Transcript of the above video: 

I have made a number of videos recently regarding Thai banking. There are a number of implications that come from Thai banking policies. So these are policies being handed down by the Bank of Thailand and there are Immigration consequences that are emanating from these decisions. Again, it is not just the Bank of Thailand, or I should say it is not necessarily the Bank of Thailand handing this down. Some banks are just doing this of their own accord. Other Banks are not being so difficult about certain banking matters especially as they may pertain to Immigration. 

What I am talking about here is for example, minimum balances for usage in certain types of Visa Extensions I should say. So Retirement Visa Extension for one thing, Marriage Visa Extension, showing a balance. Banks are now coming up with their own policies about whether they are going to freeze money or hold money pending providing documentation to be used by Immigration. Again, the thing to understand, this is not Immigration that is making these policies, these are banks that are making these policies. Meanwhile there are also the issues and - I have gone into detail in other videos that are on this channel - regarding Digital Banking and how there is all kinds of stuff going around about how they are shutting down people's digital banking platforms until they come in to “align” their SIM card information with their bank account information. So just kind of a lot of frankly consternation in the whole banking space if you will. 

So the reason for the video is folks out there and I have discussed this - I have actually discussed this a little bit in our paid news, not a little bit actually, extensively - the issue of what I would call having a secondary bank account, a totally non-digitized bank account that you just know you can deal with; you may have an ATM card on it; you have the standard bank book that we use here in Thailand but you don't do anything digital on that, so you know you have always sort of got that one sitting there. Again, I go into that in the paid news service in pretty good detail. For folks that want to get on the mailing list for the paid news service, I do a lot of long-form content on there. Most of it is at least 30 minutes long. We are currently at 11 episodes, should be 12 by the time this video is published and also forthcoming videos that I am just going to be making as time goes on, pretty much on a weekly basis. Again minimum of a half hour talking about how geo-politics, economics, International Affairs, how it impacts expats and expat land here in Thailand including taxes, banking, etc. And as I discussed in one of those videos, it's a good idea to maybe have a non-digital account; you have got your account that you do all your digital banking on, but you have got one that you know you are not doing digital banking on, so you know exactly where that thing stands. Once they are messing with your account, it's one of those things where maybe it is a good idea to just have a secondary account. I go into that in another video or in the paid news service at length. That being said, if you are interested in the paid news service, again, [email protected] is the email address. You can email us, and we can get you on the mailing list. 

That being said, the issue of opening a bank account is a service that we can assist folks with here at the firm. Again your immigration status will factor in to whether or not the bank will allow you to open an account. So if you are unsure if you can get a bank account, if you just want to get a bank account, it may not be a terrible idea to contact a legal professional. And in this case, we have been pretty good at providing solutions to clients and to new clients as well regarding banking, so it might not be a terrible idea to contact us as we may be able to assist you in getting banking facilities here in the Kingdom of Thailand.