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I am   well past he age to be working and I have come against a brick wall in the form of Thai bureaucracy.

 

In order to comply with the Thai Immigration requirement to show 800K/ 65,000 per month, I require a bank account in which to deposit the money.

Unfortunately for me, having very recently visited all of the banks in my area in Khon Kaen Province, I came up against their requirement for me to have a work permit.  My response to this being at an age of 80 years plus, I don't have such a permit was met in each an every case by a refusal to open an account in my sole name.

 

I would appreciate to know how one is to overcome this problem.   Is it a case of local interpretation of the rules or is it a more general problem throughout Thailand.  It was suggested to me by another foreigner I should move to Pattaya to overcome this problem as it was not a problem in Pattaya.  I have no wish to do that so I am now in a state of limbo and any ideas on the way forward for me would be much appreciated,

 

 

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Suggest you pop into the Blues Bar which is near the fire station and have a breakfast.
Plenty expats there every morning..have a chat with them..maybe someone there could help you.

I am   well past he age to be working and I have come against a brick wall in the form of Thai bureaucracy.
 
In order to comply with the Thai Immigration requirement to show 800K/ 65,000 per month, I require a bank account in which to deposit the money.
Unfortunately for me, having very recently visited all of the banks in my area in Khon Kaen Province, I came up against their requirement for me to have a work permit.  My response to this being at an age of 80 years plus, I don't have such a permit was met in each an every case by a refusal to open an account in my sole name.
 
I would appreciate to know how one is to overcome this problem.   Is it a case of local interpretation of the rules or is it a more general problem throughout Thailand.  It was suggested to me by another foreigner I should move to Pattaya to overcome this problem as it was not a problem in Pattaya.  I have no wish to do that so I am now in a state of limbo and any ideas on the way forward for me would be much appreciated,
 
 


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Read (and possibly print) this page which gives the official requirements for opening a bank account at Bangkok Bank: https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/Foreign-Customers/Bangkok-Bank-Accounts. Scroll down the page and click on Required Documents for opening an account. Note that you may be able to open an account without meeting all the requirements under some circumstances (see below).

 

If you know a respected Thai who would be willing to help you, visit the largest branch of Bangkok Bank in Khon Kaen with him, and ask again to open an account. Take your rental contract (to show you are planning an extended stay) and you would improve your chances if you can get a residence certificate from immigration (or your embassy) before going.

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28 minutes ago, neverceasetobeamazed said:

I would appreciate to know how one is to overcome this problem.   Is it a case of local interpretation of the rules or is it a more general problem throughout Thailand.  It was suggested to me by another foreigner I should move to Pattaya to overcome this problem as it was not a problem in Pattaya.  I have no wish to do that so I am now in a state of limbo and any ideas on the way forward for me would be much appreciated,

in cities and town with large Farang populations this is not so much a problem. very easy here in Hua Hin. Also make sure you are asking for a saving account, not checking.

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55 minutes ago, BritTim said:

Read (and possibly print) this page which gives the official requirements for opening a bank account at Bangkok Bank: https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/Foreign-Customers/Bangkok-Bank-Accounts. Scroll down the page and click on Required Documents for opening an account. Note that you may be able to open an account without meeting all the requirements under some circumstances (see below).

 

If you know a respected Thai who would be willing to help you, visit the largest branch of Bangkok Bank in Khon Kaen with him, and ask again to open an account. Take your rental contract (to show you are planning an extended stay) and you would improve your chances if you can get a residence certificate from immigration (or your embassy) before going.

The residence-cert seems to be mandatory, now, at Bangkok Bank.  A agree that someone with clout could probably work-around that problem.  As long as KK immigration will issue these without too much trouble, that - plus a Thai reference/friend (even not high-status) - may be the way to succeed in this.

 

1 hour ago, neverceasetobeamazed said:

It was suggested to me by another foreigner I should move to Pattaya to overcome this problem as it was not a problem in Pattaya.  I have no wish to do that so I am now in a state of limbo and any ideas on the way forward for me would be much appreciated,

For this to work, you'd still probably need a residence-cert - even there, per recent reports.  But you definitely don't need a work-permit at a couple larger branches in town.

Edited by JackThompson
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In a recent thread about the same problem there was a hint:

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1077065-farang-friendly-bank-in-khon-kaen

 

Another bank branch that was recommend some time ago is the Bangkok Bank branch on Maliwan rd. near the big intersection with highway 2.

https://goo.gl/maps/HLRHc28izyn

 

Where you should not go: any "micro branches" in shopping centers.

Always full branches at roadside.

"Work permit" proofs how stupid they still are when handling foreigners.

Of course not required for a savings account.

As written above: proof of residence always required.

I guess you talk in English to them?

And there is indeed a big lack of English knowledge all over here.

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There have been many threads on this topic. Recently where some suggest it is now difficult and in same thread posts of recent "it was easy".... For sure you need go to head office. Not sure about kk.

Many years ago, I had same issue in bkk. Catch 22. Need work permit. Sorry I'm applying for non o based on retirement. Wasted time till I went to head office. Sukhumvit.

 

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It never ceases to amaze me that 60/70/80! year olds move here without knowing what is allowed and what isn't, or with no family/friends to help them out with something as simple as opening a bank account. 

I assume you have a Thai friend who is a local to Khon Kaen. She must have family or friends in the area that work in a bank, it's still a small town in the regard that everyone knows each other. Can you imagine a Thai pensioner moving to rural England without having a network of friends?

Edited by MrPatrickThai
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3 hours ago, MrPatrickThai said:

It never ceases to amaze me that 60/70/80! year olds move here without knowing what is allowed and what isn't, or with no family/friends to help them out with something as simple as opening a bank account

We don't know all of the gentleman's circumstances but even if he is there alone and didn't research everything first, I SALUTE his late life sense of adventure. I hope he has a 'ball'.

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3 hours ago, MrPatrickThai said:

It never ceases to amaze me that 60/70/80! year olds move here without knowing what is allowed and what isn't, or with no family/friends to help them out with something as simple as opening a bank account. 

I assume you have a Thai friend who is a local to Khon Kaen. She must have family or friends in the area that work in a bank, it's still a small town in the regard that everyone knows each other. Can you imagine a Thai pensioner moving to rural England without having a network of friends?

Did you consider that "what is allowed", regarding income verification, may have changed since he retired here?

It is only in the last few months that it has become necessary to have a Thai bank account and make regular deposits into it.

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10 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

What a condensing comment. I came los first time at @ 55 without a clue.

When I came you didn't really need a clue. Everything was just easy and less complicated. Lived here on a triple entry TV for quite a long time, next a Non-Imm-O multi. Never needed to go to immigration and walked straight into a bank, got an account, bought a phone, got a SIM nothing needed.

Darn not sure I could get my head around it all now!

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The work permit thing is a general problem, staff at a local UOB branch confirmed this, " all branches Guidance". Similar response at Krungsi earlier in the year for a Thai baht account, But after showing my visa, etc, they let me open a FCD account in GBP.  minimum balance $500 eqiv. 1% fee (minimum 500 baht) on deposits, but free withdrawals at the full website exchange rate ( or slightly better I have found), no pass book,,quarterly statements by post and an electronic card for in branch use + debit card for Krungsi ATMs only. Great account and easy to transfer money from the UK.

 

If you are down at Bangkok, I would recommend opening a Thai baht account at Bangkok bank's head office.

Edited by johnwf1963
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Bangkok Bank at Central Plaza. They ask for you to take a government officer to vouch for you.

 

Alternatively, Bangkok bank on Sri Jan road, near the Jarern Thani Princess hotel, but beware there's a guy there who try\ies to cheat farang out of money. Twice, he tried to charge me expenses from both ends when sending money. 

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15 hours ago, johnwf1963 said:

If you are down at Bangkok, I would recommend opening a Thai baht account at Bangkok bank's head office.

They won't open one now without the residence letter, even at the Silom head office. 

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11 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

It's a problem I've faced every time I've wanted to open a bank account in Pattaya.

Often they say no because too scared and unable to speak English .  Branches in ghettos like buakhao are easy to open, but some require residency certificate which you can get even if you staying in hotel on a 30 day visa exempt. Just get hotel to write a letter confirming your reside in hotel 

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9 hours ago, lamyai3 said:

They won't open one now without the residence letter, even at the Silom head office. 

In January 2018, I opened an account in Sukumvit (near so 10) without residence letter. However, the manager wanted to verify my US address. So I had to go to US embassy to get a sworn statement verifying my US address. They accepted my lease for Thai address. 

After that I changed address multiple times and updated my address and phone number each time with the same branch without showing my lease.

Recently (last month) I opened an account in Jomtien (near Rompho market) and they opened it with only the passbook. And updated my Pattaya address in both the account. 

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I moved province 18 months ago and decided to move my bank account to a local branch , no can do !! need work permit !! Not really a problem as my existing branch is only an hour down the road but it does seem like they are unwilling to help out at some branches and “ work permit “ is their safety net for avoiding paper work !

My advice would be to take along a Thai speaking friend of relative high standing ( local headman, police , government worker etc ).

Good luck, I hope you get sorted.

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4 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

My advice would be to take along a Thai speaking friend of relative high standing ( local headman, police , government worker etc ).

If you happen to have one in the cupboard?

I would struggle to comply with this.

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22 hours ago, onera1961 said:

In January 2018, I opened an account in Sukumvit (near so 10) without residence letter. However, the manager wanted to verify my US address. So I had to go to US embassy to get a sworn statement verifying my US address. They accepted my lease for Thai address. 

This is the point - I also went to soi 10 last year, and eventually to the head office in Silom. They weren't refusing to open an account, only saying they couldn't do so without some sort of embassy letter. This was due to changes in policy throughout the company around four years ago, confirmed to me by a senior staff member at their head office who spoke good English. They did offer me the option of getting one of my UK banks to send a statement by SWIFT attesting to the fact I was an account holder, but when I tried, my UK banks all said sorry, this was not a regular procedure using SWIFT and had no idea what Bangkok Bank was after. By contrast I came very close to opening an account with BB (soi 10) around 2014 and I was only on a tourist visa at the time - they were fine about it, but insisted on an ATM card with fees, so I opened one with KTB instead close by. 

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