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.

I travel to bangkok next week with a NON-O Visa (retirement) and i rented a condo there already.

Which bank do you currently recommend to open an account?

Thank you.

Sorry if this has been covered, but I am entering on a non-immigrant OA visa, and my intent is to book a condo or hotel for one month to get TM30, so I could get a COR from immigration to open a bank account without having to get a long term lease at this time. My question is, does it matter for immigration whether my TM30 comes from an Airbnb or from a hotel? Will it make any difference to them whatsoever in terms of getting a COR? And will it make any difference to a bank when I present the COR to open an account? just trying to mitigate any unknowns? Thanks

I was wondering if anyone knew the minimum requirements for getting a Certification of Residence from immigration in Bangkok? Would they do it with a TM 30 from an Airbnb or a TM 47 from a hotel, and what would be the minimum stay allowed by the immigration officer to obtain this?

The goal is to use the COR to open a bank account. I know this is atypical as most would already have a lease , but the reason I am asking is that I am entering the country on a non-immigrant OA for retirement, but because I have a sick parent, I will only be in Thailand for the first three months straight before needing to go back-and-forth to deal with her healthcare. In a perfect world, I would choose to not commit to a one year lease initially and was hoping that getting a COR from immigration would allow me some latitude to open a bank account?

Has anyone done the COR with minimal requirements? Thanks in advance. I’m trying to avoid using an agent if possible. 

Hi all. Today when I wanted to unblock my account at Bangkok bank I was surprised to be asked to go to the embassy of my country for I don't know what certificate. I tried to open another account at Kungskri bank but I was told that for a multiple-entry OA visa they cannot open an account for me. They suggested that I change my visa type. Have these banks become idiots? Have you had this kind of problem? Where is the easiest place to open an account based on an O-A visa?

Epilogue.

I opened my account at Kungskri Bank (a different branch than the one I went to the first time) this morning quickly and without any problems. After opening it, I told them that I wanted to transfer the money from my Bangkok Bank account but it was not possible directly, so I got a driver with the bank's car to take me to close the Bangkok Bank account and return safely with the money I had withdrawn to deposit at Kungskri. Everything went quickly except for the time spent at Bangkok Bank where it took a little longer. Thank you to everyone who recommended me to look for another bank or recommended Kungskri to me. Thank you also to the staff who restored my trust in the professional services that a bank must offer to its customers.

I'm in Thailand on a non-immigrant o type Visa. We intend to apply for a marriage visa. My wife is thai we married in the U.S. We went to Kasikorn Bank to open an account. I had a printed copy of my evisa, my digital arrival card, my passport and our rental agreement. We also had with us a copy of our us marriage license that had been certified by the state the state department and the Thai Embassy in the United States.

Kasikorn Bank refuse to allow me to open up a bank account. I don't understand what's going on has anybody else had this experience with Kasikorn Bank?

Went to open a new account with K bank today Maha Sarakham they told me I have to go to either Bangkok or Chonburi to open new accounts it’s crazy

I’ll be coming to Thailand in the 90 day visa with plans to then apply for the non-o retirement visa.

I’ll need to open a bank account and deposit the 800,000 Baht.

How do I open a bank account without a permanent Thailand address?

Hi everyone

I would like to answer to my on question that I posted yesterday asking how long does it take to open a bank account in Thailand having all the proper paperwork on a

Non- immigrant O visa.

The answer is 1hour as so many of you posted yesterday

The thing with these bank accounts is to open the door of the correct bank and finding employers who are willing to help you. It doesn’t matter if you are in a rural town or in a tourist town where there are lots of foreigners. My experience was going on for 8 days with the employers in KRUNGSRI saying to me we will call you.

So today I went next door to KRUNGTHAI and left in an hour with my account passbook in my hands.

Again thank you all for yesterday’s replies

Hi anyone know how I can open a bank account with British passport please