Is it easy to open a bank account in Thailand with a Non-O visa?

@Tony ****

non o for retirement, I have condo in hua hin but did bank account in bangkok as I was staying here few days

@David ******

there are some agents who do the bank account opening and the application to the 1-year extension of the Stay Permit for you without you using your own funds. You need to search for those. You can expect a price for this service starting at 32,000 THB. But sorry, the agent I recommend for the bank account opening will NOT do the "1-year Extension" application for you if you don't use your own funds.

@David ******

the agent I am talking about is not going to borrow you the needed 800,000 THB. This is on YOUR responsibility. He is only opening a bank account for you - period.

@David ******

The 5k is for opening the account,nothing else.

@Greg **********

My comments wasn't about using agents. It was about opening an account in a bank when on a 90 days non-O visa. Get it?

@Doug *******

your inability to plan ahead and request the list of documents required to open an account is only a reflection on you. Others simply gather the required documents and open accounts without drama.

@Doug *******

The news you hear are from people on Non-Imm-O Retirement visa who try to open a bank account by themselves. They should have employed agents. Almost every agent in Pattaya can get a bank account opened for anyone having entered Thailand on a 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa. Not with the Bangkok Bank, but with most of the other Thai banks. The price in Pattaya is around 5000 THB. The only pre-requisite is to have arrived on a Non-Imm-O Retirement visa, having a Thai phone number and holding a "certificate of residence" from Immigration. Almost every agent can do it

Banks are commercial businesses , it’s up to them to decide what documents are required to open an account.

@Jim ******

never has been health insurance or police check for Non O, only OA. 90 day Non O is easy to obtain but have read reports of people being unable to open a bank account on this visa.

@Jim ******

cos everyone else is wrong even those who opens bank account last Friday with this exact visa 🤣🤣

@Max ************

The only change by February 2025 was, that you can't open a bank account any more on a touristic entry.

If you enter on a Non-Imm visa class, have a Thai mobile phone number and a certificate of residence from Immigration, you can get a bank account opened.

The whincing you hear is from people on Non-Imm-visa who try to open a bank account by themselves.

Many bank clerks have no idea what they need to do for a foreigner, and in order to "save face", they pull out of their noses all kinds of reasons why it would be not possible.

You should have employed agents in the first place.

Almost every agent in Pattaya can get a bank account opened for anyone having entered Thailand on a 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa or on any other Non-Imm visa class.

Exception: not with the Bangkok Bank, but with most of the other Thai banks.

The price in Pattaya is around 5000 THB. The only pre-requisite is to have arrived on a Non-Imm-visa class, having a Thai phone number and holding a "certificate of residence" from Immigration. Almost every agent in Pattaya can do it, and YES, they still can do it

And since everybody seems to be whincing how difficult it is to get the bank account opened, even when somebody has the correct Non-Imm-visa class and the certificate of residence and the Thai mobile phone number, all it takes is to pay 5000 THB to an agent to get a bank account opened on the same day. I know an agent in Pattaya who is opening half a dozen of bank accounts every other day

@David ******

the only change was, that you can't open a bank account any more on a touristic entry. If you enter on a Non-Imm visa class, have a Thai mobile phone number and a certificate of residence from Immigration, you can get a bank account opened. The whincing you hear is from people on Non-Imm-visa who try to open a bank account by themselves. Many bank clerks have no idea what they need to do for a foreigner, and in order to "save face", they pull out of their noses all kinds of reasons why it would be not possible.

You should have employed agents in the first place .

Almost every agent in Pattaya can get a bank account opened for anyone having entered Thailand on a 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa or on any other Non-Imm visa class.

Exception: not with the Bangkok Bank, but with most of the other Thai banks.

The price in Pattaya is around 5000 THB. The only pre-requisite is to have arrived on a Non-Imm-visa class, having a Thai phone number and holding a "certificate of residence" from Immigration. Almost every agent in Pattaya can do it, and YES, they still can do it

And since everybody seems to be whincing how difficult it is to get the bank account opened, even when somebody has the correct Non-Imm-visa class and the certificate of residence and the Thai mobile phone number, all it takes is to pay 5000 THB to an agent to get a bank account opened on the same day. I know an agent in Pattaya who is opening a dozen of bank accounts every day

@David ******

the reason for all of the rules change is due to corruption. A couple of weeks ago some bank workers got busted opening fake accounts for Chinese money laundering. Since then everything has changed. This in the last two weeks alone.

I’ve just been through this. I spent 4 days trying to open an account. Unless was either married or had what’s called a yellow house book I was refused by both Kasikorn and Siam Commercial Bank. Thai was in the Phetchabun/phitsanulok areas. It seems in places like Pattaya it’s still easier to open an account.

The staff at SCB told me that the week before there were staff meetings where they were informed NOT to open accounts for foreigners. I’ll reiterate though that was in the areas I tried.

I finally managed to open an account with Krungthai Bank without any hassle.

When you get closer to coming I suspect things will have settled more. Understandably the banks are waiting for Government fallout on this before deciding on what to do.

This group can be excellent for up to date advice. My advice is seek up to date advice just before you leave the U.K. on the current state of affairs.

But an agent at the moment is a good way to proceed.