How to Open a Bank Account in Thailand as a Foreigner

No Thai law stops a foreigner from opening a bank account, but each bank decides, and since December 2025 every bank must ask why you want one and may refuse. With a work permit, every bank's published rules fit you. With a retirement, family or student visa, Kasikornbank and UOB publish a route, and Bangkok Bank and Krungthai leave it to the branch. On a tourist stay, a visa exemption or a DTV, expect a refusal: Kasikornbank names all three. You open in person, with your passport, and the app usually starts new customers at ฿50,000 a day or less.

What each bank publishes#

Seven big Thai banks publish seven different rules for foreigners. Kasikornbank (KBank) takes any non-immigrant visa with a home-country ID and a document for your purpose, and refuses visitors by name. SCB and ttb ask for a work permit, ttb also accepting permanent residence. Krungsri's only baht account for foreigners is for permanent residents. UOB publishes a full checklist by situation, the only bank list that names retirees. Bangkok Bank and Krungthai publish no list and leave it to the branch.

On paper, work-permit holders fit every list. Retirees on an O, O-A or O-X fit Kasikornbank, whose page says "Non-Immigrant Visa (All of types)", and UOB, whose retiree row asks for the visa or a letter from your embassy plus one more document, such as an ID from your home country or a residence certificate from Immigration with your photo. Students on an ED visa fit Kasikornbank and UOB. Condo buyers are named only by UOB, with a non-immigrant visa. No bank asks for a reference from a Thai customer, and none needs a Thai phone number to open the account; Kasikornbank asks for one only for its app.

No bank publishes an English-speaking or expat branch list for Chiang Mai. The nearest thing is each bank's list of branches that open foreign-currency accounts, the branches used to foreigners' paperwork: Bangkok Bank names 28 in Chiang Mai province, SCB 11 and Kasikornbank 4. Tha Phae, Pratu Chiang Mai, Nimmanhaemin, Central Festival and Central Airport appear on more than one bank's list.

Tourists, visa exemption and the DTV#

No law bars you. Thailand's anti-money-laundering rules ask a foreigner for a passport number, a nationality and an address, and accept an address abroad from someone with none in Thailand. But since 17 December 2025 the Bank of Thailand's fraud rules make every bank ask why you want an account, judge the risk that it becomes a "mule" account (บัญชีม้า) used to pass on scam money, and refuse when the risk looks high. Most banks now say no to visitors.

Kasikornbank's savings page reads: "Accounts are not allowed to be opened for holders of tourist visa or other types of visa intended to travel in Thailand, such as Visa on Arrival, Free Visa, Destination Thailand Visa (DTV), etc." Its own page for long-term foreign residents repeats the rule without naming the DTV, but the savings page is the more specific. Krungsri writes on its foreign-currency page that "Foreign customers with a Tourist VISA cannot open an account". SCB's and ttb's work-permit rules leave visitors out, and Bangkok Bank and Krungthai publish nothing, so the branch decides.

The crackdown is large: by July 2025 Thai banks had suspended 2.8 million mule accounts, and since January 2025 they must refuse new accounts to people who show a high mule risk. Never lend your account to anyone or open one for someone else.

If no bank will take you#

• For the DTV itself you need no Thai account: the ฿500,000 is shown with statements from any bank, at home included.
• Pay rent and bills from your home account, by card or through a money-transfer service licensed by the Bank of Thailand, until you hold a non-immigrant visa.
• Once you are on a retirement, family, study or work visa, try again: Kasikornbank and UOB publish routes for those stays.
• UOB's list for retirees names a residence certificate from Immigration, with your photo, as one supporting document; ask the branch whether it helps in your case.

At the branch, step by step#

You open a Thai account in person, at a branch in Thailand. Bangkok Bank says plainly that you cannot open one from abroad, and the online accounts of SCB, Krungsri and Krungthai need a Thai ID card. Only UOB publishes a route from abroad, through a UOB office in another country, and only for non-resident and foreign-currency accounts. No bank publishes how long opening takes.

1. Register a Thai SIM in your own name with your passport first: Kasikornbank requires the app and the SIM to carry the same passport number.
2. Bring your passport with your visa or extension, a document for your purpose (work permit, school letter, retirement visa, a letter from your embassy) and a government ID from your home country, which Kasikornbank and UOB ask for.
3. Be ready to say why you want the account, such as rent, bills, a pension or a condo: the bank must ask.
4. Ask for the basic debit card. Kasikornbank's K BASIC card is free, while its branded cards cost ฿299 to ฿699 to issue and the same each year from year two.
5. Have the staff set up the app and take your face photo in the same visit; Bangkok Bank calls the branch route the one recommended for first-time foreign applicants.
6. Keep the passbook and update it: Immigration reads it for a retirement or marriage extension.

Residence certificate in Thailand

The letter from Immigration that confirms your address: what it is for, how to apply in Chiang Mai and what to bring.

Read the residence certificate guide

The app: one phone, face scans and limits#

A Thai banking app now runs on one phone per person, asks for a face scan for any transfer of ฿50,000 or more and at every ฿200,000 in a day, and starts new customers at ฿50,000 a day or less. These are Bank of Thailand rules from 2025, and some banks are stricter with foreigners.

• ttb has capped foreign customers at ฿49,999 a day for transfers, top-ups and international transfers since 8 July 2025, with face authentication since 9 September 2025.
• SCB has asked foreign customers for face recognition since 20 June 2026, at ฿50,000 a time, every ฿200,000 a day and on a new phone; without a face photo on file you register one at a branch with your passport and passbook.
• Kasikornbank requires the SIM and K PLUS to carry the same passport number, a rule existing users had to meet by 30 April 2025.

Plan large payments. A condo deposit or a year's rent above ฿50,000 needs a branch visit, several days, or a request for a higher limit, which the bank grants by its own risk rules. Customers over 65 count as vulnerable: the bank must tell them before lowering their limit, and they may keep the old one.

PromptPay, Thailand's instant transfer by phone number, works for foreigners: Bangkok Bank lets you register with your passport, linking your Thai mobile number only, for free. One number links to one account across all banks, and foreign-currency or joint accounts cannot be used.

Fees, and the 2026 caps#

None of the published schedules charges a monthly fee on an active ordinary savings account; what costs money is the card, an idle account and some letters. Since 2026 the Bank of Thailand caps those fees for every bank.

Kasikornbank, Krungsri, Bangkok Bank and UOB already print the ฿20 idle fee in their schedules. The one monthly fee found on an active account is Krungsri's permanent-resident account: ฿100 a month when the average balance is below ฿20,000 (its schedule of 1 July 2026).

With a foreign card, Kasikornbank's ATMs charge ฿250 a withdrawal for Visa and UnionPay and ฿350 for Mastercard (its schedule of 22 September 2026). With a Thai card at another bank's ATM, the first four withdrawals a month are free, then ฿10 each. A Kasikornbank card used at an ATM abroad costs ฿100 a withdrawal plus up to 2.5% for the exchange.

Leaving Thailand? Keep more than ฿2,000 in the account and use it once a year, and no idle fee can be charged. A dormant account comes back to life only when you withdraw in person at a branch, as UOB writes, and Bangkok Bank says closing an account needs a visit.

Money in and out#

Money comes into Thailand without limit. An incoming transfer costs 0.25% at Bangkok Bank, at least ฿200 and at most ฿500 (as of October 2026), and Kasikornbank's transfer table lists the same. Every transfer must state its purpose, and from US$200,000 the bank checks documents.

The larger cost is the exchange rate: Bangkok Bank converts at its telegraphic-transfer buying rate, so compare it with the mid-market rate before you send. A SWIFT transfer arrives in one to two working days. Bangkok Bank's New York branch takes US pensions and Social Security payments, and its London branch UK pensions. Senders must give a purpose, such as living expenses or buying a condominium, which banks report to the Bank of Thailand.

Money-transfer services need a Bank of Thailand licence. Its list of 27 April 2026 has 18, among them Wise Payments (Thailand), Ria (Thailand) and Thailand Post. Money sent through such a service may arrive as a baht payment rather than as foreign currency, which matters if you are buying a condo (see below).

Money out: below US$200,000 a transfer abroad needs only a stated purpose. Gifts to people abroad are capped at US$50,000 per person a year, while money to family members who live abroad permanently is not capped. Licensed transfer services may send out at most ฿800,000 per customer a day. Kasikornbank charges ฿500 or ฿800 per outgoing SWIFT transfer, depending on who pays the charges. You may carry up to ฿50,000 in baht cash out of Thailand, and foreign cash above US$15,000 coming in must be declared to Customs.

Tax: a tax resident, in Thailand 180 days or more in a calendar year, who brings income earned abroad from 2024 onward into Thailand is taxed on it in the year it arrives; savings from before 2024, and capital, are not. Keep records of which transfer is which, and take tax advice. Thailand exchanges account information with other tax authorities under a 2023 decree and exchanges FATCA data with the United States, so a bank may ask for your tax residence and tax number.

Buying a condo: bringing the money in#

To register a condo in a foreign name, the Land Office needs evidence that at least the full price came into Thailand as foreign currency, or from a Thai foreign-currency account or a non-resident baht account: section 19 ter (5) of the Condominium Act. The law names no form. The old "FET form" was cancelled by the Bank of Thailand around 2017, and banks now issue a credit advice or certificate instead.

1. Send at least the full price from abroad, in foreign currency, in your own name.
2. Give the purpose as buying your unit; Bangkok Bank asks buyers to write "To purchase a condominium".
3. Before you send, ask the receiving Thai bank which certificate or credit advice it issues for the Land Office, and ask the Chiang Mai Land Office which document it accepts.
4. Collect one document per transfer; together they must cover the price.
5. From US$200,000 a transfer the bank must check documents, with no exception for property money since 29 December 2025, so have the sale contract ready.

Money that reaches the seller in baht through a transfer service, or from an ordinary baht account, may not count as foreign currency brought in: ask your bank and the Land Office before you pay that way. Permanent residents and foreigners admitted under the investment-promotion law show their status instead of a money trail. Keep every document: when you sell and send a large sum abroad, the bank may ask for the sale contract and the original evidence.

Buying a condo in Chiang Mai

Freehold ownership, the 49% foreign quota, transfer taxes and the step-by-step purchase for a non-Thai buyer.

Read the condo-buying guide

Bank letters for your visa#

Immigration reads your Thai passbook and a letter from your bank for the retirement and marriage extensions. The DTV needs no Thai account at all.

The order asks for a deposit certificate from the bank and a copy of the passbook. For a marriage it puts the money test on a foreign husband, or on either partner in a same-sex marriage. It does not say how recent the letter must be for the yearly extension, or whether a joint account counts; Immigration's 2022 checklist for switching to a Non-O wants a letter in Thai, in your sole name, updated to the day you apply, so ask your bank for that. A standard bank certificate costs at most ฿100 since 1 July 2026, but a letter in a format Immigration sets may cost more.

For a retiree the order of steps matters: open the account on a non-immigrant visa, move the ฿800,000 in from abroad so the passbook shows the foreign credits, leave it untouched two months before you apply and three months after, and never let it fall below ฿400,000.

Thailand retirement visa

The three routes from age 50, the ฿800,000 money test, fees by embassy and the yearly extension in Chiang Mai.

Read the retirement visa guide

Resident, non-resident and foreign-currency accounts#

Banks open an ordinary baht savings account for foreigners living in Thailand. Non-resident baht accounts, the NRBA and, for securities, the NRBS, are for people and companies based abroad, and at Bangkok Bank they open only at the head office in Bangkok. Foreign-currency accounts (FCD) keep a pension or condo money in its own currency.

Where exactly the line between resident and non-resident falls for a foreigner living here, no public rule settles clearly, and it is not the 180-day test the Revenue Department uses for tax. Baht in an NRBA can be changed back into foreign currency without showing what it was for, which makes it useful for money that will leave again.

Foreign banknotes paid into foreign-currency accounts are capped at US$15,000 a day per person across all banks. A foreign-currency account does not replace a baht one: rent, bills and PromptPay run in baht.

Deposits are protected up to ฿1 million per person at each bank, all accounts at that bank together, for foreigners resident in Thailand as well as Thais. Foreign-currency deposits and non-residents' baht accounts are not covered. A retiree's ฿800,000 at one bank is fully covered; the O-X's ฿3 million at one bank only up to ฿1 million.

Cost of living in Chiang Mai

What a month costs at three levels, from rent and bills to food, transport, health insurance and a cleaner.

Read the cost-of-living guide