Transferring money to Thailand

[SteveK]

Hi guys,

 

I am about to transfer a large sum of money to Thailand, over a million baht. It is coming from my savings in the UK, we are planning to extend the house, built an annex and separate kitchen outside for paw and mae yai, and looking at replacing our almost 10 year old Honda Wave which has seen better days. I'm also thinking about buying a pool table. Do you think that there will be an issue with the transfer? I am concerned that my Thai bank might start asking where the money is coming from, why I need it, and maybe asking for spurious pieces of paper, of which I obviously have none as we haven't bought anything yet and the cash is from my life savings as mentioned.

 

Has anyone transferred these kind of sums recently? Were you given a lot of grief and asked for paperwork?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Moonlover]

No, I doubt it. I've just imported more than that in the last few months due to a property sale and no questions have been asked.

 

Funnily enough, I'm using the money for the same reasons that you are. Right now there's a big empty space where the kitchen and bathroom used to be.

 

Good luck with your project.

 

 

[Pilotman]

It's common and you will have no problems, bar trying to all that you plan with 'only' 1 million Baht. For that amount, I wold use a normal bank transfer, although for smaller amounts I always use Transferwise.  

[SteveK]

4 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

It's common and you will have no problems, bar trying to all that you plan with 'only' 1 million Baht. For that amount, I wold use a normal bank transfer, although for smaller amounts I always use Transferwise.  

Yeah it's a normal bank to bank transfer which I have used many times in the past with no issues, but not for this amount. I did a 10k GBP transfer once and someone from my Thai bank called and asked what the money was being used for - I say to pay for food, bills, petrol, day to day expenses and to give my wife some pocket money, which was precisely what it was used for. They also used the call to confirm the exchange rate being used, but still I thought that was a bit nosey of them.

Edited October 18, 2019 by SteveK

[Pilotman]

1 minute ago, SteveK said:

Yeah it's a normal bank to bank transfer which I have used many times in the past with no issues, but not for this amount. I did a 10k GBP transfer once and someone from my Thai bank called and asked what the money was being used for - I say to pay for food, bills, petrol, day to day expenses and to give my wife some pocket money, which was precisely what it was used for. They also used the call to confirm the exchange rate being used, but still I thought that was a bit nosey of them.

Indeed so.  4 years ago we transferred over 5 million for the house and car and there wasn't a single question from the bank, only from the Land Office when we bought the place. 

Edited October 18, 2019 by Pilotman

[Pilotman]

Just to add to my last.  The Land Office, and the lawyers when we formed the company, did interrogate my wife as to where her share of the money came from.  They were reluctant, to accept that a joint bank account in the UK is just that, 'joint', that seemed to confuse the Thai authorises for a while, until the legal beagles put them straight. 

[SteveK]

I'm not planning on buying any land. Just extending and renovating the house, which my wife paid for herself anyway, so it's an investment in making my life a bit more comfortable. With the in-laws in the annex, a brand new bike and a pool table, things should be great, until the next wave of immigration grief rears it's ugly head.

[Sheryl]

I have transferrred in amounts over 1 million baht almost every year for the past 20c years or so.

 

At most you will get a simple phone call asking the purpose of the funds (best answer is just:" living expenses", do not go into great detail, they don't want or need it). If they ask the source, "savings" is sufficient answer, again they do not want a lot of detail.

 

You are a foreigner living in Thailand transferring some of your own savings here for living costs. Enough.

 

It is usually very easy if the transfer is from an account in your own name to an account in your own name.

 

Be sure to get a copy of the Credit Advice and Foreign Exchange Transaction from your Thai bank and keep it, in case you ever need in future to prove you brought funds in.

[SteveK]

28 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Be sure to get a copy of the Credit Advice and Foreign Exchange Transaction from your Thai bank and keep it, in case you ever need in future to prove you brought funds in.

How do you do that? I live out in the sticks.

[Sheryl]

You request it from the bank that receives the money. You need to show them the transaction  reference number and date and  amount  from either your bank book or online statement.

 

In case of rural branches sometimes takes a bit of persistance/call to HQ helpline. They can do it, it is a simple matter of printing out from their system but some do not know how, may never have dealt with an incoming foreign transfer before.

 

I go through this all the time. First time is hardest after that can show them copies of prior advices so that they know what you mean.

 

usually free if gotten within a certain time period after the transaction. To get an old one costs and may have to be done by HQ hence best to get routinely whenever money comes in.