Send money to Thailand from Canada
Grey pays out in Thai baht, credited to a bank account in Thailand. You read the rate and the fee before you confirm, and confirming fixes the rate, so the baht figure on your screen is the baht figure the account receives. The person at the other end needs no Grey account, and on this route that person is often you.
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Baht into a Thai account, including your own
Canada's relationship with Thailand runs in two directions and neither of them is a standard remittance. Thai families have settled in Toronto, Scarborough, Vancouver and Surrey, and money goes back to parents and siblings in Bangkok, Khon Kaen and the Isan provinces. Going the other way are Canadians who spend the winter, or the decade, in Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hua Hin or Koh Samui, living on money that is earned, banked or drawn somewhere else entirely.
That second group changes what this page has to explain. A retiree in Chiang Mai usually holds a Thai bank account in their own name, and the transfer they make is to themselves. Long-stay paperwork frequently wants to see money landing in that account regularly, which puts a premium on a payout that is predictable in date and in amount rather than one that is merely cheap.
Either way the mechanics are the same. Grey converts your balance into baht and credits a Thai bank account. Nothing is collected at a counter, nothing is held in a foreign currency at the far end, and no one has to be talked through installing an app.
Three steps to a baht payout
Sign up
A Grey account costs nothing and takes about five minutes to open, verified with one valid identity document. You can do it from Vancouver or from a condo in Phuket.
Fund
You can hold US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds or euro. Yours is funded by a client, an employer, a pension paid abroad or a transfer you make.
Send
Enter the Thai bank account details, check the baht figure against the rate and the fee, and confirm. The conversion happens once, on your side.
What sending to Thailand costs
The trap on this corridor is the dollar transfer. Send foreign currency into a Thai account and the receiving bank converts it at a rate nobody quoted you, often after taking its own charge, and the baht that lands is a number you find out about afterwards. A payout that is already in baht removes that step entirely.
It also makes providers comparable. Put the baht figures side by side, not the fee lines. A transfer advertised without a fee can still deliver fewer baht than one that charges openly, because the difference is sitting inside the rate where it never has to be named.
How the baht rate is fixed
The rate shown at confirmation is the one applied to your transfer. It does not drift while the payment is on its way from Toronto to Bangkok and it is not revisited after settlement.
For anyone living in Thailand on income from elsewhere, that is the useful part. If a landlord in Chiang Mai, a hospital, or a school wants a specific baht amount, you can commit to it before the money leaves rather than hoping the arithmetic works out at the other end.
A Canadian bank wire to Bangkok, and what it costs you
A wire to Thailand from TD Canada Trust, RBC, BMO or CIBC is priced as a flat fee whatever the size of the payment, uses an exchange rate the bank does not show you beforehand, and passes through correspondent banks that can each reduce what arrives. Most of those wires also land as foreign currency, leaving the Thai bank to do the conversion on terms you never see. Interac e-Transfer, meanwhile, does not leave Canada at all. Grey converts once, in front of you, and credits baht to the Thai account.
What arrives in Thailand
Baht, credited to the Thai bank account as an ordinary deposit. There is nothing to collect and no Grey account required on the receiving side.
Thai bank accounts
The payout is in baht, straight into the recipient's account in Thailand. You enter their bank and account details in the app.
Sending to yourself
If the Thai account is your own, the transfer works the same way. Check that the account name matches the name on your Grey account before the first one.
GreyTag
If the person in Thailand also uses Grey, GreyTag moves the money free and instantly, with no account numbers exchanged.
Putting money into your Grey account
Grey takes no Canadian dollars in. The balance is funded in the currency your money already arrives in, and holds until baht is needed.
Paid by a client
Remote workers and consultants can be paid directly into their Grey account details, which is the common pattern for Canadians working from Thailand.
Paid by an employer
If your employer sits outside Canada, salary can land in your balance in that currency and convert into baht only at the moment you send.
Moved in by you
Move money in from an account you hold in another currency, which is how most people funding a long stay handle it, a few months at a time.
Funding ahead is worth it if a regular baht payment is part of your visa or rental arrangements, because the balance is ready on the day rather than the day after.
What money moves between Canada and Thailand for
Living costs on a long stay
Rent, condo fees, insurance and day to day money for Canadians spending months or years in Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hua Hin or Bangkok.
Family in Thailand
Support to parents and siblings from Thai Canadian households in Toronto, Scarborough, Vancouver and Surrey, sent to the account they already bank with.
Medical and hospital bills
Treatment paid in baht to a Thai hospital account, where being able to commit to an exact figure before you send is worth more than shaving the fee.
Property and school costs
A condo purchase instalment, a lease deposit, or international school fees for a family that has relocated, all quoted and paid in baht.
Four patterns cover most of what moves between the two countries.
What the Thailand route is good at
FAQs
Does Grey pay out in Thai baht?
Yes. Grey converts your balance into baht and credits a Thai bank account, so the receiving bank is not left converting a foreign currency.
Can I send to my own Thai bank account from Canada?
Yes. Many people on this route are sending to themselves. Check the account name matches the name on your Grey account first.
Does my mother in Bangkok need a Grey account?
No. She needs a Thai bank account. The baht arrives as an ordinary deposit with nothing to collect in person.
Will I know the baht figure before I confirm?
Yes. The rate, the fee and the baht amount are shown together, and confirming fixes the rate for that transfer.
Can I fund my Grey balance with Canadian dollars?
No. Grey holds US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds and euro. One of those converts into baht when you send.
Can I pay rent on a condo in Chiang Mai this way?
Yes. Send baht to the landlord's Thai bank account, with the amount fixed at confirmation so you can commit to a figure.
Can I pay a Thai hospital bill directly?
Yes, where the hospital gives you its Thai bank account details. The payment arrives in baht rather than as a foreign currency credit.
Should I open the Grey account before I leave Canada?
It helps. Verification asks for a valid identity document, and doing it while your Canadian paperwork is to hand is simpler.
Why not just wire dollars to a bank in Thailand?
The Thai bank would then convert at its own rate after its own charge. A baht payout settles the conversion before the money moves.
Does Interac e-Transfer reach Thailand?
No. Interac e-Transfer works only between Canadian accounts. Paying baht into a Thai account needs an international payout.
Can I set up a regular monthly baht payment for visa purposes?
You can send on the same date each month. Each transfer shows its own rate and fee and is recorded in your Grey account.
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