Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing personal bank accounts for expats in Thailand. This can be a really tricky thing. A lot of expats come over to Thailand and they just sort of presume "oh yeah I will just go to Thailand and open up a bank account." Now most folks, especially Americans, are very aware that there is a lot of banking rigmarole around for lack of a better term, just a lot of hassle associated with being an American banking abroad, so most Americans are aware of this. But yeah setting up one's personal account, it is not just a matter of coming in on like a Tourist Visa. Most banks are not going to allow somebody coming and just set up a personal bank account here in Thailand. 

Now most folks if they have a Business Visa or Work Permit, in many cases a Retirement Visa, if that is already sorted out then yeah maybe possible to get a personal bank account. But for example with respect to a Retirement Visa, setting up a bank account it can be kind of “a chicken or an egg” phenomenon because in order in some cases to get a Retirement Visa you need a bank account in order to show the financial requirements but you can't get one unless you have a Retirement Visa.

Staying off of that for a moment, the thing to take away from this video is understand special steps may need to be taken in order to get a bank account set up here in Thailand so it may not be a terrible idea to gain some insight and guidance on that before coming to Thailand so you don't run into a situation where you are stuck in a kind of a catch-22 once you are here in the country.