How does Wise work for international transfers to Thailand, and will it be accepted for the NON-O visa requirements?

@Ted *******

how you fund Wise doesn't matter, it's more that you select "Funds for Long Stay in Thailand" and your account is with Bangkok Bank. If you do that it should code as international. Funding Wise transfer with debit card you'll get a much worse rate though.

@Ivan ***********

if you are sending the full amount to meet the 800k requirement and want to season in a Thai Bank account it doesn’t matter if it has the Swift code or not. They don’t check.

You only need the Swift code if it is for the monthly deposit requirement. It has to show that it is Retirement income coming from outside the country on a monthly basis.

@Bonnie ******

Sending the money to your Krungsri Bank account via SWIFT wire from your US Bank should work just fine. It will be labeled correctly as an international transfer originating outside Thailand. It's only a problem using Wise with Krungsri Bank.

By the way, Krungsri is an easy bank at which to open an account (maybe the easiest) and they have a really nice savings account Mee Tae Dai paying 1.00% APR interest. Money transfers visa Wise are just not reliably marked as being international. With Bangkok Bank they are (as long as "for purpose of long term stay in Thailand).

Wise does not use Krungsri as a Thai partner bank and therefore Wise transfers from overseas are more than likely going to show up in your Krungsri Bank account as domestic transfers from another Thai bank. This leaves you in a position of explaining to your immigration officer that while it's labeled domestic in your passbook/bank statement it's "really" an international transfer. I would not relish being in that position. With Bangkok Bank that is not a problem.

Please see the TransferWise Solutions Thailand group for the lengthy explanation and the gory details of why this is the case. The short synopsis is that Wise is able to do transfers economically because in many cases it is able to accomplish your "international transfer" by doing a domestic transfer between its Bangkok Bank Thai corporate account and your Thai bank account. When your Thai bank account happens to be Bangkok Bank this shows up as a FTT, an international transfer. When your bank is another Thai bank it often shows up as a domestic transfer. You then have to demonstrate that while it shows up as a domestic transfer it's really an international transfer.

If you call them and tell them you want it tagged as an International transfer they will as all my transfers from the UK from Wise to my Bangkok Bank Account show as International transfers whether its £50 or £500 The only small problem is you won't get the money in minutes it may take 24 hours so no great deal.

@Jennifer ***

I sent money by Wise to a Kasikorn account, credited within minutes without passing by Bangkok Bank.

@Jenn****

I really don't believe that's correct.

And just to be clear you would need to indicate the reason is for "long term stay in Thailand" in addition to using an existing Bangkok Bank account.

@Samurais ***********

Yes, Krungsri (while a fine bank) is not one of Wise's partner banks and so I'm not at all surprised it showed up as a domestic transfer rather than an international one.

@Garrett **********

there is actually an option of "Funds for long term stay in Thailand".

@Garrett **********

regarding item 2: I think that will only work if your Thai Bank happens to be Bangkok Bank. That is to say, Wise seems to have a relationship with Bangkok Bank that allows Bangkok Bank to consistently mark the transfer as FTT or international in nature. While Wise uses other banks it doesn't seem to be able to offer any sort of guarantee that it will be marked correctly with respect to those banks.