What are the best options for transferring money to Thailand for a long-stay visa?

Use Wise,far cheaper

Wise and you get a card that's great to use day to day and leave good card in safe 👍

Andrew, good decision, one that I made more than twenty years ago. I assume from your post that you will be applying for a retirement visa, and prior to leaving the UK you plan to obtain a Non Immigrant O visa

from a Thai consulate in the UK,which is the normal procedure.

The Bank Account that I have had for more than 20 years is

Kasikorn Bank and I have always been satisfied with their service.

NB, My remarks are made in this post “Without Prejudice “

Kind regards.

I dont pay any fees to do an international transfer from my Uk bank account.. and i pay a 500bht handling fee to my Thai Bank upon receipt of the transfer.. the exchange rate is always reasonable imo.. so i don't go looking for a 'slightly better rate' with an fx company.. i prefer the feeling of security i get from knowing that my money is going directly from the Uk bank to the Thailand bank.. and having only 2 parties involved in the transaction minimises potential delays.. as well as giving me the strongest regulatory protection at both ends of the transaction.. whereas introducing a third party company brings in another regulatory regime that could be weaker.. just my personal preference for what it's worth.

600£ fees is too much for the transfer of 800,000 Baht, I just checked on WISE app, it cost about 130£

Take a look at Revolut. Only downside is to never transfer money on week ends as it occurs heavy charges. Used it for years and never had a problem

Make sure pension deposited in UK and transfered to your Thai bank.

Bank book will show FTT ( indicated funds from abroad ).

Open Krungsri or Kasikorn bank you can transfer money from Thailand to uk or anywhere else directly from the app on your phone pretty straight forward. For other questions you got plenty of answers.

open a thai bank account then transfer the money from your gb account in gbp, I have found the thai bank with the best xchange rate to be thai farmer bank, £600 to transfer is a ludicrous ripoff, it is also easy to send back to an os account, best of british luck

If your going to move your money back to the UK then you will find Bangkok bank silom Rd it will be no problem at all

I use currency club . Transfer as much as you like rate is similar to Wise or the TT exchange booths on the street.

I recently transferred 3 million baht from my uk bank account to my Thai bank account via swift and it cost me £20. I am with nationwide bank. The exchange rate was favourable

I arrived on a stamp at the airport, set up a bank account, applied for the 3 month and 12-month extension of stay and bought a condo at the same time. I had help from an agent, I suggest u do the same. You can take your money out if its in a thai bank and labelled as FTT.

Your first retirement visa is 3 months plus 12 months = 15 months then everyone after that is for 12 months only use Wise if you want a link I can help you cheers 🤔

This is how I understand it from my experience. You can't use monthly income for your first 12 month extension which I am guessing is based on retirement.

When you deposit 0 baht in a thai bank account in your name only it has to be there two months before you apply for your extension. Following that it has to stay at 0 baht for three months after you get your extension. Following that it must not drop below 0 baht at any time during the year. These are the financial requirements for your first extension. If you wish to use monthly transfers you must start them when you get your first extension so you have to have the deposit as described above in addition. However these monthly deposits must show as international transfers into your Thai bank. This can be problematic but Bangkok bank is the best I know for achieving this. You can spend the monthly deposit or send it back where it came from using Dee Money. When you apply for your second extension you must show that you have met the criteria for your first one and 12 months of bank statements showing the deposits as baht a month or a combination of banked money and monthly statements totaling 0 baht. That is how you change from banked money to monthly transfer. Personally though it does not make good investment sense I find it less stressful to just keep 0 baht in a locked account and use that to get my annual extension. I hope that explains it for you. Good luck.

I am quite happy to be corrected if any of the above is wrong or incomplete as it could be helpful to me too.

For that amount, the bt800k, do a SWIFT bank2bank transfers. That is the cheapest, and has the needed paper trail if you want to send it back to the UK. Wise is good for smaller amounts, but not for that amount, and your long term plans that can change.

Someone better qualified than me will likely respond. You will apply for an extension of stay based upon retirement, not a 12 month visa. As for your pension, you will need to establish a 12 month history of pension deposits into your Thailand bank account before you are able to apply these towards your financial requirements needed for your extension. So you will need the 800k TBht in your account for the first year. But again, someone better qualified than myself will most likely respond.

1) Most people use Wise to transfer between their home bank account and their Thai bank account. Make sure you use the correct reason for the transfer since your money needs to show as having come from overseas.

2) as you're from the UK you cannot use income for your visa or extension because you need to have that income certified by your embassy. The UK embassy no longer does this for many years now. Your first 1 year extension will require 800,000 in your bank account.

3) you can use Deemoney to transfer out of Thailand similar to using Wise to transfer in.

Use Wise. Formerly Transferwise