Three letters that trip up DIY buyers: FET. It’s the bank confirmation that foreign currency entered Thailand, without which you can’t register a condo to a foreigner in freehold. A mistake in the money transfer can block the deal at registration. Here’s what FET is, when it’s mandatory, how to obtain it, what to write in the SWIFT transfer, how FET works with instalment plans and joint purchases, why you’ll want it again when you sell — and why leasehold has no such requirement, which makes payment more flexible.
Contents
1. What an FET is
FET (Foreign Exchange Transaction), formerly known as Tor Tor 3, is a Thai bank document confirming that foreign currency was brought into the country. It proves to the Land Department that the money for the condo came from abroad in currency, rather than being obtained inside Thailand. This is a key condition for registering freehold to a foreigner under the Condominium Act.
The logic behind the requirement is simple. Thailand allows foreigners to own condominium units within the foreign quota — up to 49% of a project’s saleable area. In return, the state wants to see that the purchase is funded with genuinely “external” money: foreign capital must enter the country through the banking system, under the Bank of Thailand’s foreign exchange controls. The FET is that paper trail: the bank records who sent the currency, to whom, how much, in which currency and with what purpose.
What the document contains:
- the names of the sender and the recipient of the transfer;
- the amount in foreign currency and the amount in baht after conversion;
- the credit date and the exchange rate;
- the payment reference — the link to a property purchase.
A technical nuance worth knowing in advance: banks issue the FET form for large foreign-currency inflows (historically from the equivalent of USD 50,000; the threshold is set by the regulator — check with your bank). If an individual payment is smaller, the bank issues a confirmation letter (credit advice) carrying the same data. What matters to the Land Department is not the form’s letterhead but the confirmation of the currency inflow in the buyer’s name.
2. When FET is mandatory
- Freehold (full ownership): FET is mandatory. Without it foreign ownership isn’t registered.
- Leasehold (long-term lease): FET is not required — a lease is registered, not foreign ownership.
| Form | FET | Payment |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold | Mandatory | Currency inflow + FET |
| Leasehold | Not needed | Wider set of methods |
Note that the requirement applies specifically to condominium units a foreigner registers in their own name within the freehold quota. Landed villas cannot be registered to a foreigner personally in any case — those run on leasehold and other structures, where the FET question is resolved differently and most often doesn’t arise at all.
🔗 Ownership breakdown: Freehold vs leasehold → · Foreigner ownership →
3. How to obtain an FET: step by step
- Transfer in currency. Send the amount in USD/EUR from abroad to the developer’s or your Thai account.
- Payment reference. State “purchase of property/condominium.”
- Amount with a buffer. Send a little over the unit price to cover fees and rate swings.
- Request the FET. After it’s credited, ask the bank to issue the FET (default for large amounts).
- Hand to developer/lawyer. The FET is attached to the registration document package.
Two practical clarifications. First: if the currency lands in the developer’s account, the FET/confirmation is issued by the developer’s bank — agree in advance, in the contract or in writing, that the developer will request the document and hand it to you before registration; this is standard procedure with Phuket’s larger developers. Second: if you bring the money into your own Thai account and then pay the developer in baht domestically, the FET is issued at the point your currency is credited — keep both it and the domestic payment slips: together they show the chain “currency → baht → unit payment.”
How this slots into the overall transaction — from reservation to registration — is covered in our step-by-step guide: the Phuket buying process →. The first payment (the reservation deposit) is usually small and happens before the main currency transfer — on its role see deposit and reservation →.
4. Transfer rules and SWIFT fields
- Funds must arrive in foreign currency and be converted to baht in Thailand.
- The transfer carries a reference tied to the property purchase.
- Check the payee details against the contract, not correspondence.
- For freehold the FET is issued in the buyer’s name — the future owner.
Now the details that raise the most questions when filling out the SWIFT form:
- Sender = buyer. The ideal setup is a transfer from an account opened in the same name that will appear in the sale contract and on the Chanote. The Land Department matches the name on the FET against the future owner’s name. A transfer from a third party (a relative, a company) is possible but requires explanatory documents and should be agreed with a lawyer beforehand.
- The reference field (details of payment). A working wording: “Purchase of condominium unit No. … at … project, Phuket, Thailand.” The more specific the link to the unit and project, the fewer questions at registration.
- Transfer currency. Send in USD/EUR or another foreign currency, with conversion on the Thai side. The “send directly in baht” option some banks offer is exactly the trap: the money technically arrives, but there is no currency inflow.
- Intermediary banks and fees. An international transfer can “shrink” through correspondent-bank fees. Choose the “OUR” option (sender pays the fees) and build in a buffer — if the confirmed amount at registration turns out lower than the contract price, you’ll have to top it up with a separate currency payment.
- Name spelling in Latin script. The name in the SWIFT form, the passport and the contract must match letter for letter. A transliteration mismatch is a classic reason a document gets sent back for reissue.
For a detailed overview of every payment channel — bank transfer, paying in different currencies, cryptocurrency — see the dedicated article: payment methods for Phuket property →.
5. Multiple transfers and joint purchases
There is no “one payment only” rule. In practice the money almost always arrives in several tranches, and that’s fine:
- Several transfers — one package. The bank issues an FET or a confirmation for each currency credit. Before registration your lawyer assembles a package of documents that together cover the unit price in the contract. What matters is that every payment carries the correct reference and a matching sender name.
- Buying as a couple. If the Chanote will name two owners (spouses, for example), the safest setup is for currency transfers to come from both future owners — or from one, with properly documented source of funds for the other. Agree the configuration with a lawyer before the first transfer, not after.
- Different sending banks. Transfers can come from different countries and banks — what’s critical is not “from where” but “in which currency” and “in whose name.” At the same time the sources of funds must be transparent: Thai banks follow compliance procedures and may request source-of-funds documents for large sums.
A separate scenario is a fully remote deal, where the buyer never travels to Thailand: transfers, powers of attorney and FET collection are all handled remotely. How that works — in our breakdown of buying remotely →.
6. FET with instalments and off-plan
Most primary-market deals in Phuket are off-plan with a construction-period instalment plan: a down payment followed by scheduled payments tied to build milestones. How FET fits that schedule:
- Every tranche in currency. All scheduled payments are sent from abroad in foreign currency. Each tranche gets its own bank confirmation.
- The package accumulates until registration. Freehold registration happens after handover, and that’s when you need the complete set of FETs/letters covering the full unit price. Interim payments made “without FET” in baht create a hole in the chain that will have to be closed.
- The price is fixed in baht. The contract price is in baht, while you transfer currency. Over a multi-year instalment plan the rate moves between tranches — build a buffer into every payment, not just the first.
- The final payment is the most critical. It’s usually the largest tranche before handover; a mistake here delays both the keys and the registration.
In the projects where we act as an authorised sales partner of VillaCarte Group — Layan Verde, under construction with instalments over the build period, and the completed Layan Green Park, where phase 1 is available only as a resale paid in full — foreign buyers’ currency payments are structured for the future registration from day one: the buyer receives instructions for each tranche, and confirmations are collected as payments are made rather than in a scramble before registration. The general logic of primary-market payment schedules is covered here: new-build timeline and stages →, and market-wide instalment options in the collection of projects with instalment plans →.
7. Leasehold: no FET
Since leasehold is a lease, not registration of foreign ownership, no FET is needed. The practical upside: payment can be made through a wider set of methods and with fewer source-of-funds formalities on the Thai side. Reporting in your own jurisdiction remains your responsibility. That’s why leasehold is often chosen as a more flexible entry, with the right to convert to freehold later while quota remains.
It’s important not to conflate two questions here. The absence of an FET requirement doesn’t mean leasehold money can move “any which way”: the contract still fixes the price and schedule, payments must be traceable, and a prudent buyer keeps payment records just as carefully. The difference is that the Thai side doesn’t demand proof of currency inflow — which removes a whole layer of formality: you can pay from an existing Thai account, or use other channels, including — subject to the developer’s agreement — paying with cryptocurrency through licensed conversion.
If you’re taking leasehold with a plan to convert the unit to freehold later (the classic strategy while the project’s quota lasts), think about FET upfront: conversion means registering foreign ownership, and all the currency-inflow requirements apply to it. Payments originally made with “domestic” baht can’t be replayed retroactively at that point — discuss it with a lawyer at the start.
8. FET and taking money out after a sale
The FET works in both directions — and that’s its underrated function. When you sell the unit and want to move the proceeds out of Thailand, the bank will ask: how did this money enter the country in the first place? Foreign exchange rules permit repatriation of funds legally brought into Thailand — and the retained FET together with the sale contract is the key evidence.
Practical consequences:
- Keep the FET indefinitely. Original and scans — in the same “forever” archive as the contract and the Chanote. When selling in 5–10 years, that’s exactly what the bank will ask for.
- The repatriation amount. The confirmed currency inflow covers returning what you put in; profit from the sale is remitted with proof of the transaction and of taxes paid — on the sale side that’s withholding tax and related fees, detailed in our breakdown of tax on selling →.
- Heirs and successors. If the unit passes by inheritance, the currency-inflow paperwork makes life easier for heirs too — as does a transparent purchase history in general.
The exit strategy — when to sell, how to price the unit, which documents to prepare — is covered separately: how to resell Phuket property →.
9. Pitfalls
- Transferring in baht. Money that arrived in baht or from a local account won’t get an FET.
- Wrong reference. A payment not tied to a property purchase complicates registration.
- Under-sending. Not enough for fees/rate — you’ll have to top up the transfer.
- Forgetting to request the FET. Do it right after the credit.
- Delaying. While you unwind a transfer, a freehold unit can go.
- Name mismatch. The sender isn’t the future owner, or the transliteration differs from the passport and the contract.
- The “send in THB” option at the sending bank. Some banks and fintech services convert to baht before the border — formally convenient, in practice it kills the currency inflow.
- Losing the FET after the deal. The document is needed not only for registration but for future repatriation of funds — recovering it years later isn’t always possible, and never quick.
10. Case: paying in baht
Consider a typical scenario. A buyer sent the developer a deposit in Thai baht from a Bangkok account opened earlier, “to save on conversion.” The unit was in the freehold quota. At registration the bank couldn’t issue an FET: the money hadn’t entered the country in currency. They had to return the funds and re-send via a foreign-currency transfer from abroad — two weeks lost and the risk of losing the unit.
A second scenario from practice — milder, but also costly in time. A buyer was paying an instalment plan in four tranches; the first three went perfectly, but the final one went through a fintech service that converted the sum to baht before it reached the Thai bank. Result: confirmations for three tranches, none for the fourth — the largest. Registration was postponed while the buyer unwound the payment and repeated it as a classic SWIFT transfer in currency. Same takeaway: the channel for every payment is verified in advance, not after the credit.
Takeaway: for freehold the sequence “currency → FET → registration” matters as much as the unit choice. With support this step is handled in advance; for leasehold the FET question doesn’t arise at all.
11. Pre-registration checklist
A final check of the currency-side package — a few weeks before your Land Department date:
- There’s an FET/confirmation for every payment on the unit — from the reservation deposit (if it went by currency transfer) to the final tranche.
- The confirmed currency inflow in total covers the unit price in the sale contract.
- The name on the FET matches the buyer’s name in the contract and the future Chanote — letter for letter in Latin script.
- Payment references are tied to the property purchase (ideally to the specific unit and project).
- Originals/certified copies are with your lawyer or ready for the Land Department.
- Copies of the whole package are saved in your personal archive — you’ll need them for a future sale and repatriation.
If even one item doesn’t add up, now is the time to fix it: a top-up currency payment or a reissued letter takes days, not hours.
I’ll structure the correct payment scheme for your ownership form and guide the FET.
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Sources
Primary sources for this topic. Rates, fees and procedures change — at the time of your transaction check them directly rather than relying on this article.
- Bank of Thailand — foreign exchange regulation and FET requirements
- Department of Lands, Thailand — title deeds, Chanote, registration of transfers and leaseholds
Informational only, not legal/tax advice; confirm the transfer scheme with the bank and a lawyer.
