Transferring money

[Guest]

Can I officially transfer money out of Thailand? Baht to a off-shore Dollar or Sterling account? Any advice would be welcome. I originally brought in cash without getting a tt3/t5.

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

Depends on what kind of account you have. I was told that I am not allowed to, because I didn't have a work-permit.

If you opened an account whilst having a work-permit I assume you may be allowed to transfer out of the country. Not sure though.

Sanuk!

[OldAsiaHand]

The rule is pretty simple and seems to be applied even-handedly by the local banks with which I have experience. It is this -- if you can show you brought in money, you can send it out again. The work permit matter only comes up if you want to send out the proceeds of working here. Otherwise, it doesn't matter.

If you originally transferred the funds into a bank, your account will reflect that even if you didn't request a TD5 or any other official documentation at the time. That bank can then send the funds out for you routinely. If on the other hands the funds came in 'unofficially' (now, you wouldn't do that, would you?), you're screwed trying to use official channels for sending them out again.

There are, of course, well-known unofficial alternatives ....

[Stickman]

I can only talk about the Siam Commercial Bank but when I tried to send out a fairly sizable sum of about one million baht, they wanted to know why. They tried to convince me NOT to do it but I had a Thai lawyer with me who told them to shut their trap and iof it went. They did give me a form to fill out asking why it needed toi go and I just gave it to the lawyer and he scribbled some nonsense on it and gave it back to them. Apparently this form was for the central bank.

Stick

[Guest]

Thanks, oldasiahand ofcourse I wouldn't but if I did these, well known other ways, would not known to me, care to elucidate? man3r@hotmail.com

[Guest]

Even with a work permit, it is a bit of hassle to transfer money out. It can be done, but the number of forms that you need to complete seems to have doubled over the last year. You also need to explain why you need to transfer the money out.

My best guess is that it will get even harder in the months to come. There have been various hints in the business press that the BOT is using it US dollars reserves to buy up baht in an effort to shore up the baht. If so, the BOT will make it harder to transfer currency out since that basically involves a sale of baht for US dollars, which, of course, undermines the BOT's efforts to shore up the baht's value.

Incidentally, if I am right, we may be in for a repeat of what happened in July of 1997 when the baht's value plummeted against the dollar and the crisis officially started. We have many of the same players in power and indications, but not proof, that the BOT is acting behind the scenes to protect the baht.

You can also detect a sense of desperation in some of the government announcements on the state of the Thai economy. Given the anti-foreigner bent of the current government, this may not bode well for ex-pats. We'll see.

[ July 13, 2001: Message edited by: RogerRabbit ]

[Nervous_Dog]

Or simply you can do what I do, open an account with an ATM card, make sure it is accepted internationally.

I take out of my Thai bank account max $1500 a day when in Australia, or get my brother to do it for me (he has a card also to access my Bangkok Bank account) in Taiwan I can take out twice this amount a day, but never bother, (what would I do with Taiwan Dollars?)

[OldAsiaHand]

It's really no big secret. There are a number of vast pools of foreign exchange operations all over the world that are entirely underground and wholly unofficial. All are ethnically based and rely on administrative procedures that would cause any repectable banker to turn pale. Nevertheless, they are the major way black money gets moved all over the world.

The two most important nets in Thailand are Chinese (natch) and Indian. The volume of baht-based forex handled by either would probably dwarf the legitimate tranactions of most Thai banks on any given day.

Don't even think of trying to go that route, however, without family connections of appropriate ethnicity.

[Sukhumvit]

Stick

the UK has money laundering problems and so there are warnings sent out on a periodic basic to conveyancing lawyers that when they have any large cash transactions they should report it. As a non-conveyancing lawyer I'm not particularly au fait with the ways and means it's done but the Thais probably have similar regulations re transactions out of the country although your transaction wasn't cash.

By the way how the hell did you manage to accumulate 1 mill baht in Thailand over 3-4 years? Just curious and if you don't wish to answer then no ploblem.

[ July 15, 2001: Message edited by: Sukhumvit ]

[steffi]

Which one of these does Superrich represent? I've certainly seen the volume of money going through there.

What happens when you bring in sin sot money and the family gives it back to you. How do you get it out again without losing money along the way. What kind of rate will the bank at the receiving end of it give you as it enters Thailand? and how much will they charge?