@Pete ******

in some places, if you want to avoid being sent from Pontius to Pilatus, you better use the service of an agent . .

@David ******

you seem to forget that most banks will ask you to include an insurance if you want to open a bank account with them. This insurance will cost you 5000 Baht. So, paying an agent the same 5000 Baht to get a bank account opened, doesn't set you back one cent

@Doug *******

The news you hear are from people on Non-Imm-O Retirement visa who try to open a bank account by themselves. They should have employed agents. Almost every agent in Pattaya can get a bank account opened for anyone having entered Thailand on a 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa. Not with the Bangkok Bank, but with most of the other Thai banks. The price in Pattaya is around 5000 THB. The only pre-requisite is to have arrived on a Non-Imm-O Retirement visa, having a Thai phone number and holding a "certificate of residence" from Immigration. Almost every agent can do it

@Daz *********

thanks for confirming that it is indeed possible!

@Max ************

The news you hear are from people on Non-Imm-O Retirement visa who try to open a bank account by themselves. They should have employed agents. Almost every agent in Pattaya can get a bank account opened for anyone having entered Thailand on a 90-days Non-Imm-O Retirement Visa. Not with the Bangkok Bank, but with most of the other Thai banks. The price in Pattaya is around 5000 THB. The only pre-requisite is to have arrived on a Non-Imm-O Retirement visa, having a Thai phone number and holding a "certificate of residence" from Immigration. Almost every agent can do it

@Tony ****

your area is non-touristic, that's why all these bank staff didn't have any clue. In Pattaya, if you have entered on any Non-Imm visaclass, it's possible to get a bank account opened. If you want to do it seamlessly, just use an agent, it costs 5000 THB

@Robert ******

go to Pattaya and visit the German speaking agent

@Stefan *******

. His agency will get a Thai drivers license for you

On any Non-Imm visa class you can get a Thai bank account opened

Many bank staff but have no idea what to do if the applicant is a foreigner, and will dream up random requirements so they avoid to tell you they don’t know. It’s all about “face saving”-

That’s why I suggest before you try that by yourself, let an agent help you.

It should cost around 5000 THB to get a bank account opened by an agent, at least that's the price in Pattaya

yes, on this visa you can get a Thai bank account opened, however I suggest before you try that by yourself, let an agent help you. It should cost around 5000 THB to get a bank account opened by an agent, at least that's the price in Pattaya

@Ally ***********

this is a lot of wrong info what Sai Wansai posted. The most critical part is that he can't open a Thai bank account on a touristic entry

@Gary *********

the re-entry permit is contingent to the stay permit it is bought for. If you buy a 3800 THB multi re-entry permit for the 90 days out of a Non-Imm-O visa, it is only good for travels within these 90 days. You would waste 1800 THB, because for the two trips to Vietnam and Japan you only need to buy two single re-entry permits, for 1000 THB each. Then once you have been issued a "1-year Extension of the Stay Permit based on Retirement", you need to spend another 3800 THB for a multi re-entry permit that will enable you to keep the one-year stay permit alive in case you travel abroad during this period