Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the Destination Thailand Visa and Bank Accounts in Thailand. I did want to preface this video by saying I am making long-form content on our paid news service - Integrity News Service - and in the upcoming video I'm going to be making contemporaneously with this one, I'm going to be chiming in on more associated with banking, not only specific to Destination Thailand Visa but just what we are hearing with regard to banking here in Thailand and where I think things are going as well. So if you're interested in that, [email protected], that's where you can find information about our paid new service. That said, getting back into this, what we are hearing and understand, this is anecdotal’ but this is anecdotal from someone in my office who works directly with the banks frequently especially in an immigration context and has dealt with Destination Thailand Visas as well as other Non-Immigrant Visas. Bear in mind, the Destination Thailand Visa was invented entirely by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; it has not really fit in well with internal immigration because immigration internally operates under the Ministry of Interior. It is an entirely different animal from external matters from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And this Visa is sort of a square peg in a round hole. On top of this, you could sit around and say well maybe they should streamline things. I don't think they will and secondly, I don't think they really need to. The Destination Thailand Visa is at the end of the day just effectively a really long Tourist Visa, that is what it is. It is not a Non-Immigrant visa. The Immigration Act of 1979 still is what it is. It has not been amended so yeah, the  Ministry of Foreign Affairs can create a really long Tourist Visa but they still have to deal with the law as it was written in ‘79 and deal with the fact that Non-immigrant visas are what they are, which brings us to the point I'm trying to make which is anecdotally we are hearing that DTV Visa holders are being called in if they have obtained a bank account in Thailand and asked to see if they're remaining on their DTV visa. If they are, they are closing their accounts because they are being told you can't do banking here if you're in this status. DTV itself - as we discussed in a prior video - while you can work remotely - so you can be doing something that pertains to some other jurisdiction, it cannot “impinge on the Thai economy”; that was the specific language that Interior themselves used. I talked about that in a prior video. 

Long story short, what we are talking about here is, at the end of the day these DTV visas are Tourist Visas and the banks are saying “hey we don't want to keep you in this” - I've done another video on this, it's all being sort of ostensibly done under “scam bank accounts” or “mule accounts” or “money laundering” or whatever, but the upshot to Destination Thailand Visa holders is they are having a problem with their bank and it makes some sense if you understand that again it's not designed for you to work in Thailand and a bank account would lend itself to the notion that you are sort of working and living in Thailand. Now at the same time, the DTV was designed for sort of long stay experience; it's like 6 months with a border run and then 6 months, but it's still under the rubric of a Tourist Visa. Again it kind of causes me a lot of frustration on a personal level because frankly it was designed badly for lack of a better term and that's just a fact.

That being said, again it doesn't change the fact that as a practical matter, people are having problems with banking associated with their Destination Thailand Visa. For those who may be overwhelmed by this, it may not be a terrible idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to maybe change your Visa status or figure out other solutions to remain in Thailand long term if you want to do banking here in the Kingdom of Thailand.