Wise in Thailand from October 2026: what changes for accounts with a Thai address

If you live in Thailand and move your money through Wise, you get a different account in October, even if the app and the login look the same. Wise is moving all personal customers with a Thai address to its own Thai company, and that company works under the rules of the Thai central bank. For retirees, long-term residents and digital nomads with a Thai address, this means: foreign currency becomes baht, transfers get daily limits, and the Wise card no longer works at Thai cash machines. If you know how the switch works, you can set up your account so that it hardly gets in the way.

The background: Wise now has a Thai licence

On 17 March 2026, Wise announced in a press release that it had received the approvals of the Bank of Thailand and the Thai Ministry of Commerce to operate locally. By its own account, Wise is the first non-bank with all five licences required for this: for payments, e-money and foreign exchange business. This allows Wise to issue foreign currency accounts and its own cards in Thailand.

The flip side is in the help article on the switch. Customers in Thailand will in future be served by the local company, which is "fully licensed and regulated by the Bank of Thailand". Along with the new features come, as Wise itself writes, restrictions and changes in how the account can be used. An international account with residence in Thailand becomes a Thai account with international features.

Who the switch affects, and from when

Affected are personal customers whose registered address is in Thailand. Business accounts are expressly excluded in this help article. What counts is neither your nationality nor how long you actually spend in the country, but the address in your Wise profile.

On timing, Wise distinguishes two groups:

Signed up before 21 January 2026: the changes apply from October 2026. Until then, according to Wise, the account remains usable as before.

Signed up after 21 January 2026: the changes are being introduced gradually and should be in effect by August 2026. If you signed up after that date, you are already living with the new rules.

If, on the other hand, you are registered in the UK or a Nordic country, have your Wise address there and only spend the winter in Thailand, you do not fall under this switch. For you, the Thai relaunch changes nothing.

What changes: the five points that matter day to day

1. Foreign currency becomes baht

This is the biggest change, and it hits above all people with an income from Europe. Payments in currencies other than baht that arrive from third parties on your Wise account details, for example on a British account number or a US account number, or that other Wise customers send you, will in future be converted into baht automatically and credited to your THB balance. The usual conversion fees apply. Wise gives the example of 1,000 US dollars from a Wise user in the USA that arrive with the recipient in Thailand as baht.

There is one important exception. Money you transfer from your own account abroad to your Wise account is not converted. Wise writes expressly that you can still, for example, add US dollars from your US bank account to your USD balance without them turning into baht. The same logic applies to every foreign currency.

This yields a simple rule for pensions, rental income, fees and salaries from Europe: let them run to an account of your own outside Wise and top up Wise from there yourself. If you currently receive your pension directly on Wise account details, change that before October. An account in your home country that you can keep running from abroad is the obvious anchor for this, provided your bank lets you keep it after a move; why that is not a given is shown in Nordic banks closing expat accounts.

2. Two conversions when sending abroad

If you transfer abroad from a foreign currency balance in your Wise account, you will in future pay two conversions: first into baht, then into the target currency. Wise gives the example of a transfer in US dollars from the Wise account to a bank account in the USA. Dollars become baht, baht become dollars again. Wise itself points out that fees may rise as a result.

The same applies to Wise transfers between two non-Thai bank accounts. If you regularly move money between European accounts from Thailand, you pay twice. Such transfers are better made directly between the European banks in future.

3. Daily limits

With the Thai licence come the limits of the Thai supervisor. On its page on account limits in Thailand, Wise names three kinds:

Transfers abroad: at most 800,000 baht per day and 20 million baht per calendar month. This applies to transfers from Thailand to an account abroad, including from your own Thai bank account via Wise.

The customer profile limit: for all payments and transfers from your Wise balances, in any currency and including card payments, a daily limit of 30,000 baht applies to begin with. Wise writes that it reviews the limit with regular use and can raise it to 50,000 baht or more, and that you will be informed by email. The limit does not apply if you pay for a transfer with an external payment method, such as your Thai bank account, a foreign bank account or a credit card.

PromptPay: at most 10,000 baht per transaction. In its announcement of the switch, Wise words the 10,000 baht cap more broadly, namely for all baht payments and baht transfers from the Wise account and for baht top-ups. The limits page assigns it to the PromptPay procedure. To be safe, assume the stricter reading until you see in the app what applies to your account.

On top of that there is a cap on conversion: from baht into another currency, Wise converts at most 750,000 baht per day.

The customer profile limit is not Wise's invention. In August 2025 the Bank of Thailand described this method in its questions and answers as protection against fraud: daily limits for digital payments, tailored to usage behaviour, so that fraudsters cannot move large sums in a short time.

4. New card, no cash from Thai cash machines

Existing Wise cards linked to an account with a Thai address will be blocked by September 2026. Wise issues a replacement card free of charge and announced that it would be in touch with the details by August. If you still have no new card, check in the app or ask customer support.

The second card change is for many the most unwelcome: you can no longer withdraw cash with the Wise card at cash machines in Thailand. Withdrawals abroad keep working. If you have so far handled your daily life in Thailand with a Wise card and cash machines, you need a different card for cash, in practice the card of a Thai bank account.

5. New proof of identity

For customers who signed up before 21 January 2026, Wise announced an email for September requesting additional documents under the requirements of the Bank of Thailand. Wise writes expressly that non-immigrant visas such as the Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) and the Education Visa (ED) are accepted for this.

Which documents Wise accepts in principle is set out in the help article on verification in Thailand. Foreigners need a valid passport and proof of their right to stay: a visa from one of the admitted categories, a work permit or a residence document. The admitted visas include retirement visas (O-A, O-X), marriage visas, business visas, DTV, Elite and LTR visas. As residence documents, Wise accepts the yellow house book (Tabien Baan) and the pink ID card. For a multi-currency account or a card, you also need proof of your residential address in Thailand, such as a bank statement or a utility bill.

Not accepted are tourist visas, short-term entry stamps and the "Certificate of Residence". If you have none of the admitted documents, you cannot complete verification with a Thai address, according to Wise.

What is added

The switch also brings new features, which Wise says it is introducing step by step between March and October 2026: sending baht abroad, directly from a Thai bank account or from the THB balance, top-ups from a Thai bank account, paying by PromptPay QR code even in small shops without a card terminal, transfers to any PromptPay ID, and a physical card delivered to Thailand plus up to three digital cards.

For daily life in Thailand, that is a gain. The Wise account becomes a local means of payment. But it stops being the convenient foreign currency account on which income from Europe arrives and stays in euros or pounds.

Moving to Thailand or away from Thailand

Two notes from Wise concern people who are moving right now.

If you no longer live in Thailand, you should change your address at Wise to your current country of residence. This is not a mere formality: as the Thai switch shows, the address decides which Wise company serves you and which rules apply to your account.

If you move to Thailand before October 2026, you cannot change your address to Thailand during the switch, according to Wise, and should contact customer support. A further sentence from the help centre fits this: on the list of countries of residence in which you can hold balances, Thailand appears with the note that Wise has temporarily stopped issuing currencies and account details for customers in Thailand.

The temptation is obvious to simply leave your old address in the UK or the Nordics in place. That is not advisable. The address on the account is a statement about your residence, and your provider aligns its duties with it, right up to reporting your account to the tax authorities. How to build a banking setup that matches the facts as someone without a classic residence is shown in Nomad banking: address, TIN and account.

What to get done before October

1. Check your address. If your Wise profile shows a Thai address, everything described above applies. If it is no longer correct, change it.

2. Redirect incoming payments. Move pensions, rents, fees and salaries in pounds, kroner, euros or dollars to an account of your own outside Wise and top up Wise from there yourself. Think of every payer: pension provider, tenants, platforms, employers.

3. Have your documents ready. Visa, work permit or house book, plus proof of address. Differing names or dates of birth between passport and profile are, according to Wise, a common reason for delays.

4. Sort out how you get cash. Since the Wise card no longer works at Thai cash machines, you need a Thai bank card for cash. How opening an account at a Thai bank works and which visa it requires is on our page Open a bank account in Thailand.

5. Plan larger amounts. For a rental deposit, buying a car or medical treatment, work out the daily limits in advance or pay with an external payment method to which the customer profile limit does not apply.

6. Check your replacement card. Has the new card arrived, and is it activated?

The lesson behind it

A fintech is as international as its licence allows. Wise is now supervised locally in Thailand, and with that the rules of the Bank of Thailand apply. The account follows the law of the country of residence, not the brand. Why you should never rely on a single provider anyway is shown in Wise business account closed: the Plan B.

For people in Thailand, this results in a stable split: a Thai bank account for cash and daily life, Wise as a tool for transfers and local payments, and an account outside Thailand on which income from home arrives in its own currency. The same line applies to all accounts: an account abroad is legal, and your income remains taxable where the law provides. If you want to know which combination holds up in your case, talk to us in the free consultation.