Issues using WISE to transfer funds into Thai bank account for Retirement Visa?

[NotReallyHere]

Has anyone successfully used WISE to transfer the ฿800k into their Thai bank account prior to applying for a retirement visa?  Isn't there a problem with proving the funds were transferred from overseas?  My US bank only does foreign wire transfers in specific currencies.  Unfortunately, Thai Baht is not one of them.

 

It's my understanding that WISE uses local intermediary banks to speed transactions to the customer's account.  When I transfer funds into my Thai bank account from my US Dollar WISE account, the funds get sent by WISE to their local account or a local intermediary.  Before my US funds post to the Thai WISE account, WISE transfers funds from their local account to my Thai account.  This decreases the time it takes for the customer to receive their funds.  WISE can take it's time sorting out the balances between its US account and the its Thai account.  From the customer's perspective it appears the funds were transferred quickly from the US when actually, the funds were just transferred domestically (Thailand) from the WISE account (or its local partner) to the customer's Thai account.  That's my understanding of the process, anyway.

 

If, for the retirement visa, I'm required to show proof that the funds were transferred into my Thai account from an overseas account, won't there be a problem?  Am I understanding the WISE transfer process and the retirement visa documentation correctly?

 

Appreciate any input from those who have gone down the retirement visa path before me...

 

PS - I would like to use WISE because of the favorable exchange rate.  I assume, possibly wrongly, that if I transfer the funds in US Dollars, the Thai bank will screw me over on the conversion...  I will go to the bank later this afternoon to check the rate and confirm receiving US Dollars is even possible for my Thai Baht account.

Edited January 28, 2022 by NotReallyHere
added postscript

[scubascuba3]

Yes can use Wise to transfer the 800k for "international" just make sure you have the right thai bank and use the correct Wise "reason for transfer"

[Hamus Yaigh]

^+1 but for 800kTHB I have found doing the transfer direct from my bank to be cheaper than Wise. Smaller amounts not so.

[NotReallyHere]

2 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Yes can use Wise to transfer the 800k for "international" just make sure you have the right thai bank and use the correct Wise "reason for transfer"

Thank you for the quick response.  Are you speaking from personal experience?  Have you gotten the document from your bank stating the funds came from overseas?  I regularly use WISE to transfer small amounts into my account, I just never had to get supporting documentation for the transfer before.

[NotReallyHere]

3 minutes ago, Hamus Yaigh said:

^+1 but for 800kTHB I have found doing the transfer direct from my bank to be cheaper than Wise. Smaller amounts not so.

Thank you for the quick response.  Did you convert the funds to Thai Baht at your home bank prior to the transfer Thailand or did you send your home country's currency and let your Thai bank convert to Baht?

[bbko]

1 minute ago, NotReallyHere said:

Thank you for the quick response.  Are you speaking from personal experience?  Have you gotten the document from your bank stating the funds came from overseas?  I regularly use WISE to transfer small amounts into my account, I just never had to get supporting documentation for the transfer before.

What bank will you use in Thailand? Best to use Bangkok Bank and contact Wise before the transfer and ask them to "tag" your account to only use Bangkok Bank for their partner transfer. 

Here's a huge thread on the same subject:

 

 

[KhunBENQ]

8 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Yes can use Wise to transfer the 800k for "international" just make sure you have the right thai bank and use the correct Wise "reason for transfer"

I can't write about the US but for my Euro transfers I select money for long stay and it will come in labelled as "FTT" (foreign transfer) to Bangkok Bank.

Also WISE alllows to print (PDF) a transfer receipt which at least proofs that you have sent foreign currency and receive THB as shown in the bankbook.

Can't tell whether immigration is happy with that.

[NotReallyHere]

2 minutes ago, bbko said:

What bank will you use in Thailand? Best to use Bangkok Bank and contact Wise before the transfer and ask them to "tag" your account to only use Bangkok Bank for their partner transfer. 

Here's a huge thread on the same subject:

 

 

Thanks for making me aware of the other thread.   I'll check it out.

 

I use KrungSri bank.  I opened the account on a prior visit when I was on a Non - O visa.  I am currently on a Visa Exempt/COVID Extension.  I don't think I will be able to open a Bangkok Bank account with my current visa status.  Have to look into that.

[KhunBENQ]

10 minutes ago, Hamus Yaigh said:

^+1 but for 800kTHB I have found doing the transfer direct from my bank to be cheaper than Wise. Smaller amounts not so.

If you could give us some math this would be helpful:

 

(Received amount in Thai Baht) / (total foreign currency debited) = ? (effective rate in total)

Plus date of transaction.

No need for amount details, only division result and date.

With that I could tell you quite certain whether bank transfer was cheaper.

[Stocky]

33 minutes ago, NotReallyHere said:

I use KrungSri bank

I bank with Krungsri and using Wise you won't get the transfer flagged as a foreign transfer regardless you mark the transfer as for long term stay. However, Krungsri currently isn't one of the Thai banks that Wise can transfer more than Bht50,000 to in a single transaction. So you wouldn't be able to send Bht800k anyway (at least not in a single transfer).

 

As far as I'm aware (and there are numerous threads covering this), transferring from the US, for large amounts you're better off using SWIFT. Transfer as USD and let Krungsri bank do the conversion. Margins on USD exchange are small, so the advantage of Wise is lost on large transfers. Though this isn't the case for most currencies.

 

.

Edited January 28, 2022 by Stocky

[NotReallyHere]

21 minutes ago, Stocky said:

I bank with Krungsri and using Wise you won't get the transfer flagged as a foreign transfer regardless you mark the transfer as for long term stay. However, Krungsri currently isn't one of the Thai banks that Wise can transfer more than Bht50,000 to in a single transaction. So you wouldn't be able to send Bht800k anyway (at least not in a single transfer).

 

As far as I'm aware (and there are numerous threads covering this), transferring from the US, for large amounts you're better off using SWIFT. Transfer as USD and let Krungsri bank do the conversion. Margins on USD exchange are small, so the advantage of Wise is lost on large transfers. Though this isn't the case for most currencies.

 

.

Thank you for this.  I appreciate the KrungSri specific input.  I wasn't aware there were differences in how the Thai banks would document the transaction or that WISE had 50K Baht transfer limit for KrungSri.  I'll visit KrungSri today and get the USD exchange rate for SWIFT transfers and compare it to the "market" rate.  I was assuming I would get fleeced by KrungSri (like you do at ATMs if you allow them to do the USD conversion to Baht).  I will be pleasantly surprised to find that is not the case.

 

Thanks again...

[scubascuba3]

1 hour ago, NotReallyHere said:

Thank you for the quick response.  Are you speaking from personal experience?  Have you gotten the document from your bank stating the funds came from overseas?  I regularly use WISE to transfer small amounts into my account, I just never had to get supporting documentation for the transfer before.

Yes i transferred to buy a property, Bangkok Bank produced the normal letter 100 baht, for non imm O you won't need the letter, for extension they don't check for Intl

[scubascuba3]

1 hour ago, KhunBENQ said:

I can't write about the US but for my Euro transfers I select money for long stay and it will come in labelled as "FTT" (foreign transfer) to Bangkok Bank.

Also WISE alllows to print (PDF) a transfer receipt which at least proofs that you have sent foreign currency and receive THB as shown in the bankbook.

Can't tell whether immigration is happy with that.

Recent change for using Wise if using Bangkok Bank or Kasikorn if you select reason "long term stay" or buying a property" it will be posted as International

[Card]

You need to transfer foreign currency, not Thai baht, from a foreign account to your Thai acct for it to be a foreign exchange transaction. That way you can get an FET form from your bank to prove a foreign transfer. 

[andre47]

There is no need that the money came from abroad. Just the balance 800K is important.

[NelsonDeshotel]

42 minutes ago, andre47 said:

There is no need that the money came from abroad. Just the balance 800K is important.

It seems you are correct, but I have no experience. 

[The Hammer2021]

5 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Yes can use Wise to transfer the 800k for "international" just make sure you have the right thai bank and use the correct Wise "reason for transfer"

Which is...which is?

[scubascuba3]

1 hour ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Which is...which is?

Lots of threads on it, using Bangkok Bank or Kasikorn select reason "long term stay" or "buying a property"

[thailand49]

From personal experience using Wise,  if you are doing the transfer from Thailand it will a bit tough to do a sum total of 800,000 baht at one time. You can do from recent experience 10,000 USD ACH debit card each time ( catch)  if the fund is in your account for example 5:00 pm,  after midnight you can make another 10,000 August of 2021 I shipped 2 million baht reason for transfer scroll down to last line it say something like living expense for Thailand. It took me about a week with a number of transfer. 

I once did a 50,000 USD from my Schwab account they don't convert to baht not sure but the cost was 30.00 USD rate from Bangkok Bank wasn't what Wise was offering to covert BB charge me 600 baht rate wasn't to bad.  There are times when you need something in a hurry cost isn't relevant good luck. You 

[dsj]

I did a Wise transfer a couple of weeks ago, and I did tell them it was for long stay. After it go deposited into my Kasikorn Account here in Bangkok, this is what my online transaction says.
I don't know know if this matter, but I sent the money from my Canadian Bank account to Wise as a bill payment (I was doing online banking.

[scubascuba3]

31 minutes ago, dsj said:

I did a Wise transfer a couple of weeks ago, and I did tell them it was for long stay. After it go deposited into my Kasikorn Account here in Bangkok, this is what my online transaction says.
I don't know know if this matter, but I sent the money from my Canadian Bank account to Wise as a bill payment (I was doing online banking.

i think "Trade Finance Deposit" with Kasikorn means International transfer, but you'd need to check with Kasikorn. There is a thread on it where i posted the screenshot from Wise

[DogNo1]

I don’t take any chances.  I always do an international wire transfer (SWIFT) from my brokerage in USD to my Bangkok Bank account.  Brokerage charges me nothing and Bangkok Bank charges me 200 baht.  The rate is favorable.  There has never been an error and the transfer arrives one working day later.  I use the monthly 65,000 baht option so that I can spend the money immediately.  The downside is that I must telephone the brokerage to initiate the transfer every month.  There is a standing order on file so I don’t need to provide the details.  I just specify the amount in USD and my Bangkok Bank account.  Some people are willing to chance transfer errors to save a little money.  I am not.  Also, I never cut it close on the amount transferred and leave a generous margin to avoid an insufficient amount of baht transferred.  

[andre47]

26 minutes ago, DogNo1 said:

I don’t take any chances.  I always do an international wire transfer (SWIFT) from my brokerage in USD to my Bangkok Bank account.  Brokerage charges me nothing and Bangkok Bank charges me 200 baht.  The rate is favorable.  There has never been an error and the transfer arrives one working day later.  I use the monthly 65,000 baht option so that I can spend the money immediately.  The downside is that I must telephone the brokerage to initiate the transfer every month.  There is a standing order on file so I don’t need to provide the details.  I just specify the amount in USD and my Bangkok Bank account.  Some people are willing to chance transfer errors to save a little money.  I am not.  Also, I never cut it close on the amount transferred and leave a generous margin to avoid an insufficient amount of baht transferred.  

The difference is not the bank fee (200 Baht in your case), but the exchange rate. This can be an enormous amount.

[GrandPapillon]

WISE is very expensive for large transfer, 2 or 3 times the price of SWIFT, killing any advantages of best THB rates you could get

 

therefore avoid like the plague for 10K or more,

[andre47]

32 minutes ago, GrandPapillon said:

WISE is very expensive for large transfer, 2 or 3 times the price of SWIFT, killing any advantages of best THB rates you could get

 

therefore avoid like the plague for 10K or more,

wrong

[GrandPapillon]

5 minutes ago, andre47 said:

wrong

just do the calculations, someone else here did it too for 100K USD per year transfer, WISE was far more expensive with little rates advantages

 

they charge something like 90 USD for 30K USD when you can go with SWIFT for like 25 USD or 35 USD

[TimF]

I have a Bangkok Bank but so far have had no luck getting FTT to appear in my bank book.

 

I used Wise twice and was careful to make sure I selected the Long Stay Option reason - both times the money appeared in my account within seconds and doesn't show as international because it went via Kasikorn

 

I then did a SWIFT transfer from my bank and they used an intermediary so the money came from Bank of Thailand as a Bartnet transaction (domestic transfer)

 

So personally I am at a loss how some people seem to be lucky and get the FTT in there passbooks

 

[scubascuba3]

8 minutes ago, TimF said:

I have a Bangkok Bank but so far have had no luck getting FTT to appear in my bank book.

 

I used Wise twice and was careful to make sure I selected the Long Stay Option reason - both times the money appeared in my account within seconds and doesn't show as international because it went via Kasikorn

 

I then did a SWIFT transfer from my bank and they used an intermediary so the money came from Bank of Thailand as a Bartnet transaction (domestic transfer)

 

So personally I am at a loss how some people seem to be lucky and get the FTT in there passbooks

 

are you aware Wise made some recent changes? now selecting long term stay means it's processed as International again

Edited January 28, 2022 by scubascuba3

[lopburi3]

9 hours ago, NotReallyHere said:

I assume, possibly wrongly, that if I transfer the funds in US Dollars, the Thai bank will screw me over on the conversion... 

Indeed you are totally wrong - you never want to send baht from USA - only send USD.  If you send Baht US banks will use a very, very bad exchange rate.  If you send USD Thai bank will provide published rate which will be better.  Sending 800k should be done by a Swift international transfer send USD more than the amount to allow for fees as this will insure low cost and recording as overseas transfer.   If you are planning on converting to non immigrant O visa in Thailand the money must show as from overseas for the conversion - so best not to use WISE (and for 800k will be cheaper not to do so).

[andre47]

1 hour ago, GrandPapillon said:

just do the calculations, someone else here did it too for 100K USD per year transfer, WISE was far more expensive with little rates advantages

 

they charge something like 90 USD for 30K USD when you can go with SWIFT for like 25 USD or 35 USD

sorry, again: don't look only at the fees...you must look at the exchange rate

but...up to you... it's your money

Edited January 28, 2022 by andre47
typo