Back To Back Tourist Visa Pt 2

[udon]

Hi Godot,

just walk in to Bangkok Bank at the front of Emporium or go opposite to Thai Farmers Bank (Soi 33) with your passport and they will issue you with a passbook and ATM card for a small fee. These 2 branches are farang friendly due to the high number of farangs living/working in this area.

The passbook will show incoming funds and your expenditure, just what the Immi MiB need.

If the location is inconvenient, you can transfer yr a/c to your local area in a few weeks.

I'd recc. TFB or Kasikorn Bank as It's now known.

Good luck.

[marquess]

My understanding you would be safe as long as you are not working. The witch hunt is towards teachers not having a work permit.

Surley it would be easier to catch such individuals by checking up on schools, that employ the teachers?

[thundstuen]

Ah! Forgot. I don't have a Thai bank account. Is it possible to get one without a proper VISA?

I went to the bank to cash in a check from abroad, but didn't have a bank account, which you seemingly must have to cash in a check here(In my case anyway). Since that's the only way I could cash in, they willingly opened an account for me. No problem.

Best regards,

Trond

http://www.affiliateguiding.com/

[Axel]

I went to the bank to cash in a check from abroad, but didn't have a bank account, which you seemingly must have to cash in a check here(In my case anyway). Since that's the only way I could cash in, they willingly opened an account for me. No problem.

Best regards,

Trond

So you found a friendly bank and yes, you need a bank account to cash a cheque. These things are usually marked "account payee only" or just crossed.

Overseas cheques take 45 days to clear and you can take the money only after that, resp. after your bank got the clearance from overseas.

[Up2U]

I will be going to the U.S. Embassy to get my letter stating Im not broke and have a U.S. income to show the Thai Consulate... Does anyone have any experiance with this??? Does the British Embassy have A letter like this???

Yes, British Embassy will confirm if you are in receipt of government pension or other similar government payments.

If you have a private pension, the supplier of that pension should issue a confirmatory letter, which the Brit Embassy (Consular Affairs) may - or may not - endorse. This will take time.

Regarding bank account - I opened a bank account on a tourist visa, with ATM card. However there is no cheque book, no credit / debit card without a work permit. All understandable - why should the bank risk bad debts by you issuing post-dated cheques, over-running your credit card or otherwise cheating the system? So you get the basic service.

Funds from abroad - some bank-books show FOR as the reference of source, mine does not. However I have an Internet access which states where all my funds come from (all overseas sources).

Learn the system and work within it - it does make sense if you are not paranoid.

[Whitey]

Not sure what the truth of the matter is but i have been here for close to a year on 30 day permits. I still haven't had any questions about income or anything. Am I prepared? Yes every time, but the only monkey business going on at the border crossing is the 20 baht fee payable when you cross into Thailand from Malaysia. I suspect if push comes to shove, that fee might increase to 100 or 200 baht for people with more than 3 entries.

[qwertyuiop]

if i am bringing on arrival 9999 $ cash

it is  for 10 month

do i have to prove to some one?

i am not using ATM only cash

You will definetly need $10.000 !!! -or you will be arrested on arrival.

A letter from your father stating that you do not intend to work in Thailand might help...

Some posts are just too ###### fUkkIng clever to reply to!!

I sense the figure quoted has more to do with amounts allowed out of the US unreported than anything else

[qwertyuiop]

I'd recc. TFB or Kasikorn Bank as It's now known.

Good luck.

And I would not.

I have accounts with both Bank of Asia and Kasikornbank and find KBank, well my branch anyways to be next best to useless.

Having said that it is my opinion that satisfaction with a particular bank is very much dowm to the relationship with the particular branch used and its staff rather than the brand.

The bigger banks certainly have branches assigned to handle' international' accounts but other branches may be more suitably located.

A consolidation in the banking sector is expected which may or may not have an impact on services to the retail secor.

[unbiasbob]

Not sure what the truth of the matter is but i have been here for close to a year on 30 day permits. I still haven't had any questions about income or anything. Am I prepared? Yes every time, but the only monkey business going on at the border crossing is the 20 baht fee payable when you cross into Thailand from Malaysia. I suspect if push comes to shove, that fee might increase to 100 or 200 baht for people with more than 3 entries.

what fee are you talking about?

[mike_rad]

Not sure what the truth of the matter is but i have been here for close to a year on 30 day permits. I still haven't had any questions about income or anything. Am I prepared? Yes every time, but the only monkey business going on at the border crossing is the 20 baht fee payable when you cross into Thailand from Malaysia. I suspect if push comes to shove, that fee might increase to 100 or 200 baht for people with more than 3 entries.

what fee are you talking about?

The fee is probably the baksheesh the minibus drivers demand; if you take the train it doesn't happen....

[udon]

Up2U,

A debit card is available without a work permit from Kasikorn.

How else could I pay my bar bills and barfines?

[Up2U]

Ah! Forgot. I don't have a Thai bank account. Is it possible to get one without a proper VISA?

Yes, mine was opened on a thirty-day airport counter visa.

It comes with a pass-book and ATM card. I have now applied for, and received, Internet access. The pass-book has codings in each entry as to where the deposited funds have come from, the Internet statement gives the actual source, e.g. Shell Oil (UK), which I hope will be a plus with the Immigration people when I go for the 'spouse-support' permission to stay. I have the Non-Immi 'O' already, will get the letter from the bank manager and so on.

Also I think that the Internet statement will hlp with any house purchase later this year. I am not bringing in funds in one large lump-sum, but on a regular basis. Thus it would mean a large collection of 'Tor Tor 3' papers spread over a three-year period to justify the house price. But all are listed on my Internet statements.

Go to a bank in one of the ex-pat centres, BKK, Phuket or Pattaya, where the manager should be more au fait with the possibilities of farang bank accounts.

[Mai Krap]

Update ,,, I went to all the trouble of getting letters at the embasy stating I had funds and when I went to the Thai consulate this time nobody asked me anything and I tried to show them all my paperwork I was told to bring and they acted like I was crazy.... I was given a new tourest visa no questions asked..... The bottem line is I spent more money and got nothing extra and didnt need the letter this time,,, next time could be diffrent.....The system seems to work I just dont know how...

[alykev8892]

"I will be going to the U.S. Embassy to get my letter stating Im not broke and have a U.S. income to show the Thai Consulate... Does anyone have any experiance with this??? Does the British Embassy have A letter like this??? "

Mai Krap, I did that at the US Embassy, Bangkok, mid-May before going on my next visa run to Vientiane. It cost 1,200 baht if my memory is correct. I filled out a form stating my monthly income was $xxxx and gave the counselor officer my latest bank statement and pension statement (retired US government) and he notarized the form and end of story. I made copies of it and presented one with my application in Vientiane for another tourist visa (been here since Sep 2001 on back-to-back tourist visas). Guess the girl was impressed because she gave me a non-immigrant visa whereas my application was for the usual tourist visa. My stated reason was the same as before ..... for medical reasons and support of a Thai wife, though we are NOT legally married. My application indicated I am divorced which is still true. Anyway, hope that helps.

[sim]

As regards the back-to-back rule, I understand it is there "just in case" they want to ditch someone, for any reason.

That being said, I was presented with this rule at the Thai embassy in Singapore two years ago. I dressed politely, spoke gently, smiled and made no hassle. Yet, the officer was thoroughly unimpressed and said "No more 60-day tourist visas for you. You will get thirty days when you fly back". Maybe I dressed TOO politely...?

I also understand the Thai embassy in Singapore has a reputation for being difficult.

Yes, u are right on that, I face the same thing in singapore too, I like to know how did u get back in thai? I had somehow found a relative who own a company to help but he has little knowledge on this issue, he would like to help to issue any letter except employment letter, so is there any way out?