The short answer

Before you leave: ask your UK bank what happens when you live abroad, keep a UK mobile number for passcodes, get a fee-free UK debit card and credit card, open a Wise account, and tell HMRC you're leaving with form P85 if it applies to you. When you arrive: use your UK cards while you get your long-stay visa, a Thai SIM in your name and proof of address, then open a Thai account. Over the first year: move money as you need it, put any visa money in place on time, redirect income and keep records for Thai tax.

Your banking timeline

The order that works for most British people moving to Thailand.

A general plan. Your visa type, income and whether you keep a UK home all change the details.

Three to six months before you move

Everything is easier while you still live in the UK, have a UK address and can visit a branch.

1. Ask your bank about living abroad. Some UK banks let existing customers keep accounts with an overseas address; others close them. Get the answer in writing.
2. Open a second UK account if needed, with a different banking group, so one closure doesn't leave you without UK banking.
3. Consider an offshore account such as HSBC Expat if you have larger savings — it's designed for people living abroad, with entry requirements of £75,000 in savings or a £120,000 salary.
4. Open a Wise account while you're UK-based, and get used to sending money with it.
5. Plan your visa money. A retirement extension, for example, can require ฿800,000 in a Thai account for a set period before you apply — work out when it needs to be there.
6. Review standing orders and direct debits, cancelling what you won't need.

Our guide to international banking for Thailand residents explains how the UK, Thai and transfer accounts fit together.

The month before you go

• Get a fee-free debit card — Chase, Starling or Kroo — for your first weeks, when you won't yet have a Thai account.
• Get a fee-free credit card for hotels, deposits and emergencies. Apply while you have a UK address and income.
• Keep a UK mobile number on a cheap plan or pay-as-you-go. Your banks send passcodes to it.
• Switch to paperless for every bank, card, pension and investment.
• Set up a lasting power of attorney so someone in the UK can act for you if needed.
• Tell HMRC you're leaving — form P85 is used by many people leaving the UK to work or live abroad.
• Check your ISAs. You can keep them, but you normally can't add new money while you're not UK resident.
• Bring some cash in pounds and baht for the first few days.

What to set up before you leave

Three things that make the first months in Thailand simple, all easiest to set up while you're still UK-based.

Your first weeks in Thailand

Thai banks stopped opening accounts for tourists, so the Thai side waits until you have a long-stay visa. In the meantime, your UK cards and Wise do the work.

1. Use UK cards for spending and a fee-free debit card for cash, taking larger amounts less often because each Thai ATM withdrawal costs about ฿220.
2. Get a Thai SIM in your own name, registered with your passport. Thai banks send passcodes to it.
3. Get your long-stay visa or extension — retirement, marriage, work or another long-stay category.
4. Get proof of address: a residence certificate from Immigration, or a lease and a utility bill.
5. Open a Thai account with your passport, visa, Thai SIM and address proof, and a small cash deposit.
6. Register your face and set up the app, including PromptPay, before you leave the branch.

Our guides to opening a Thai bank account and the documents Thai banks ask for cover this step in detail.

Moving your savings: slowly and safely

There's rarely a good reason to move all your savings to Thailand at once — and several reasons not to.

• Protection is lower in Thailand. Thai deposit protection covers ฿1 million per bank (about £22,500), in baht only. UK banks are covered up to £120,000 per person per bank.
• Tax may apply. Once you're a Thai tax resident, foreign income earned from 2024 onwards and brought into Thailand can be taxable. Savings from before 2024 are protected if you can show they're pre-2024.
• The exchange rate matters. Moving everything on one day ties you to one rate. Moving in stages, or as you need it, spreads the risk.
• You may need pounds later — for a return home, family, or UK costs.

Move what you need for the visa money, a buffer for living costs and any big purchases, and keep the rest where it's best protected. Before moving a large sum, keep your pre-2024 savings identifiable and take advice. A proposed Thai exemption for money brought in quickly remained a draft as of 12 October 2026, so don't plan around it yet.

Pensions and income after the move

Our guide to receiving overseas income in Thailand covers the payment routes and the Thai tax rules in detail.

What to keep, change or close

A quick guide to your UK financial products when you move to Thailand.

General guidance; check each provider's terms for customers living abroad, and take advice on pensions and investments.

Ten mistakes people make

1. Cancelling the UK phone number and being locked out of UK banking.
2. Assuming the UK bank will keep them without asking.
3. Applying for UK cards after leaving — it's much harder without a UK address.
4. Arriving on a tourist visa expecting to open a Thai account.
5. Putting the visa money in too late for the required period.
6. Moving all their savings into one Thai bank.
7. Using a UK bank SWIFT transfer for large sums without comparing.
8. Mixing pre-2024 savings with new income.
9. Letting a Thai SIM lapse, so the bank app stops working.
10. Paying a rental deposit before seeing the property.

Staying safe while you settle in

Newcomers are a target for scams — fake rental listings, calls claiming to be police or the bank, messages about "failed" payments. Never move money because someone tells you to on the phone, and confirm bank details by phone before any large payment. Our guide to payment scams covers the warning signs. In your first weeks you'll also be banking on hotel and café Wi-Fi, so protect the connection.

Moving with a family

If you're moving with children, school fees are usually the biggest regular payment — often paid in baht by bank transfer each term. Set up the transfer route early, and ask the school which payment methods it accepts. Health insurance for the whole family is the other essential before you arrive; Thailand's private hospitals are excellent but expensive.

How we researched this guide

This guide brings together the research behind our International Banking guides: Thai banks' account-opening requirements (checked 12 October 2026), UK bank policies for customers abroad (private.law, 2026), Wise's 2026 changes in Thailand (The Thailand Life), deposit protection (FSCS, Jersey scheme and Thailand's DPA), GOV.UK's State Pension abroad guidance, UK banks' international payment fees (Wise, August 2026) and the status of Thailand's remittance tax rules (ThaiLawOnline, 12 October 2026). Checked 13 October 2026. This guide is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice.