How Can I Transfer Money To Singapore

[sipadan]

Hi there. I'm new here and just got to this forum from googling to find how I can transfer my money to a bank account in Singapore... in the most economical way.

I'm about to fly to Singapore to open an account at Citi. Their minimum balance requirement is USD20,000. I'm thinking about opening the account with minimum amount (i.e. USD 2,000) and transfer the rest later from my Thai bank account. I have read that many of you are talking like it's easy to transfer the money out. But I just don't know how?!? I thought the bank of Thailand has this strict rule about money transfer. I checked on the scbeasy.com and it says one can only transfer the money out of Thailand for only 2 reasons... either for education or for family support. Since I don't have a child study there and neither a family in Singapore (I"m EU citizen), so what can I do?

Could anyone be so kind to explain to me? Sorry if I asked stupid question, I looked in Thaivisa discussions but couldn't find exactly this info.

Appreciate your help.

[torrenova]

Cash

How did the money get into Thailand ? If it came from outside then no problem if you have the paperwork.

Anyway, how would they know whether it was for family support or not ?

[sipadan]

The money didn't come from outside Thailand. I'm working in Thailand so the money is my salary income from the having been here a long time.

Are you saying that no one at the bank will be checking whether it's "family support"? As in, I can easily apply for money transfer based on this reason and can just wire it over the internet via scb easy net?

Are there any other ways?

Thanks a lot.

[Susan25]

What happened? Do you get the money out of Thailand and how did you do it?

[CroBiker]

Thai bank officials consider "Family support" when you transfer the money to relative's account (usually someone with same surname as yours).

I tried doing this but to no avail. Finally, I put cash in my hand luggage, wrapped it up in Aluminium sheet and flew to Singapore. Deposited money into HK bank, no problems.

[Soutpeel]

The money didn't come from outside Thailand. I'm working in Thailand so the money is my salary income from the having been here a long time.

Are you saying that no one at the bank will be checking whether it's "family support"? As in, I can easily apply for money transfer based on this reason and can just wire it over the internet via scb easy net?

Are there any other ways?

Thanks a lot.

You can ship the money out via "family support", they dont require any proof....I would advise you do this in amounts equal to or less than 10k US$, this will prevent drawing attention to yourself, not saying you will get questioned as to why you are sending out what appears to be quite large amounts for family support, but better limiting the amount just in case.

Seeing as you are working in Thailand can you not get a direct deposit into Singapore from your company on future salaries?, saves going this rigmoral every month. The company I work for in Thailand deposits my salary every month in Singapore.

As a plan "B" could you not get your company to transfer the 20k through the company ?, this is what I did when I opened my Citibank account in Singapore.

If you are setting up with Citibank international personal banking, I am sure you will be very happy with them, I have been with them for 4.5 years and always found the customer service excellent, It was a refreshing change from HSBC

[Lost in LOS]

Thai bank officials consider "Family support" when you transfer the money to relative's account (usually someone with same surname as yours).

I tried doing this but to no avail. Finally, I put cash in my hand luggage, wrapped it up in Aluminium sheet and flew to Singapore. Deposited money into HK bank, no problems.

why aluminum sheet?

[CroBiker]

It was indigo paper and alu-sheets, undetectable under x-ray.