Carington Corke

Its going to be difficult unless your starting a business , unlikely if your only staying a year , A retirement visa is your best option . If you are dual nationality you can swop passports every 4 months or so , i stayed two years doing that . Visa rules change monthly in the kingdom , find the best ones that suit you .  It is possible to stay .
Terry

I'm not sure now is the best time for that as Thailand is experiencing its worst covid-19 outbreak to date. Everything is quiet here. However, since you are 56 years old you can apply for a retirement visa if you can put 800,000 THB into a Thai bank 3 months before applying for the visa and keep it in at least 2 months after entering here. I also think the minimum the bank account can drop to is 400,000 THB at any point in time while here. Although, I'm not sure how Thai immigration plans on checking that. If you only want to come for a year, I would delay coming here for another year.

I was not able to open a bank account here since I am on a Non-immigrant O A visa. You are right if you have a retirement visa or work visa they let you open a Thai bank account. I tried Bank of Bangkok, Scb Bank and K bank and none would let me open.

If anyone knows a way around this please tell me.
In lieu of this the consulate will accept financial proof with bank statements etc

You should be able to stay in Thailand on an O-A visa if you have 400,000 in a Thai bank. I don't know why the banks here won't let you open an account. Maybe you should get a job first and then you must have a Thai bank account in order for the work place to deposit your salary. What reason did the banks give you for not letting you open an account in a Thai bank? Anyway, having a wife and job here in Thailand should allow you to open an account. I would apply for jobs doing something like teaching English, then the school will require you to open a Thai bank account.

Another option is doing a ED visa and taking a TESOL course. Those visas are 1 year and allow you to stay in Thailand while you are studying here.

That's interesting. I was told by my consulate that with an O A visa I cannot work. Since I am retired I really don't want to work but see a few benefits from having a Thai bank account. It seems increasingly the norm for businesses or situations want a transfer from a bank to pay for whatever services or something purchased such as when I pay for maintenance fees at my condo to their bank.

One bank I talked to needed me to work to open an account and her reasoning was they wanted to know where the money was coming from. Well, the money would be coming from my retirement distribution but they didn't seem interested in listening.

The Bank of Bangkok wanted to sell me a medical insurance policy to open an account. I, all along with everyone else is required to have medical insurance just to enter the country. It seemed more of a scam than anything she was trying to sell me.

BTW I'm not married so it's not an option having a wife work and having an account for her wages to go into.

That might be your first problem. Having an O-A visa. I had an O visa for being married to a Thai woman and know from before the Thai govt is cracking down on those using the wrong types of visas to stay in Thailand. I had to produce all kinds of documents to prove I was really married to a Thai woman. I know that you are not supposed to work on an O type visa (or O-A), but many do just to stay in Thailand for a year and work without having a work permit. Therefore the distrust, suspicion, and all the checking they do now.

The banks as well as Thai immigration might be wondering why you have an O-A visa, but are looking to open a Thai bank account. Right at the stat they will not trust you because they think something is not as it should be. Therefore, you get all these bogus reasons for denying you things like a bank account, when the real reason is something they are not telling you (like having the wrong visa type for your situation).

Anyway. I would get a job teaching English just to change your visa type from an O-A to a non-b immigrant. Then use your job to open a Thai bank account. Work for at least 1 month to get a deposit from the school into your account for the salary. Therefore, the banks will think all future deposits are from the school hiring you. Then quit your job and you will already have a bank account and non-b immigrant visa for 1 year.

We must be getting differing information. Because the type of visa I was getting was based more on the length of stay I was wanting. I don't recall seeing anywhere it was based on being married to a Thai or not. I should say the ones I considered at least. I'm sure some were based upon being married to a Thai.

The banks did say that I didn't have the visa they were looking for. They were wanting a retired or work visa. I think I can get by without a bank account but it is convenient for certain things.

Not sure I want to get a job and go through the process in order to get a bank account. It may come to that but not just now.

I was taken back by the silliness of it really. In the US if you have money the bank wants your money and you open an account. It's about that simple. Here, they were even asking for a social security card. I lost mine about 20 years ago and I don't want to carry it in my wallet anyway. It's sort of a protected number that someone can hack your identity if they have it.

Actually am looking for a way to own a in Thailand, need some help...

Jay
Can you be of help to me ,help me inquiry for a price of house...

You could work with a real estate agent. The one I used is Paul Hanna +66879055273 or +0816930052.

He may deal with condos more than houses but it may be a starting point

scbrock wrote:

We must be getting differing information. Because the type of visa I was getting was based more on the length of stay I was wanting. I don't recall seeing anywhere it was based on being married to a Thai or not. I should say the ones I considered at least. I'm sure some were based upon being married to a Thai..

The type O visa is for married to a Thai. The O-A, I believe is a special case where you want to stay in Thailand for at least a year (not sure about the marriage requirement). It may not be there for an O-A. However, the banks have said what I was saying about your visa type. Whether an O-A requires you to be married to a Thai citizen or not, is not the point. It is not the visa the banks want for opening a bank account. I thought from the very start that it should be a retirement visa, if you have the money, or a non-immigrant B. Also, should consider an ED visa as an option, but I don't think you can open a bank account in a Thai bank with that one.

If your goal is just to stay in Thailand for a year, what I said in the previous post is an option. You don't really need to work that much. Once you have the things you need to stay you can quit your job. However, that is up to you.

I know most of the governments of the world are getting very control oriented. It's like George Orwell's "1984" really came in 2020. It's sad to see, but people voted for this type of control in the various elections around the world (or so they tell us).

Anyway, I know what I told you works, but it's up to you if you want to do that way or another. Good luck either way.