Visa and Bank Accounts
There is a lot of information here. I hope it will ease your experience. This was my real life experience both the good and the not so good. It is well worth your time.
The following is based upon my own experience 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2025, as a US citizen. It was and is my plan to retire in Thailand with the Non Immigrant O Visa. The following discusses the process to open your bank account in Thailand and get your Thai retirement visa. Also discusses is how much money you need to retire in Thailand.
In order for me to get the Non O immigrant retirement visa I needed several things accomplished even before I filled out any papers with immigration. One of these is to have a Thai bank account with 800,000 THB (Thai Bhat). 800,000 is about $20,000 USD. Most people seem to open the bank about at Bank of Bangkok. In Pattaya Thailand the bank is less than 1 block from immigration so it is convenient.
It is important to understand that opening your Thai bank account will not in any way be convenient or quick. Mine took many hours over multiple very hot day. Also, keep in mind that banks in Thailand do no function the same as they do in America.
Bank of Bangkok a Thai Bank
My first step was to go to the bank, take a number and wait about an hour to meet with a lady to get the papers needed to open the account.
On a different day I returned to the bank, took a number and waited again for about an hour to have her go through my papers. I would list the paper / documents you need but as those requirements seem to change every now and then, it is really best for you to simply go to the bank and find out what the current document requirements are.
Unfortunately for me, after about a half hour with the lady, I discovered that I was missing something and would need to return on yet another day.
At this point you can begin to get angry or you can adjust yourself to living in Thailand and know that things just go slow here. Stay calm. The process to get your retirement visa for Thailand and opening your Thai bank account is a slow process.
On my third day at the bank, I took a number and waited about another hour to see a lady. It took about 40 minutes for us to complete the requirements to open the account but it was finally done. I handed her 20,000 THB (Thai Bhat) as an initial deposit. I also got an ATM card for the account.
Once your Thai bank account is open, it is your responsibility to transfer the needed money from your American bank (I am American after all), to the Thai bank. I was a bit nervous about this process so I did a test of transferring $1,000 USD to see if it would arrive. It took about 5 days before it arrived in my Thai bank account. Keep in mind that there are multiple fees you will be paying for this transfer of money.
At this point I felt confident I could transfer the rest. Unfortunately, Bank of America flagged this is concerning and would not allow more transfers. Now I needed to get an international calling plan on my phone so I could call Bank of America and clear this up. What is not obvious here is the consequence of the time difference. I needed to stay up into the middle of the night to make this call.
After all this was accomplished I was able to successfully transfer over the remaining money into the Thai account. The other $19,000 USD arrived in the Thai account in two days.
You might think that all is done now. Sadly it is not.
Things to be aware of regarding your account:
1. The 800,000 must remain in your account for 90 days untouched before you can go to immigration and start your papers for the visa. If it dips even by 1 Bhat you begin the 90 days over again when you are back to 800,000 THB. Because of this, I actually keep my account between 810,000 and 850,000 THB just in case there are fees. It is not obvious if there will be fees and asking someone if there will be fees is a waste of your time. Just plan on it.
2. Your account will earn 0% interest. Do not complain about it or talk about it with others. Just accept this as cost of getting your visa.
3. I recommend that you DO NOT use your ATM card ever. I often see a foreigner panicking that the machine did not return their card or did not give them their money. The only option in this case is to go into the bank and take a number and wait for help, (assuming they are open) and this seems a poor option.
4. Your best bet is to simply keep a large amount of cash on hand as this is mostly a cash society.
5. On more reason to keep cash on hand is that Thai banks do not function as American banks do. They are similar but not the same. For example in 2025 an employee at one of the Bank of Bangkok banks was caught fraudulently opening accounts for Russians. The government and or the bank decided the right course of action was to freeze all foreign accounts and have people come in and verify they are real. and their accounts were real.I discovered this when I went to the bank and tried to withdraw money. I could not. I had to take a number and waited about an hour to find out why I could not withdraw money. Afterwards I had to leave and gather documents and return on another day to fix the problem. I spent about 2 hours filling out forms at the bank to unlock my account. Finally done, I asked the lady if my account was unlocked. She answered that it was NOT. The documents needed to be reviewed and it would be 1 week to 4 weeks before the account was unlocked.
This was a huge problem. I needed cash to pay rent, electric bill, buy food, pay water bill, pay for taxis and many other things. I asked her what if I have 0 in cash what do I do? How do I survive? She shrugged and said she did not know.
The lesson here is always keep cash in hand. I was fine in the end as I always keep about 50,000 THB in cash.
Lastly, after 3 months of 800,000 THB in your account, return to your bank and pay 100 THB to get a letter verifying you have 800,000 THB in your account. FYI this letter is only good for 3 days and weekend and holiday days count as days. After all this you can head to immigration with all your other papers from various things like medical insurance and begin your processes for the retirement visa.
The Thailand Retirement Visa process is a journey. Getting a Thai bank account is a journey. Be patient. Have the right attitude and eventually you will get these two things done. Doing things the correct way is difficult, time intensive and costly. In the end though it is the right way to be in any country.
