How to open a Thai bank account with a marriage visa (on the example of SCB)

Is it possible to open a bank account with a marriage visa

It is quite possible for a foreigner to open a bank account in Thailand without any visas. There are various nuances, in some banks they will convince that it is impossible to do this without a Work Permit or a Work visa. This is especially difficult in Bangkok.

The situation is different in the tourist places of Thailand, for example, in Pattaya, where opening a bank account is quite simple. But usually, in addition to the bank account service, you need to buy accident insurance, which costs about 6,000 baht. In my opinion, this is a very small amount for the hassle-free opening of a bank account abroad. You will also need a Certificate of Residence from the Immigration Office, which costs 300 baht.

See also:

• How to open a bank account in Pattaya
• Bank accounts in Thailand: how to open, costs, features

If you live in Thailand on a student visa, then I have good news for you – you can open a bank account without having to buy insurance. So you can save quite a lot. A bank account in Thailand by a foreigner with a student visa is definitely opened in Pattaya and Hua Hin. In Bangkok, you can still be denied. You will need a letter from the school (it is given free of charge upon request) and a Certificate of Residence from the Immigration Office, costs 300 baht.

See also: How to open a bank account in Thailand with a student visa

And what about the holders of marriage visas, are they entitled to any concessions when opening an account in Thailand? Yes! A happy marriage visa holder can open a bank account in Thailand for free! That is, they do not need to buy insurance, and they do not need a Certificate of Residence. A bank account will be opened for them without an annual service fee. The Thais themselves currently use bank accounts without issuing a bank card, since ATMs support the withdrawal of cash without a card (Cardless), and payment everywhere takes place using QR codes. As a marriage visa holder, you can open the same account without a card. But if you still require a bank card, they will give it to you, but the card has an annual service fee, approximately 300 baht – this is the only amount that you need to pay and which will not be credited to your account.

Note: More precisely, this amount of 300 baht was made up of the following payments: issue of a plastic card – 100 baht; annual fee of a plastic card – 200 baht. That is, next year I will be charged only 200 baht for the annual fee of the card.

See also: How to pay with QR codes in Thailand

That is, it’s as if you are really accepted into the family – they open an account for you on the same conditions on which the Thais themselves use bank accounts.

What documents are needed to open a bank account with a marriage visa

The conditions are good, but a certain set of documents is required. Fortunately, all these documents should already be in your hands, and you do not need to pay or go somewhere to receive them.

I opened an account with SCB (Siam Commercial Bank), in Pattaya, at the branch of the bank, which is located in Big C Extra on Pattaya Klang. In other banks or branches of the same bank, the conditions and set of documents may differ. For example, at another SCB office, the manager additionally asked me to show my Thai or national driver's license, but ultimately did not open a bank account for me, because she did not like something in my marriage visa in the passport…

To open a bank account, you must come to the bank with your spouse.

You will need to provide the following documents:

• your international passport with a Thai marriage visa
• national passport (they tried to look at the place of residence in it, but since the passport is in the national language, the bank employees did not understand anything in it and in the end they just asked me to write my address abroad in Latin letters)
• lease agreement for the apartment we currently live in
• marriage certificate (ทะเบียนสมรส). Moreover, you need to bring all the documents: during the registration of a marriage, they give several documents, some of which look solemn, and some resemble ordinary certificates. So, we need all these documents!
• wife's identity card, that is, her ID card (บัตรประจำตัวประชาชน (ของภรรยา))
• copy of wife's house registration (สำเนาทะเบียนบ้าน (ของภรรยา))

They also asked me the name of the organization where I work and its address. Since I work online, I gave them the address of Google Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. in Singapore (this company is listed as the sender of AdSense payments to my bank account). It suited them.