฿65K Visa Requirement - Best Method To Transfer Money

[Thomas J]

I am a U.S. citizen and have my social security deposited into JP Morgan/Chase.  What is the "cheapest" method to transfer each month about $2,500 U.S into a Thai Bank.  I currently have an account with Bangkok bank which I know has a branch in New York but I don't believe they have any individual accounts at the branch.  Is there a method or Thai bank that is preferable.  Chase currently charges $40 per wire transfer. 

[jackdd]

Transfers through Bangkok Bank's New York branch will stop working soon, Transferwise might not show up as transfer from abroad, so it looks like the only reliable choice is to make a wire transfer.

You should look for a bank which doesn't charge you 40USD for the transfer.

[skatewash]

The OP's question in another thread should explain to you the current situation with Bangkok Bank.  If you can find out if social security will be able to send an ACH transfer for you in IAT format then using Bangkok Bank may be a good possibility.  I will leave it to someone who has actually been through this process of checking with social security to assist you with the best way to do this.

 

While cheap TransferWise has potential problems in that they cannot guarantee (or even promise) the money you send from the US to Thailand will arrive at your Thai bank with the proper coding showing it came from the US.  This is true even for people having Bangkok Bank accounts.  It may work 95% of the time but how do you finesse the times it doesn't end up with an international coding with immigration?

 

Finally, there's the suggestion of using a different US financial institution.  For example, international SWIFT transfers cost $10 for customers of Vanguard.  I understand Fidelity has a similar cost but don't know the details of that.  Most commercial banks such as your current one will price their SWIFT transfers at a higher cost ($40).  It can be difficult to set up a new US financial account while not actually residing in the US.

[Sheryl]

Supposedly International Direct Deposit of SS becmes availabe in Thailand this year. Does anyone know the status of this? And how it would work? (Specifically will directtdeposit of SS into a Thai bank account show as an international transfer, and what fees will be entailed?)

[Bears]

1 hour ago, jackdd said:

Transfers through Bangkok Bank's New York branch will stop working soon, Transferwise might not show up as transfer from abroad, so it looks like the only reliable choice is to make a wire transfer.

You should look for a bank which doesn't charge you 40USD for the transfer.

Where did you hear that Bangkok Bank's New York branch will stop working soon?

 

[ubonjoe]

51 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Supposedly International Direct Deposit of SS becmes availabe in Thailand this year. Does anyone know the status of this? And how it would work? (Specifically will directtdeposit of SS into a Thai bank account show as an international transfer, and what fees will be entailed?)

It is still not finalized yet. It will require a special SSA-1199 direct deposit form for Thailand submitted to Manilla and the last time I looked at the SSA site it was not there yet.

The only fee should be the standard .25% fee (200 baht  minimum to a max of 500 baht at most banks) for the transfer into the country. If will be transferred by SWIFT and be shown as a international transfer unless it goes through another Thai bank before being transferred into your account.

[jackdd]

5 minutes ago, Bears said:

Where did you hear that Bangkok Bank's New York branch will stop working soon?

 

 

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, jackdd said:

Transfers through Bangkok Bank's New York branch will stop working soon, Transferwise might not show up as transfer from abroad, so it looks like the only reliable choice is to make a wire transfer.

You should look for a bank which doesn't charge you 40USD for the transfer.

Ye it does, here's one I did earlier ......... Transferwise to Bangkok Bank.

That's 1,000 pounds minus fees = 41,197bht (fees were just over 300bht, exchange rate 41.5)

Edited February 2, 2019 by BritManToo

[jacko45k]

5 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Ye it does, here's one I did earlier ......... Transferwise to Bangkok Bank.

That's 1,000 pounds minus fees = 41,197bht (fees were just over 300bht, exchange rate 41.5)

My last transfer to BkB via Transferwise looks similar (FTT), the one prior looked like a domestic transfer with code SMT. So no it doesn't, sometimes.

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

My last transfer to BkB via Transferwise looks similar (FTT), the one prior looked like a domestic transfer with code SMT. So no it doesn't, sometimes.

Let's see a photo of a transfer in January where it isn't marked FTT.

I'm thinking Bangkok Bank fixed their system in 2019 to match new immigration rules for 2019.

You're only required to show monthly transfers after the rules changed at the end of December.

[pontious]

I did one last week - it came SMT -if they use Bangkok bank to do the transfer it will show FTT - if they use there other 2 Thai banks it will show SMT. You can always show IO the PDF copies for the odd 1 or 2 that come SMT  that shows it as international.

 

Bangkok Bank will have no idea of immigration policies.

Edited February 2, 2019 by pontious
add

[sfokevin]

9 minutes ago, pontious said:

I did one last week - it came SMT -if they use Bangkok bank to do the transfer it will show FTT - if they use there other 2 Thai banks it will show SMT. You can always show IO the PDF copies for the odd 1 or 2 that come SMT  that shows it as international.

 

Bangkok Bank will have no idea of immigration policies.

PDF copies of what?

[jacko45k]

19 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Let's see a photo of a transfer in January where it isn't marked FTT.

I'm thinking Bangkok Bank fixed their system in 2019 to match new immigration rules for 2019.

You're only required to show monthly transfers after the rules changed at the end of December.

Distrustful guy but here you are. This was 3000 sterling.

Edited February 2, 2019 by jacko45k

[pontious]

4 minutes ago, sfokevin said:

PDF copies of what?

The details of your transfer that you did. It is on there.

On the TW site.

Edited February 2, 2019 by pontious

[sfokevin]

8 minutes ago, pontious said:

The details of your transfer that you did. It is on there.

On the TW site.

From another thread Sheryl had said and posted that one can ask for a free “Credit Advice” within three months of a transaction that may show the detail to link a domestic coded transfer to its foreign source... I assume BK Bank would issue a similar document if asked...

 

 

Edited February 2, 2019 by sfokevin

[wgdanson]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

Distrustful guy but here you are. This was 3000 sterling.

Shame you/we didn't know about the new regulations on that date 5th Jan so you could have done it in 3 x 65k (£1600) in Jan,Feb & March.

I am same as one of my pensions paid out £6000 on 1st Jan, so cannot use it as income. Will have to put it in as my top-up lump sum.

 

 

Whoops, I looked again and you did it on 15th January, after the new regs were announced.

Edited February 2, 2019 by wgdanson

[jacko45k]

14 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Whoops, I looked again and you did it on 15th January, after the new regs were announced.

Yes that one was 15th, sorry photo not best lined up as my doorbell had rang! I did another on 25th but did not update book yet, which showed FTT/International. 

[crees]

The banking rules always confuse me as much as Thai Immigration does … so I'll ask here. I have an American S.S check that is automatically  turns up in my Bangkok Bank on the 3rd Wednesday every month. I have another check from the VA that is deposited in a Wells Fargo bank. I write a personal check from my Wells Fargo Bank to a separate Bangkok Bank account. My question is, will I still be able to write a personal check from my Wells Fargo personal to my Bangkok Bank account after April 1st? Thank You 

[ubonjoe]

24 minutes ago, crees said:

The banking rules always confuse me as much as Thai Immigration does … so I'll ask here. I have an American S.S check that is automatically  turns up in my Bangkok Bank on the 3rd Wednesday every month.

You need to check with bangkok to determine if your transfers form the SSA are in the IAT format. I think they may not in that format. Is your address registered with the SSA?

24 minutes ago, crees said:

My question is, will I still be able to write a personal check from my Wells Fargo personal to my Bangkok Bank account after April 1st? Thank You 

If you aar sending a check to Bangkok Bank in  New York that will still be accepted and transferred into your account here.

[phuketrichard]

my scb ONLY says  X1 for international transfers and domestic transfers into my account

 

[JTXR]

Depends on what your bank charges for international wire transfers.  My credit union charges $25 per international transfer and 100 baht gets taken as a fee somewhere along the line.  The credit union charge amounts to around 1% of 65,000 baht, so I'm ok with it.

 

My problem is that the transfer just shows as TN on the the Krungsri Bank statement (just a transfer, not necessarily an international transfer), so I'm thinking I'll need to open a Bangkok Bank account sometime soon.

[crees]

44 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You need to check with bangkok to determine if your transfers form the SSA are in the IAT format. I think they may not in that format. Is your address registered with the SSA?

If you aar sending a check to Bangkok Bank in  New York that will still be accepted and transferred into your account here.

My VA address is my address in Thailand and my SS address is in America, I am pretty hard not to find

[ubonjoe]

14 minutes ago, crees said:

My VA address is my address in Thailand and my SS address is in America, I am pretty hard not to find

You certainly do need to check with Bangkok Bank to find out if your transfers are in the IAT format or you may not get a payment from the SSA in April. Since you are using a US address for the SSA I would say there is about 90% chance that they are not in IAT format.

[crees]

4 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You certainly do need to check with Bangkok Bank to find out if your transfers are in the IAT format or you may not get a payment from the SSA in April. Since you are using a US address for the SSA I would say there is about 90% chance that they are not in IAT format.

Thank You, I will get my Social Security address changed to Thailand

[xylophone]

So pleased that this thread has started because I had asked a couple of questions about the transfers in the other very large thread, but this one is specifically about that, so it may well help my "investigations".

 

I did get a reply from "wgdanson", "sumrit" and "Tanoshi" for which I am most grateful, however a couple more fish-hooks to deal with, namely: –

 

My pension from New Zealand into my Bangkok bank here is great because it shows "International Transfer", whereas the transfer from the Bangkok bank London branch, simply says, "Transfer" and I'm not sure that this will be enough for Thai immigration now. So I have emailed the London branch to ask if they can change the notation to International Transfer on my statement.

 

If they can't perhaps I will have to get the UK pension people to send it directly to my Bangkok bank here (does anybody else do that and if so what are the charges).

 

I did think about Transfer Wise, but there seems to be mixed messages out there about whether it appears on the statement here as an international transfer, or not? Unfortunately, it may just take one transfer to be described as something else and immigration may well reject my retirement extension application!

 

Finally, I will send a regular monthly amount from my New Zealand bank to my Bangkok bank account here to ensure that the total amount of remittances on a monthly basis exceed 65,000 baht. Having said that my only worry is that there will be three separate notations and immigration may well get a little "finicky" about that (having to add it up for example, although I can do that for them).

 

I thought about the 800k route, but I'm not happy that the majority of this will be sitting there for a year, unused, whereas I already get two pensions paid from overseas, so just tidying that up to equal the 65k per month is easiest, most sensible and doesn't irk.

[baggies666]

I have managed to confuse myself , I normally do the 800k method and was thinking of just adding another 400k to cover the new rule change but I wanted to understand this 65k income, I dont get uk pension yet and wont for some time can I still just send myself 65k a month and that will meet the requirements, my extension is due in June so nomally go to renew May?

[riclag]

I have a Etrade account ! They charge $25 . No set amount to open the account! You don't even have to invest! You can even set up the transfer  online or call them ! The money arrives the next day! The NY BKK BK branch was so easy and cheap,wasn't it

[riclag]

If one has their SS check deposited in a Thai account instead of having it go to a USA bank first ,it sure makes it almost impossible to pay one's bills in the USA

[riclag]

On 2/2/2019 at 2:35 PM, Bears said:

Where did you hear that Bangkok Bank's New York branch will stop working soon?

 

I bet there are still many that don't know this!

[graemeaylward]

I have managed to confuse myself , I normally do the 800k method and was thinking of just adding another 400k to cover the new rule change but I wanted to understand this 65k income, I dont get uk pension yet and wont for some time can I still just send myself 65k a month and that will meet the requirements, my extension is due in June so nomally go to renew May?

It would appear, that provided the 65,000 baht per month transfer shows up on your bank statement as an international transfer in, there is no requirement to show whether these funds are pension or return from investments! But who knows at the individual IO might require! We live in exciting times[emoji57]

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