Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing banking in Thailand specifically in the context of Thai O Marriage Visas. For those who are unaware, it is possible for a foreign national to obtain a Visa based on marriage to a Thai national. There are a number of formalities associated with that one of them being you need to meet certain Financial requirements. So for example, if someone is looking to obtain a Thai O Marriage Visa, it is possible to do so or specifically an extension, but one needs to show financial documentation which shows at least a minimum balance of 400,000 Baht in a Thai bank account or 40,000 baht in income on a monthly basis. So again, it's going to vary greatly depending on what one wants to use in terms of pension versus lump sum. 

But the question posed by this video is what about Joint Bank Accounts because many married folks have a joint bank account, a household account. Can I use that joint bank account to display my evidence of financial ability to maintain myself in Thailand? Can I use that bank account? The short answer is yes it is possible but joint banking creates a number of rather nettlesome issues associated with the adjudication of the financial documentation, most notably for example if you throw 400,000 into that account, the presumption is it is 50/50 owned by each spouse. So, for this reason, and there are more, but for this reason as well as for example with pension, if pension money comes in there, or off shore income whatever, funds come in there to meet the requirement again the presumption is it's 50/50 in possession of each of the parties. So, for example, if you had 400,000 in a bank account and it is a joint account you are going to need to show 800,000 just to meet the 400,000 requirement. Kind of defeats the purpose of even having a Marriage Visa as opposed to a Retirement Visa because you need the same 800,000 you would need for retirement anyway.

So how is this dealt with? Well best advice, long story short is, probably better to just have a singular bank account that one utilizes when proving up their finances for purposes of a Marriage Visa Extension here in the Kingdom of Thailand.