Why Are You Even Here? The Surprising Attitudes of Some Expats in Thailand

[thailandstu]

I am retired and have been staying in Thailand for around 13 Months.

My visa extension is up for renewal in April. I was planning on using the 800,000 bht condition as I did last time. I currently have around 1 million baht in a Kasikorn Bank Savings Account.

I also get a UK pension which would allow me to get the required letter from the embassy and use this to obtain my retirement visa extension.

The money I have in the bank was transferred from the UK in Sterling and the rate I got was around 49.6 bht per GPD.

With the rate now being around 46 baht per GPD I was considering transferring a large chunk of my saving in Thailand back to the UK and would make around £1000 profit. I appreciate that there is a risk that the baht stays low but I am hoping things will improve and I would then transfer the money back over from mu UK bank account to my Thai account.

I am looking for advice on these matter and suggestions of perhaps a better way to do this but with the same outcome.

Not sure if I could simply go to the bank and make a large withdrawel in Thai baht and then change to Sterling (cash?) then when things (hopefully improve) stick the sterling back in and convert back to bht ?

I am neewby to the financial world and would appreciate any advice on this matter.

Thanks

Stu

[gamini]

you have to consider the difference between the buying and selling rates plus the banks commission this could amount to as much as 5%. so if you did the transaction twice you could be "out of pocket". The baht will probably not go down against the pound, so stick with your Thai baht. You might get up to 3% on a fixed deposit.

[meatboy]

dont you need a work permit for currency dealing?

[thailandstu]

dont you need a work permit for currency dealing?

Yes - looks as if you need a work permit to open a foreign currency account. But that is not what I was proposing. What if i simply withdraw thai baht in cash from my account and then exchange for sterling at other counter ? then when the time is right go back and exchange back into baht ?

or simply transfer a lump sum converted from baht to sterling by Kasikorn back to my UK account ?

[Naam]

dont you need a work permit for currency dealing?

Yes - looks as if you need a work permit to open a foreign currency account. But that is not what I was proposing. What if i simply withdraw thai baht in cash from my account and then exchange for sterling at other counter ? then when the time is right go back and exchange back into baht ?

or simply transfer a lump sum converted from baht to sterling by Kasikorn back to my UK account ?

no, you don't need a work permit to open a foreign currency account and neither do you need any permit "dealing" cash currencies with any bank or money changer.

[yoshiwara]

For the amount concerned I would not put it at risk with the proposed currency exchange, particularly as you are planning to bounce it back to Thailand anyway. It just isn't worth it.