What should I prepare to open a bank account in Thailand with a new US passport?

Question

I thought I’d share this banking experience, just in case it could help someone. Background: I have a newer US Passport, the one with the weird patterned photos that make you look like a criminal. Anyway, I’m at the K-Bank at Central, on Beach Road in Pattaya. I have all my docs in order and we’re flying along in the process when it comes time to A) take my picture, and B)take a picture of my passport photo. The K-Bank system rejected multiple attempts by their rep, each time saying the photos do not look like the same person. By the way, at K-Bank they use their iPads to take the photos - I wonder if they should upgrade that process. The rep tried and tried with no success, finally telling to go home and make my beard shorter. That night, I followed this advice and the next day went to the K-Bank located in the Big C Super Center on Central Road. Same sh!t. Just when the rep and I were wondering what to do next, another rep who had been following along at a distance ran over, saw that I have a new US passport and started shouting, “no, no, no! US Passport! US Passport!”. He grabbed it and with a big smile told me he was going to make this work. He went to a remote corner of the small branch and took photos of the passport at a weird angle. He came back laughing and gave everything to my rep saying, “go ahead, it will work now”. And just like that, when the rep took my like 20th photo….voila! it matched with the passport photo, and we sailed through the rest of the process. So if anyone has this problem at a bank, I recommend you ask the rep to call their home office and check on the best practices for taking a photo of the new USPassport.

Ask Thailand · Answer

A user shares their frustrating experience opening a bank account in Pattaya, Thailand, with a new US passport which caused issues due to the bank's photo recognition system. After multiple failed attempts, a bank employee successfully took the photo at an angle that was accepted. Other commenters also shared similar experiences with different passports and offered insights on the required documents and tips for opening an account in Thailand.

Mats ********* · Answer

Maybe natural not indoor light?

V.A. ********** · Answer

Happened to me at Bangkok Bank. Told me to shave my beard told him to go die somewhere

Gregory ********* · Answer

AI needs oversight

Patricia ************** · Answer

Whoooh, I had my teeth clenched while reading this 😬😅. Whooh, I'm so glad it worked out, and thank you for sharing!

Bill ********** · Answer

Happened to me at an upcountry K+; not a big deal.  Max transfer of 50K was a bigger deal for me.

Raphael ****** · Answer

Happened to me too, German passport, took whay felt like 30-45min, taking my picture over n over again until it finally worked. It’s their software which can be no problem or absolut shit at other times. Took me 3 fkcng hours, maybe I’m exaggerating but felt like freaking 3 hours just to open a bank account. My branch was in a lotus.

And just for general info: had all the according documents in order and with me as requested

And just for general info: had all the according documents in order and with me as requested

Rene ******************** · Answer

Thank you for this, my passport keeps getting rejected as well when I'm trying to get my tick tock store open, keeps telling me it's been " altered", I am beyond frustrated