Can you open a bank account in Thailand on a tourist visa?

@Bob *********

it was never "easy" to open a bank account as a tourist. There's just a lot more restrictions now and they're not all fr Thailand. There's a huge amount of paperwork to open a bank account for a foreigner and a lot of it has to do with reporting requirements from the country of the person opening the account. That's one of the reasons they're more willing to do it if you purchase their insurance and they get a commission for the work they have to do.

Or you can just get the non-O visa from your Thai embassy before you come here. The fact that they even let people convert from a tourist to a non-O visa in the country is generous of them already. They could very easily require everyone who wants to be here on retirement to get the visa before they travel.

And also, they could care less if you're here or not. You're not going to make any difference in the big picture. Thailand would get by with no foreigners at all if they needed to.

@Brandon ***********

when I opened my accounts I just walked in an opened them now with the US they want you to sign forms for the IRS and SCB told me no account for Americans

@David ******

Did the bank give you an account?

@Robert **********

yes after 1 day the branch manager in nangrong called and said head office approved. I used the same branch SCB as my wife uses.

@David ******

OK. Probably helped that your wife already had an account.

@Robert **********

I used the same bank branch yes and ticked all the boxes.

@David ******

The issue is not with immigration. The issue is with the banking system. Immigration does not need to stay current with the banking laws/rules.

If the letter works out for you, consider yourself very lucky.

@Phil *****

Who is Allistar? He must have been real lucky. What branch and where exactly? And most important what was his visa status?

@William *****

they want now a taxno.from your country(only this is new).

If you don't have one,you have to take one from office of finance in thailand

@Doug ********

I'm Canadian, they still provide the letter of income. You have to go there (Canadian embassy/consulate) with documentation (ie. Assessment letter from Canada revenue, which can be downloaded from their CRA website) and/or one page with company letterhead showing your yearly private pension income.

You then sign an affidavit for the embassy/consulate, after which if they are satisfied that your documentation is legitimate, they write you the letter for Thai immigration.

But sure what the real issue is with the embassies that stopped providing the letters, but it's not on the Thai side (the immigration officer I dealt with, through my local agent, said they prefer the letters and in fact suggested I switch from my marriage visa to retirement visa as that would make the annual renewal a near formality with a letter of income from the consulate ... No bank statements needed.

FYI On notaries in Thailand generally and why "Thai notaries" cannot validate or otherwise confirm any document. They are useless and the Thai government knows this, but some foreign governments don't quite understand this. /23/no-notary-publics-in-thailand-at-least-as-that-term-is-understood-by-any-lawyer-or-business-owner-outside-of-thailand/

This is what the US Embassy says on its website: Effective January 1, 2019, the United States Embassy in Bangkok and the U.S. Consulate General in Chiang Mai will no longer provide an income affidavit and will not notarize previous versions of the income affidavit...

Because the U.S. government has no means of confirming a U.S. citizen’s income, a notarized affidavit from the U.S. Embassy has never met the requirement to prove a minimum income level for a non- immigrant “O”, “O-A”, or “O-X” long-term stay visa. There are other methods for U.S. citizens to demonstrate they are eligible for this Thai visa category.

@Doug ********

right, apparently they probably just went by the individuals word or the person had to show some proof.

@Tore *****************

you can go to any agent in the sane building as Duke Language School (I happened to have been there to talk to them about classes). The agents were quoting around 25K. Another agent on the side street where the entrance to Emporium is located quoted 15K plus buying insurance.

@Ruth ******

thanks. Thats steep. I had my roof set at 10K, hmmm

@Tore *****************

as I said…

It’s crazy. Everyone is saying, “just pay an agent a ‘few’ baht’”. They’re not asking for a “few”.

@Ruth ******

yeah ita a bit. 10K would be worth it for me, but difficult justifying more than that

@Tore *****************

can probably get it for 5k in Pattaya but if you won't be staying in Pattaya that complicates things since you have ATM fees if you use an ATM outside the province you got your account in.

@Brandon ***********

yeah that wouldn’t be handy for me. I need in Bangkok for now, Chumpon in the future. I could probably settle for Pattaya account temporarily (its for money ticking in regularly). But then I have to go Pattaya.

My girlfriend did some asking around for, as im under medical treatment here I can get it myself, but not on my current (non) visa. I guess the choice is wait until next time, or use agent. Agent may be worth it for me