Opening a bank account in Thailand from abroad?

[rudi49jr]

I live in The Netherlands. Does anyone know if it is possible for me to open a bank account in Thailand from here? 
The background story is that my Thai stepdaughter has the opportunity to go and study in the UK for a year. She has been a student at a Bangkok university for two years now, and she can finish her last two years in one year in the UK. So this is a big opportunity for her.
Only thing is that in order to get the visa, she needs to show that she has about £24,000 pound (about 1 million baht).in her bank account. So now I am exploring several options. The most simple one would be that a bank account in The Netherlands in my stepdaughter’s name would be acceptable to get the visa, but I doubt that it will be, hence my question here. My aim is to have a bank account in her name that only I have access to. The money needs to be parked there for at least a month and once she has the visa, her Bangkok university is going to pay for everything, like tuition, fees, housing and airfare, and I can take the money out of the bank account again. Don’t ask me why the Thai university, since they are going to pay for the whole thing anyway, can not pay for this in advance, so we could have avoided this whole situation, because I have no idea.

[CharlieH]

I am not aware of anyway you can open an account here from there. The other issue you will face, if you did get it here is moving the money back out of Thailand later, thats another hurdle to jump.

 

 

[sandyf]

The answer to your question is no, very difficult these days to open normal accounts without some form of residency. What your suggesting would be termed an offshore account and usually come at a premium.

I fail however to see the doubt you have over a Dutch account, UK immigration will know that either would have been funded recently and I suspect seen in the same light.

I would suggest that you use the Dutch account and write a sponsorship letter to the effect you have funded the account and are prepared to meet costs incurred during the time in the UK.

It could be the university will pay retrospectively so the student would need funds to get started before the funding kicked in.

When my niece was at uni in China we had an account with a Chinese bank here in Thailand and we would deposit in Thailand and she drew it out from an ATM in China. May be worth looking at a UK bank that has branches in Holland. Wise would also be an option, used to be called Transferwise.

[Superlight]

31 minutes ago, sandyf said:

The answer to your question is no, very difficult these days to open normal accounts without some form of residency. What your suggesting would be termed an offshore account and usually come at a premium.

I fail however to see the doubt you have over a Dutch account, UK immigration will know that either would have been funded recently and I suspect seen in the same light.

I would suggest that you use the Dutch account and write a sponsorship letter to the effect you have funded the account and are prepared to meet costs incurred during the time in the UK.

It could be the university will pay retrospectively so the student would need funds to get started before the funding kicked in.

When my niece was at uni in China we had an account with a Chinese bank here in Thailand and we would deposit in Thailand and she drew it out from an ATM in China. May be worth looking at a UK bank that has branches in Holland. Wise would also be an option, used to be called Transferwise.

Bangkok Bank has a branch in London

[Superlight]

3 minutes ago, Superlight said:

Bangkok Bank has a branch in London

Having said that open the account in her name but with no drawing rights or not without your specific authority. Whilst you may have absolute faith in your stepdaughter, the pressures that can be put upon her once family members know she has 1,000,000 Bt will be unbearable.

[CharlieH]

I think I would make full use of the Wise facility. You can open a Bangkok account, A UK account and a Dutch account and move between the three with a click of a mouse !

 

 

 

 

[hansnl]

Have a look into the possibilities of TransferWise or Wise as it is called now.

Including a debt card.....

[Covedian21]

1 hour ago, CharlieH said:

I think I would make full use of the Wise facility. You can open a Bangkok account, A UK account and a Dutch account and move between the three with a click of a mouse !

 

 

 

 

A wise post. 

[rudi49jr]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the help/advice that I always get on this forum with my questions!

[topt]

5 hours ago, Superlight said:

Bangkok Bank has a branch in London

 

5 hours ago, Superlight said:

Having said that open the account in her name but with no drawing rights or not without your specific authority. Whilst you may have absolute faith in your stepdaughter, the pressures that can be put upon her once family members know she has 1,000,000 Bt will be unbearable.

Unfortunately it is Commercial accounts only - you cannot go and open a personal account with them in the UK or use them for personal banking there. Been covered many times on this forum in the past.

[sandyf]

16 hours ago, Superlight said:

Bangkok Bank has a branch in London

Why would I need to know that?