Thai E-Visa: 90 day tourist visa vs Tourism/Leisure

[andrew12345]

Hi everyone. My wife and our two young kinds have a trip planned to Thailand in September, coming from the US (we are American). We plan to stay 90 days but would like the option to stay longer. The Thai E-Visa site has two similar visa options that could apply to us, the 90 day tourist visa (only single entry possible) and the Tourism/Leisure option (multiple entry possible). Can the latter be for longer than 90 days? Is there any option for us to stay in Thailand longer than 90 days without leaving the country and getting new visas? 

 

For context my wife and I are both in our 30s.

[DrJack54]

You need narrow the required length of stay to obtain good advice. 

90 or longer is too vague..

Edited July 26, 2022 by DrJack54

[andrew12345]

We would be interested in staying a year or more if possible.

[DrJack54]

7 minutes ago, andrew12345 said:

We would be interested in staying a year or more if possible.

That certainly changes things.

 

A METV obtained in your own country would give you approx 9 month stay but require border bounce from Thailand every 60 days or 90 if you obtain 30 day extensions. 

 

After that you could do border bounce for visa exempt entries. With a 30 day extension each bounce would give you approx 2 months.

Can only do that twice per calendar year.

 

All the above require border runs. 

Edited July 26, 2022 by DrJack54

[BritTim]

As advised above an METV followed by two visa exempt entries by land (a total of about 5-7 border bounces over the course of the yea) would allow a stay of a year pretty safely. It would get hard if you wanted to stay longer than a year as a tourist.

 

Another option is to get a Non Ed visa (probably to study Thai) which could be appropriate if willing to stay mainly in one place and wanting to learn Thai.

[andrew12345]

Thank you both. If my wife and I were to get Non Ed visas, would there be some related visa our kids could get? They are quite young.

[ubonjoe]

47 minutes ago, andrew12345 said:

Thank you both. If my wife and I were to get Non Ed visas, would there be some related visa our kids could get? They are quite young.

They could get a non-o visa and extensions of stay based upon being a member of your family when you apply for a extension of stay for your 90 day stay from a non-ed visa.

[andrew12345]

OK so for the studying Thai visa, we (adults) would still have to renew every 90 days? Which would involve demonstrating to an immigration officer that our Thai is indeed improving?

[DrJack54]

14 minutes ago, andrew12345 said:

OK so for the studying Thai visa, we (adults) would still have to renew every 90 days? Which would involve demonstrating to an immigration officer that our Thai is indeed improving?

I find your thread strange.

If you actually were coming for a family holiday ...why would you consider non Ed.

It does actually involve attending classes and be located in specific area.

Forget the Thai language test..that won't be an issue.

Seriously ask yourself if this type of visa is suitable for tourist family.

Weird. 

[andrew12345]

Yes, we are in a somewhat unique situation. We are considering staying for some years and the upcoming trip is to test the waters. We have had a lot of exposure to Thai culture (kind of a long story) but my wife has never been there. If all goes well we would try to stay.

I have a PhD, work remotely, and work in tech, so the complicated new long-term resident visa might work for us also. I see that "Digital industry" is a "targeted industry." We wouldn't qualify under any of its other clauses. It's not clear if even this one would work because my employer is not a Thai entity. The language learning option may be best for now. Any thoughts on that?

Edited July 27, 2022 by andrew12345

[ubonjoe]

8 hours ago, andrew12345 said:

OK so for the studying Thai visa, we (adults) would still have to renew every 90 days? Which would involve demonstrating to an immigration officer that our Thai is indeed improving?

If attending a informal school (most language schools) you would get 90 day extensions of stay. Normally there would be no test done. If enrolled in a formal school (university and etc) the extension would be for one year.

[BritTim]

Based on your situation, it seems that Non Ed visas could be a reasonable option. However, you would probably want to travel around a bit first, looking for somewhere you all want to live that is convenient for a suitable language school (not forgetting schools for your children). I would advise entering with a single entry tourist visa, and moving around for the first couple of months to check out the situation. After that, you can get a 30-day extension in country, and (pretty much at the same time) apply with a school for a language course and visa. You need to allow a few weeks lead time to get the Non Ed visas in country.

 

It will depend on the reaction of all of you to living in Thailand whether this will work out. Good luck!

[andrew12345]

Thanks! Yes we plan to stay in Koh Samui with day trips to Koh Phangan, Chiang Mai with day trips to Chiang Ria, and Phuket with day trips to Krabi.

 

Last questions: if only one I were to take Thai classes, could my wife get some visa as my spouse? And would there be Thai income taxes with the education visa?

[andrew12345]

Childcare, Jack.