The official minimums on 24 September 2026: ฿20,000 for a visa-exempt arrival or tourist visa, ฿500,000 for the DTV, ฿800,000 or ฿65,000 a month for retirement, ฿3 million for the O-X, and the LTR's dollar thresholds. How long each balance must be held, and where embassies ask for more than the e-Visa site.
Thailand runs on QR payments from street stalls to hospitals. How PromptPay works, which foreign apps can scan Thai QR codes, what still needs a Thai bank account, and how to avoid being stuck with cash only.
A holiday policy stops working when the trip becomes months. The three kinds of cover available to long-stay foreigners in Thailand, what each excludes, how hospitals bill, and how to choose by length of stay.
The two Thai insurers that sell cover to foreign visitors online, side by side from their own brochures and policy wording on 24 September 2026: ฿3,500 for 30 days with Tune Protect, medical limits of ฿400,000 and ฿700,000, a 30-day illness waiting period at MSIG, and a motorcycle exclusion with no licence or helmet exception at either.
A plain-language overview of Thai personal income tax for foreigners: the 180-day residency test, how employment income is taxed, the rules on foreign income brought into Thailand, tax treaties, and the filing calendar. General information, not advice.
The fee schedules of eight Thai banks on 24 September 2026 all charge ฿250 per withdrawal on a foreign Visa card and ฿350 on a foreign Mastercard, not the ฿220 many guides still quote. What that costs as a percentage, Krungthai's 5% charge if you accept conversion on screen, and the counter withdrawal that is cheaper.
On 24 September 2026, £1,000 sent by Wise landed as ฿43,930 in a Thai account; the same £1,000 by Santander SWIFT arrived as about ฿41,921, and by Lloyds ฿42,026. The US figures, the ฿200 the Thai bank takes on every wire, and when a wire is still the right choice.
Opening a Thai bank account as a foreigner depends more on the branch and your visa than on the bank. Which visas work, the documents to bring, why a tourist visa is hard, and the tricks that make a branch say yes.
On 23 September 2026 SuperRich's Ratchadamri head office paid ฿33.18 per dollar, ฿37.80 per euro and ฿44.05 per pound; Kasikornbank and Bangkok Bank posted rates 1.0–1.7% lower. What that means on £500, the SuperRich airport branch, which notes get the best rate, and why the ATM costs more than either.
Instead of one made-up number, here is how to build your own monthly budget for Thailand: the categories that vary most between people, why Bangkok and Chiang Mai differ, the costs newcomers forget, and the tiers most expats end up in.