Can you open a bank account in Thailand with a DTV visa?

@Pete ******

Tell me one tourist account that lets you open a bank account, please

@Marianne *******

both the Thai Bronze and Thai Gold Privilege Elite Visas come with government supported bank account opening assistance. Both are classed as tourist visas….

@Pete ******

I stand corrected, but those are obviously special cases. 😅

@Greg *******

agreed. It is a bit of a mess and I am thinking to change visas at some point.

@Jared ********

If there are better options available go for it.

Anonymous participant 172 No, they can't.

The key is in the term "non-immigrant". Non-immigrants can only stay 1 year at a time (except for specific exceptions such as the LTR, which is 10 years but re-assessed every 5 years), SMART (2-4 years), Non-OX from abroad (up to 5 years) and the privilege/elite, which is 1-20 years and a few others...

Unless you hold PR status or Thai citizenship, your stay in Thailand will always be temporary and subject to an annual review or less often in the case of the categories I've mentioned.

@Elías *******

Always be wary of tw@ts who use a Thai translation of their name. Some serious psychological issues going on!

@Ben *******

Exactly. I just spent three months in Europe, predominantly using Euros. At no time did I think I needed a bank account.

Anonymous participant 172 how come pay rent. Utilities, other bills? Cash or Visa card

@Luit ****************

Well, it is a 5 year visa (fact), multiple entry visa, that gives you 180 days on each entry. If they wanted it to be only fit workation purposes, they would have made it a single entry visa - with maybe only one possible extension. But the way it is designed now allows people to stretch it for 5.5 years.

@Frank-Steven **********

It is 5 years, not 5.5. It is not guaranteed now that you can use it over 5 years.

It is designed to have digital nomads frequently visiting the country ion a period of 5 years, but not to facilitate people to live in Thailand full time.

There is a reson for a stay duration of 180 days, but a lot of people just don'tr want to understand the meaning of that and use border bounces to trick the system. Border bounces are completely legal, but it is a loophole to trick the system.

When I am on workcation, why should I be denied to travel out and not be allowed in because they made the visa single entry like you propose.

And why should I as a digital nomad not have the possibility to get back to Thailand after I left some months to work in another country.

The intended use of the DTV is not the problem, but the people who are to stubborn to get the visa that is intended for their purpose of stay, or people for which there is no matching visa, because Thailand is simply not interest in them to visit the country.

@Elías *******

Well, glad you are happy with your current arrangements. I personally just appreciate the fact of being able to pay with PromptPay / QR Scan everywhere and also to easily pay my bills and rent.

@Frank-Steven **********

you can do that with the TrueMoney app. I'm using it. You can pay any QR code and also transfer to regular Thai bank accounts if you need to pay somebody, like a landlord or so.

@Elías *******

In such cases, you might as well use Wise to pay people and cash for everything else...there's not much point of trying to go "cashless" (except with a credit/debit card) if you can't access the local banking system.

@Ben *******

I don’t think that at all. Why would I think they don’t want me here? I think the remote work category of the DTV makes total sense. People making western kind of money spending it here long term (geo-arbitrage) is attractive to stimulate the economy. The soft power category of the DTV was an unnecessary part.

@Frank-Steven **********

Even the "remote worker" category is a joke! I've got three friends, all on non-O retirement visas who created bogus businesses in Australia ($60 a year), put a family member as secretary, and got the family member to write a letter. The DTV is a total joke. Remote worker? One of my friends is 76 and never switched on a computer in his life. This visa is the biggest joke in Thai visa history. Anyone and everyone can get one!

Anonieme deelnemer 172 The fact that there are a lot of people abusing the DTV visa does not make it a joke.

In my opinion when you have a non-o retirement it is strange you want to switch to the lower qualified DTV.

In my case I made the decision for DTV because the only way to extend is in-country, and each year at the same time,

Because I am only part of the year, less 180 days a year in Thailand, non-o retirement just is not easy.

When they would allow to extend online, I would have choosen the non-o and not DTV.

Anonymous participant 172 Again, I take a other perspective on this. The DTV might not be flawless, but it is the first visa that does not unnecessarily overcomplicate things - like the failure the LTR visa turned out to be. And people aged 50 or older had it so very easy for a long time before, just putting little money on some Thai bank account and practically being allowed to stay forever.

@Frank-Steven **********

The DTV is hardly "flawless". But you're right, it simplified the process to such a degree that absolutely anyone can get one, and that's where its weakness lies. Immigration offices want nothing to do with it, and it won't be too long before their colleagues at the borders will start asking for more information.

Anonieme deelnemer 172 Personally I did not find immigration offices unhelpful about DTV. Just out of curiosity I asked them how the extension process would work, and they just answered friendly giving details needed.

If they really hated it, I would expect them to advise not to extend.

@John *********

"Immigration are not keen" is a very polite way to say "immigration friggin' hate it, and will do anything in their power to have nothing to do with it" 👍👍