Thailand question: How can I open a Thai bank account?
Dear readers,
To apply for a marriage visa, I need a bank account with an amount of 2 THB for at least 400.000 months. However, I initially based on the information given by an employee of the immigration office in Khon Kaen, who told me that the above does not apply to a marriage visa. Unfortunately, this turns out to be a requirement and I have to do several border runs to tackle this problem and wait 2 months (as soon as I can open a bank account) since I opened the bank account.
Now I have already been to 5 different bank branches and I always get the message that I need a legalized copy of my passport. In addition, I must have proof of residence address that must be issued by the Dutch embassy.
I submitted the question to the embassy (the Netherlands worldwide) and they indicate that I must meet certain requirements, such as having a residence permit and a rental contract in my name. This is a chicken and egg problem because the bank asks for this document that I need to apply for a marriage visa, while the embassy can only issue the document if I already have a visa / residence permit.
I'm really at my wits end and don't know what else to do now. Has anyone experienced this problem and how did you solve it?
I obviously used the search mode on this blog and came up with a few answers that were all somewhat similar: Try it at different bank branches and if you're lucky you won't be asked for these documents. Based on that information, I have now made 5 attempts without success.
Regards,
gash
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September 2022 Opened an account at the Bangkok bank Khonkean
Needed a statement from khonkean immigration office proof of where to live
Showing my girlfriend's house book
With paper to the bank and arranged
Ps paper immigration is the same I think you need when applying for a driver's license
Don't know where and which banks you've been to…. It is easier in cities where many tourists come, so Pattaya Bangkok for example
If your income is more than 40.000 baht per month, you can also use that.
Legalize your income through the embassy, or first consult with immigration.
I used my income requirement.
I live in Lampang and went to Kasikornbank with my Thai wife and let her arrange it. I think the Bangkok bank also accepts farang and there is another bank that accepts but I don't know the name of it right now.
The solution is to bring your passport and proof of residency (like your lease agreement) to your embassy and ask for a letter of reference that confirms your Thai address. Once you've received the letter, show it and your passport to the bank and you'll be able to open the account.
Obtain proof of residency from your IMM together with your landlord.
TM 30 is desired.
What is TM30 notification?
The TM30 notification and its underlying laws are about the obligation of a landlord (housemaster, possessor, or manager) to report the stay of a foreigner (non-Thai national) in his/her property. All foreigners staying in Thailand and their hosts should be very well aware of this. The laws with regard to the TM30 and the obligation to report a foreigner's stay have been in place for some time since 1979, but the government has started to enforce it more strictly lately and added this as a requirement to the 90-day reporting and extension or visa.
Dear Jaap,
At the time, I hired a law firm in Bangkok called Siam Legal.
For an amount of 4000 baht (in July 2021) they arrange for someone from the office to act as guarantor and with the papers you receive from Siam Legal, you can open a bank account within a few minutes at the Bankok bank located in Exchange Tower. just a copy of your passport.
If you need information or help, please respond to this message.
I already tried to open a bank account with Bangkok Bank on my tourist visa because I will be returning to Thailand in June on a non-immigration O visa. Then want to have this converted to extended Marrige Visa.
So now I was told at Bangkok Bank in Surat Thani that I needed a stamp from the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok to open a bank account on a tourist visa. I showed my marriage certificate and my wife was with me as a witness. But that didn't help.
I was informed that I will have to go to the immigration office in Surat Thani in June with my non-immigration O visa to get the temporary extended stamp of 3 months. That I could then open a bank account. So that I would still have enough time to prove that 40.000 THB is coming into my Thai bank account every month.
1. Your Non-immigrant O with which you will enter in June will not be converted to “extended marriage visa” later. You will only extend your stay of 90 days by one year on the basis of Thai Marriage.
2. Why should you go to immigration in June, if you entered with a Non-immigrant O, to get a “temporary extended stamp of 3 months”.
That is not necessary because you have already had 90 days on arrival due to your Non-immigrant visa.
This only applies if you first want to convert a tourist status to a Non-immigrant. Then you first get 90 days, which you can then extend by a year. So not applicable for you in June because then you will already be entering on a Non-immigrant visa.
3. A Non-immigrant status is nowadays always requested to open a bank account.
People used to not be difficult about Tourist statuses, but that all seems to be a bit stricter now.
4. I opened my first bank account sometime in 96 or so with the then “Thai Farmer Bank”, now “Kasikorn”, in Pattaya. Hardly any questions were asked. I had used the address of the guesthouse where I was staying and they were fine with that. My correspondence from the bank also arrived there. Could then only withdraw money with the bank book and had no card if I remember correctly. So I always had to go to a bank branch of Thai Farmer Bank. Almost all foreigners then used the “Thai Farmer Bank”. At least the ones I knew then anyway.
Normally if you are married and you are going to open a bank account together with your wife, this should not be a problem. You have your proof of marriage and your wife's address.
That account will be in your name. Your wife is only there as witnesses and for her records.
Otherwise, you will have to ask for proof of address at immigration. It does not have to come from the embassy.
Problem will be more because you are staying here on a Tourist basis I think. And a Non-immigrant mu is usually asked.
If you had already applied for a Non-immigrant O Thai Marriage visa before your departure, that problem would have been solved.
As far as financial requirements are concerned, there is a difference between converting to a Non-immigrant Thai marriage and a year extension as a Thai Marriage.
When converting a tourist to a Non-immigrant, the money does not have to be paid 2 months in advance. Just like the co-workers said. However, you may be asked to demonstrate that the money then comes from abroad.
https://bangkok.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022C1_06.pdf
When extending your period of stay afterwards, the requirement is that it is in the bank account 2 months before the application.
And if you don't have enough income otherwise, at least 40 Baht monthly. Can you still use a visa support letter from the embassy. Afterwards it should be no problem to open a bank account with your non-immigrant.
gash
A year ago I moved to Thailand and wanted to apply for a Thai marriage visa.
I went to Khorat immigration to change my visa exemption to a 3 month stay and also ask for a document to open a Thai bank account.
This was neatly provided, of course, with the entire passport copied.
To the bank and have all the pages of your passport copied again and an hour later outside with a bank book.
But important is the paper from the local immigration office. Or a document from the Dutch embassy as you describe. but they actually ask for a residence visa and then issue the document.
I have to say honestly at Khorat immigration tells me what I wanted and it was neatly explained to me what I needed and the necessary documents were filled in with me and explained what I was still missing and how I could get it
Need a legalized copy of passport? In addition, a proof of residence address that must be issued by the Dutch embassy.
Rarely bizarre!!
The bank SEES your passport, and that IS already legalized by the Dutch government. Completely mad that a passport has to be legalized.
Normal practice is that the bank employee makes a copy of this and you sign that copy. With your signature you confirm that this is a correct copy of your passport.
Residence address in Thailand that must be issued by the Dutch embassy?
Just as strange. You can prove your residence address with a rental contract or - if you live with your Thai wife in her house - via the report she made at immigration. With this notification, your address is officially known to the Thai government. You can request a form from immigration confirming that address.
This is discussed here for example for a driver's license:
https://aseannow.com/topic/1068919-proof-of-address-from-immigration-for-thai-driving-licence/
And yet it can just be desired Kees 2 and therefore without a bank account at that bank.
Passport legalized by embassy [why, there are quite a few fake passports in circulation and so the embassy can say that thing is real]
Proof of resident through TM 30 and the landlord [your friend with her blue book] at IMM
The embassy does not issue the residence address, which only confirms that form, which is a bit different, although strange, I agree with you.
See link https://bit.ly/3D1kyBo and my previous comment.
Of course you can also just walk around the banks until……………………….
Perhaps opening an and/or account, so Kasikornbank wedding papers and passport together with your wife is a piece of cake.
In November I opened an account with the Bangkok Bank in Patong, Phuket quite smoothly. Here are the steps and you will have your bill in the afternoon.
1.get your hotel to put you in the TM30 computer system. Every hotel knows how to do that.
2. Go to Immigration Office near Bangla Road and near Patong Phuket Beach. Get here at 10am on a weekday! And don't forget your passport.
3. They take a picture of you there with their mobile.
4. Come back after lunch at 13 pm.
5. You get a paper with a stamp
6. Go to the basement of Jungceylon mall with paper and passport. Walk into the branch of Bangkok Bank there. Before 15 pm you have your account with bank card. They do require you to take out insurance. But for a few thousand Baht they will arrange that for you.
I just experienced the same. I only have one piece of advice: go to bank branches with your partner until you find one that works. It happened to me on the eighth attempt…
Yep, it hit me on the 3rd try.
If you enter Thailand with a Non-O visa, on the basis of being married to a Thai person or as a single person, you will already receive a residence permit of 90 days. So you have just under a month to open a bank account.
It is common knowledge that the most flexible bank is the Bangkokbank.
I suppose your Thai wife must know someone who works for the Thai government. Take it with you as a 'guarantor'. There is no risk for this person because you will only receive a DEBET card and with this, if there is insufficient balance on the account, you cannot make any payments or withdrawals.
At Bangkokbank they don't ask for a legalized copy of the passport, they just take the copy themselves.
You must have a Non-O visa and an official place of residence, but this must not have been issued by the embassy. Immigration office, using the TM30, is also accepted here.
If your wife has her own home: registering with the Ampheu there is also valid.
You can easily get all this done in 1 week. I did it that way and it didn't even take a week and was at a more difficult bank than Bangkokbank, ie SCB bank.
If it doesn't work at one office, go to another and ask for the manager if necessary. The amount you want to bet can also play a role.
Dear Jaap,
Your situation is unclear to me. On what basis do you currently reside in Thailand? Did you enter without a visa (30 days), non-o immigrant?, other visa? If you have to do border run I presume you don't have a visa (or maybe tourist visa??) but you are married to Thai (if official you already have registration in ampher I presume) and I presume you live together at the same address in Thailand? Then why don't you go to "ampher" of your place of residence and request a yellow book.
It is no problem with most banks to open an account if you have valid residence documents + yellow booklet or rental contract (possibly supplemented with a copy of the blue booklet of your spouse/place of residence). Kasikorn and Krungthai I got myself that way. So prepare your residence documents and you can open a bank account, and then adjust your desired visa (retirement, for example, to marriage) so that you can obtain an extension of stay every year.
To my knowledge, opening a Thai bank account without valid residence documents and/or rental contract is impossible.
Success!
In the winter of 2018-2019 I stayed with my girlfriend and have had the Non-imm-O visa ever since.
To be able to extend that by a year every time, I also needed a bank account with 800.000 baht or the combination of sufficient income and money in a bank account.
We went to the local Bangkok Bank branch, where my girlfriend already had an account.
With a copy of my Passport and Visa and my girlfriend's Tambien Job I was able to open an account without further ado. She had to declare that I lived with her.
In order to get my annual extension, I also have an income statement via the Ned that first year. Embassy requested because there was not enough in the bank account yet.
It can therefore help if you let someone from Thailand come with you to the bank where that person is known.
I wish you success in opening a bank account in the short term
It was very easy for me in rayong I went to krugthai just got a bank book was just on vacation in Thailand for 3 months
I went to the BKK bank in Korat with a friend of mine. She sorted everything out and it was all arranged within half an hour. I had to immediately deposit 200 euros so that they knew it was serious. That was done at a very bad rate. But I'm back home and have already deposited the amount with Wise. So take someone with you who also has an account at the BKK Bank and you will be helped quickly. Sorry I had to proof of emigration that I slept there that address is needed to also send mail. So all I needed was my passport and proof from the emigration office that I was actually staying there. That's all dur give it a try, preferably with a female partner or a person
After entering with visa-exemption, when applying for a residence period of one year (Thai marriage), you were first given a period of three months and in advance received a statement from the Immigration in Lamphun that can also be used to apply for a Thai driver's license. to ask.
With that to the Bangkok Bank and opened an account.
An account with which I can also pay with the Bangkok Bank App by scanning a QR code.
Without the statement from Immigration, no bank would open an account.
A visa Exemption period is a Tourist residence period and you cannot obtain an annual extension for that.
You first get 90 days (not 3 months) because the Visa Exemption must first be converted to a Non-immigrant. That is the period you would also receive if you had entered with a Non-immigrant O, for example. You can extend those 90 days by a year.
Since you also have to prove a place of residence when converting, immigration knows your place of residence and you can already obtain a Certificate of Residence. That Certificate of Residence should suffice as proof of address for opening a bank account.
I opened a bank account at the krungsri bank with a tourist visa, it was in 2018 and in the presence of my Thai wife.
What was needed was my passport, my wife's ID and her Tambien Job.
My experience was that they wanted to see a long lease and your visa type. Rental contract was 1 year, visa non immi O. Long ago, various banks