Transferring money out of Thailand. What to expect?

[Derailed]

This story goes back to my original topic about my cheating wife. By the looks of it I might be getting what's left of my savings, which is near 2 million Thai baht.

Now to the banking situation.

I've had a Thai bank account for over 6 years I think (at Krung Thai Bank) and that account has been inactive for many years, I transferred some money to it just so it could stay active (open), thought I may have use for it in the future.

Now, since I started dating my soon to be ex-wife, we opened a joint account at Kasikorn Bank and all the funds were coming into that account.

about a year ago, my wife started trading gold so nearly all of our money were in the gold account and we kept on our joint account only enough for our monthly expenses.

Now, she is going to sell the gold and transfer all the "gold money" to my personal account at Krung Thai. As soon as the money is there, I'm planning to wire transfer all of it to my Canadian bank.

Will there be any issues with that?

Will they be asking questions where the money came from? The account only have had a few thousand baht on it for years and now there's nearly 2 millions all of a sudden and I want to transfer everything out of the country.

What do I need to show as a proof that money aren't from any illegal operations? I always brought cash to Thailand and exchanged at VASU and then deposited to our joint account. Never did a wire transfer so no paper trail of incoming money.

Anything else I need to be aware of?

[ezzra]

All I can say that right now it's not a good time to sell any thing related to gold as gold in it's lowest

ebb fro some time now and it's rumored to even go further down....

[Derailed]

Thanks for the advise, but the gold account isn't in my name. I'm ready to take whatever losses from selling gold at the current price, rather than loose everything.

Any advise on the banking questions from the OP?

[SamuiRes]

Thanks for the advise, but the gold account isn't in my name. I'm ready to take whatever losses from selling gold at the current price, rather than loose everything.

Any advise on the banking questions from the OP?

I believe you can transfer up to USD 50,000 without any problem. You do need to do the conversion here though - ie transfer in USD not Thai Baht.

You would need to do two transfers a few days apart. Check with your bank.

The other possibility is open a Fund Book Account with say SCB. The money must be held for 3 months and then can be transferred anywhere in the world without question.

I have clients who have done this and it is quite legal.

[charliebadenhop]

Thanks for the info regarding Fund Book Account. Never heard of this before.

[meatboy]

transfering 2million baht out of thailand,sure they will want to know where it came from,as it was your wife who was wheeling and dealing the tax man might be coming to tea.no proof of incoming funds hmmmmmmmm.beware the wolves at the door.

[Shurup]

Good info.

Edited November 12, 2014 by Shurup

[Derailed]

I only have proof of $45,000 CAD I brought in in one go, it was the only time I exceeded the no-declaration limit so I had to declare, I kept the declaration form. Everything else was not declared as the amounts were below $20K USD.

I will try to transfer the $45K CAD then and keep the rest on the account for my personal needs.

[fakser]

How about withdrawing the money in cash, convert to US$ in a change and take the cash in your pockets?

[Derailed]

That's an option, however the Thai bank may still ask questions regarding where the money come from, after my wife transfers to my account.

[fakser]

Not if you withdraw 100k THB every day

[meatboy]

That's an option, however the Thai bank may still ask questions regarding where the money come from, after my wife transfers to my account.

they might also want to know what have you been living on.

[Krataiboy]

Thanks for the advise, but the gold account isn't in my name. I'm ready to take whatever losses from selling gold at the current price, rather than loose everything.

Any advise on the banking questions from the OP?

Don't panic! It's your choice, but I sure as hell wouldn't sell gold now. More likely I'd buy some moreif the price drops much lower Gold is a long-term investment and has historically been far more reliable in terms of retaining and increasing value than fiat currencies.

[Time Traveller]

That's an option, however the Thai bank may still ask questions regarding where the money come from, after my wife transfers to my account.

So answer their questions.

You're being paranoid unless you really have something to hide.

[johndudorn]

charliebadenhop, on 11 Nov 2014 - 22:02, said:

Thanks for the info regarding Fund Book Account. Never heard of this before.

Could someone tell me what a Fund Book Account is? My current bank is SCB and we have some property for sale and will probably be in the same situation you are. How to get money in my case to the USA...