shopkeepers and restaurant staff are motivated by sales; government officials have no motivation to help farang. at least with agents, they can chit-chat and gossip. the reality is they are overworked and underpaid.

Ian Thomson $290+ depending on what your agent charges

sad to read this. the process is supposed to be easy: apply online for your 90 days, fly over, rent a condo, get the req documents, open a bank account, deposit the money, wait 60 + days, and then get the retirement visa. thailand's 'blind men and an elephant' banking system didnt get the memo! at this point, you either persist, they get sick of you, and will relent, or you relent and use an agent. either way, the clock is ticking. good luck!

Thailand joined CRS and pledged to cut down on non residents getting bank a/c's

siam want 7k or is it 10k? i did it for 5k in pattaya with an agent. took 30 mins. So good visa and service. im not affiliated with them in any way. cheers

The answer depends on when or if you are a thai tax resident for this year - will you be in country for 183 days? if not, then nothing to worry about. if so then be afraid, be very afraid :P

@Ron *******

haha, i visited 12 banks before I caved and went with an agent so I know how you feel mate.

If you are on a tourist visa and not going to be in country then perhaps think again. You may find, like I did, that your account is suddenly restricted in some way for no reason at all. In my case, I can deposit but not send money. 5 calls and back and forth between customer service and they told me I needed a new OTP. . Not sure why as i had a OTP to set up my phone banking. Then, the OTP wouldnt send to my thai number. Again, not sure why as I can receive alerts that I have logged into my account. Anyway, I havent got my 5k worth as it stands and I have an account that is basicaly locked.

Yeah they are sneaky as folk. They offered a change of flights on my ticket but no flights to change to 🤬. I didn't even bother cancelling as I didn't want them to double profit off of the seat.