Certain visa types require cash to be sitting in a Thai bank account.  Extensions based on retirement for instance require 800K to be sitting in the account, but also, my understanding is that immigration wants to see that the money came from overseas.  They do that by looking in your bankbook, the qualifying deposits should have the code FCT next to it, which stands for Foreign Currency Transfer.

 

Do Bitkub/coins.th withdrawals into Thai bank account show as FCT?

 

In other words, can I use Bitcoin to fund my retirement visa plans by using a service like Bitkub or coins.th?

No obviously not, as deposits and withdrawals go to / come from the Thai company Bitkub and are domestic transfers.

I had read however that these companies are actually based in Singapore.  Hence the hope.

 

Actually looking for firsthand observations.

1 minute ago, Chang2 said:

I had read however that these companies are actually based in Singapore.  Hence the hope.

Actually looking for firsthand observations.

Answer is no.

No, because you've used both of these services and are looking at your bankbook and don't see FCT on any of the lines, or no, you don't think so?

20 minutes ago, Chang2 said:

No, because you've used both of these services and are looking at your bankbook and don't see FCT on any of the lines, or no, you don't think so?

Third time, No.

5 hours ago, Chang2 said:

but also, my understanding is that immigration wants to see that the money came from overseas.

I think you are incorrect here - suggest you check with the visa forum.

 

There may be certain circumstances when money needs to come from a foreign source but I believe this is for monthly income - not the larger lump sum deposits - maybe I'm wrong - visa forum will know for sure.

 

7 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Third time, No.

 

I was also asking for coins.th, which started in the Philippines.  Is that a local transfer too?

 

Fourth time, you don't know?

2 hours ago, ukrules said:

I think you are incorrect here - suggest you check with the visa forum.

 

There may be certain circumstances when money needs to come from a foreign source but I believe this is for monthly income - not the larger lump sum deposits - maybe I'm wrong - visa forum will know for sure.

 

Unless it has recently changed I'm pretty sure this is still the case; I've experienced the process and have noted the officers paying attention to that detail.

 

There is the not-too-small matter of the letter the bank has to write and that you present to immigration which explicitly attests to the fact that the money does meet all of their requirements; I'm assuming that foreign source is one of those requirements, and I worry that it may be this requirement that ends all chance of success as I don't see Bitkub/coins.th providing such a document.

6 minutes ago, Chang2 said:

Unless it has recently changed I'm pretty sure this is still the case; I've experienced the process and have noted the officers paying attention to that detail.

 

There is the not-too-small matter of the letter the bank has to write and that you present to immigration which explicitly attests to the fact that the money does meet all of their requirements; I'm assuming that foreign source is one of those requirements, and I worry that it may be this requirement that ends all chance of success as I don't see Bitkub/coins.th providing such a document.

 

When applying for a one year retirement extension based on 800k in the bank, the money does not have to come from abroad. However, if you are here on a tourist visa/visa exempt entry then you first have to convert to a Non Immigrant visa. In order to convert, you do have to show that the money came from abroad.

 

The bank letter confirming the balance says nothing about where the funds came from.

39 minutes ago, Sophon said:

In order to convert

So then my Thailand retirement fantasy on Bitcoin works.  Let's assume ChaiyaTH is right about Bitkub.  I have a shot with coins.th generating an FCT code.  Failing that, I have to route the money through my bank account back home but then I only need to do that once.  I can live with that; the bank at home should stay afloat for at least another month or two.

When you sign up to Bitkub, you have to tick a box saying you won’t transfer any crypto from overseas, otherwise you would be breaking foreign exchange controls.

 

To be clear, you can only sell crypto in Thailand that you bought in Thailand.

4 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

When you sign up to Bitkub, you have to tick a box saying you won’t transfer any crypto from overseas, otherwise you would be breaking foreign exchange controls.

 

To be clear, you can only sell crypto in Thailand that you bought in Thailand.

 

The tax department of Thailand also said that because 'blockchain exists all over the world' all crypto derived income worldwide can be taxed which suggests that there's no foreign element to crypto currencies at all.

 

I don't know if they started enforcing this in any way but it was announced a couple of years back in a published law change in the government gazette.

 

If you sell crypto, best to make it owned by a foreign corporation so the profits are made by the corporation and this can of course be in a tax friendly country. What happens after that is just salary, dividends, etc.

 

6 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

When you sign up to Bitkub, you have to tick a box saying you won’t transfer any crypto from overseas, otherwise you would be breaking foreign exchange controls.

 

To be clear, you can only sell crypto in Thailand that you bought in Thailand.

 

but bitchit doesn't allow new accounts now it seems ?

 

 

9 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

When you sign up to Bitkub, you have to tick a box saying you won’t transfer any crypto from overseas, otherwise you would be breaking foreign exchange controls.

 

To be clear, you can only sell crypto in Thailand that you bought in Thailand.

i dont remember checking that box. 

 

ARe you saying that I cant transfer btc to my thai bitkub wallet that I previously bought at an exchange in the states?? I dont think this is correct. How can they possibly enforce this at the exchange. the blockchain isnt country specific

11 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

When you sign up to Bitkub, you have to tick a box saying you won’t transfer any crypto from overseas, otherwise you would be breaking foreign exchange controls.

 

To be clear, you can only sell crypto in Thailand that you bought in Thailand.

I sort of knew about this but then too I think we can all read between the lines here.  Thailand is concerned about our buying Bitcoin using baht and then selling it overseas, right?  They want demand for baht.  Most of us are happy to oblige.

On 2/6/2021 at 11:49 PM, Chang2 said:

I sort of knew about this but then too I think we can all read between the lines here.  Thailand is concerned about our buying Bitcoin using baht and then selling it overseas, right?  They want demand for baht.  Most of us are happy to oblige.

That is a non issue anyway, people do P2P trading on local banks in Thailand constantly, you could sell 3 million baht bitcoin for cash in a bank in less than 60 minutes from now. If I need to, I could transfer up to 30 million baht daily with my corporate accounts.

But in 99% of the cases people deal with small money compared to above so that isn't any issue at all to process. Wether it is in your own name or some nominee farmers you take on. But again, there is no foreign transfer code on sales from domestic exchanges / transfers.

In theory, let's say you need to move out 1000 million baht in the next few days. You just ask local Thais to register and you be done with 30 people in 1-2 working days. Once it is out of the country, you won't hear from the Thais again anyway (nor would anyone abroad care if they did). You would get that done for like 1000 baht a pop lol.

 

The only problem left now is to get that money, moving or cleaning it is peanuts in the land of smiles (or other lands of hunger) ;). Anyway, I went waaaayyy off-topic on this lol.