How can you live without a bank book in Thailand? I seem to remember I had one in England about 50 years ago, but I'm not sure.

@Charles ********

I am on a marriage visa. 2 years ago, we didn't book an appointment, and arrived at Chaeng Wattana at 10 am and were finished at 8 pm. There were still several couples after us.

@Charles ********

I don't understand why people need to pay an agent. Just check with immigration about what documents are needed, fill them out properly and the whole process is a breeze. You have to turn up in person anyway to have your photo taken. The whole process takes about 20 minutes. The only problem is the loooonnnngg waiting time if you don't make an online appointment.

@David *******

so there is a reason. The account holder needs to verify (maybe again) who is. Yes, it's irritating and I am also pretty irritated that I have to verify myself every year on another foreign banking app I have.

@Reinhard *******

They are not stealing your money. No one has lost any money and if they did, it would be a case for the police. They are simply freezing the account until the holder meets the right criteria. Yes, it is annoying, but there have been so many "mule" accounts and other frauds. I have 3 bank accounts I Thailand and all 3 " reminded" me of the rules about telephone number and bank account being in the same name. I went with proof of this and 5 minutes in each place, everything was corrected. I had a bank account " frozen " in a European country where I lived and worked for 25 years, and have 2 children there. It was frozen because I didn't live there anymore. A simple call to the bank and they told me to transfer all the money to Thailand even though I travel to that country 3 or 4 times a year to visit my kids. Yes, it's annoying, but these rules exist because there are so many people who abuse the system. Btw, we still don't know why the OP's account is frozen.

@Bruce ***********

well he does say his friend " visits" Thailand as a tourist, which implies that he comes regularly.

Why did they freeze his account? A bank wouldn't freeze an old account like that without reason?

There are 2 things he can do.

1. Ask on Facebook and get lots of different answers.

2. Go to the bank and ask. There he will get all the info he needs.

My friend has a business account here, but lives in UK. His account here was frozen as there were signs of fraudulent activity. He went to the bank and it was sorted out.

@Nick ***********

I think the problem with immigration is that everything depends on the mood of the officer processing your application. A few years ago, 12 teachers went together, with a representative from the university's HR. Everyone had exactly the same documents, yet one was required to produce another document. No one understood why.

Immigration will never accept that as proof. I once had a long friendly conversation with them about that.

@Keith ******

yes yes. You can do it by mail. Sorry, I thought you meant online.