in Thailand to pay 2 months worth of bills, and continually, every month, replenish that, such that buffer is always in place and only drops when there is a delay due to Wise or Revolut, or Swift, or how ever one does the transfer. Then the delay has far less impact. Yes - I know, one will not get as much interest, in a Thai bank , for that 2 months of financial margin (as a buffer) that one will get in a European or North American bank, but unless one has a MASSIVE monthly expense, we are not talking about a lot of money, nor a lot of interest. To me keeping some small amount of money in Thailand makes all of this concern about a 'timely transfer' go away. Anyway - best wishes and good luck to all trying to get the most out of how you time the transfers. i do hope this works out for the better. Again - good luck and best wishes.

I find that strange/interesting. Are you certain that is accurate? Granted I obtained my LTR-WP differently (I applied from within Thailand) but when I went to the BoI for my LTR visa, and they walked me over to Thailand immigration (on same floor as the BoI office), the Thai immigration wrote in Thai language, a statement DIRECTLY UNDER my Type-O visa stamp, that the Type-O visa (for reason of retirement) was no longer valid since I was on an LTR visa. It strikes me as either strange (or an immigration change in policy) that there was no such writing underneath your old Type-OA visa stamp. Like I stated - strange/interesting, and not my experience with my LTR-WP.

Back in 2020 I was under a Type-OA visa, and my understanding is .... once a person (like myself) is residing in Thailand on the Type-OA visa, in order to obtain the annual one year Extension, the health insurance needed to be from the Thai branch from a Health Insurance company. Now initially, before residing in Thailand, I suspect to initially obtain the Type-OA in the USA, you may be able to use health insurance obtained in the USA. That only works for the initial visa (I believe) But for subsequent years, after arriving in Thailand, for yearly extensions on your permission to stay in Thailand, you would need to obtain health insurance from the Thai branch of a health insurance. Dependent on your individual situation, that could be a bad thing, or it could make no difference. In my case, where I had excellent global insurance coverage from Europe, that health insurance was NOT accepted by Thai immigration for extensions of my permission to stay in Thailand, as it was not from the Thai branch of a health insurance company. The big advantage (I believe) to get from obtaining a Type-OA (or Type-O visa) from outside of Thailand, is it makes it easier upon arrival in Thailand to immediately open a Thai bank account. This Thai bank account is pretty much essential for any subsequent extensions of your permission to stay in Thailand. In fact, I recommend soon after establishing a Thai bank account, BEFORE you are classified as a Thai tax resident, that you immediately transfer the 800,000 THB equivalent to Thailand. Thai only taxes remitted income , and so that will be Thai tax exempt. Note once you are a Thai tax resident, any money you remit to Thailand needs to be considered and decided by you if it is assessable for Thailand taxation, or not assessable for Thailand taxation. Things like one's Visa type (LTR is tax exempt remitted income to Thailand) or the Double Tax Agreement between Thailand and the USA may affect what (if anything) you need to do in regards to taxation in Thailand. In general, in regards to whether going for a Type-OA or a Type-O, I recall the big advantage of the type-OA is if timed right, one can stretch almost 2 years out of that one-year visa. However its massive downside is its health insurance requirements. I suspect if you were masochistic and if you then dug through the many topics on this subject (of type-OA health insurance) you will read of many expats on a Type-OA visa, who after having established a Thai bank account, deliberately left Thailand without a re-entry permit, so to deliberately invalidate/cancel their type-OA visa, and who then re-entered Thailand Visa exempt, and who then immediately applied for a type-O visa (90 day) which has no health insurance requirements. After getting the 90-day type-O, they then applied for a 1-year extension of their permission to stay in Thailand on that Type-O visa (with no health insurance requirements). And of course they procured a re-entry permit with their type-O so not to invalidate/cancel it when leaving Thailand. By having a Type-O visa, one is then free to obtain health insurance from anywhere in the world, and not be compelled to purchase health insurance from the Thai branch of a health insurance company. (or on a Type-O have no health insurance - which i do not recommend) If you still have a Thailand bank account from 2019, then skip the entire idea of a Type-OA visa, and simply enter visa exempt and immediately go for the Type-O visa. .... Unless of course, you have your heart set on buying Health insurance from the Thai branch of a health insurance company, in which case, the Type-OA may be THE visa for you.

With regard to declaring, I suspect only if you meet some conditions, where it only needs to be declared if: (1 you remit the interest to Thailand when a tax resident of Thailand and (2) your combined income with this remitted interest meets or exceeds the Thai threshold for income tax filing, and (3) you don't have an LTR visa. However i am no tax expert. As always, its best to double check and obtain better advise elsewhere.

I agree with that. ... Although I add foreigner's buying condos in more than just tourist areas, has, in my opinion, driven up the condo pricing higher than it would otherwise be, making such more expensive for the average Thai. And yes, leave the tourist areas, and leave the big city areas where many foreigners reside, and prices drop. I do note thou that tourist areas are typically tourist areas due to something there being attractive to people. It can mean that Thai will pay higher prices in those areas (and locations close to those areas) if they also wish to participate / enjoy many of the 'attractions' due to the higher prices tourists will pay. Hence I still believe there needs to be a controlled balance. As you note some safeguards, such as foreigner's not legally being allowed to buy land, are in place, and condominium's having a 49% max foreigner purchase (of condo units) in place. I for one would be happy to see that 49% increased to 50% ... but as the saying goes, this is Thailand..

I have read at least one story of a way in which someone claimed they worked around such (to obtain an LTR visa), but it required some legal financial management/re-structuring that IMHO might cost more than the Thai Consulate NZ fee. What I recall is they set up a legal company (where such can nominally be setup I think for a few hundred (perhaps more? ) US$. That company's purpose is to provide advise to manage their ETFs, and as an employee (and director/CEO) of that company, every year the company pays them a dividend. The company has to have official minutes every year of the one annual meeting (attended by the one person - you ! ) where the first meeting records in the minutes that a dividend of ~$6,700 US$/month is paid to you. And have that amount every month transferred to your bank account. So the proof of this being a dividend are the minutes of meeting and the bank statement of the monthly deposits. Downsides to this are the company startup/registration costs, the annual cost to keep the company registered, the time taken to get 2 years (?) of dividend deposit records to satisfy Thai BoI, and potential New Zealand taxes if one sets up such a company. However there would be no Thai taxes on the dividends when remitted to Thailand, with an LTR visa. Still - perhaps the Thai Consulate NZ fee is cheaper ? Its unfortunate you don't already have a Thai bank account, and then you could simply enter Thailand visa exempt, and apply for a 90-day type-O visa as soon as you entered Thailand on the 30 or 60-day visa exempt status. As you note - consider an agent. I believe this is legal nominally - and in this case it is bank policy that you are using an agent to help over come. There was a time (and maybe still possible) you could do an EARLY trip to Thailand, and as soon as you arrive see if you can pay an agent to assist you to open a bank account in Thailand. I believe an agent will be massively less expensive than the Thai Consulate NZ fee. The issue (?) with an agent, is I read recently Thailand banks are cracking down on Bank accounts being inappropriately opened and i do not know if that has impacted the agent service for helping one to open an account when Visa exempt. Still you could consider that approach.