Foreigners Face New Hurdles in Opening Thai Bank Accounts

[lordgrinz]

16 hours ago, sikishrory said:

Anyone had accunt frozen yet?

 

Not yet, and I can still make my normal Lazada purchases too 🤪

[RocketDog]

On 2/17/2025 at 5:11 AM, nomad22 said:

 

Anywhere outside your home country you will have the same problem opening a bank account.  These banking laws were forced on Thailand by western countries, and every country in the world that wants to be part of the international banking community has the follow the same rules.

Very true.

I opened a bank account in Singapore and canada about 15 years ago while living in America. It was an arduous process but I endured because I could see where it was all going.

Now it's all but impossible for  Americans to open offshore accounts without being present in the foreign country and even then it's hard.

 

The banks just don't want to open anemic accounts because of all the USA documentation required.

 

Be aware that the day is coming soon where more capital controls will be imposed by many countries making expatriating your money from your home country difficult.

 

Plant an international banking flag now!

 

Beyond that now is the time to take advantage of the Kingdom's 'no records required' attitude to stack some beautiful Thai jewelry and keep it out of the system. Financial monitoring/reporting is NOT going to loosen.

[nomad22]

12 hours ago, still kicking said:

Nonsense my Thai  nephew  was in my country for about 8 years he opened a bank account just after a few weeks

 

What your nephew did 8+ years ago is completely irrelevant to banking today.  8 years ago banking was a lot different everywhere in the world.  Back then anyone on visa exempt in Thailand could walk into any bank and open an account.

 

 

[LivingNThailand]

5 minutes ago, nomad22 said:

Back then anyone on visa exempt in Thailand could walk into any bank and open an account.

I think I only had to show my passport and give the bank 500 baht to open an account 9 years ago in Bangkok.  

[jmd8800]

15 hours ago, MartinBangkok said:

Another thing most people are not mentioning: The photos below are from my new home in another South East Asian Nation. The air is so clean and fresh and the sky has such a strong blue that I have never seen in Thailand:

 

And just where is your little corner of paradise?

[Eaglekott]

On 2/17/2025 at 4:54 AM, webfact said:

There’s also an ongoing initiative to ensure that Thai mobile banking accounts are registered under the actual SIM card owner's name, which has caused complications for some, including foreigners using bank accounts in their spouse’s name or linked to corporate accounts, writes Barry Kenyon for Pattaya Mail.

 As long as I have known my Thai Wife, 14 years now, she has been using the same cellphone number registered in my name since I got an extra free cellphone number I had no use for while subscribing for 02 land line for my company, and a TV package. Now suddenly she is not allowed to use online banking any longer, Only bank book at bank until we have either sorted out how to transfer the account to her, or she has to get a new number and we stop the number included in the package. Stupid...

 

 

[Eaglekott]

4 hours ago, Stargeezr said:

However I was able to go to another branch

where I had gotten ATM before and they gave me one without andy problemjs.

 

When I got a new passport and had to change passport number I had to go to the other side of Bangkok to the branch I initially opened the account. I needed to change my PP number so my account matched my new Passport number when I had to scan my face to be able to transfer 50,000 and up. Update the Passport number took a week.

[WorriedNoodle]

On 2/17/2025 at 4:54 AM, webfact said:

There’s also an ongoing initiative to ensure that Thai mobile banking accounts are registered under the actual SIM card owner's name, which has caused complications for some, including foreigners using bank accounts in their spouse’s name or linked to corporate accounts, writes Barry Kenyon for Pattaya Mail.

 

Has anyone taken proactive steps about this?

 

Q1. Is the cut off date for banks 31-Mar? 

Q2. Does it involve going to both the SIM card provider shops and bank branch to ensure the ID matches or can it be done online? 

Q3. Does the bank inform you beforehand if anything needs updating? I use KBank and the phone app works as normal for me today.

Q4. I have looked at my DTAC SIM and cannot see anywhere on the phone app i can check it is using my correct ID?

[Eaglekott]

19 hours ago, renaissanc said:

I remember this problem in the 1980s when you couldn't get a work permit without a long-term visa or a long-term one without a work permit. In practice, the officials at the Songkhla Labour Department just worked around the stupidity.

Still today this is an issue, But with a letter from Immigration promising that you will get a VISA if you have a WorkPermit you can get the Work permit before they issue the VISA. Or if it's the other way around.

[kiwikeith]

22 hours ago, Yumthai said:

Nonsensical. People who meet the requirements to get a non-O visa + yearly extensions are those who intend and are legally able to live continuously in Thailand as long as their yearly permission of stay is valid. The visa should be the only necessary requirement to open a bank account since requirements to live in the country have already been checked and met.

You can use your pension as well as long as verified by your embassy and meets the income level , no problem just breezed through my 12 month non O only had to prove 400k income as married

[Eaglekott]

Quote

This crackdown aligns with the Thai government’s efforts to dismantle scam call centres, particularly those operating from Myanmar and Cambodia. Measures, such as cutting off electricity to certain regions, have had limited impact.

21 hours ago, PomPolo said:

Should just switch the power off in Bangkok that should sort it out.

 

Im not sure how cutting out electricity in Bangkok would help curb the scam callcenters from Myanmar and Burma?

 

 

[Brave-Fart]

On 2/17/2025 at 6:16 AM, Ben Zioner said:

"Friends" ?

 

Perhaps you do not have any , kindly ask Ms Google " Ms Google, what are friends ?"

[MikeandDow]

50 minutes ago, Eaglekott said:

 

Im not sure how cutting out electricity in Bangkok would help curb the scam callcenters from Myanmar and Burma?

 

 

Myanmar  is Burma !!!!!

[Brave-Fart]

On 2/17/2025 at 10:38 AM, Yellowtail said:

No, the people that use agents to avoid the B800K deposit are all incredibly wealthy, but their investment prowess is such that they are too smart to trust the Thai banks not to fail, and in their home countries, the B800K grows at such a rate that the B30K agent fee looks like paperclip money to them. 

many due to no fault of their own may not have the 800,000 or the 400,000 plus pension , though if the agent deposits the 800,000 then the person can stay in Thailand on the retirement visa and every day/week/month he or she spends his/her pension , lets assume there are 3500 people using  the visa agent and happily continue in the LOS spending their pension on average 50,000 a month which  totals about 600,000 annually per retiree and if there are 3,500 x 600,000 =  2,100,000,000, now supposing they did block the loophole and  perhaps 1,000 can  pay the 800,000 but if the other 2,500 cant and they go back to their home countries,Thailand then would lose out on approximately 1,500,000,000 annually.  feel free to correct me its highly possible I have my sum`s wrong .

[Ben Zioner]

1 hour ago, Brave-Fart said:

Perhaps you do not have any , kindly ask Ms Google " Ms Google, what are friends ?"

That's so deep.. Especially from someone who talks bravely from his anus.

[Yellowtail]

34 minutes ago, Brave-Fart said:

many due to no fault of their own may not have the 800,000 or the 400,000 plus pension , though if the agent deposits the 800,000 then the person can stay in Thailand on the retirement visa and every day/week/month he or she spends his/her pension , lets assume there are 3500 people using  the visa agent and happily continue in the LOS spending their pension on average 50,000 a month which  totals about 600,000 annually per retiree and if there are 3,500 x 600,000 =  2,100,000,000, now supposing they did block the loophole and  perhaps 1,000 can  pay the 800,000 but if the other 2,500 cant and they go back to their home countries,Thailand then would lose out on approximately 1,500,000,000 annually.  feel free to correct me its highly possible I have my sum`s wrong .

Or one one-hundredth of a percent of GDP more if they allow criminal activity. 

 

 

[KhunHeineken]

I would not be surprised if Thai banks start closing the accounts of foreigners who not Thai tax residents in the future.  

[MikeandDow]

6 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

I would not be surprised if Thai banks started closing the accounts of foreigners who were not Thai tax residents in the future.  

Never happen!!  banks lose out big time all the pensions not going into Thai banks

[theshu25]

3 hours ago, LivingNThailand said:

I think I only had to show my passport and give the bank 500 baht to open an account 9 years ago in Bangkok.  

Very similar to my situation in Hua Hin a few years ago.

[Upnotover]

6 hours ago, NaaKap said:

You get the O visa first

But to do that in Thailand you need to show the money in the bank the day you apply.  The alternative is to get the non-O outside Thailand where you can show the money in your home bank account.

[KhunHeineken]

On 2/16/2025 at 10:12 PM, HappyExpat57 said:

In all fairness, the agents who have been assisting retirees without seasoned money in the bank have been performing an illegal act. The law to have the 800k in the bank was meant to keep riff raff out.

 

I have several friends in the Jomtien area who have used these agents for years. They are real decent folk, not troublemakers in the least - the kind of people you WANT living in Thailand, spending their money supporting the local economy.

 

Sadly, the law is the law. I hope they aren't forced to leave LOS. The place will be a little worse off if they are.

It's not going to effect expats who use an agent for their extension, of which I am one. 

 

They are looking for "mule accounts."  Sometimes it's an account in a poorer Thai's name who was paid to open the account and give access to a criminal.  The proceeds of crime passes through the mule account.  Think online scams, online gambling etc.  

 

They are also now doing the same with sim cards.  Paying people to register a sim card for them.  This is why they are matching registered sim cards with bank accounts. 

[it is what it is]

On 2/16/2025 at 10:04 PM, flyingtlger said:

Each and every day, Thailand is looking like a bad place to work or retire.....

 

 

try being a tourist in the uk or usa and opening a bank account. what's happening is standards are rising, protections against fraud are improving - which is good news. as long as you're eligible, and as with many things here have patience, you'll be able to open a bank account.

[KhunHeineken]

14 minutes ago, MikeandDow said:

Never happen!!  banks lose out big time all the pensions not going into Thai banks

Yeah, they said legalizing cannabis would never happen.  They said casinos would never happen. They said tax on remittances would never happen. 

 

You missed the point. 

 

Expat pensions are Thai tax residents.  It's the people like the snowbirds, and regular holiday makers, that MAY see their accounts closed in the future.   

[MikeandDow]

4 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

Yeah, they said legalizing cannabis would never happen.  They said casinos would never happen. They said tax on remittances would never happen. 

 

You missed the point. 

 

Expat pensions are Thai tax residents.  It's the people like the snowbirds, and regular holiday makers, that MAY see their accounts closed in the future.   

(Expat pensions are Thai tax residents. )  incorrect !!  they are tax residents only if they need to pay tax and that might change as this is a flip flop goverment

[jerrymahoney]

9 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

They are looking for "mule accounts." 

And just who uses mule accounts. Someone who deals with large amounts of unreported cash money that they would have a hard time explaining the source of that money.

 

Like someone who receives large amounts of cash from a "reputable agent" which they certainly would not want to deposit in their own accounts.

 

So who owns the account?  As explained in 'The Shawshank Redemption':

 

... a phantom, an apparition. Second cousin to Harvey the Rabbit.

[Eaglekott]

1 hour ago, MikeandDow said:

Myanmar  is Burma !!!!!

Correct Should have been Cambodia. To my defence Im home with a terrible Influenza

[Middle Aged Grouch]

Why would the Thai'S bother ? We falangs talk a lot but at the end of the day, we are all like sheep and accept all the absurd rules that are daily invented to make life more difficult for foreigners. 

 

Sure you'll always have the poor chap who has married a Thai lady and thinks he's fully local and integrated. But that is totally wrong, The day his money will stop, he will just be thrown out on the road (cynical).

 

Not to mention even how rude they can be in some banks. In Bangkok it's ok, but in Hua Hin market village. A certain bank written in Green Letters and starting with K for exemple. At the market village branch of this bank, the man at the cash counter is openly rude with foreigners and makes it a point to try to refuse anything that is possible.

 

Same with a customer "service" lady in B bank, outside market village on Phetkacem Road.  She also seems to dislilke falangs, often rather rude, but just loves their money apparently.

 

Consider Vietnam, Philippines, Laos, India or even Japan where things are not all that costly if you go outside Tokyo.  They are far more respectful and welcoming to foreigners and 10 times less visa hassles for long stay.

[NoDisplayName]

42 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

I would not be surprised if Thai banks start closing the accounts of foreigners who not Thai tax residents in the future.  

 

Well, you've added a little bit of sunshine to this thread, too!

[Cabradelmar]

On 2/17/2025 at 1:54 PM, Yumthai said:

Nonsensical. People who meet the requirements to get a non-O visa + yearly extensions are those who intend and are legally able to live continuously in Thailand as long as their yearly permission of stay is valid. The visa should be the only necessary requirement to open a bank account since requirements to live in the country have already been checked and met.

Your reading comprehension is piss poor... Reread the original post... I said those without long stay visas have been getting accounts far to easily for too long (and they should not be)... NonO is a long stay visa and should be able get an account. 

[Yumthai]

6 minutes ago, Cabradelmar said:

Your reading comprehension is piss poor... Reread the original post... I said those without long stay visas have been getting accounts far to easily for too long (and they should not be)... NonO is a long stay visa and should be able get an account. 

You're right, I apparently misread it. Kind of Mandela effect.