is it possible to open a bank account based on Thailand Elite visa?

[Dmitry2222]

is it possible to open a bank account based on Thailand Elite visa?

Also is it allowed to stay 5 years in a row without leaving the country on this visa type?

 

Thanks.

[UWEB]

Just go to your preferred Bank and ask, should not be a problem to open an Account. And you can stay 5 years in Thailand without leaving, but then you have to go to Immigration every year to get a new Stamp in your Passport.

[Caldera]

3 hours ago, Dmitry2222 said:

is it possible to open a bank account based on Thailand Elite visa?

Also is it allowed to stay 5 years in a row without leaving the country on this visa type?

 

Thanks.

 

Yes to both.

 

If you want to stay 5 years in a row without leaving the country, that's fine, but you do need to get an extension at your local immigration office once per year.

[richard_smith237]

3 hours ago, Dmitry2222 said:

is it possible to open a bank account based on Thailand Elite visa?

Also is it allowed to stay 5 years in a row without leaving the country on this visa type?

 

Thanks.

 

Its on Thai Elite webpage  https://www.thailandprivilege.co.th/privileges/wealth

Thai Elite will assits with opening a Bank Account. 

 

The 5 year P.E. Visa is really yearly 12 month Visas / extensions up to 5 years, and with a further purchase of 5 year membership, those yearly 12 month extensions continue for a further 5 years. 

(so yes - its possible to stay for 10 years without leaving).

Edited January 17 by richard_smith237

[ukrules]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

The 5 year P.E. Visa is really yearly 12 month Visas / extensions up to 5 years, and with a further purchase of 5 year membership, those yearly 12 month extensions continue for a further 5 years. 

(so yes - its possible to stay for 10 years without leaving).

 

Indeed, I'm on my second 5 year visa term and have extended my membership by an additional 15 years so I will receive another 3 of them when this second one expires next year.

 

One thing to note is that the visa never goes beyond your passport expiry date, so if you've got 2 years left on your passport it will expire on the same day as the passport and you need to go and get another one for your new passport by either leaving the country or going to one of the specially annointed places that handles these visas which may be 100's of miles away from where you live.

 

I also believe you can get the next visa sticker inserted during the last 6 months of the validity of the current one in your passport - this is the newest piece of information I've learned about the whole thing.

 

[EdrigoSalvadore]

Do you require an original residence certificate to open a bank account?

[noobexpat]

The annoying bit, is that you can't open a free bank account before you've paid for elite. Paying for it from a thai bank account is likely the easiest way.

 

I ended up paying 4000b to an agent, so i could then pay for elite.

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, noobexpat said:

The annoying bit, is that you can't open a free bank account before you've paid for elite. Paying for it from a thai bank account is likely the easiest way.

 

Why ?...    Money needs to be transfered into Thailand anyway (to Pay for Thai Elite)... so, it can be transfered direct to Thai Elite. Thats one single transfer...

You are suggesting that it would be easier if he already had his own bank account so he could make two transfers ? one to himself, then a second to Thai Elite from his domestic account... 

 

How is making two transfers easier than one ?

 

 

3 minutes ago, noobexpat said:

I ended up paying 4000b to an agent, so i could then pay for elite.

 

???...   you were taken for a ride... do you always need an agent for an international transfer?... so why this time ?

 

 

[Liquorice]

16 minutes ago, EdrigoSalvadore said:

Do you require an original residence certificate to open a bank account?

Most banks prefer a residence certificate issued by Immigration as proof of address.
Other conditions may apply to opening an account.

[Liquorice]

6 hours ago, Dmitry2222 said:

Also is it allowed to stay 5 years in a row without leaving the country on this visa type?

The EV is a multi entry visa with a validity of 5 years.
Your permission of stay is only valid for 1 year.

You can extend that yearly permission of stay 1 year at a time at your local Immigration office without leaving the Country.
Alternatively, should you leave the Country, on re-entry you will be granted a further stay of 1 year, up to the expiry date of the visa.

[noobexpat]

22 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Why ?...    Money needs to be transfered into Thailand anyway (to Pay for Thai Elite)... so, it can be transfered direct to Thai Elite. Thats one single transfer...

You are suggesting that it would be easier if he already had his own bank account so he could make two transfers ? one to himself, then a second to Thai Elite from his domestic account... 

 

How is making two transfers easier than one ?

 

 

 

???...   you were taken for a ride... do you always need an agent for an international transfer?... so why this time ?

 

 

 

The exchange rate doing a transfer from a UK bank account would be so poor that i would still be considerably worse off than paying an agent to open a bank account.

 

I paid 4k baht to open a bank account - not for an international transfer 555

[Liquorice]

5 minutes ago, noobexpat said:

The exchange rate doing a transfer from a UK bank account would be so poor that i would still be considerably worse off than paying an agent to open a bank account.

 

Use 'Wise' for your overseas transfers.

 

6 minutes ago, noobexpat said:

I paid 4k baht to open a bank account - not for an international transfer

Which bank?

[noobexpat]

2 minutes ago, Liquorice said:

Use 'Wise' for your overseas transfers.

 

Which bank?

 

Yes i use wise ...but you still need a receiving thai bank

 

[richard_smith237]

33 minutes ago, noobexpat said:

 

The exchange rate doing a transfer from a UK bank account would be so poor that i would still be considerably worse off than paying an agent to open a bank account.

 

I paid 4k baht to open a bank account - not for an international transfer 555

 

I'm confused - where did you transfer to ???

If you transfer to yourself 'Bank to Bank' you are still paying bank fee's so I'm not sure how an agent helped here. 

 

Or.. Did you open an bank account (with the help of an agent costing 4000 baht)... and then used something like Wise with better exchange rates to transfer the money ? (for Thai Elite - 600,000 baht ?) 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

28 minutes ago, noobexpat said:

 

Yes i use wise ...but you still need a receiving thai bank

 

 

Ok.. that answers my above question...   you used Wise - your response makes more sense now. 

 

Question: Is it possible to transfer to a 3rd Party using Wise ???

i.e. Could you transfer xxx to me using Wise to get better exchange rates ?.... 

 

... and if so, could you also transfer to Thai Elite with Wise (thus securing better exchange rates ?) 

 

 

 

Edited January 17 by richard_smith237

[Captain Monday]

8 hours ago, Dmitry2222 said:

is it possible to open a bank account based on Thailand Elite visa?

 

• There is nothing such as a Thailand Elite visa. I was a member of Thailand Elite for 5 years. Members are entitled to the PE visa. Which is a 5 year multi-entry fancy version of a tourist visa with maximum stay 1 year granted each time. You can call it what you want but it is critical to understand it is NOT considered a non-immigrant visa.

 

Yes it should be able to easily open a bank account but they did not have an office staff in every city to assist you at banks and immigration. Maybe only BKK. Maybe they can help you find a local agent to do that if you are not in Bangkok

• Example when I was a member they had no staff in Chiang Mai where I was located. They contract with local company to send/pick up at CNX but nobody to greet you or lead you thru Immigration like Suwannbhumi airport so forget about the priority line at airport arrival immigration. 
• I cant remember if you could use the business class lounge there, I already have memberships thru credit cards

In Chiang Mai, lucky we were able to extend 5 year drivers licenses, as an exception, at the transport office on HangDong road. Other provinces were not giving or extending 5 year drivers licences based on the interpretation that the PE visa is not a non-immigrant visa.  several years old info for me not sure about now.

8 hours ago, Dmitry2222 said:

Also is it allowed to stay 5 years in a row without leaving the country on this visa type?

 

• Yes you can

But be very careful to understand you only get 1 year stay each time so you must extend your stay at an  Immigration office and pay the fee which I think is 1900 baht. While I was a member despite many warnings, there were several cases where some Thailand Elite members actually overstayed because they stupidly thought they had a ”5 year Thailand Elite visa” or some other nonsense. I did not extend in Thailand due  ”constant international travel”.

 

There was nothing immigration could/would do to save these silly kippers from the blacklist. 

 

Or maybe they enjoyed it. Some Immigration officers appear to hate Thailand Elite,  something forced on them from above by another ministry I think.

Edited January 17 by Captain Monday

[kevin612]

100% can open bank account 

[Sharp]

Don't forget the new "TAX" laws on 180 consecutive days in Thailand. FYG. 

[john donson]

On 1/17/2024 at 11:19 AM, UWEB said:

Just go to your preferred Bank and ask, should not be a problem to open an Account. And you can stay 5 years in Thailand without leaving, but then you have to go to Immigration every year to get a new Stamp in your Passport.

 

and pay the exact amount of what the rest is paying to extend a year, aka 1900 baht

[BeerAttractedPerson]

Yes you can open a bank account. Elite staff can assist with it as well they advertise.

Yes, you can stay 5 years without leaving. But you must renew extension of stay once a year.