The phone app version (iPhone & Android) is easier to use than the desktop PC online version.

How to use tutorial at YouTube link below. The video is kind of long and rambling. Skip to @22:00 and @44:00 for the more concise instructions.

@Mark ********

Hang on—2-16 weeks in our experience.

Evan Meades Four months here. I had given up at three.

Six months ago, I went to a tiny Bangkok Bank branch in a shopping mall just north of you (Nong Bua Lamphu).

Opened two single accounts and one joint account. Passport only. They already had the IRS form.

Yes, your Khon Kaen friend was correct. Even different branches of the same bank have vastly different levels of competence.

Adam Melnick Same here.

THEM: “Oh, our ATM ate your card? That will be 200B please.”

ME: This just happened like 10 minutes ago. Why don’t you just open the ATM and retrieve it?

THEM: Blank stare.

Via Bangkok Bank only in Thailand?

@Tan ***********

I guess we should define "long stay." I constantly hear bitching on the internet of people wanting to live here permanently, some retired, not really identifying as "tourists," maybe even has a bar or a dive shop, but trying to string along the government with back-to-back tourist visas. That day is quickly coming to an end. Interestingly, these are the ones who yell and complain the loudest.

Are we talking about the same kind of scam?

James Siegel Daily practice and procedures by immigration employees is what counts here. Not an “official rule.” Are you new to Thailand?

Reasons for long stay: retirement, education employment, and family are the main ones. I believe there’s a visa for each of those scenarios.

If you try getting a tourist visa for any of those above reasons, forget it and watch your back.

@Tan ***********

Could that possibly be because....tourist visas aren’t appropriate for long stayers?

Just a wild thought.

I think I read that if you go back to your own country and get an annual retirement visa from the Thai embassy, you can show all your income (or 800K baht) in a bank or regular deposits stateside without having to deal with this Thailand-side documentation showing cash coming from outside the country. Anyone else hear of this?