My opinion is two-fold… First- gone are the days of “easy” banking in thailand .. It USED to be most people could just walk in, visa or not, tourist or not, and walk out with an account and debit card.. true.. it’s not IMpossible .. but it’s becoming far far harder for those who don’t have a legitimate long stay visa/extension to open accounts…

Second - banks are (in)famous for having policies and rules that can vary WIDELY from branch A to branch B .. of the SAME bank.. So it can pay to take the “No.. can not” reply … and just stroll on down to the next branch and try again.

In the OPs case - i might suggest taking his Thai partner with him - sometimes having a Thai person there - even IF they aren’t going to co-sign or any legal/financial interest in the account - can tip the scales in your favor.

One possible way for the government to work around the issue is perhaps to approve a special class of bank account - for example, they can call it a “tourist account”.

Such accounts can then come with their own unique requirements and restrictions. For example, IF there is concern about money laundering, then they could cap in/outbound transfers to $X per transaction or in aggregate.. they can deactivate selected transaction options when using phone app or web-based platforms …

Same way for the bank account for immigration .. depending on visa specifics, some require you hold BX00,000 in a Thai account for Y days.. Create a special account .. you could call it “Immigration Banking”.. and put whatever restrictions you like or need - for example, restrict it to only the foreigner on the ownership title, prohibit online or app withdrawals (to prevent accidentally going below the required minimums) etc

Paul Sargent I agree.. Only because I suspect he Bank of Thailand (BoT) will eventually make it an explicit mandate or implicitly make it such.. I just think BBL, as one of the larger banks in the Kingdom, was the first to go forward..

I’m just wondering..

On some Immigration forms - like the TM7, asks for your last date of entry (and place).. While you would know that, as I recall, for all of my past extensions, I’ve always been asked to provide a photocopy of the passport page that has that entry stamp on it..

To be fair, other forms that ask for your TM6 card number, are largely overlooked as they know, there are, at present, no more arrival cards being issued to air arrivals.

Wonder if this is how it will be for the entry stamp as well…

@Robert ******

“... But why talk about fines for things not done?”. ==> I like to know what could happen if I were to do X, Y or Z... for me it’s just a way to making an early assessment as what i might want to do and the associated risk/reward.

“... Follow the rules, it makes live easy.”. ==> I agree.. but i also must recognize that at time the system in thailand does not always make it easy to follow that axiom.

appreciate your constructive commentary.

@Robert ******

i agree... the one point that i think bears a bit more clarity is that a WP can in fact be cancelled by EITHER the employer or the employer without the other party being present. My experience is that most “reputable” employers (who commonly have either a handful or more of foreign staff presently employed or are experienced with DoE labour rules) will either handle this for the employee or will give them employer the papers necessary for DIY. The only part of the cancellation issue that remind foreigners about is that the penalties for not canceling a permit falls only to the employEE and not the employER.

I wholly agree that the extension (ie immigration matters) falls solely to the foreigner and the employer can’t process anything on your behalf - without you being both present and the original passport in hand.