Is this legal? No farangs welcome...

[TheFishman1]

I am moving to Chiang Mai soon.I am reading lots of stuff about opening a Bank Account.At the time of arrival I will have just a double entry visa,want to chang it to retirement visa1st can I open a U.S.Dollar account and a Thi. account? Is there a reasons I should not open a dollar account.Can you take Dollars out of country.Should I just transfer money from my Israel account?I am just trying to figure out the best way to d it.Any help would be appreciated.Also do I need a letter from my bank in Israel? Passport,Driving license,address where I live in Thailand,is that it. I have read so many different things about this subject,any body who knows I could use the help. thank you

[Jingthing]

Lots of questions. I can provide info for some.

Dollar accounts? Don't know, though some banks can certainly provide.

If you intend to use the account for qualification for retirement extensions, better to post in the visa section to ask if dollar accounts in Thailand are OK. I don't know.

Thai baht accounts? Yes, this is Thailand. Most people like you moving to Thailand with a view towards living here using retirement extensions from Thai immigration open Thai baht accounts.

Visa-wise, coming on tourist visa, you can do the two step process assuming you can show financial qualification, change of visa status to O in Thailand, then the annual extension based on retirement. If doing it with 800K baht in the account, that money must be in there over that amount for two months prior to the first retirement extension.

To open accounts. It varies. Some banks tend to be easier than others. Sometimes different branches of the same bank will have different policies. But I am confident you CAN without much difficulty open an account here.

The easiest bank to open with is Kasikorn Bank. I personally suggest Siam Commercial Bank.

Yes, you need your passport and a Thai address and you can open with some cash. You don't need a letter from your home country bank. However, you should talk to your home bank about their precise policies for SWIFT transfers. You may need to sign a form with them before you come here.

When SWIFT wiring money, typically the money is sent in the external currency to be converted in Thailand to baht. It will likely be a much better rate doing the conversion on the Thai bank's side. Based on your request about dollar accounts, I'm assuming you'd be sending dollars from Israel. If not, you'd need to do more research for the best strategy to go from NIS to baht.

Edited March 23, 2011 by Jingthing