Money changers in Pattaya

[ShugNorris]

This is basically the story:

In August I transferred £10 000 Sterling to my wifes Thai bank account.

Err, it's embarrassing to say but I didn't fill in forms for bringing foreign money into the country. (I was only aware of the FET and I thought you only had to declare in excess of $20 000 USD which is wasn't then (and definately isn't now!).

Anyway, the exchange rate dropped from 61-ish to 53-ish and I thought, "Hey, happy with that, send it all back over..."

Obviously my prior ignorance and lack of research came back and bit me in the ass!

The questions I have are:

Can my wife take the money out of her bank account in Sterling as long as it doesn't leave the country?

As in, take the whole lot out of her account and put it in a safe deposit box in sterling in order to take advantage of the exchange rate, it fluctuates so much you could easily make a little bit of money in a short time. When the exchange rate goes back up she could stick it back into her bank, several thousand baht richer. (ideally 10 000 or 20 000 Baht)

I'd assume this is legal to do anyway?

She went to the bank to take out Sterling but they told her no... ?! This was a bank in Trang so would have had to order the Sterling in anyway... I'm just a little confused!

Question 2

To get the money out of the country she needs a valid flight ticket? That's what she was told by the bank, would she have trouble taking the money out of the country if she was coming here on her Settlement visa? (here being the UK)

Hope someone could clear these up for me, thanks.

I know my own stupidity before but I've learnt a valuable lesson and I guess my next ten or eleven trips to Thailand can be funded from that account

- Shug

Edited December 4, 2008 by ShugNorris