Monomial Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 I have a question. Let's say for sake of argument I wanted to convert 16 million THB to USD over the course of a few months. Are there any limits or any regulations that would prohibit me from withdrawing this money in chunks of 300,000 baht, converting at Superrich to USD, and then flying to Cambodia 3 times a week each time carrying less than $10K USD? Superrich gives a much better exchange rate than can be obtained in Cambodia for THB, so I want to do the currency conversion here. I know this is fine for any individual trip, but I am wondering if there are any rules that govern how many times this can be done in a month. Does anyone know? Note that this is a hypothetical question only. I am not actually saying I am going to do this. I just want to understand the rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banana7 Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 (edited) They record your passport number with each exchange transaction. I believe transactions maybe reported to the anti-money laundering office. That office may identify your transactions as suspicious and take appropriate action. You may have to prove that your money was obtained lawfully. See the attached anti-money laundering act. I recommend you seek legal counsel before commencing your planned activities. “Suspicious transaction” means a transaction with reasonable grounds to believe that it is conducted to avoid the application of this Act, or transaction connected or possibly connected with the commission of a predicate offense or terrorist financing offense. 32M baht is about USD$500K. Using your plan, you will fly there 50 times, 3 times a week for about 16 weeks? You may also attract immigration attention. Plan carefully! AMLA No 1-4(1).pdf Edited January 20, 2018 by Banana7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkk2061 Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 5 hours ago, Banana7 said: They record your passport number with each exchange transaction. I believe transactions maybe reported to the anti-money laundering office. That office may identify your transactions as suspicious and take appropriate action. You may have to prove that your money was obtained lawfully. See the attached anti-money laundering act. I recommend you seek legal counsel before commencing your planned activities. “Suspicious transaction” means a transaction with reasonable grounds to believe that it is conducted to avoid the application of this Act, or transaction connected or possibly connected with the commission of a predicate offense or terrorist financing offense. 32M baht is about USD$500K. Using your plan, you will fly there 50 times, 3 times a week for about 16 weeks? You may also attract immigration attention. Plan carefully! AMLA No 1-4(1).pdf I hope you don't count for a living.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monomial Posted January 21, 2018 Author Share Posted January 21, 2018 As far as I can tell there is nothing in the AMLA act that would pertain this. It only details movement of funds obtained from 21 "predicate offenses". None of those are applicable here. Immigration is not a problem if I am not doing anything wrong. So the question remains. Does anyone have any idea of a rule that prohibits this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOZMO Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 SAVE THE HASSLE AND THE CHANCE OF JAIL OR IMMIGRATION PROBLEMS AND USE A BANK !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monomial Posted January 21, 2018 Author Share Posted January 21, 2018 14 minutes ago, KOZMO said: SAVE THE HASSLE AND THE CHANCE OF JAIL OR IMMIGRATION PROBLEMS AND USE A BANK !!! Not possible because the bank will not allow an international SWIFT transfer without documentation that I can not get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_smith237 Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 19 minutes ago, KOZMO said: SAVE THE HASSLE AND THE CHANCE OF JAIL OR IMMIGRATION PROBLEMS AND USE A BANK !!! There are controls on how much can be taken out of Thailand... using a bank may not be possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SE23inPhuket Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 (edited) 39 minutes ago, Monomial said: As far as I can tell there is nothing in the AMLA act that would pertain this. It only details movement of funds obtained from 21 "predicate offenses". None of those are applicable here. Immigration is not a problem if I am not doing anything wrong. So the question remains. Does anyone have any idea of a rule that prohibits this? Have you considered doing this the other way round i.e. taking Thai baht to Cambodia and exchanging the money there? Ly Hour Money Exchange has a number of branches across Phnom Penh (including a large one on Charles De Gaulle avenue - about 500 metres from Psaa Thmei (central market). Ly Hour offer very competitive exchange rates on ThB - not sure how they would stack up against Superrich, but certainly much much closer to the rates on Xe than any bank. I’ve used Ly Hour for years, and never been asked for any form of ID, even when exchanging large amounts. It is an entirely painless process. Edited January 21, 2018 by SE23inPhuket Typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLewis Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 3 hours ago, Bkk2061 said: 32M baht is about USD$500K. Using your plan, you will fly there 50 times, 3 times a week for about 16 weeks? You may also attract immigration attention. Better check your math, its just a bit under 1,000,000 at todays rates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedemon Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 The limit used to be 10K but now you can carry up to USD20,000 in foreign currency without declaration. Ask Superrich if they can transfer the money to a foreign account for you in one go. I don't have any recent experience with them but they used to do that without any special requirements. Outward remittance by bank is not forbidden it just needs to be declared to the BOT as being for purposes within their regulations. It isn't as strict as many foreigners seem to think. Not sure about other banks but at least at Kasikorn it is possible to register a foreign payee account with their internet banking service and transfer up to THB1,000,000 per day without any human intervention. I think a Work Permit is required to register initially but after that it can be renewed online annually without any documentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monomial Posted January 21, 2018 Author Share Posted January 21, 2018 For this case, the source of the funds is from sale of personal property that can not be proven to originate from overseas. Thus, it can not be shown to be within BOT regulations for outward remittance. Thus, my question about carrying the money in chunks to Cambodia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 @Monomial Where did you get that $10,000 figure for taking cash out of the country with no declaration. It has been $20,000 for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markeewan Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 There is a limit to how much Thai baht you can convert into foreign currency at Superrich, per passport per day, which may slow you down a little. Q: How much is the minimum and maximum per transaction/passport/day? A: No minimum Maximum 800,000 THB for exchange THB to foreign currencies No maximum for exchange foreign currencies to THB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lacessit Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 2 hours ago, SE23inPhuket said: Have you considered doing this the other way round i.e. taking Thai baht to Cambodia and exchanging the money there? Ly Hour Money Exchange has a number of branches across Phnom Penh (including a large one on Charles De Gaulle avenue - about 500 metres from Psaa Thmei (central market). Ly Hour offer very competitive exchange rates on ThB - not sure how they would stack up against Superrich, but certainly much much closer to the rates on Xe than any bank. I’ve used Ly Hour for years, and never been asked for any form of ID, even when exchanging large amounts. It is an entirely painless process. Exchange controls limit Thai baht to 50,000 when leaving Thailand. And the equivalent of 450,000 baht in other currencies. I suppose the OP could buy Thai gold; however, due to the lower gold content ( 98.5% vs 99.99 ) it would be discounted in other countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkk2061 Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 38 minutes ago, Monomial said: For this case, the source of the funds is from sale of personal property that can not be proven to originate from overseas. Thus, it can not be shown to be within BOT regulations for outward remittance. Thus, my question about carrying the money in chunks to Cambodia. Buy bitcoins on localbitcoins.com in Bangkok and sell them in Cambodia on same localbitcoins.com (phnom Penn has a thriving community) If you have a Cambodian bank account already you won't even need to be in Cambodia to sell the coins and get cash in your account.... Welcome to the future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snairc Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 How much us dollars will super rich convert a day in Thailand. Could you please let me know if they are available in Bangkok. I am new to this country Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monomial Posted January 21, 2018 Author Share Posted January 21, 2018 55 minutes ago, Lacessit said: Exchange controls limit Thai baht to 50,000 when leaving Thailand. And the equivalent of 450,000 baht in other currencies. I suppose the OP could buy Thai gold; however, due to the lower gold content ( 98.5% vs 99.99 ) it would be discounted in other countries. It's 500,000 baht to Cambodia (neighboring country) and a total of $20,000 USD equivalent in all currencies. The $10K limit is for importing currency to Cambodia without having to declare to Cambodian customs and setting yourself up as a target for theft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monomial Posted January 21, 2018 Author Share Posted January 21, 2018 1 hour ago, Briggsy said: @Monomial Where did you get that $10,000 figure for taking cash out of the country with no declaration. It has been $20,000 for a long time. Import to Cambodia is $10K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torsten brack Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 You should use a vault card, load the card from your thai account, then inside the card transfer to your USD account Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lacessit Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 3 hours ago, Bkk2061 said: Buy bitcoins on localbitcoins.com in Bangkok and sell them in Cambodia on same localbitcoins.com (phnom Penn has a thriving community) If you have a Cambodian bank account already you won't even need to be in Cambodia to sell the coins and get cash in your account.... Welcome to the future! I don't think the OP will be thanking you for that advice if he finds bitcoins have lost 20% of their value overnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkk2061 Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 7 minutes ago, Lacessit said: I don't think the OP will be thanking you for that advice if he finds bitcoins have lost 20% of their value overnight. He could buy them in Thailand and sell them ten minutes later in Cambodia on a smartphone without getting out of his chair... Welcome to the future, gentlemen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monomial Posted January 21, 2018 Author Share Posted January 21, 2018 2 hours ago, torsten brack said: You should use a vault card, load the card from your thai account, then inside the card transfer to your USD account What is a vault card? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monomial Posted January 21, 2018 Author Share Posted January 21, 2018 So it appears the currency regulations from the BOT may have recently changed. According to this BOT document dated December 2017: https://www.bot.or.th/English/FinancialMarkets/ForeignExchangeRegulations/FXRegulation/Pages/default.aspx Quote There is no limit on the amount of Thai baht bank notes that may be brought into the country. A person traveling to Vietnam, the People's Republic of China (only Yunnan province) and Thailand's bordering countries is allowed to take out up to THB 2,000,000. A person traveling to other countries is allowed up to THB 50,000. Any person bringing into or taking out of Thailand Thai baht bank notes, foreign currency bank notes or negotiable monetary instruments in an aggregate amount exceeding 450,000 Baht or USD 15,000 or its equivalent must declare to a customs officer. So it now appears you are allowed to take out up to 2 million baht to a border country, Vietnam or the Yunnan province of China, however if the amount exceeds 450,000 baht or $15,000 USD then you must declare it to customs. This doesn't change anything of course, but it used to be that the allowed amount you can take out has been $20,000 USD. It is interesting to know that as of at least last month this has been reduced to $15,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 15 hours ago, Monomial said: Import to Cambodia is $10K. I thought you wanted to declare it into Cambodia so you wouldn't have the same problem trying to take it out of Cambodia. Remember it is not a limit. It is a trigger for obligatory declaration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marquis22 Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 On 1/21/2018 at 2:13 PM, Bkk2061 said: Buy bitcoins on localbitcoins.com in Bangkok and sell them in Cambodia on same localbitcoins.com (phnom Penn has a thriving community) If you have a Cambodian bank account already you won't even need to be in Cambodia to sell the coins and get cash in your account.... Welcome to the future! Bit of a loss if they keep on falling though. Welcome to the unknown future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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