Limit On Cash

[JSixpack]

'Scuse me while I piggyback on this one! 

My (Thai) wife has suggested that she carry a large amount of $US into BKK with her for the purchase of our house there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

BAD idea. Ba-a-a-a-a-ad!

[Martin]

It has got to the stage where anybody carrying a big wad of cash is automatically suspected of having come by it wrongfully.

And it can be a real hassle to prove you haven't.

Since you already have a bank account here, I think you should send it bank to bank, and so leave a quickly verified paper trail.

At present, Thailand is still an easy country to settle in; but it may not last.

They may well tighten up on their scrutiny of the bona-fides of aliens within their borders.

Sensibly, they have left themselves completely free room to manoeuvre. You can fulfil all the published list of things to be prepared to show when applying for a visa extension and still be refused.

It is at the Immigration Police officers discretion whether your application is granted or not.

And "visa running" could be stopped at any time.

We would all be wise to establish ourselves individually as "good eggs" and not to subsequently "blot our copybooks".

Edited June 28, 2005 by Martin

[spacebass]

Is there a limit on the amount of cash that you can bring into Thailand.  And as a foreign currency which would be better to bring. Euro OR Usd.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

To be allowed to take the money out again, $US 10,000 and over ( or the equivalent ) must be declared. Are you planning retirement or marriage to a Thai here ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am planning to move out there permanently. Buy a house. Get a teaching job. And live the simple life. It seems now that there may be a snag with taking cash as I would have to prove that it came from outside the country when buying a house. So maybe the best thing to do is just wire the money over.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you have to prove that the money came from abroad when buying a condo in order for it to be permitted to be put in your name, as a house will not be in your name I do not think this will apply.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

To send the money out at some future time, one needs to show just where it came from.

[remmy]

Hi Is it possible to maintain two currency in one foreign currency account at Siam commercial bank? or is it just one currency per account? Do anyone of you have or heard about this foreign currency account?

I phoned the customer officer many times and they dont have this answer whether i can maintain two different currency (us $ and au$) in one account or not. They keep passing me between different call centres and different banks none of them have the answer.

Also, the rules said one cannot receive/deposit more than 5000$ in one day but initial deposit requires 10000$ for savings account, it seems conflicting to me.

[h90]

i personaly prefer cash money. I don't like the gouverment can check my money flows. Even everything is right, I like the privacy.

[Martin]

i personaly prefer cash money. I don't like the gouverment can check my money flows. Even everything is right, I like the privacy.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I empathise. I feel just the same.

But the trouble is that everybody has been reminded again and again that some people who are up to no good (like 9/11 hijackers) are aided by 'the privacy'.

That has bred a climate of fear that authoritarians have been able to seize on to bring in their authoritarian limitations of personal freedom.

Note that just yesterday, a Labour government in UK proposed a real backward step in the availability of privacy; and, despite the fact that the Labour party started as,and has always been 'the party for the downtrodden', only a handful of the Labour MPs stood out against that attack on 'the privacy'.

In the modern world, we are more and more slipping into a "you may be guilty, so prove yourself innocent" mindset.

That is why I suggest that the poster of this topic leave a 'paper trail'. But I don't do it lightheartedly---in fact, I do it sadly, with a very heavy heart

[dr_Pat_Pong]

i personaly prefer cash money. I don't like the gouverment can check my money flows. Even everything is right, I like the privacy.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I empathise. I feel just the same.

But the trouble is that everybody has been reminded again and again that some people who are up to no good (like 9/11 hijackers) are aided by 'the privacy'.

That has bred a climate of fear that authoritarians have been able to seize on to bring in their authoritarian limitations of personal freedom.

Note that just yesterday, a Labour government in UK proposed a real backward step in the availability of privacy; and, despite the fact that the Labour party started as,and has always been 'the party for the downtrodden', only a handful of the Labour MPs stood out against that attack on 'the privacy'.

In the modern world, we are more and more slipping into a "you may be guilty, so prove yourself innocent" mindset.

That is why I suggest that the poster of this topic leave a 'paper trail'. But I don't do it lightheartedly---in fact, I do it sadly, with a very heavy heart

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is by far the safest way to do it.

[spacebass]

i personaly prefer cash money. I don't like the gouverment can check my money flows. Even everything is right, I like the privacy.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I empathise. I feel just the same.

But the trouble is that everybody has been reminded again and again that some people who are up to no good (like 9/11 hijackers) are aided by 'the privacy'.

That has bred a climate of fear that authoritarians have been able to seize on to bring in their authoritarian limitations of personal freedom.

Note that just yesterday, a Labour government in UK proposed a real backward step in the availability of privacy; and, despite the fact that the Labour party started as,and has always been 'the party for the downtrodden', only a handful of the Labour MPs stood out against that attack on 'the privacy'.

In the modern world, we are more and more slipping into a "you may be guilty, so prove yourself innocent" mindset.

That is why I suggest that the poster of this topic leave a 'paper trail'. But I don't do it lightheartedly---in fact, I do it sadly, with a very heavy heart

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In my experience the authorities extend their 'attack on personal freedoms' in this way to anyone who has any sort of pile of cash /bank deposit and no suitable employment to justify it.

Considering most people in say the UK have made a pile of cash out of the houses they have just lived in and many have been in receipt of bequests inflated by the same process, this is definitely big brother acting in a manner not in the interests of the general populance and one must question why.

Could it be that they are using the terrorist and drug story to control every free spirit,

under these circumstances, ironically, maybe cash is actually becoming the favoured option and as long as it is bona fide, and one is aware of the possible necessity to account for it this should not be a problem.

[Martin]

........ this is definitely big brother acting in a manner not in the interests of the general populance and one must question why.

Could it be that they are using the terrorist and drug story to control every free spirit,

under these circumstances, ironically, maybe cash is actually becoming the favoured option and as long as it is bona fide, and one is aware of the possible necessity to account for it this should not be a problem.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes.....attempts at control of the free spirit by the authoritarians is an insidious evil that is always with us. And for evil to flourish it is only necessary that good men do nothing.

However we have broadened the discussion to where we are off topic. So I will put up another topic----and tell how one good man did not do nothing, and got identity cards rescinded in UK around 1950-55.

[madmadang]

Is 70,000 Baht a suspicious amount of cash for me to bring in?

Edited July 1, 2005 by madmadang

[dr_Pat_Pong]

It is illegal if it is in Thai baht.

[quiggs]

If you have a work permit, and immigrant "B" visa, and an established Thai bank account. Are you saying you cannot buy a condo with this cash, even though it originates in Thailand?

[spacebass]

If you have a work permit, and immigrant "B" visa, and an established Thai bank account. Are you saying you cannot buy a condo with this cash, even though it originates in Thailand?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You cannot put the condo in your name or repatriate the cash if you sell it without importing the moneyin the first place.

[ForeignExchange]

Canadian Customs officials were there to greet passengers as we boarded for the flight to Asia back in April. We were asked how much currency we were carrying and were informed that we were only allowed to carry a maximum of $10,000 Canadian dollars out of the country. They were checking some of the pasengers carry on luggage as we made our way past.

I also know that for years now, whenever a person wires money to Thailand from a bank in Canada, they also have to make a statement as to what the money will be used for. Hopefully they wouldn't stop someone who uses it for purposes of buying Thai property, marriage or retirement visa, but since I haven't wired anywhere near that amount of money, I won't know until I try.