If you’re a foreigner buying a condo in Thailand, one document decides whether the unit can go in your name: the Foreign Exchange Transaction (FET) form. It’s the bank’s proof that your purchase money was brought into Thailand in foreign currency — exactly what the Land Office demands at transfer, and what protects your right to send the money back out when you sell. Here’s what it is, how to get it right, and the mistakes that derail closings. Buyer and investor focused, never paid placement.
The FET form is the document your Thai bank issues to prove your condo money arrived from abroad in foreign currency. The Land Office will not register a unit in a foreigner’s name without it (or, for smaller sums, a credit advice that does the same job). Remit in foreign currency, tell the bank the purpose is to buy a condominium, ask for the FET in the buyer’s name — and keep it forever, because it’s also your ticket to repatriate the proceeds when you resell.
The Foreign Exchange Transaction (FET) form is an official confirmation issued by the Thai commercial bank that receives your incoming international transfer. It records the essentials of the remittance: the sender, the foreign-currency amount, the date it arrived, the baht it converted into, and the stated purpose of the money. In other words, it is the bank’s formal certification that a specific sum of foreign currency entered Thailand and was converted to baht inside the country.
Long-time buyers and agents still call it the “Tor Tor 3” (ธ.ต.3) — the old name for the same document. The form has been modernised and renamed the FET, but the function is identical, and you’ll hear both terms used interchangeably. For remittances below the reporting threshold, the bank issues a credit advice or a confirmation letter instead, which carries the same evidentiary weight for property purposes. Whatever it’s called, it is the paper trail that links your foreign money to your condo.
Thailand lets foreigners own condominium units freehold, but with two conditions baked into the Condominium Act. First, foreign owners can hold no more than 49% of the total floor area of a building (the “foreign quota”). Second — and this is where the FET comes in — the money used to buy the unit must be remitted into Thailand from abroad in foreign currency and converted to baht here.
That second rule is the whole reason the FET matters. The government wants documented evidence that foreign condo ownership is funded by genuine inbound foreign capital, not baht that was already sitting in the country. The FET is the mechanism that proves it. If you want the full picture of how foreign ownership works, read our foreign condo ownership guide and the investor foreign-ownership breakdown.
Whether you get the formal FET form or a simpler bank letter depends on the size of the remittance:
Because the threshold figure has changed more than once, don’t rely on a number you read in an old forum post — ask your receiving bank what the current threshold is and exactly which document they’ll give you for your transfer size. The practical takeaway is the same either way: tell the bank the purpose up front, and confirm in writing what evidence you’ll receive.
Getting a clean FET is mostly about telling the bank what you’re doing before the money moves:
Most purchases aren’t a single wire — there’s usually a deposit, then the balance, sometimes from more than one account or buyer. That’s fine. As long as each tranche is remitted in foreign currency for the stated purpose, the bank can issue an FET (or credit advice) for every remittance, and the documents together must cover at least the foreign-currency portion of the price the Land Office is registering.
It’s easy to think of the FET as a one-time entry hurdle. It isn’t. Because the form documents that your purchase money came into Thailand from abroad, it also underpins your right to repatriate the sale proceeds — the original capital, and typically the gain — back out of the country in foreign currency when you eventually resell the unit.
Almost every FET problem traces back to one of these:
The fix for all of them is the same: plan the money before you send it, and walk through the full sequence in our condo buying process guide.
The FET is just one piece of a clean foreign condo purchase. Line up the paperwork early, then explore units built for foreign buyers.
General information only — not financial, tax or legal advice. Bank of Thailand reporting thresholds, FET and credit-advice procedures, foreign-quota rules and Land Office requirements change over time and vary by bank and situation; confirm current details with your receiving Thai bank, a qualified Thai property lawyer and the relevant authorities before acting. BAANLYY never takes paid placement.
Primary and official sources are cited above. Government rules, fees and procedures in Thailand change over time and vary by office; always confirm current requirements with the relevant authority before relying on them. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.