Bringing in money

[luckyfarang]

When I bring money in by wire transfer on a monthly basis, do I have to get the bank to fill out a from verifying it came from foreign sources?

If I bring in US cash with me and deposit it, can I also get a form from the bank showing I brought it in?

[Heng]

Most banks I've run into only let you exchange $5k a day.   No limits (that I know of) in wired in transfers.

Get which bank to fill what in?   The money shows up in the account.  No paperwork.  Sometimes they'll mail you a letter (which means nothing.... just along the lines of "please note that your account received a wire transfer from correspondant bank whatever on whatever date in amount...") if it puts up a flag on your account as out of the ordinary activity.

When you exchange cash, I'm not sure what form you want either.   They give you a receipt.   They have no idea where you got the cash from.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Substantial monies should come from your bank abroad to your Thai bank. That way, the money is formally recorded as having come from abroad. If you want to repatriate the funds to your home country, you need to evidence that the funds were brought in properly. Talk to your Thai banker...there are proper forms.

[lopburi3]

Believe most passbook accounts will have a code, such as 'FTT' used by BBL that shows deposit was from a foreign Swift transfer.  This is acceptable to Immigration in my experience.  If not you can obtain paper copies of each transaction with the full information by asking your bank branch.

I would suggest making transfers less often and more each time to save on fees (unless you are really living high).

A cash deposit, in any currency, is cash and could have come from anywhere.

[amazedat]

When you transfer money from abroad, make sure to instruct the foreign bank to send foreign currency, not exchange it themselves and send Baht, as they are wont to do unless strictly told otherwise.

When your money has arrived, give it a week or so then go into your branch of your Thai bank and get your book updated. While there, ask for a copy of the credit note showing your deposit in foreign currency (the weeks wait is to allow this to arrive from head office). They don't always automatically send one so you might have to request one and go back to get it later.

If the money is towards the freehold purchase of a condominium you must instruct the foreign bank to write "Funds to be used for the purchase of a condominium" on the paperwork that goes with the transfer. You can then ask for a Tor Tor 3 certificate at your bank in Thailand. This guarantees you the ability to transfer the funds back out.

You do not HAVE to purchase a condo with the funds, so it is a good thing to do anyway to make your life easier later. The amount transferred must be in excess of 5000USD to obtain a TT3.  

[amazedat]

Lopburi,

In my experience unless you specifically request a statement or a full entry update in your bankbook, they will just lump all entries together and you won't be able to see your entry code for each transfer. :cool:

[easymoney]

On wire transfers over 800,000 baht bank usually calls to find out. It is best to update passbook before end of month. If it goes past end of month then lump happens.On cash must go in within 10 days of entry into country. Any entry. You can deposit more than 5k but they charge for counting fee. Also on cash over 10k they will request customs declaration. You are issued when you declare. I believe this is a tt3 paper.

[lopburi3]

Can't speak for you but every BBL or SCB passbook that I have used in the last 10 years clearly has the code indicated.  It is machine printed so is has to show.  True, I do have to update the passbook, but when you do that the code for each transaction is shown as every item has a line entry.

[lopburi3]

If it goes past end of month then lump happens.

Can say with certainty that this is not true for Bangkok Bank PLC (BBL) savings passbooks.

[Whiplash]

I make transfers to Bank of Asia monthly, and every time I update my bank passbook there is a code 'FT' for 'Foreign Transfer' on thoose transfers.

[zen4dummies]

Hi luckyfarang

When I converted my 60 day tourist visa to an O visa I needed to have 800,000 baht in my Thai account, Thai Farmers Bank at the time.  To show that it came from outside of the country I got a copy of the transfer document from TFB.  I have read that some banks will not provide the transfer document unless the amount is over some amount like $5000.  I was going to do the monthly wire transfer but the cost would be high and the immigration people that I dealt with did not seem interested in it;  Kuhn Pallop wanted to see 800,000 in my account before he would give me the visa.  Three months later I converted the O visa to a Retirement visa and at that time I had to bring the account back up to 800,000 baht.  I was told at that time that when I renewed the Retirement visa I would only need to bring in my bankbook and the transfer document.

BTW, congratulations on getting your OA.  

 zen