Hello there,

my Name is Pan, I am planning a one year Holiday in Thailand.

I am a double Citizen (Swiss/Australian) and I get an disability pension.

Luckly I dont need any assistance or intensive medical care, so I decided to spend some time away.

 

Now, I am not sure if a stay like this even possible. Would I need a retirement visa or a tourist visa? 

I read about visa runs, but also heard that they are illegal. I get enough money to support myself and dont plan to do anything crazy. Just want to rent some nice place close to the beach. Just want to meet nice locals, taste the Food and chill.

 

Maybe someone can help me out. Cheers 

EDIT: The Holiday would begin in February 2021. 

 

 

Edited February 12, 20206 yr by Pan Wakka

You can get a 1year visa if you are over 50 years old. 

Tell us your age and then we can guide you. 

If 50 or over you could get a visa or extension of stay based upon retirement that would allow a one year stay.

If not getting a multiple entry tourist visa would be possible that allows unlimited 60 day entries for 6 months from the date it is issued. By doing a entry for another 60 days and extending it for 30 days you could get almost 9 months of total stay from the visa. Then go to a nearby embassy or consulate to get a single entry tourist visa that would would allow another 3 months by extending the 60 day entry from it for 30 days.

 

if you get an aussie disability pension it will be cut off after 6 weeks being outside the country.

Thanks for the reply. I am only 40 and I havent traveled much yet, so I am pretty ignorant on the topic. I have a swiss pension, which I'd partially recieve even outside of the country. It will be about CHF 2000.- a month. (Due to my bad english, I thought its obvoious that I am only aussie on paper, but I thought it might be important). Cheers

Edited February 12, 20206 yr by Pan Wakka

Your best option is a METV. Read post #3 from Ubonjoe. 

After that you can do couple of border entries and extend each. You can research that later. 

That will give you a year.

You could get an ED visa and if you don't want to visit the school to learn Thai, you could bribe the school. Or you could just visit the school (I think it can be fun to learn Thai for a couple of hours a week and you meet some new people as well).

 

Of course you would still need to pay for the lessons. I believe it was like 1000-2000 USD per year or so. 

Seen it happen a lot in Pattaya while I went to school. Only on the day the immigration guy came to check, these people would find their way to the classroom. 

Edited February 13, 20206 yr by wolf81

Ha, my sneaky days are over. But learning thai sounds pretty neat.

If you are an Australian citizen you will have no trouble getting a 6 month METV in the Thai consulate in your capital city. Requirements are minimal, perhaps the hardest for some people being the need to have access to about AU$8000. Available funds in a credit card is accepted in the Melbourne office. Fee for the visa is $300. If you visit the Thai consulate with all paperwork, photo and passport ready, they will hand back your passport containing your METV within 3 business days. No queues, no fuss, no interviews, easy.

https://www.thaiconsulatemelbourne.com/visa-information

Edited February 14, 20206 yr by Dexxter

As I said, I am only Aussie on paper. I have the passport because of my mother. I am mainly swiss and live in switzerland. Going to Melbourne will not be possible. Anyway, I see kinda now what my options are. I will have more questions later. First I have to figure out where I want to go. As I mentioned, I'd like to go to a beach, with some tourism but not like Patong. My friend was there and he said its awful. Anyway, a beach, some coffees where I can write, some tourists and a gym to train Muay Thai. Not for me, my brother is a semi pro and would like to visit and train. Any Ideas?

47 minutes ago, Pan Wakka said:

As I said, I am only Aussie on paper. I have the passport because of my mother. I am mainly swiss and live in switzerland. Going to Melbourne will not be possible. Anyway, I see kinda now what my options are. I will have more questions later. First I have to figure out where I want to go. As I mentioned, I'd like to go to a beach, with some tourism but not like Patong. My friend was there and he said its awful. Anyway, a beach, some coffees where I can write, some tourists and a gym to train Muay Thai. Not for me, my brother is a semi pro and would like to visit and train. Any Ideas?

Thailand has some top quality Muay Thai gym’s if your brothers interested “. Thailand can be distracting with various nightlife entertainment. If wanting away from the norm would suggest Legacy gym in ubon several foreigners train there and your taught by Past/present world champions ... good luck with the adventure ????

1 hour ago, Pan Wakka said:

As I said, I am only Aussie on paper. I have the passport because of my mother. I am mainly swiss and live in switzerland. Going to Melbourne will not be possible. Anyway, I see kinda now what my options are. I will have more questions later. First I have to figure out where I want to go. As I mentioned, I'd like to go to a beach, with some tourism but not like Patong. My friend was there and he said its awful. Anyway, a beach, some coffees where I can write, some tourists and a gym to train Muay Thai. Not for me, my brother is a semi pro and would like to visit and train. Any Ideas?

So you have some sort of disability pension, yet you are saying you want to train in Muay Thai?  I know there are many types of disabilities, and maybe yours is not of the physical type that might raise issues if you are seen training at a physical contact martial art such as Muay Thai. 

1 hour ago, Pan Wakka said:

Anyway, a beach, some coffees where I can write, some tourists and a gym to train Muay Thai. Not for me, my brother is a semi pro and would like to visit and train. Any Ideas?

Koh Phangan