Repatriating Money From Thailand: Getting Your Money Out When You Sell Up or Move On

Getting money into Thailand gets all the attention — the FET form, the 800,000 baht deposit, the condo-purchase paperwork. Almost nobody writes about the other direction: what happens when you sell the condo, close out savings, or just want to send money home. It’s not that it’s impossible. It’s that the rules depend entirely on why the money is leaving, and conflating the two most common cases — selling an asset versus sending a gift or personal transfer — is where people get stuck at the bank counter.

This page covers both, plus what’s actually changed in the last year.

The rule that decides everything: was the money already “yours” on the way in?

Thai banks and the Bank of Thailand don’t ask “can foreigners send money out of Thailand?” They ask “what is this specific transfer for, and can you prove it?” Two answers cover most of what a SiamForex reader will run into.

Mixing these up is the single most common reason people hit delays: showing up with a stack of general bank statements when the bank is actually asking “where’s the FET form,” or vice versa.

Case 1: Selling property and moving the proceeds out

If you’re selling a condo you own, repatriation runs through three things your bank will ask for:

1. The original FET form (or Credit Advice) from when you bought the unit. This proves the amount of foreign currency that originally came in and was converted to baht. Keep the original — copies and “I’m sure I have it somewhere” are exactly what stall this at the counter. If you’ve genuinely lost it, your bank can sometimes reissue a record from its own transaction history, but it takes time and isn’t guaranteed for older transactions.
2. The Land Office sale contract and transfer documents. Standard paperwork from the sale itself.
3. Proof the transfer withholding tax was paid at the Land Office. Thailand doesn’t have a separate capital-gains tax on property; instead the Land Office withholds tax at the point of transfer, calculated on the appraised value using a progressive formula. Whether the sale also triggers Specific Business Tax (3.3% combined, if you’ve held under five years) or the lower 0.5% stamp duty (five years or more) depends on your holding period — this is a Land Office calculation your lawyer or agent will walk through at the transfer.

The proceeds up to your original FET-documented amount move out with minimal friction. Profit above that amount isn’t blocked, but expect the bank to ask more questions and want more documentation before releasing it — this is where using a lawyer who handles the repatriation request, not just the sale, earns their fee.

One thing to plan around: currency movement between now and repatriation matters more than people expect. A 5% swing in the baht against your home currency between when you bought and when you sell can wipe out a year of appreciation. If you’re timing a sale and a transfer separately, that’s a real cost, not a rounding error.

Case 2: Moving savings or gifts out with no property sale involved

This is the retiree who’s decided to move home, or the expat sending money to family without an FET form to point to. As of 1 December 2025, the Bank of Thailand (Notification No. 34) raised the annual limit for this kind of gratuitous or personal outward transfer from USD 50,000 to USD 200,000 per person, per year — a substantial loosening that widened what individuals can move out without needing to justify it purpose-by-purpose. Transfers to immediate family members who are permanent residents abroad, and registered charitable donations, aren’t subject to a prescribed cap at all.

Actually sending the money: bank wire vs. Wise vs. the rest

Once you’ve cleared the “what category is this” question, the mechanics are the same as any outward transfer.

Bank SWIFT wire. Reliable, universally accepted by receiving banks, and the default for anything the bank needs supporting documents for anyway — property sales, larger amounts. Fees vary by who absorbs the correspondent-bank charges: expect a flat fee in the 400–1,150 baht range depending on whether you choose “OUR” (you pay all fees) or “BEN” (receiving bank deducts theirs), plus the exchange rate the bank applies — typically markets-worse than a dedicated transfer service. Takes one to five business days.

Wise. Usually the cheapest mid-market-rate option, but the rules now differ depending on which Wise account you’re sending from. If you’re sending from a Wise account registered to a non-Thai address — the normal case for sending your foreign savings home from abroad — none of this affects you. But if you hold a Wise account registered with a Thai address, new Bank of Thailand supervision rolled out through 2026 caps outward transfers at 800,000 baht per day and, for cross-currency transfers, now routes them through a two-step baht conversion that can add cost. If a Thai-registered Wise account is how you’d planned to move sale proceeds or savings out, check current limits on Wise’s own site before assuming an older guide still reflects the current terms — this is a fast-moving area.

DeeMoney and similar Thailand-based remittance services. Flat, transparent fees, often under 150 baht, with same-day options, but they build their margin into the exchange rate rather than the fee, so compare the total cost, not just the headline fee.

Western Union and cash-pickup services. Useful if the recipient needs cash same-day and doesn’t have a bank account to receive a wire, otherwise usually the most expensive option for anything beyond a small amount.

For most one-off larger transfers — a condo sale, a lump-sum retirement move — the bank wire remains the practical default simply because it’s the same institution already holding your FET documentation. For smaller, recurring, or no-paperwork transfers, a service like Wise, from a non-Thai-registered account, is usually cheaper and faster.

Keep the paper trail even after the money’s gone

If you’ve been sending or receiving regular transfers into Thailand in the pattern described in our bank-freezes guide — consistent, labeled, traceable — that same discipline pays off on the way out. A bank that’s watched money arrive and sit for years with a clear, documented purpose has a much easier time releasing it than one seeing an unexplained large outflow for the first time. Keep your FET forms, keep transfer records, and if you’re planning a sale or a move months out, it’s worth a conversation with your bank’s international-transfers desk before you need the money urgently.