Job Discussion Forums

[Volodiya]

Ken has said the problems non-residents run into when trying to open accounts are persistent. Some of the practical reasons that may be so have been discussed, already. The bank personnel may, themselves, be under a misimpression of the law about the right of non-residents to open accounts. They may not speak English, well. They may just not want to deal with "foreigners". (Some of you, with better imaginations, can probably think of other reasons.)

If the problem is a misimpression of the Thai Law on the part of bank personnel, it couldn't hurt to print out the BOT web page showing that opening accounts for non-residents is allowed, and showing it to the people you're dealing with.

There is one other, practical, suggestion that I could offer. When first opening a Baht savings account, open it using foreign currency (which will be converted by the bank to Baht when depositing it to the account).

Kenkannif wrote:

[Volodiya]

My recent banking experience, with accounts at HSBC, has brought some of what we were discussing into sharper relief, so I'd like to add a few comments.

Our discussion has concerned the rights of "non-residents" to open accounts in Thailand. My experience, and the quoted portions of Thai Law on this thread, make it clear that non-residents have that right.

Ken talked of running into problems opening accounts into which wages, earned in Thailand, would be deposited.

The reason there is a problem is that wages, earned in Thailand, is not a permissible source of deposits to a non-resident account. The holder of a non-immigrant visa is a "temporary resident" of Thailand and, if they also hold a work permit, they may open a "resident" account* into which wages, earned in Thailand, may be deposited.

When Ken spoke of persuading a bank to open a resident account for a teacher who had not yet obtained a work permit, the bank was indeed doing him a favor, trusting him and his employee to complete the process of obtaining the work permit, at a later date.
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* I have made an effort, throughout, to make use of the terminology used in Thai Law and Banking Regulations. Although the account owner of such an account would be the national of another country, he would be a temporary resident of Thailand, and the account properly referred to as a resident account- "resident account" defining the rights of, and limitations imposed on, the account owner.