Currency Transfer for EU Buyers: the rule that decides the route
A European buying in Phuket makes one decision about money that outranks every other: how the euros travel. Not because of the rate, although the rate matters on a purchase-sized sum, but because the Thai Land Department registers a foreigner’s freehold only against evidence that the purchase money came from abroad as foreign currency and was converted into baht by a Thai bank. That evidence is the foreign exchange transaction (FET) record, and the bank issues the full form for a single inbound transfer of $50,000 or more; below that, a credit advice, which is also worth keeping. Any route that produces the record is acceptable. Any route that does not, however cheap, is not.
That is why this page is organised around the record rather than around providers. Providers change their pricing monthly and their reliability with them, and the earlier version of this page recommended three by name with figures that could not be traced; those have been withdrawn. What does not change is the Thai rule, and it is the Thai rule that this site knows.
Transfer Method Comparison: EUR to Thailand
Three routes exist for moving euros to a Thai bank account, and the difference between the cheapest and the most expensive is real money on a purchase-sized transfer.
| Route | How it works | What to check before using it |
|---|---|---|
| Your own bank, SWIFT | One instruction; the euros are converted either by your bank before sending or by the Thai bank on arrival | That the transfer leaves in euros, not baht, and that your bank’s charges are borne by you as sender so the full amount lands |
| A specialist transfer service | A euro payment to the provider inside SEPA, then an international wire onward to Thailand | That the money arrives in Thailand as foreign currency in your name and is converted there; a provider that converts to baht outside Thailand may be cheaper and may leave you with no record |
| A broker with a forward contract | The rate is fixed today for a payment on a future date | The margin priced into the forward, the commitment it creates, and, again, that the eventual wire arrives as foreign currency in your name |
Two constraints apply to every route and decide more than the price does. The conversion must happen in Thailand, because that is what produces the record. And the sender must be you: a transfer routed through a provider still has to arrive identifying you as the source and the property as the purpose. Confirm both with the receiving Thai bank before the first transfer, when the details can still be changed, rather than at registration, when they cannot.
SEPA Advantage for Eurozone Buyers
SEPA covers the euro leg only. A euro payment from your bank to another account inside the Single Euro Payments Area is quick and cheap, which is why the specialist route starts with one; the leg into Thailand is an international wire regardless, and it is that leg where the charges, the compliance checks and the FET documentation sit. Buyers in EU countries outside the euro (Poland, Sweden, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and others) can use SEPA for euros but hold a different currency, and the question for them is below, under the double conversion.
FET Certificate: The Critical Thai Requirement
Why it exists. The Land Department requires the record to register a condominium unit freehold in a foreigner’s name, inside the 49% of a building’s floor area that foreigners may hold between them. Later, when you sell, the same records are what makes sending the proceeds back to Europe routine: they show the Thai bank that the money originally came from abroad. And each qualifying tranche of an off-plan purchase produces its own record, so a purchase paid in five instalments produces five.
How to obtain it. Send the euros to an account at a Thai bank, in your own name, or to the developer’s account with your name and the unit as the reference where the developer and its bank accept that; the bank converts to baht on receipt and issues the record. The proof of funds guide lists what the Thai bank and your own bank will ask for, and the bank transfers guide walks through the wire itself. Keep the original with the title documents rather than in an email folder; reconstructing it a decade later is far harder than filing it now.
Four things the bank checks on it. The sender’s name, which has to be the name that will go on the deed. The sum, which has to cover the milestone in full after any deductions in transit. The currency, which has to be foreign when it lands and baht only after the Thai bank has converted it. And the reference, which has to identify the unit. An error in any of them stalls the registration until it is corrected, which is slow.
Sending amount versus arriving amount
The most common documentation failure is a shortfall. Intermediary banks deduct charges in transit, so the sum sent arrives slightly reduced, and the record then shows less than the purchase requires. Two fixes: tell your bank you will bear its charges yourself where it offers that option, so nothing is taken out of the principal; and send a small margin above the required figure, since a surplus is straightforward and a shortfall means another transfer, another fee and another document.
The second failure is sending baht. Money that was already baht when it left Europe is not a foreign remittance when it lands, so there is nothing for the Thai bank to certify and no record can be issued. Send euros and let the Thai bank convert.
The double conversion, and how to avoid paying it twice
A buyer holding a non-euro European currency faces a specific trap: converting to euros first and then euros to baht pays two spreads on the same money. Where your bank or provider supports it, convert directly from your home currency to baht in a single step; most specialist providers handle the major European currencies against the baht, and the saving is straightforward arithmetic. The same applies to holding balances: a multi-currency account is useful for managing an off-plan schedule only if the final conversion to baht happens once, at a rate you chose, rather than accumulating through intermediate hops.
One caution specific to this route, and it is the same caution as everywhere on this page: whatever path the money takes, it must arrive in Thailand as foreign currency, converted by the Thai bank, in your name. Confirm the mechanism with the provider and with your Thai bank before the first tranche.
Managing Multiple Instalments on Off-Plan Purchases
A completed purchase involves one transfer and one conversion. An off-plan schedule involves four or five, spread across two or three years, and the differences compound in three ways.
Costs multiply. Every charge is levied per transfer: a schedule with five tranches pays five sets of wire fees, five intermediary deductions and five spreads.
Documentation multiplies. Each qualifying tranche needs its own record, each with the right name, amount and property reference, filed as it is issued.
Exposure repeats. You convert at five different rates over 2-3 years, none of which you can know in advance, and a currency move of one tenth across the schedule exceeds every fee on this page combined and most of what buyers negotiate over. That deserves a deliberate decision: convert the full amount early and hold baht in Thailand, accepting that the rate is fixed for better or worse; take forward contracts against each known milestone date, which fixes the rate at a cost priced into it; or convert per tranche and accept the movement. All three are defensible. Arriving at the third by never deciding is not.
| Instalment | What it usually is | Transfer action |
|---|---|---|
| Reservation fee | A small sum that takes the unit off the market | Often below the $50,000 full-form threshold; keep the credit advice anyway |
| Contract signing | The first substantial tranche | The first record: check the four details before sending |
| Construction milestones | Several tranches tied to progress on site | Calendar each one; consider forward cover for the known dates |
| Completion | The balance, at handover | The largest single conversion; the one worth quoting twice |
Whichever approach you choose, give each transfer a margin of at least ten working days ahead of its milestone, and copy your lawyer on the instruction. Compliance checks add days rather than hours, and a late tranche on an off-plan contract can trigger a penalty clause on an agreement where every other term favours the developer. The off-plan guide covers escrow and delay terms and the reservation guide what happens to the fee.
A per-tranche checklist
The same five checks apply to every transfer, and running them each time is what prevents a problem surfacing at registration.
- The sender name matches the buyer who will appear on the title, exactly.
- The amount covers what the milestone requires, with a small margin for intermediary deductions.
- The transfer is in euros or your home currency, not pre-converted baht.
- The reference names the property.
- The Thai bank has confirmed, before sending, that the record will be issued for this tranche.
Then file the document as it arrives. A folder with five records, five wire confirmations and five milestone receipts is a fifteen-minute exercise spread across two years, and it is what makes both the registration and the eventual sale straightforward. Print the list and use it every time rather than working from memory; the tranche sent from an airport lounge is the one that goes wrong.
The numbers to plan around
This page used to carry a table of typical fees and spreads. The figures could not be traced and have been withdrawn; the shape of the costs is what matters, and it is this. The sending bank’s wire fee is visible and small. The intermediary deduction is invisible and is what causes short receipts. The receiving Thai bank’s charge is small and usually capped; ask the branch for the current figure. The exchange-rate spread is the largest cost and appears nowhere as a line item, so ask any provider for the rate they will give you against the mid-market rate on the day, not for their fee. A transfer takes several business days, longer with a compliance query, and the record follows within about a week of the credit.
What can be stated from sources is the Thai side. The Land Department’s transfer fee is 2% of its appraised value, commonly split between the parties, and the seller carries withholding on the appraised value together with specific business tax (3.3% when the sale falls within five years of buying) or stamp duty (0.5% when it falls later); the transfer fees guide works it through. For scale, the median developer entry price for a condominium in our catalogue was 4,934,800 THB, about $151,000 at the report’s conversion, in the Q3 2026 market report, which on a typical off-plan schedule of 24-36 months means four or five conversions of that order.
Buyer scenarios for EU wire paths
The French buyer paying in tranches. A reservation fee below the full-form threshold, then four milestone transfers over the build. Priority: the credit advice for the first payment, the four details on every record after it, and a decision about forward cover before the second milestone rather than after the euro has moved.
The Dutch investor buying two units. Separate records and separate folders per unit from the first payment; the Land Department registers each unit on its own evidence and will not merge histories at resale.
The Polish or Swedish buyer holding a non-euro currency. One conversion, not two, and written confirmation from both the provider and the Thai bank that the path produces the record.
| Step | When | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Contract signed | Day 0 | Confirm the Thai bank’s SWIFT details and the account name in writing |
| Your bank’s compliance query | The first days | Provide the contract, the invoice and the source of funds |
| Euros arrive in Thailand | Within the week, longer with checks | The Thai bank converts to baht |
| Record issued | Shortly after the credit | Store the original with the title documents and a scan separately |
| Registration | At completion | Your lawyer presents the full set at the Land Department |
Red flags before the first wire. A developer asking for baht into an account that is not the developer’s. A first tranche sent from a friend’s or a company’s account, which has to be unwound and resent from the buyer’s own name. A provider that cannot say in writing where the conversion happens. And a schedule that leaves less than ten working days between the transfer and the milestone.
Insider tip: the rate you are quoted two days before a tranche is the one to compare with, because the rate on the day is the rate you get; quote the transfer twice, once with your bank and once with a specialist, and read both against the mid-market rate rather than against each other.
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Final EUR transfer discipline
Weekend cut-offs bite: a SWIFT instruction given on a Friday in Europe often lands on Tuesday in Thailand, so count business days rather than calendar days when a reservation expiry or a milestone is close. And the cheapest transfer is the one you do not have to repeat: a wire that arrives short, in baht, or from the wrong name costs a second wire, a second fee and a second set of paperwork, on top of the delay.
Frequently Asked Questions
The way that produces the foreign exchange transaction record: euros leaving an account in your own name, arriving at a Thai bank as foreign currency, converted into baht there, with the property as the reference. Within that rule, compare your bank's international wire with a specialist service on the rate against mid-market, not on the fee; this page recommends no provider by name, because pricing and reliability change too often to print.
Sometimes, where the developer's bank accepts an inbound foreign-currency payment with your name and the unit as the reference and issues the record accordingly, and many off-plan purchases are paid that way. Confirm it in writing with the developer and its bank before the first tranche; if there is any doubt, an account in your own name at a Thai bank removes it.
This page quotes no rate, because a rate printed in a guide is out of date by the time it is read. Check the mid-market rate on the day of each transfer, ask each provider for their rate against it, and remember that on an off-plan schedule you will convert at several different rates over two or three years, which is the exposure worth deciding about in advance.
Only on the first leg. A euro payment inside the Single Euro Payments Area is quick and cheap, which is how a specialist route begins; the leg into Thailand is an international wire whatever route you use, and it is on that leg that the charges, the compliance checks and the record sit.
The record is what freehold registration of a condominium in a foreign name depends on; a lease registered for 30 years does not turn on it in the same way. Keep the records regardless, because they document that the money came from abroad, which is what makes repatriating the proceeds straightforward when the lease is sold.
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