How to send money to Thailand and what it really costs

An international transfer to Thailand costs you three things: your sending bank’s fee, the exchange rate margin, and the receiving fee at the Thai bank. This guide lists what we confirmed on official bank and regulator pages on 24 October 2026 and what you should check yourself. Opening a Thai account and paying by QR are separate topics: see opening a bank account and QR payments.

Your options at a glance

We did not compare sender-side fees of banks in your home country, because they differ by bank and account type. Ask your bank for the total in your currency and the rate it will use before you confirm.

What it really costs

Count three layers:

• The sending fee: your bank’s or Wise’s
• The rate: a bank converts at its own rate, Bangkok Bank uses its Telegraphic Transfer Buying Rate for incoming foreign currency, while Wise says it uses the mid-market rate
• The receiving fee at the Thai bank, plus a possible handling fee from an intermediary bank on the route

Thai banks charge 0.25% with a floor and a cap, so small transfers lose the most to the floor. We took the Wise mid-market rate of THB 33.7635 per US dollar on 24 October 2026 for the illustration below.

Wise’s own price depends on the amount. In its public price comparison on 24 October 2026 (13:32 UTC) the fee was USD 5.88 for USD 500 (1.18%), USD 9.65 for USD 1,000 (0.97%), USD 37.52 for USD 5,000 (0.75%) and USD 66.85 for USD 10,000 (0.67%). For 1,000 of other currencies the fees were GBP 7.77, EUR 9.46 and AUD 8.60. These are snapshots: the live Wise calculator is the source for your transfer, and the funding method changes the price. Because the Thai floor and cap are fixed, one larger transfer costs less in percentage than several small ones.

What Thai banks ask for

• Account details: your name as in your passport, account number, bank name and SWIFT code. Bangkok Bank is BKKBTHBK, SCB is SICOTHBK, Krungsri is AYUDTHBK
• Purpose of the transfer. Bangkok Bank says the Bank of Thailand requires a specific reason for each incoming transfer; its examples are paying for goods, buying a condominium, investing in a business and living expenses
• Documents above a threshold. SCB asks for supporting documents and a Foreign Currency Transaction Form from USD 50,000 or the equivalent. Bangkok Bank states it sets no limit on incoming amounts
• Complete payment instructions. If something is missing, Bangkok Bank contacts the sender’s bank and the credit is delayed
• Foreign currency accounts. According to the unofficial consolidation of the Bank of Thailand’s currency exchange notice, foreign currency received from abroad can be deposited in a foreign currency account in any amount without supporting documents, if the bank has opened such an account for you

If you have no Thai bank account

Many banks do not open accounts for tourists. Our guide to opening a bank account lists the bank-by-bank conditions as of 19 October 2026. Cash pickup is the workaround. Bangkok Bank pays out in cash against your passport for its 0.25% receiving fee plus THB 150, converting at its Buying Rate TT. SCB pays MoneyGram and Ria transfers free of charge at any branch against ID and the transfer reference. For everyday spending without an account, see the QR payments guide.

Sending from Russia or with Russian bank cards

Availability changes fast, so this is what we confirmed on 24 October 2026. Wise’s Russia site says transfers of baht to Thailand from Russia are not yet available. Western Union states that it stopped money transfers in Russia on 24 March 2022. T-Bank publishes a ruble-to-baht transfer by Thai account details: THB 600 per transfer, RUB 500 to 1,000,000, up to 3 working days, from a ruble account in the app. Since 8 December 2025 the Bank of Russia has no limits on foreign currency transfers abroad for Russian citizens. We did not confirm the conditions of other Russian banks for Thailand: check your bank’s app. The Russian-language version of this guide has a worked example in rubles, see the Russian page.

Tax: the transfer and your income

The Revenue Department says foreign-sourced income earned from 1 January 2024 by a person who stays in Thailand 180 days or more in a calendar year is taxable if it is remitted to Thailand, including in a later year. Income earned before 2024 is not taxed when it is brought in. How your savings and income are classified is a question for a tax adviser, and it helps to keep documents showing where the money came from. See taxes for foreigners for the rules.

Step by step

1. Decide how you will receive the money: account, Wise, or cash pickup
2. Copy the details from your Thai bank’s app: name as in your passport, account number, SWIFT code
3. Check the fee, the rate and the delivery estimate on the sending screen before you confirm
4. State the purpose of the payment and keep supporting documents if the amount is USD 50,000 or more
5. After 1-3 working days check that the money arrived and what was deducted on the way

What we could not confirm

• Receiving fees at Kasikornbank, ttb and Krungthai: KBank’s fee documents are closed to automated reading, and we have no confirmed figures for the other two
• Sender-side fees of banks outside Thailand, which vary by country and account
• Whether cash-pickup operators serve senders in Russia
• Any official statement by Thai banks or the Bank of Thailand about transfers from Russia: media reported account blocks at Bangkok Bank in May 2025, but the bank gave no comment in the article we read (Fontanka, 26 May 2025)

Never send money to a stranger from a chat group who offers to exchange it for baht: schemes are described in the scams guide.

Found an error or outdated fact? Tell the editors, we will fix it and update the check date.