JamesLA

Thanks. Yeah, I'm probably just worrying about it too much. My own situation has been fairly mild compared to some of the stories I've heard. Probably I'll just try to do 4 SETV's, or maybe just 3 and take a few several week trips in between.

I've certainly heard of these visa, but do they really fly? I've heard they cracked down a lot on these things.

Yeah, I haven't used any visa exempt entries. And I've had zero land border entries. In fact I prefer to fly and spend at least a few days somewhere else. I will be in Vietnam for a few days next month. My main reason for staying here in Thailand is I have an apartment lease until September. I also have a fair amount of stuff setup now. After the whole COVID thing I decided I didn't want to live out of AirBnb's and keep bouncing around the world. I wanted my own "place" which is now in Thailand. I was going to do one more year in the US (where I spent my COVID time), but just couldn't take it anymore and left early to my planned retirement spot, Thailand. But I've got another year still. I will probably spend some time outside of Thailand, I'm thinking of doing a Europe trip for a few weeks but I need to do one more either visas exempt or SETV stay come May.

I've been in Thailand since mid September 2022. Prior to that the last time I was in Thailand was for a quick trip (3 or 4 days) in 2019. In the second half of 2017 I stayed here for 6 months on an METV. Edit: During the current stretch from Sep 2022, I've done two visa runs to Cambodia. Both times I just stayed a few days (3 or 4). And I'm about to do another quick one to Vietnam in early May for 3 or 4 days. That one will need to be on an SETV or visa exempt on return. After that I may take a longer trip outside of Thailand for a few weeks.

I do understand that a lot of visa exempt entries can potentially cause problems. But I haven't had a visa exempt entry in years. And I've never had an SETV entry before. Just the METV entries over the past 9 months and another time I used the METV prior to COVID. Are multiple SETV's a problem as well? I'm looking at probably needing 4 of them to make it to next year.

Hey all. Trying to figure out my best way to stay here for one more year. For the past 9 months I've been on an METV that I applied for when I was in my home country (USA). That's worked fine, getting extensions as needed and doing my border runs as required. Now that is coming to an end I'm trying to figure out the best way to stay for one more year (13 months actually) until I'm eligible for a retirement visa. I could go back to my home country and apply for another METV, but I'm wondering if just doing SETV's are a better and cheaper option? Is there any other options other than those? Thanks.

I booked it back to my own country so I could use a carrier that I don't have to worry about getting a bunch of grief from when trying to get a refund. COVID taught us to be careful what airlines you're doing business with if you hope to get a refund. I did book it within 60 days, however and I will be refunding it. I don't know what my travel plans will be over the at least 8 months I plan to stay in Thailand, though I will be doing the required border hops.

Well, this is timely. I posted a few weeks ago a similar post. I just received my METV yesterday, the 16th. I submitted the application to the LA consulate August 6th. I filled in all the blanks as required, received my visa no problems. They didn't come back at me with any further requests. There is no need to justify why you would want one visa over another. You either qualify for the visa you applied for, or you did not. I showed my bank info, with required funds for the past 6 months. Said I'm retired, and stated income. Showed my plane tickets (the return ticket refundable as I don't know yet what my departure plans are, though I will meet my required deadlines). Showed proof of a hotel stay of 5 days as I plan to get an apartment lease. My guess? If you filled in all the blanks properly you should get your visa by the end of this week.