wml22

Friend who is in his 30s is planning to get a METV and use border runs and extensions to use it up to nine months. The initial permission of stay is two months when entering Thailand the first time. 1a) Does he need travel health insurance at all? Or was that only a Covid requirement that is now halted? 1b) If he must have travel health insurance, will it only be checked for coverage of those first 60 days, and then after that he could use the extensions and border runs to keep coming back and they wouldn't check the insurance again at each extension and at each border crossing? Or would the insurance have to cover all nine months to avoid being rejected for the extensions or being rejected from crossing back into Thailand? Have been having difficulty finding current information about this.

A further question: we have confirmed that my friend will apply for a METV. Since the initial permission of stay is 60 days, I think we need to buy a disposable one-way ticket to Laos that departs within 59 days of his arrival in Thailand (in case he is asked for proof of onward travel). I am also not sure if there is still a travel insurance requirement for someone arriving on a METV. Can anyone clarify? For example, if there is currently an insurance requirement for tourists traveling into Thailand with a METV, and if my friend plans to be here from January through September, does he need to buy the travel insurance only for 60 days, or will he have problems with re-entry and/or getting 30 day extensions after the first 60 days if the insurance coverage period is not through September?

Can you confirm that the visa was approved without having submitted the financial proof? Which embassy/consulate was chosen when you applied?

Very helpful, thank you. Do you know offhand if the METV has special requirements for approval and what the typical lead time to receive the visa after applying at the consulate? If not then no worries. It is very helpful to know that the SETV is only 90 days max including the extension. So we will try for a METV unless the application requirements are prohibitive. It looks like the METV has two month validity of stay, can that be extended +30 days for each entry? So that it would be possible to arrive Jan. 1st, do the +30 day extension, then do a border run on around April 30th instead of March 30th. Then come back in to activate another 60 day permission of stay on May 1st. Then do a border run at the end of June to get another 60 days (since the visa validity expires after six months) when coming back. Then +30 day extension so that he can stay until the end of September. I think that is how you're getting the 9 months out of the METV if I understood correctly.

Thanks, he is under 50 so that's why we were thinking to get a tourist visa and extensions. So the details I wanted to confirm are whether the 3-month tourist visa is still available by application to a consulate in advance, and whether the extensions are now limited to 30 days and two times (for a total of 60 days across two extensions, summing up to 5 months if they're used to extend a 3-month tourist visa).

I have an elite visa so this question is on behalf of my friend: he is quitting his job and wants to crash with me in Bangkok. I have space to host him for up to a year. He doesn't want to get a work visa or education visa. Is the best option still a 3 month tourist visa with two 30-day extensions, for a total of 5 months before having to return to the US? It's been a few years since I had to look into this. I think I heard that the 60-day Covid extensions are no longer a thing but the 30-day ones are still available and can be applied twice, right? Thanks in advance to anyone who knows offhand the best approach to take for giving him as much time here as possible before having to go back to the States (and without having to get a non-Tourist or elite visa).