@Trigger ********

Not anymore on a tourist visa.

@Mark **************

I bet you did this before April 1st.

@Brad *********

Not that easy if you don't have a long stay visa

@Viola *******

I am not lucky? Ha! Luck has nothing to do with it but keep trying.

@Sharron ******

You can get a retirement visa before you leave home with different requirements.

@Steve ******

No longer true. Banking rules in country changed in March. They will not give accounts to tourist visa holders or VOA.

@Till *****

Won't help me when I try to file for my retirement visa in country if it's in another person's name.

@Viola *******

Tried all that. Residence cert, copy of my condo lease, big stack of thai baht. All did not matter because I had a tourist visa and there regs are no new accounts with tourist visa.

Good luck if you don't have a long term visa.

I hit 11 bank branches in Phuket over the past 12 days. Bangkok Bank, SCB and Kasikorn. All said no when I showed them my passport and METV.

At one Bangkok branch in Kathu I was shown a memo that said due to changes in regulations the bank will no longer open accounts for holders of Tourist visas. The paper was dated April of this year.

Good luck.

@Chris ******

That was years ago. Not saying they don't "have ways" of getting it done but things changed drastically this year. And I had a residency certificate from immigration.