whophant

Nick, thanks for your concern. I think people who know Thailand, Chiang Mai and my situation will know what cheap means, but I do not want to quote prices or set limits, since ultimately my wife's health is beyond value. People don't have to know exactly how much we can or can't afford in order to help - they can recommend, suggest, offer, and if it is possible for us and a good fit that's wonderful. I hope I'm not coming across as stubborn or contentious, I just believe the right place will come along because I believe my wife's health and happiness is inevitable.

couchpotato, I want to thank you with all of my heart - your response is overwhelmingly compassionate, helpful and on point!

Thank you rattlesnake, that's an excellent idea that we are already pursuing. I appreciate your input and your confirmation.

KannikaP, I'm not sure if that was supposed to be helpful or aggressive, but Thailand is our home. Anyway, without wanting to offend you or anybody else, I would love to refocus on my actual request rather than far afield ideas. Thanks!

Charlie, thanks, but we are both farang...

Marin, thanks for your opinion, but I think hope and serendipity are realistic. Besides, it has been my experience that everywhere in Thailand, with the possible exception of some of the islands, there are always two distinct levels of rental rates, and they almost never reflect real differences between the properties.

Steven100, Thanks, but we're not looking for something permanent, there's no way we could afford hotel rates, and that type of environment would be as unhealthy for her - in different ways - than the farmhouse. Thanks for your concern though! 🙂

Nick, I'm kind of intentionally not talking about money for various reasons, but anything even approaching farang levels would be miles beyond impossible - really, all we can manage is cheap, so we're hoping for a bit of a miracle. Lacessit, we don't want a condo because my wife really wants and needs at least a tiny yard for grounding. Thanks both of you for your replies.

Hello Chiang Mai, I would like to ask for some help. My wife has recently undergone cancer surgery, and will be in recovery for the next couple of months. There is also a good chance she will need radiotherapy, which would start in two to three weeks and last for two to four weeks, and probably extend her recovery a couple of additional months. We live in a very remote area a couple of hours north of Chiang Mai, in an old, musty farmhouse that is not ideal for mental, physical or emotional health, and is anyway too far from the hospital in CM. If she needs radiation, we definitely need to be closer for those weeks, but we'd really like to be in or near the city - and out of this big mold-box - for a few months, so she can rest and recuperate in a more clean and healthy environment. Our idea is that we find a house in the Chiang Mai area that we could rent for maybe 3 or 4 months, but our budget is very (very) limited - especially after all of the medical expenses - so we would need Thai level prices. At the same time we need a place with some sun, in a modern style - no more musty wood - and in an at least relatively quiet area. Way too much to ask for? Yes, most definitely, but we are both worried that staying in this old, dank and dark farmhouse while she tries to regain her physical and mental well-being is a terrible idea, and again we have very little money at this point, so I ask anyway even if it seems impossible... If anybody knows a little home we can use probably until the end of the year, not too far from the CMU medical / Suan Dok area, that is clean and modern-ish (concrete and tile rather than traditional wood), with a little sun and a little yard, but very (very) affordable, it would mean the world to us. Thanks so much!

Dr Jack, Thanks so much for your quick and clear answer. One further question, if I may - is it three months after my date of application / approval, or 3 months after my actual renewal date (which is about 3 weeks later)? Thanks again!

Hello lovely community, I have a Thai retirement visa which I've just renewed, and I need information on one specific requirement / rule, google searching on which seems to provide many different answers... I am using bank funds - 800,000 baht - to secure my visa, but I might have to dip into that money due to a medical emergency. So my question is, are there rules about how long that money needs to stay in the account AFTER my renewal? I know it has to be in place at least 3 months, or maybe 90 days, BEFORE I renew next year, but does it also need to be in place for something like 2 months after I renew, meaning there is only like a 7 month window when the balance can go down to 400,000 baht? I would love to hear answers specifically for the Chiang Mai immigration office, which can be very strict in enforcing the rules, and sometimes seems to even kind of make stuff up... Thanks so much, as always!

Hi all, Just a quick question, because I am seeing conflicting information on the web (surprise surprise!). How many times in one year can somebody who doesn't already have a visa (a Brit, if it matters) fly into Thailand and receive a 30 day VOA? Some say six times, others say it's unlimited, but I always come here for a definitive answer. Thanks loads, and happy new year!

Thanks for the guide, swm59nj - a lot of fun stuff going on. Hope you're having a great holiday season!

Thanks, that's enormously helpful - Merry Christmas!

Wow, all, I really do appreciate replies, but it seems we may have lost the plot a bit? I would really love to hear from anybody who has actually been through this very thing, and has some advice based on first hand experience: - should I go into the immigration office and just take care of things? - should / can I do my TM30 online, and then re-submit my TM47? - if I can do both online, but my TM47 is due on 10 December, should I even risk online processing? I know I have a 7 day grace period, but I think they want to see TM47s submitted well in advance... - does anybody have any idea why a 1 night stay, in a hotel in the same province, has triggered this need to re-establish / re-register my permanent address? I am sorry, and again I thank you for the many replies, but kind of need to figure this out - again, my TM47 is due on the 10th, so that still means this coming week (and I think they're closed on Monday). So I would love to focus a bit, and stay away from imm-anger, judgment towards the poor, overworked officers, off-topic arguments, opinions and (sorry again) some obvious misinformation. Thanks so much!

Hi all, I'll be in Chiang Mai this weekend for some Christmas shopping, and was wondering if anybody knew of a gift shop were I might find things like music boxes, nice snow globes, ceramics or other (new, used or antique) western or western-style gifts? I've found some things at Central, but they tend to be pretty cheaply made - even when they are fairly expensive - and so I'm looking for something a bit nicer. If anybody knows of any nice gift shops, antique shops or anything similar, I would be most appreciative! Thanks, Jim

Hello, wonderful forum! I just got a surprise from Chiang Mai immigration - they rejected my online address reporting, and I'm trying to understand why, and what exactly I need to do. I live in Phrao, a couple of hours north of CM, and registered my permanent Phrao address the last time I did my 365 day extension for my retirement visa - in the CM immigration office in June - and I have done one successful online address report since then. The message I got from CM immigration today said that my last registered residence was a hotel in Chiang Mai, where I stayed for only one night about a month ago, and that I now must update my TM30. Do I seriously need to visit the immigration office every time I stay in a hotel, even for one night? The funny thing is that my wife, who has a yearly volunteer visa and is registered at this same Phrao address, was with me at the hotel, and did an online address reporting a week after that stay, and hers was approved. I assume the hotel registered both of us with immigration, since they took both of our passports. It's a couple of hours drive each way from my house to immigration, and of course it really ends up taking the whole day, so I would hate to have to drive down just for this... But of course I'm all about the compliance, so if they tell me to come, come I shall. If anybody has any information, I would be so grateful! Jim

Good morning, Chiang Mai My wife is looking for some used magazines she can use in her collage art - hopefully cheap bundles of them, like from a recycling center. We can buy bundles of newspapers here in the remote northern reaches, but no magazines, and we'll be traveling to the big city soon - so maybe somebody has suggestions in/around Chiang Mai? Thanks so much! Jim Phrao

Hi all, I've just gotten a notice from Chiang Mai immigration saying that my (online) TM47 has arrived too early, but I kind of want to get some input from all of you. My report was originally due on August 7 (I'm on a retirement visa, BTW), but my wife and I left the country for a month, this summer and returned to Thailand on 17 June (using a re-entry permit). I have it in my head that the old due date still holds - Aug 7 - but the notice I got said to start counting 90 days from the date of my most recent entry, which would put me into mid-September. I just want to make sure this info is correct, and I can comfortably wait until September? I realize it is probably silly to question the word of the Thai immigration officer who processed the application, but I am a bit worried about getting fined if I wait (my wife, on a volunteer visa, is facing the same question, and so I'm really worried about getting double-fined!). Thanks in advance for any information you can provide - everybody here has been wonderful in clearly answering my questions in the past, and I am so grateful.

Thanks to all of you for your replies - kinda confirms my suspicions that second hand markets in Chiang Mai still haven't recovered from the pandemic, and may not for some time... I'm going to Europe in a month anyway, so I am probably better waiting until I'm there and shopping at discount stores like TK Maxx in Berlin or the like, where things can be super-cheap - wanted to get something for the trip, but oh well. Thanks again all!

Hi all, I'm going to be in Chiang Mai tomorrow, and would like some recommendations for used clothing shops. I am a big guy, about 6'2" and 200 pounds, and even the biggest clothing I find at Central department store, or other new shops at the malls, doesn't really fit me well, so I'd like to find a nice selection of used farang clothing somewhere. I have gone to Melon several times in the past, and some of the others in that strip just north of old town, but lately the selection has been terrible - and the clothes, for some reason, dirtier and dirtier - so I'd love to find some other places. I've also recently been to 71 Export, just past Maya, and they can be great for certain (new) things, but again I would like to find and try some different places - and especially ones that might have larger, farang-cut used clothing that is nice and in good condition. Thanks so much for any recs you can offer!

Esteemed Asean Community, I kind of messed up my last posting by asking a lot of questions that, as it turns out, were not really important or salient to my issue - and by the time I realized what the real question is, and tried to ask it, the post had turned into a many-headed monster of wildly and wonderfully off-topic replies and even a bit of bickering, from which my newly focused question was virtually unnoticeable... ???? So, if it's allowed, I want to start a new post and ask just one simple question: Can a person who has a Thai visa on arrival apply for an extension at the Chiang Mai immigration office right away - that is, within a day or two of arrival - or do they need to wait until the last couple of weeks of their stay? That's it - thanks!

Thanks to both @sandyf and @Red Phoenix for your replies, but I think we're getting way off topic. My only question at this point is - can a person on a visa on arrival apply for an extension at the Chiang Mai immigration office right away - that is, within a day or two of arrival - or do they need to wait until the last couple of weeks of their stay. Not to be too picky, but I would love to mainly hear from people who are pretty sure about this, from recent experience or reliable anecdotal evidence, and specifically for the Chiang Mai office. Thanks so much!

Wow, so many responses - thank you all so much! The big question, I guess, is about how soon my pet-sitter can apply for his extension, specifically at the Chiang Mai immigration office. The issue is that he is arriving on the 15th of May, and we are leaving on the 18th, and will be gone for 28 days. So if he arrives and doesn't get his extension, he cannot stay at our house the whole time - his visa will run out before we come back, so he would have to travel all the way down to Chiang Mai (about 2 hours) during that time. This would be a hassle for him, but also our main goal is to have somebody with our cat the whole time we are gone, without even a night or two away. So, to be as focused as possible, I would like to ask: Does anybody know, with at least reasonable certainty, if our guest can go to the Chiang Mai immigration office and get a 30 day extension for his visa on arrival right away - the first couple of days after he arrives - or does he have to wait until the last two weeks of his visa? Really, I can't thank you all enough for your help so far!

But now Red Phoenix has me all worried again, possibly because his answer is (just maybe) needlessly complex and not entirely true/relevant. I have always heard that a person can file for an extension right away, and this idea that: "Most Immigration Offices only provide the 30-day extension of stay, when the applicant has 14 days or less left on his Permission to stay as stamped in his Passport by border-immigration" is totally new to me.. Further, I believe that another TM30 only needs to be filed if a person is going into a new province, and our house is in Chiang Mai province, so I'm not sure how this is applicable. But if I am wrong - especially about our guest having to wait until later in his stay before he can file for an extension - please, somebody else out there, would you disabuse me of my misconceptions? Thanks!