Which bank should I choose in Thailand to open an account for my Non-Immigrant O visa, and can the deposit be in Euro?

Forget the interest Rates.The account has to be an account that can be used all the time.I use the Krung Thai bank.Very good Internet banking.

Have you checked all the posts about just how difficult it is to open a bank account anywhere nowadays?

i would go for the 65k baht monthly transaction if thats viable with your situation and the immigration office you go through… its financially the best way to do it. dont put 400 or 800k dead money into a thai account. not when you can make 5-10% gains on it in the western world. conservatively

Just consider that 800k baht as the price of living in Thailand on a retirement visa. I'd say it's worth it in terms of cost of living/quality of life.

Interest!

If you not want to open thai bank account , other options is you have to have monthly income minimum 65,000 bath , You can ask more information from immigration office where you stay in Thailand.

Keep it at home and well invested. Making 8% on your money would pay you 64k baht equivalent EVERY YEAR. Which more than covers paying an agent 17k annually to do all the work for you

If you can. Right after you get your NON-O retirement visa and a bank account, start sending in a minimum of 65,000 baht each month right away. Use this method to live off of for the year. When you go back to do the next renewal, then you can show immigration that you have been bringing in that monthly amount. After that you can take the 800,000 baht out and spend or invest how you like. Just continue to bring in a bare minimum of 65,000 baht monthly. I did this method when l did my 1st renewal on my own last year.

Why do you worry about the low interest for bank deposits in Thailand?

The 800,000 THB deposit in your Thai bank account enables you to get the "1-year parking ticket" for a country where everything costs less than half the price than in your home country.

Why would you ignore this advantage?

Are people really pleased at throwing money away to agents who feed the corruption at the Immigration office?

And, by the way, I receive 1.25% interest per year for my SCB savings account. This pays for the Debit Card fee and leaves me with a profit of something like 3000 Baht. Better than nothing.

watch the wording: you don't "extend my Non-Imm-O visa". You get stamped in for a 90-days stay permit, and this stay permit you can get extended for one year . . . . . . . . . . . After having entered Thailand, you need to get registered in your accommodation per TM30 within 24 hours of arrival in the premises. If you rent or live in a friend’s accommodation, the landlord or the friend has to register you.

Immigration will only service you if you are properly registered in your accommodation by the TM30.

Every landlord, friend or hotel needs to register you within 24 hours of your arrival in the premises. While hotels do this automatically online, many landlords and friends are not aware of this or haven’t registered their house or rooms in the system. It is your responsibility to ensure that you get properly TM30 registered by your landlord or the hotel.

Within this 90-days stay permit period, you have plenty of time to arrange for the application to the “1-year extended stay permit based on retirement” (which people wrongly refer to as a “retirement visa”- actually, this thing is not a visa. It is an extended stay permit)

In order to apply for the “90-days single entry Non-Imm-O retirement visa” through the online E-visa system at the Royal Thai Embassy of your home country, you can use the proof of income of a monthly minimum of equivalent of 65,000 THB, by using your original pension statements or other income documentation.

Or you use a deposit of a minimum of 800,000 THB or the equivalent in your home country currency, or on your home bank account, or on a Thai bank, or just anywhere in the World – as long as the account is in your sole name

However, for the application inside Thailand for the “1-year extension of stay permit” out of the 90-days Non-Imm-O retirement visa, if you are a citizen of a country, whose embassy in Thailand does not issue the “income affidavit” any more (which are the embassies of the USA, UK and Australia, Norway and Canada - AFAIK)

you would need proof by a “12 months bank statement”, showing that for the past 12 months, you have been transferring from abroad to your Thai bank account, month for month, not missing one single month, a minimum of 65,000 THB. The transfers must be coded in your bankbook as foreign transfers coming in from abroad

If your embassy still issues a legalized affidavit of income, you can use this method for the financial proof, as long as you can show a monthly income or pension of a minimum of 65,000 THB.

Some Immigrations have started to require that you at least have a Thai bank account and SOME money gets transferred into it from abroad – and they might also ask you for the source of the income.

For above mentioned citizens, in the first year there is no other way around than depositing a minimum of 800,000 THB in your Thai bank account and use this deposit for the financial proof.

For the application to the “one year extension of stay permit based on being over 50/retired” you need to show a minimum of 800,000 THB in your account, and on the day you apply, the funds must have been sitting in the account for a minimum of 2 months, and you got the “bank letter of guarantee” that confirms this.

NOTE: It is income method OR deposit method.

And there is a third method, called the “combination method”:

A combination, a mix of income and deposit.

Some immigrations don’t allow the combination method in the first year. And some Immigration want the deposit part to exceed 400,000 THB. The combination method means that the sum of the deposit AND the monthly income exceeds 800,000 THB in one year.

But let’s continue with the “normal method” (visa issued in your home country, followed by the application to the Extension inside Thailand):

On the day of application to the 1-year extension, the 800,000 THB must have “seasoned” in your account for two months, and this has to be proven with the “bank letter of guarantee” (rab roong thanakan).

What else do you need on Immigration?

*** Immigration might ask you to present your updated bankbook, and a receipt of a small sum withdrawal at an ATM of the same day.

*** a copy (and original) of your passport detail page signed in blue ink

*** a copy (and original) of the .pdf visa document signed in blue ink

*** a copy (and original) of the printed TDAC (if applicable) signed in blue ink

*** 1900 THB in cash

*** the TM7 form you can fill out at the Immigration

*** Immigration will ask you to sing several “exclusion of responsibility” forms (STM)

You should visit Immigration asap after you entered and ask them for the handout list of requirements. Some Immigrations use an individual approach to the official rules.

After been issued the “1-year Extension of Stay”, the 800,000 THB need to remain in the account for 3 more months. After these 3 months, the deposit shall never go under 400,000 THB. And before your application for the next “1-year Extension of Stay”, a minimum of 800,000 THB must have seasoned in the account for two months, again

When you get issued the “1-year extension of stay”, you should always buy a re-entry permit for it.

A re-entry permit will keep your 1-year stay permit alive in case you exit Thailand before the expiry of the 1-year stay permit.

A single re-entry permit is 1000 THB on Immigration. A multi re-entry is 3800 THB.

With a multi re-entry permit, you can exit and re-enter as many times as you wish during the whole 1-year stay permit period.

Good Luck and a great time in Thailand

Just opened at Kasikorn. 0.25%

Virtually no interest paid in any of the Thai Banks. Money must be in Thai Baht. For gods sake don’t use Bangkok Bank, they are freezing accounts

This is why I leave my money in the UK,interest will pay the agents fees and some.

You're not going to get a good interest rate in a Thai bank. Find one that offers good service and avoid Bangkok bank like the plague.

Sure enjoy your .25% paid once a year or maybe every 6 months where do you think you are? Dude they want to take but don't want to pay. Welcome to Thailand.

I use gsb.

I would suggest kasikorn bank and you have to have the money in thai bhat and as for interest you won't get much i have 400,000 left in my account for my marriage extension of stay and over the year I got 571.54B interest and paid 85.73B tax in June then 533.27B and paid 79.99B in December 👍🤣

Thai Baht only and your interest rate is not going to be very good. Banks wherever you can open might need to shop around. Krungsri, Kasikorn and the old favorite but not anymore Bangkok bank

Not Bangkok bank

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