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Thai bank account.

Samuel25241
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Samuel25241 Senior Member

Samuel25241

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It's clear you need a work permit to obtain a Thai bank account.

However I'm sure I read somewhere (i may be wrong) that you can obtain a Thai bank account on a tourist visa but with a certificate of residence (similar to purchase of vehicles)

Is this the case?

Thanks.

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offset Silver Member

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Last week I was told by K bank that new rules came in about 6 months ago and you now need a work permit even though I already have an account with them

Haha. So what happened. They just shut your account down..?

I told them I was on a retirement extension and was not allowed to work after many phone calls and me talking to the manager after about 90 minutes they decided to give me another account

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offset Silver Member

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All I had to do was go to the NZ embassy to confirm my identity (bank will give you a form to take), the embassy just stamped it and I took it back to the bank and I had an account within 30 minutes.

That ok if you stay near an embassy

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Samuel25241 Senior Member

Samuel25241

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Yeah it was very easy, no it was with Bangkok bank http://www.bangkokbank.com

Hmm yes I suppose if you're not close to an embassy it wouldn't be so easy

Easy enough obtain the forms to be stamped and take a trip to embassy planned one day. I have appt tomorrow so I'll look into getting them today. It was all free , including stamps from embassy etc ?

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kiwilad123 Apprentice Member

kiwilad123

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Yeah can easily be done within a day, if you arrived in BKK about midday, run into a Bangkok bank grab the forms, be at the embassy at 2pm when it re-opens, will take 10 minutes and cost 1300 baht for them to stamp, then just take the forms back to the bank and your account will be finialised within 30mins, I'd also recommend taking someone who speaks Thai if you don't speak it yourself, the branch I went to at mall Ngawon not a word of English was spoken.

There was no charge to open the account, as far as I'm aware the account is active untill I shut it down, and I'm only taking withdrawals from the one branch here so am not sure of costs to withdrawal elsewhere sorry.

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Samuel25241 Senior Member

Samuel25241

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Yeah can easily be done within a day, if you arrived in BKK about midday, run into a Bangkok bank grab the forms, be at the embassy at 2pm when it re-opens, will take 10 minutes and cost 1300 baht for them to stamp, then just take the forms back to the bank and your account will be finialised within 30mins, I'd also recommend taking someone who speaks Thai if you don't speak it yourself, the branch I went to at mall Ngawon not a word of English was spoken.

There was no charge to open the account, as far as I'm aware the account is active untill I shut it down, and I'm only taking withdrawals from the one branch here so am not sure of costs to withdrawal elsewhere sorry.

Perfect thanks. Yeah I have an appt tomorrow 9:45 so gonna stay at a friends in anusawuri then go early to bkk bank (I see they have one in our embassy roads at all seasons tower near by) go there early see what they conjure then go embassy. From what I read you need a cert of res but for some reason you seemed to get a cheaper option lol. I'm sure it'll end up being a nightmare one way or another.

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kiwilad123 Apprentice Member

kiwilad123

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Hmmm strange..

Well yeah like I said all I did was get 3 pieces of paper from the bank, filled them out and got the embassy to stamp them for me.. I actually got the forms from the Sukhumvit branch and then opened the account at another branch so it doesn't seem as if the Sukhumvit branch were just prepared to bend the rules.

Anyway good luck and hope you manage to sort it all out!

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timberpond Senior Member

timberpond

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Was I missing something? I opened a saving account with Bangkok Bank last May and all I did was with my passport (Tourist visa exempt stamp), a valid thai address and money. No embassy or anything asked from them. On the downside, I can only get a basic account with a bank book and debit card. No internet banking access.

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offset Silver Member

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Was I missing something? I opened a saving account with Bangkok Bank last May and all I did was with my passport (Tourist visa exempt stamp), a valid thai address and money. No embassy or anything asked from them. On the downside, I can only get a basic account with a bank book and debit card. No internet banking access.

But that was last May we are talking about now as I said before I was told the rules changed 6 months ago

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Michael8511 Explorer Member

Michael8511

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I have had a Thai bank account for 4 years with Internet banking without having a long term visa or work permit, the only thing I needed was my passport with a 60 day tourist visa and my partner came with me to the bank and explained that I use the account to pay bills and school expenses for our kid. It took 20 minutes to get my account opened and later when visited Chang Mai I added internet banking to the account and that was also taken care of in minutes. I have other friends that have opened accounts the same way. I think it sometimes depends on your attitude and who is the branch manager and how well you click with them, they are the once that approve both the account and if you will get Internet banking.

Good Luck

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I have had a Thai bank account for 4 years with Internet banking without having a long term visa or work permit, the only thing I needed was my passport with a 60 day tourist visa and my partner came with me to the bank and explained that I use the account to pay bills and school expenses for our kid. It took 20 minutes to get my account opened and later when visited Chang Mai I added internet banking to the account and that was also taken care of in minutes. I have other friends that have opened accounts the same way. I think it sometimes depends on your attitude and who is the branch manager and how well you click with them, they are the once that approve both the account and if you will get Internet banking.

Good Luck

I have many accounts with different banks never had any trouble with opening them

This time they wanted a work permit even though I already had an account with the same branch showing them the passbook and two passbooks with the same bank but in a different area all I was told that the new rules came in 6 months ago

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ukrules Star Member

ukrules

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Nah... I'm a Asian barely 5ft tall and no blue eyes... but one thing I forgot to mention, I brought a Thai with me and uses her address to sign up for the account. I think they photocopied her ID card too.

I heard that having a Thai national there who will 'vouch' for you makes a big difference.

You still need the certificate of residence for the purposes of opening a bank account.

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Walter Travolta Silver Member

Walter Travolta

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This is bad news for me as I am looking at opening a bank account here in Pattaya. I went to BigC on Pattaya Klang as I was informed I would have no trouble opening account with Kasikorn. When I got to the counter the girl told me that they no longer offer bank accounts for people only in the kingdom on a TR visa. Has to be a year visa facepalm.gif

Went on Bangkok bank website and it says they DO offer accounts for TR visa holders although just a basic account with a ATM card which is all I need, just need to show passport and proof of residency . . .

BUT . . . after going on FB (stuff for sale in Pattaya page) there is a guy on there saying that immigration in Jomtien is no longer giving out proof of residencies. Anyone wanting a proof of residency should now travel all the way to Bangkok to their own embassy for this paperwork. <deleted>???

Any more news on this, if not already being highly discussed, would be helpful

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partington Gold Member

partington

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Last week I was told by K bank that new rules came in about 6 months ago and you now need a work permit even though I already have an account with them

I know several people that have opened bank account this year without a WP. You are wrong

Also be warned: the "new rules that came in a year/six months ago" are non-existent, being a convenient excuse banks use for not doing something they don't want to do at any particular moment , for any or no reason.

You can read threads going back years in the archives here with people reporting being told "new rules, came in last year" for a decade or more.

These are not government / Bank of Thailand rules, which do not specify you must have a work permit or a certificate of residency, but "rules" made up by the branch you happen to be in at the time.

For an example of this go to the Bangkok Bank website , where it explains in black and white how people with tourist visas can open an account with them. Then go to a branch that doesn't want to do it and hear about the "new rules."

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