You do not always have to believe what officials tell you to be a fact

[nidieunimaitre]

Most people are just trying to do their job the best way they know how.

QUOTE: "the best way they know how."

Maybe THAT is the problem?

[mogandave]

Most people are just trying to do their job the best way they know how.

QUOTE: "the best way they know how."

Maybe THAT is the problem?

Could be, but I don't seem to have any trouble with banking here.

[nidieunimaitre]

Most people are just trying to do their job the best way they know how.

QUOTE: "the best way they know how."

Maybe THAT is the problem?

Could be, but I don't seem to have any trouble with banking here.

Good for you, but that is just lucky.

I tried to open an account at the purple bank, Robinson branch Chanthaburi.

Not possible.

After talking with the manager, they let me open a joint account with my wife.

Later asked at same bank, Tesco branch, 2 km away.

No problem.

If I had tried there first, I would be posting like you: "I don't seem to have any trouble with banking here".

Incompetence combined with face and lack of professional pride.

[BudRight]

I don't know about other Banks, but it plainly says on the Bangkok Bank website that opening an account with a tourist visa is possible. The "letter of reference" section includes so many things one can be sure to be able to get at least one of them.

1. Foreigner with Long-stay or Tourist Visa
   • Passport and one of the following documents:
     
     2.1 An official document from another country, such as a document from the
     relevant agency giving evidence of the customer’s right to receive pension
     funds, OR a letter of reference from one of the following:
     • • Embassy or international organization
       • Customer’s home bank to Bangkok Bank via the SWIFT messaging network
       • Person acceptable to Bangkok Bank e.g. branch officer, customer, government officer or company executive
       • Educational institution located in Thailand and acceptable to the bank
       • Company that is acceptable to the bank, confirming the customer is in the process of getting a work permit
         

2.2 Other documents that show the name of the customer e.g. a document
showing the ownership of real estate in Thailand such as a unit in a
condominium

[hawker9000]

The topic of opening a bank account comes up countless times. Each branch can make up their own rules. You just have to be polite, and sometimes go to several branches before finding a friendly one.

But i can say after my very recent experience in Krung Thai bank in Chumphon, having a non-imm visa made the difference between opening the acct and not opening it.

At first, the rep wanted to refuse opening acct without work permit. Then he pulls out a large binder and flips to the section for foreigners opening acct.

4 or 5 bullet points in thai. He points to the one saying work permit (the english words 'work permit'). I saw below it there was one that said "NON IMMIGRANT". i pointed to that one.

I had a backup plan, with a friend of a friend at a different branch, but good to know again that i could do it myself.

There is a thread in the jobs/business/banking forum about opening bank acct and you hear of people doing it on visa exempt entries and tourist visas.

You "hear of it" because it happen all the time. What you might hear from a non-knowledgeable bank employee simply can't be accepted at face-value, and once they tell you they can't do it, they most definitely will resist backing down at all costs (and their fellows won't want to overrule them because of the "loss of face" that'd cause). For the 873,345th time, if one branch won't open an account for you, just keep trying. This is Thailand. Few really know what they're talking about. (PS - Opened mine on a 30d stamp; no difficulty whatsoever)

when/where did you attempt to open your account?

It wasn't the first time I was almost refused account opening unless I could provide a long-stay visa (non imm).

A couple of years ago/Kasikorn/Pattaya. And I didn't "attempt" to open it, I DID open it. 'Didn't so much as raise an eyebrow. All the same yammering at the time about how a work-permit or long-stay visa was required, Americans couldn't do it, etc., etc., etc., etc. Just go do it, and keep trying until you succeed.