What is the fastest way to get US government checks directly deposited into a Thai bank account while on a retirement visa?

@Fran ****

the fees with wise.c๐m are pretty reasonable. Other money transfer services exist with cheaper fees (e.g. Remitly) , but they *won't* show up as an international transfer when the money lands in your thai bank account. Only wise.c๐m guarantees this

@Fran ****

there is no "direct deposit" requirement for the retirement visa. The only requirement is that it shows as an international transfer. I know, I've obtained retirement visa extensions using the monthly method.

There are, though, a couple things to watch out for. I use wise.c๐m to transfer the money. For this to work for 65k baht transfers, your thai bank must be SCB or kasikorn or bangkok bank. You must choose "funds for long stay in Thailand" as the reason. This only shows up on the wise.c๐m desktop site, so you have to use a computer. Make your transfers during the first week of every month, so you have time to make additional transfers if something goes wrong. Check your thai online bank website to ensure each transfer is listed as international when it lands in the thai bank account

@Fran ****

you never want to let the banks handle your monthly deposits because if you switch to using the monthly income method for retirement visa and you don't manually do the transfer, eventually it's going to get screwed up and you won't be able to get your extension the next year.

You have to show the transfer every single month, and there are many reasons this can be broken.

Holidays causing the transfer to be a few days early or late.

Technical glitch causing the same.

Budget or government shutdown causing checks to not be issued for a few weeks.

It's just not worth the risk to let them handle it. Do like Jackie said and do it yourself so you know it's correct.