@James ************

you pay on the Wise side, around 2% on top for the cash advance, which is larger than the Thai side fee. It's not terrible but it's not as good as transfer to a Thai bank account.

@Matthew ******

they actually don't, it's zero markup on the Visa exchange rate which is typically around 0.3-0.4% (you can check on the Visa site exactly what it is). It's actually usually *slightly* cheaper to take money out of an ATM with a Schwab card than use Wise to transfer to a Thai bank account. Slightly, they are both close enough it makes no practical difference

@Pe**

Elite is also a tourist visa. There's no explicit legal restriction on this. Having said that I don't deny DTV holders are finding it very difficult, and there obviously was a concerted change of policy. But it's not because it's a tourist visa and tourist visa holders are legally prohibited from opening bank accounts.

@Dany *******

there's nothing specific in the Thai tax code about citizens. They absolutely plan all this stuff around Thai people but it applies to all residents. The US is one of very few countries who have citizenship based taxation.

Anonymous participant 250 yes, it's entirely about where you are physically. Doesn't matter that the money comes from the US into a US entity and you can be paid into a US bank account. If it's a US LLC you'd still be liable for any corporate taxes but you would claim the exemption on your personal income taxes on the salary your LLC pays you.

You can still use cash for almost everything, I have local bank accounts but still mostly use cash. The main thing I value the local bank for is the stuff that needs a local card, like Shopee, although I've heard SOME foreign cards will work on that.

If you can get a good foreign travel card from your home country, ATM use isn't too bad, this does depend on where you are from. For Americans with something like Schwab, using an ATM is as cheap as Wise transfers, even slightly better. You can also try bank counter cash advances, this skips the 250B Thai side fee. Not all will do them but if you look around maybe you can find a bank that will. Most of the cost is your home bank though not this 250B, so important to minimise that. Take the max out of the ATM each time.

Wise lets you do transfers to most Thai accounts and it's often instant, you can use this to pay rent.

The QR system is convenient if you forget cash and just have your phone but it's really a convenience over cash, I have never found a place in Chiang Mai that will not take cash either. In COVID times it was encouraged but that's over now. Maybe in Bangkok.

@El***

Depends on the card. Does it have a watermark?

Anonymous participant 524 the problem is they aren't telling him WHAT wasn't sufficient.

@Ern****

O-A as the initial visa is 1 year I think you can do the 65k from the start, you don't need 800k in a Thai bank.

My understanding, you should be able to get a "Confirmation Letter of International Fund Transfer" from Bank of America in Bangkok (the bank that actually received the international transfer). This will confirm for immigration. As your bank said you'd need to contact BoA to get this.