Do I need a 12-month rental agreement to open a bank account in Thailand on an O visa?

@Us ****

Good point!

@Barry *****

I wouldn't bet on that but the thai banks have different requirements. It seems the branches in shopping malls are more lenient

@Steve ******

I needed to produce a rental contract to open my bank account

@Jon ****

That was for proof of your address, there are other ways to prove your address

@Steve ******

Yes, I was only stating I had to show my lease contract

@Jon ****

I didn't

@Bart *************

I don’t have any oversight and opened in two banks myself without any rental contract, but things are getting more strict now and the requirements are definitely more stiff.

@Jan *****************

I know one thing and that's that despite I'm leaving, I'm not gonna close my bank accounts, knowing the struggle to reopen them later. You never know what the future brings. It takes just about 50 euros on the balance to keep them alive.

@Bart *************

Agree, I’m so happy I opened in Bangkok and Krungthai Bank some years ago by myself just on visa exemption and just kept them going from Norway after we’ve seen what happened.

@Jan *****************

certificate of residence. But I just realized the three-way chicken/egg case with that.

Bank account -> requires residence certificate -> requires to be on extension of stay -> requires bank account.

@Ruth ******

interesting.

Though you'd say the certificate is more 'proper' proof that you actually live in Thailand, I do get why some banks would ignore it and use a substitute, knowing that virtually all immigration offices (all except Bangkok) distribute the certificate to anyone asking for it. So it doesn't really certify anything now.

It may look nice, but documents that are distributed unrightfully by the distributor, supposedly to help people, will eventually lose their value. Did this not also happen with the residence certificate that embassies distributed?

@Bart *************

I do not know the history. However, my understanding is that Bangkok will only issue a certificate of residency after a 90-day report. Given that I’m never in Thailand for 90 days concurrently, that would have presented an issue for me. I’m glad I was able to prove my residence with the lease. Honestly, I think the lease makes more sense anyway, both due to the reason you noted and also because it simply removes a layer of bureaucracy.

I’m just glad I have my accounts now 🙂.