roadrunner21

Controversial question asked as vague as possible ???? reminds me of Facebook surveys that they do to drive the most engagement

What is 'Thailand'? Is it a geographical area? Is it the system? Is it the people?

Generally people have treated me nothing but well here. From the government however I feel like they don't want foreigners to stay here too long. 

37 minutes ago, bestie said:

In my experience an ED Visa seems to be an alternativ but you have to consider a few things about it. It depends on the Immigration office but the IO can test your level of learning Thai every 3 Month when you are at Immigration Office. And if you fail the test or the IO isn't happy with your thai skills they will not give you another 3 Month. And before you get another 90days they will give you first a 14 day stamp. In this 14day period of time they will check your documents and may show up at your school to check if you really there or that you signed in regularly. After the 14 day period you have to go again to the IO and get the rest of the 90days.

 

After one year you have to leave the country and get a new ED Visa at the embassy. It became very difficult to get a new one for many people because they will test you there too. And if you fail you don't get a new one. It can be very stressful to be on an ED Visa. Sure it depends on the IO and where you live because not all Immigration Office are so strict.. Anyway there are always things going around your mind like : Will you pass the test at the embassy, or at the IO Office?.. will they give you another 90days? will they let you back in the country? Learning Thai sounds easy with an ED Visa but it's nothing for long staying. You can learn a language max. for 3 years , maybe 2,5 ? I'm not 100% sure.  

 

Anyway these the things I would to take into perspective when people thinking about to get an ED Visa

 

Everything is pretty accurate, some things I would like to add: 

- the requirements for Thai language were pretty tough, I don't know if my school messed up but I had to be able to write in Thai and be able to speak about all sorts of daily stuff within the first 4 months.

- for Thai language I had to go to the ministry of education to make a test in writing, speaking and listening

- had big problems to get Thai ED visa after staying here a year already. Went to the embassy in my home country in europe, every time they told me they need more papers and after 3 visits I had an interview with the consul. She told me that since I am very young, they wanted to make sure I have financial backup and don't work here illegaly. Probably really depends on the embassy you're going to. Personally I lost a lot of money and missed a flight because of all the hazzle.

- according to what my school told me you can learn English for 12 months, Chinese for I think 9 months, and Thai for 9 months + 6 months. 

I'm currently at the end of my 9 months Thai ED visa that will expire at the end of July. My school told me to be able to apply for the next level I can either do a border bounce, come back with an exempt visa and do the visa in my local immigration office or just visit an embassy outside the country and do it there. Told my school they should prepare the documents for whatever is more safe and right now they are preparing for border bounce and exempt method.

I'm nervous for sure since I've never done a border bounce and read many stories about people getting denied entry after staying here a long time already. Covid on top of that makes it even more complicated.. We will see

On 6/19/2020 at 11:42 AM, Sundown said:

You don't need to study anything, ed visa are legalised bribes between agents and IOs. Why don't you do your retirement visa through agent? I guess you won't need to prove any deposit. The mechanism is the same.

 

Edit: if you ever decide to do an ED visa make sure your school will process the extensions at the immigration personally. You don't want to be left alone in front of an IO with an ed visa.

I stay on ED visa for almost 2 years now and never had any problems with immigration. And yes I go alone, every 2-3 months. I study Thai and sometimes they would ask simple questions in Thai language, but that's about it. Nothing you couldn't answer if you actually learn what you are supposed to learn. 

16 hours ago, Birdman said:

Samui, Phangan, other islands except the 5 with the swallow nests

I'm in a similar situation, wanting to visit some of the small Islands in this archipelago.

I've talked to fishers and locals before and heard of Islands that I cannot enter because of the swallow nests. Do you may have any more informations which Islands I should avoid?

Hope this isn't too much off topic, but I've heard so many different things about visiting the smaller Islands. Even for Ang Thong I've heard that you need to have a license in order to dock on it, but I don't know if these regulations only go for commercial carriers. I've been personally interested to visit these Islands for almost a year now but I'm still uncertain cause everyone is telling me something different.

5 minutes ago, manarak said:

a quick google search yielded the following:

 

http://samuiwater.com/water-suppliers/

http://samuidays.com/product/voda/

 

Yeah I just thought maybe you have your own guy (or company) you could recommend out of a personal experience ?

Thanks for the links anyway. Will definitely consider water delivery.

1 minute ago, manarak said:

get a water fountain and have water delivered to you in large re-usable bottles they delivery service will take back at each new delivery.

This sounds great. Any companies you can recommend? I'm living in the northern part of the island in case it matters.

heyho

Living in Samui since a while now and I'm really unhappy with the amount of plastic I have to throw away.

I'm generally only going around with my backpack and refuse to take plastic bags and straws whenever possible. This all works fine but I still have an issue with all the plastic bottles I have.

Does anyone have any solution for this? I thought about collecting the rainwater and drink it after filtering. But if someone has a better solution, I'm absolutely open for it!

Hey folks

I read multiple times through all the comments and I really appreciate your help! Thank you all so much!

I think I will go with a METV and do the border runs. It's also a good opportunity to see parts of the world I havent seen yet. I saw some guides on how to use it properly and I will for sure look into those at a later time to cover all the open questions about it I still have! 

I've still got one small question though. I planned to go to Thailand in January anyway and I wanted to check out all the houses in this time and come back a few months later for my 9-12 months stay.

Is this a problem? Can I go to Thailand with a regular visa in January (the one they give you at the airport) and then return in March with METV and get another TVS in case I want to stay longer than 9 months?

Is this possible? Or are there like a maximum amount of visas they handle out during a certain period of time?

Thank you so much @tonray and @darrendsd. This is exactly what I was looking for! I read about the METV, I just didn't know if it was the best solution for me. Definitely gonna look into that and follow your information provided! 

 

2 hours ago, swissie said:

Too many distractions in Switzerland? Now you are between a rock and a hard place:

- Urban aerea in Thailand: Good internet connection but way too many distractions.
- Rural aerea in Thailand: Not good internet connection but not many distractions.

Or could it be, that you are a creative hard worker, but finding the "distractions" in Switzerland just to be too "expensive"?
Spill your guts!

You may want to try southern Portugal: Internet good, "distractions" not too many.
Cheers.

Switzerland being to expensive for what I want to achieve is just another reason. With distraction I mainly mean friends which are visiting me on the most random times. I know a lot of people here and it's not unusual to have 4-5 people in my place every day. It's cool and I like to have people around, which is why I really don't want to refuse them. On the other hand it's not helping me with the music in any way and I think that a new place would not only help my focus (because I know im there for a reason) but also for inspiration. At the same time, I would spend like 1/4 of what I would have to spend in Switzerland. (= less work = more time)

There are several more reasons why I want to do this but I don't really want to go any further because it's not why I'm here. Don't wanna sound harsh because I'm really thankful for the help but my plan is fixed and I just wanted to know about the visa.

Thanks again for all the help!

Haha, I had to giggle but yes, I do think I will have fewer distractions. Mainly because I don't have to work so much to actually pay for rent, food, etc. It's just way too expensive in Switzerland if I anyway just mainly want to stay at home and working on my music.

Getting hired by a Thai friend was just an idea, maybe it would have been the easiest way to get what I want. As I said, I don't know - I'm currently just playing with ideas I have.

Thanks for the recommendation for the elite visa! I just looked into it and it would have been perfect for 1 year. Paying 500k Baht for 5 years, from which I only need one, is a bit expensive though.

Quote

Then again .....if you intend to work here there is the issue of the work permit.

So you think it would be hard to still work as a freelancer for my swiss customers in Thailand? I thought maybe it's an advantage to get a business visa easier when working independently (and pay taxes of course), but if this is more complicated I would save money first and reconsider the elite visa. (or just chose another country)

hey folks

First and foremost - Sorry if the exact same topic has been discussed recently. I searched the internet for several hours and it's pretty hard to understand which informations are up to date and which are not. So if there is an answer already which suits my case, just post the link and I will look into it!

I life in Switzerland and I'm currently 24 years old. I'm currently working as a freelancer in webdevelopment, earning about 4'300 euros per month if I work 100%. I also work in the music industry as producer, but I feel like I have to much distraction in Switzerland to really have time for it. That's why, several weeks ago, I came up with the idea to move to Thailand for about a year and rent a house somewhere, while still working as freelancer part time. Alternatively, I could work in Switzerland for a few months longer, save money and go to Thailand with my money put aside. 

However, as I started to get information about the visa process I got confused on how to handle it. I read about three types of 1 year visas. The retirement one, one for students and one for business. Since I'm 24, I can't take the retirement one and I'm unsure on how to handle the other two. I read it would be possible to visit a language school for a year and get the education visa this way. Also, a good friends brother-in-law (who is Thai), has a small food company in Thailand, maybe he could hire me on paper and I can get a business visa.

I also read about the multiple entry visa with border hopping, which would also be an option.

Anyway, I wanted to know if there is someone who is experienced and could tell me what's the easiest way to achieve what I want. I'd also be okay if it's "only" 6 months stay, a year long though would be the best.

Thank you in advance!