I googled this

Yes, other major Thai commercial banks like Kasikorn Bank (KBank), Krungthai Bank, and Krungsri (Bank of Ayudhya) do not enforce the strict 4-month account freeze or seasoning requirement implemented by Bangkok Bank for immigration balance letters. [1, 2]

✅ Alternative Banks Without a Freeze Policy

• Kasikorn Bank (KBank): Issues balance letters and statements on the same day without locking your funds if the money is already deposited. [1, 2]

• Krungsri Bank: Confirmed by applicants to issue instant balance-confirmation letters for extensions without freezing the deposit. [1]

• Krungthai Bank: Operates standard verification procedures without imposing Bangkok Bank's specific 4-month holding block rule

does anyone have 1st hand knowledge of this?, or any other input on this issue.

8 minutes ago, thairat said:

does anyone have 1st hand knowledge of this?, or any other input on this issue.

Not sure what you are asking.

BBL are freezing accounts of amount 800k (retirement) and 400k (marriage) if those amounts have not been in account for previous 4 months.

This caused issues particularly for marriage extension.

You a required to sign a form in order to receive the Bank Letter for immigration.

This is a Rogue action by one bank only

I had this happen to me last year, and this year by 2 different BBL branches in Chiang Mai. Googling it suggest that all BBL branches have this policy, which is consistent with my own experience.

Subsequently one of these branches put a sign in the front window stating they would no longer create new accounts for foreigners!

14 minutes ago, thairat said:

I had this happen to me last year, and this year by 2 different BBL branches in Chiang Mai.

Surprised you didn't ditch them after the first time they froze your account.

It's just a bank. On top of that takes them 5-7 days to produce a 12 month bank statement.

Give them the flick

6 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Surprised you didn't ditch them after the first time they froze your account.

It's just a bank. On top of that takes them 5-7 days to produce a 12 month bank statement.

Give them the flick

Thanx Dr J.

Yes, it's delinquent!

9 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

On top of that takes them 5-7 days to produce a 12 month bank statement.

Actually takes 30 seconds to create 12 month statement, the 5-7 days is the default time for all the stamps.

TR

21 hours ago, thairat said:

I googled this

Yes, other major Thai commercial banks like Kasikorn Bank (KBank), Krungthai Bank, and Krungsri (Bank of Ayudhya) do not enforce the strict 4-month account freeze or seasoning requirement implemented by Bangkok Bank for immigration balance letters. [1, 2]

✅ Alternative Banks Without a Freeze Policy

• Kasikorn Bank (KBank): Issues balance letters and statements on the same day without locking your funds if the money is already deposited. [1, 2]

• Krungsri Bank: Confirmed by applicants to issue instant balance-confirmation letters for extensions without freezing the deposit. [1]

• Krungthai Bank: Operates standard verification procedures without imposing Bangkok Bank's specific 4-month holding block rule

does anyone have 1st hand knowledge of this?, or any other input on this issue.

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This has been the case for over a year now.

On my penultimate retirement extension BBL asked me to sign a form to obtain the bank letter.

On my last retirement extension they gave me the bank letter without signing any letter, am not suggesting that they have reversed their decision just wondering if signing it once would apply for future requests for the bank letter ?

20 hours ago, thairat said:

Actually takes 30 seconds to create 12 month statement, the 5-7 days is the default time for all the stamps.

TR

I request my 12 month statement from BBL late Tuesday afternoon and pick it up when the bank opens on Friday morning, then straight to immigration for the fun and games .

14 minutes ago, Jethro Tull said:

I request my 12 month statement from BBL late Tuesday afternoon and pick it up when the bank opens on Friday morning, then straight to immigration for the fun and games .

The last 2 years I've requested the 12 month account statement from the BBL mobile app. They email me a PDF the same day which I print out and include with my documents. It doesn't have the official bank stamps, but the data can be checked against my bankbook entries. So far I haven't had any problem with immigration accepting this 12 month bank statement.

Paul Laew

8 minutes ago, Paulaew said:

So far I haven't had any problem with immigration accepting this 12 month bank statement.

You are apparently dealing with immigration office that doesn't know print out from apps should not be accepted..

31 minutes ago, Paulaew said:

The last 2 years I've requested the 12 month account statement from the BBL mobile app. They email me a PDF the same day which I print out and include with my documents. It doesn't have the official bank stamps, but the data can be checked against my bankbook entries. So far I haven't had any problem with immigration accepting this 12 month bank statement.

Paul Laew

Not surprising since the Immigration Offices all seem to be marching to a different drummer. Some are very strict and some are lenient.

You're lucky to be dealing with a lenient one.

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

You are apparently dealing with immigration office that doesn't know print out from apps should not be accepted..

The details in this situation are important. The PDF was encrypted and password protected and sent via email to his validated email address. At least, that is the only way I receive bank statements from four large Thai banks. Only the request for statement was initiated through the app. Access to the app would be protected by phone level and app level security.

The least secure step in the process would be delivery to the actual printing facility which could only accept unencrypted PDF's that are not password protected. The same security exposure would exist for just about every other method of printing.

It is very reasonable that Immigration is comfortable with the level of security included in the process especially when accompanied by the bank book.

In my view the stamp from the bank staff is just window dressing from a security standpoint. Human links in the process are the most vulnerable points.

On 9/23/2026 at 12:23 PM, DrJack54 said:

Surprised you didn't ditch them after the first time they froze your account.

It's just a bank. On top of that takes them 5-7 days to produce a 12 month bank statement.

Give them the flick

In CM I cycled through BBL, defunct BBC, TFB until I landed long ago at SCB. In the old days it could take up to two weeks except when my bank sent funds to Bangkok Bank of Commerce instead of Bangkok Bank. It took 3 months to get the money bacause the NY bank, now called JPM, kept insisting that they sent the money to BBL. Meanwhile BBC, because of my Thai account number, must have immediately realized the error that the funds were erroneously sent to them instead of BBL. I had to go to their wire "department" room in their Bangkok head office where the pulled the errant wire out of dusty wooden box. I had to open an account at BBC to get the money sooner. Anyway, these days it takes just a few hours for transfers to arrive in my account at SCB. And I have never had any issues with the bank letter for immigration, and get it in less than an hour.

Edited Thursday at 08:45 AM2 days by placnx

8 hours ago, Paulaew said:

The last 2 years I've requested the 12 month account statement from the BBL mobile app. They email me a PDF the same day which I print out and include with my documents. It doesn't have the official bank stamps, but the data can be checked against my bankbook entries. So far I haven't had any problem with immigration accepting this 12 month bank statement.

Paul Laew

Given that your stated location is Bangkok, is it really the case that it's CW Immigration that's OK with unstamped bank statements in this instance?

9 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Given that your stated location is Bangkok, is it really the case that it's CW Immigration that's OK with unstamped bank statements in this instance?

Not from reports I have seen.

In any event.. Folk have to obtain Bank Letter so why not obtain the Bank Statement at same time few days prior to extension.

Not just at CW but other offices do not accept bank app print outs

33 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Given that your stated location is Bangkok, is it really the case that it's CW Immigration that's OK with unstamped bank statements in this instance?

I live in Bangkok, but I use an immigration office in an province outside of Bangkok. It does seem there are differences in how the rules are enforced at different immigration offices. For my next extension I think I will print out the electronic 12 month statement and ask BBL to stamp it when I go to get my confirmation letter of bank balance.

The 12 month statement requirement seems to be a recent innovation. In the past, a confirmation letter of bank balance and a copy of the last 3 months of the bankbook were sufficient. Then immigration introduced new requirements about maintaining a certain balance through the year. A bankbook copy for 12 months could have covered that.

Paul Laew

7 minutes ago, Paulaew said:

The 12 month statement requirement seems to be a recent innovation. In the past, a confirmation letter of bank balance and a copy of the last 3 months of the bankbook were sufficient. Then immigration introduced new requirements about maintaining a certain balance through the year

The Bank Letter is more about ownership if the account.

Money in bank method has been 800k two months prior and 3 months post application. Not below 400k in other months.

Many/most immigration offices also require bank book update on day of application

10 minutes ago, Paulaew said:

A bankbook copy for 12 months could have covered that.

Often the bank book will have consolidated transactions and so cannot always be trusted to show a complete month by month record, whereas an itemised statement will always show everything.

1 minute ago, Upnotover said:

Often the bank book will have consolidated transactions and so cannot always be trusted to show a complete month by month record, whereas an itemised statement will always show everything.

I got pinged at CW few year back as at that time used dedicated account for immigration (CW) and maintained 800k + all year round.

IO picked two months of zero activity.

Let it slide but made a deal of it.

Since then I obtain 12 month bank statement.

Unfounded post removed.

12 hours ago, Jethro Tull said:

On my last retirement extension they gave me the bank letter without signing any letter, am not suggesting that they have reversed their decision just wondering if signing it once would apply for future requests for the bank letter ?

It's all about the circumstances. If the money has been in your bank account for 4 months already at the time you request the letter, they will not ask you to sign anything, and they will not freeze anything.

On the other hand, if the money has not been in the account for 4 months (even if it has been 3 months and 3 weeks), they will require the letter and freeze the funds for 4 months from that date.

Completely nonsensical policy, especially considering the entire point of showing these funds to immigration is that they are for an emergency, yet Bangkok Bank will not let you have access to them if an emergency happens.

9 hours ago, BrandonJT said:

Completely nonsensical policy, especially considering the entire point of showing these funds to immigration is that they are for an emergency, yet Bangkok Bank will not let you have access to them if an emergency happens.

Which is why I no longer use BKK Bank for meeting visa requirements. I've started to whittle down the balance there.

On 9/24/2026 at 5:30 AM, gamb00ler said:

The least secure step in the process would be delivery to the actual printing facility which could only accept unencrypted PDF's that are not password protected.

And this step gives the opportunity to photoshop the statement so negates all the previous steps, hence the usual requirement for the stamped statements.