Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing "Are Thai Banks reluctant to open Bank Accounts in Thailand?" I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Thai Government denies dangers from Visa-free policy. That article goes in kind of a slightly different direction. I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in detail, a lot of good information in there but one particular line caught my attention and made me think of making this video. Quoting directly: "Thai Banks generally are reluctant to allow visa-free foreigners to open accounts." Yeah, I couldn't put it better myself; that is spot on. That has been our experience over the years. Those who enter Thailand with a Visa exemption, so we are not talking about visa on arrival, these are people that come to Thailand, they have obtained no Visa before coming here and they are stamped in exempt from having a Visa but still granted lawful status here in Thailand for a certain period of time; it's designed to encourage tourism. And we have discussed the expansion of the tourist exemption process at great length in many videos most recently; we made two or three just in the last week or two. 

So again this is kind of hot information folks. This is something we are really seeing some changes on within Thai Immigration but it has ramifications for banking because most banks do not want to set up a Bank Account for a foreigner that isn't maintaining some type of at least long-term Non-Immigrant status. In many cases they want to see a Work Permit. So those folks who are coming to Thailand and you may be looking at being here on a long-term basis but you haven't quite gotten all of your ducks in a row yet, one of those ducks you may be trying to get in a row is trying to open a Thai Bank Account and that may be very difficult now. Now as we have discussed in other videos, we assist clients routinely in setting up Bank Accounts; it may not be a terrible idea to contact us, we may be able to assist you as well. 

That said, the entire banking procedure, the process, the protocols if you will, will vary from bank to bank; different banks have different rules regarding who they will allow to open an account with them. The other thing to keep in mind regarding banking here in Thailand is yeah Visa status does matter and even sometimes work authorization may play in. So again, it may not be a terrible idea to contact somebody if you are looking to set up a Bank Account and you are in Thailand utilizing a Visa exemption stamp.