I am currently working in Myanmar and saving funds from my salary which I will probably use to purchase a condo in Thailand when I retire there (I previously lived in LoS for 15 years and still have my bank accounts with Bangkok Bank,

 

Because the Myanmar banking system is rather 'immature', I want to deposit USD cash (< $10,000) into Bangkok Bank, each time that I do a visa run to Bangkok, (a few times each year).

 

Is it possible to obtain a FET certificate when hand-carrying USD into the country?  Or is the only obtain to open a bank account offshore (eg Singapore), and save up my total funds in that account first, and then make a single funds transfer when I retire? 

 

Although I could save my funds with my local Myanmar bank, that will attract no interest and as yet, outbound fund transfers from Myanmar are not that easy.

 

OTOH, trying to open a bank savings account in another jurisdiction can also be tricky :)

 

As an additional question therefore, can anyone suggest where I could deposit maybe $20,000 USD each year, in an interest-earning account that would be relatively easy for me to open from Myanmar?

You should be able to get a FET form from a bank in exchange for cash. The FET form has an option to select the type of originating funds, and one of those options is ธนบัตร or bank notes.

 

This type of transaction won't be an everyday occurrence for the bank staff, so I would suggest trying the bank's Head Office in Bangkok first, unless you speak Thai.

Simon - just to point out you will only get a FET form when you exchange more than USD 50,000 or more. For smaller transactions you will receive a bank letter.

Going by the Thai Condominium Act, it should also be possible for you to open a foreign currency account, as this is a valid source for money used to buy in foreign name.

 

The interests will be lower for such account and you have the currency fluctuations (which could be in your favor, but right now, I would not bet on the USD, even though the markets seems to do).

 

In how many years do you plan to buy a condo? Because if we’re talking about a timeframe of 5+ years then there are better options than converting USD to THB and depositing them with Bangkok Bank.