Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing issues with Expat Bank Accounts here in Thailand. The reason I thought of making this video, I was reading a recent article in the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Pattaya Grapevine: Casinos a cash cow. There is a lot of information in there; a lot of lot of diverse information in there, way outside the bailiwick of this video but I thought of making this one reading an excerpt in there under: Opening a Bank Account. Quote: "It's common knowledge that foreigners wanting to open a Thai Bank Account may have problems these days. Some visa agents have the right contacts. Foreigners will have to do have to take out insurance to cover the account which will push up the initial costs. Reports suggest that Pattaya is throwing up more issues than either Bangkok or Phuket." Well I can tell you, depending on the bank you go to and depending on your Visa status, Bangkok may be bit of a tricky thing to get a bank account set up. 

Yeah, unfortunately banking can be a real obstacle to overcome for a number of different expats here in Thailand. This can especially be the case depending on your Visa status. It can also be impacted by your Work Permit status or lack thereof. We find that a lot of folks that come in to Thailand, the ones that really in my experience sort of for lack of a better term kind of run into the biggest problem with this is they come in sort of saying, "okay, I'm looking at being there long term", so they come in and they may get an extended Tourist Visa for example. They come in and they kind of look around and they say "yeah I think I want to be here long term, but I definitely want to get banking set up in order to kind of facilitate my move into Thailand." This can be, depending on the bank you are dealing with and depending on your circumstances, this can be difficult all the way to the point of impossible on that particular spectrum. We oftentimes assist a number of clients in banking issues where we can. Sometimes depending on their underlying Visa status, their underlying situation; maybe impossible for them to do it depending on the bank. Oftentimes we have found that we were able to find a solution and get them some kind of banking facility set up so as to then facilitate a later long-term stay here in the Kingdom. 

The reason for this video is to understand, again this is kind of one of these things that I think a number of Expats who have really never been out here, well not never but they have been out here only as tourists and then they start looking at living here. It's a real presumption like there are a number of simple things in one's home country that are quite complex when you live abroad and in Thailand that's no different, you can say the same thing. Banking is one of those. People live in like the United States they might say it's easy to set up bank account. Walk in to the Bank of America, throw some money in it, give them your ID and boom, you have got a bank account. Here in Thailand, not necessarily the case again, and depending on the bank it might be virtually impossible to get that done. So thinking ahead on banking is a very good idea for prospective expats here in the Kingdom of Thailand.