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Can I Live In Thailand On A Touristvisa?


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The tourist visa is handy for a lot of people including people who live here. People who travel a lot on business, or people who work offshore. I have been using a tourist visa for 15 years, although not back to back. I work offshore outside Thailand and am rarely home for more than a month so the tourist visa works great for me. I am married and have kids here so I guess I am not what you would call a tourist. I dont think the Thai's care about the definition of a tourist. They are just interested in stopping people from working here and not paying income tax. If i was in the OP's shoes I would go for the non imm O from europe or whatever friendly embassy and do the 90 day visa runs.

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It's very telling too that you do have a plan B - you are eligible for a retirement visa, but just can't be bothered applying for it, yet. Not everyone does have a plan B like you seem to do, and my comments were for the benefit of those people - not you. Once the novelty wears off and you get sick of crackdowns, of being made to live in limbo, I expect to see you posting here about your retirement visa application, so good luck with that. Not everyone has the choices you do.

Not everyone likes an insecure life juggling visas and, from your own admission, exploiting loopholes. Some people have a lot to lose, financially and otherwise, if they move to a foreign country without knowing all the facts, which you obviously don't. People should be informed of all the facts when making important decisions, and silly attacks like yours won't stop me posting for their benefit.

Your posts can sound more reasonable when you leave out the part about how people staying in Thailand on Tourist Visas are sneaky scammers abusing the system by using loopholes bound to close as soon as the Thai authorities wise up. No wonder you touched a nerve.

beammeup - good post - for a scammer. :)

Edited by koheesti
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I have seen the point of WP and B visa for some people for some years (but pobably not for OP), but marriage as a way to secure life? :):D

You still havent replyed to why you assume everyone in LOS on touristvisa (quote) "shop around for touristvisa" (unquote)

Basicly you seem to quote other posts wrong, complain other members are shouting and assume everyone are cheating the touristvisa system.

Well you might be right about marriage :D

To clarify, I don't assume that everyone is cheating the tourist visa system, which is there for bona fide tourists for a perfectly good reason. Almost every country on the planet issues tourist visas, and attaches conditions to them that state restrictions on such things as residence and employment.

The problem is this: Thailand's immigration is getting much more efficient these days, and it probably won't be long before everyhting starts working to a common standard, just like they do in most other places where back-to-back tourist visas end up in refusal sooner or later. Add to this the high profile and embarassing cases of fugitives who seem to make Thailand their second-home, and it's not unreasonable to suggest that resident tourism mmay be in jeapardy. Thailand profiles as ideal the tourists who spend a lot of cash in a short time, but its actions suggest that it doesn't really care about the others and is actively putting the squeeze on them. Look through this forum, and see how the border runners get treated these days. Border running used to be as easy as pie, and I've met people who stayed years on back to back 30-day entry stamps. How can we be sure that back-to-back tourist visas won't be treated in a similar way? We can't.

On the shopping around question, I think that you should look through this forum, where friendly and unfriendly consulates are discussed at great length to understand why resident tourists need to shop around for visas. It seems to be a never ending story, a contstantly shifting set of places and procedures that have to be followed. Good consulates go bad and vice versa. People travel great distances and are not given the visa that they wanted. They queue up at hot and dusty borders. They suffer at the hands of rude officials who know that they have the upper hand.

It was a lot easier when I was doing it - the rules were a lot slacker. The main problem in those days was that flights were relatively more expensive then and the only land border open was Malaysia, meaning that unless you had a lot of dosh, you were at the mercy of the whims of the consulate in Penang, with a 30-hour train ride each way.

dbrenn

Your posts sometimes present some interesting and educating facts.

But repetedly you assume everyone spending much of the year in LOS on touristvisa are hopping around for visas and cheating the system, which pi-- es off some members. Then you say they shout :D

I have recieved 13 back to back touristvisas in KL. Ususally they want to see a bankstatement, and they can see I dont live in LOS from monthly work income but from transfers from abroad more than required for a retirement visa. Sometimes they ask me what I do in LOS, and I say I live there. Granted.

If not granted one day, I will arrange other solutions for 3 more years until I m 50. No hopping around and no cheating.

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I'm a tourist, mate. As a tourist I'm passing through, mate. It's pretty obvious that anyone considering living in Thailand on a tourist visa doesn't have permanent plans because obviously tourist visa runs, border runs and constantly getting extensions would drive a person crazy in the long run.

Ah, I'm glad we've finally established that you don't actually plan to live in Thailand after all, and that you are just a tourist and have nothing to worry about if the rules change because you are prepared to move on. So, you now have a plan C (leaving) as well as a plan B retirement visa option. Good for you! :)

Quite unlike you, the OP has told us that he does want to live in Thailand, so we should tell him the whole story about tourist visas and how they are not intended for people who want to take up residence in Thailand.

Imagine someone over in the west, considering selling up, moving to live permanently and perhaps buying property and making other financial investments in Thailand - moving his whole life here. Dreaming of living in Thailand forever. He would have a lot more to lose than a tourist like yourself if the rules changed, and he got kicked out at short notice.

Not only have I been through the system myself, but I have been following the rules since, and know a lot of people who are still going through the system. The bar gets higher, there's no doubt about it, and to claim otherwise shows that you don't know what you are talking about.

And you say that it has got easier since you arrived 3 years ago? What misinformed trash! Look what happened to land border visa running in that time. 30 days as many times as you like, then 30 days three times in 6 months, then 15 days as many times as you like, and now 15 days only 4 times. Back to back tourists could so easily be next, so be prepared.

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Your posts can sound more reasonable when you leave out the part about how people staying in Thailand on Tourist Visas are sneaky scammers abusing the system by using loopholes bound to close as soon as the Thai authorities wise up. No wonder you touched a nerve.

beammeup - good post - for a scammer. :)

Nope - I didn't say that I thought that resident tourism is scamming. It's what the immigration bureau might think in the case where people keep claiming to be tourists when they obviously aren't. None of what I havee posted is my personal opinion on the practice - only the facts. Ticking the tourist box on visa application forms and TM cards when you are not one could result in problems, that's all. Raw nerves aside, a tourist visa does not confer rights to reside how ever much people would like them to, and if you don't have rights to reside, you could get kicked out at any time.

Look around and you will see that most other places don't allow ressidential tourism, and insist that resident tourists get a visa that reflects the reality of their circumstances. Thailand's immigration system is rather disorganised and works through crackdowns which in themselves can be very unsettling to someone who loves the place and wants to stay, but it is always tightening up, and has tightened up on border running very quickly, so be prepared and don't bet your life on being allowed to stay forever.

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The tourist visa is handy for a lot of people including people who live here. People who travel a lot on business, or people who work offshore. I have been using a tourist visa for 15 years, although not back to back. I work offshore outside Thailand and am rarely home for more than a month so the tourist visa works great for me. I am married and have kids here so I guess I am not what you would call a tourist. I dont think the Thai's care about the definition of a tourist. They are just interested in stopping people from working here and not paying income tax. If i was in the OP's shoes I would go for the non imm O from europe or whatever friendly embassy and do the 90 day visa runs.

Lots of people visit Thailand frequently on tourist visas and entry stamps, and obviously don't live there. That's exactly what tourist visas and entry stamps are intended for, and it works like that all over the world.

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Interesting to hear about getting Non Imm O Visa with the reason of "visiting friends". There isnt much detail info abt this in the web. Is it something fall betw the gret area? Or truly solidly written?

Can anyone pls explain further the procedure n requirement for this kind of visa application? And definition of FRIEND too. (how to prof that one is a FRIEND...)

Also, many here mentioned abt "financial stability" as a good supportive point to get longer visa. How much is tht to be considered "financially stable"? Of one with this stable financial, what visa to be applied for (for longer stay), how many days will that be in total?

thank you

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Quite unlike you, the OP has told us that he does want to live in Thailand, so we should tell him the whole story about tourist visas and how they are not intended for people who want to take up residence in Thailand.

Imagine someone over in the west, considering selling up, moving to live permanently and perhaps buying property and making other financial investments in Thailand - moving his whole life here. Dreaming of living in Thailand forever. He would have a lot more to lose than a tourist like yourself if the rules changed, and he got kicked out at short notice.

Slightly misleading. Unless I'm mistaken, you went about criticising Tourist Visa holders BEFORE the op clarified that he intended to live in Thailand indefinitely.

It's pretty simple, if you want to live here forever, try getting something more permanent than a visa that requires you to leave every 90 days. Right now I use 90 day visa runs as an excuse for an adventure. I'd hate to make it mandatory for years and years. Ideally, I would only live in Thailand 6-9 months out of the year and the rest of the time elsewhere. My visa runs are used partly as scouting missions. So far, no place fits as well as Thailand for my needs.

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Interesting to hear about getting Non Imm O Visa with the reason of "visiting friends". There isnt much detail info abt this in the web. Is it something fall betw the gret area? Or truly solidly written?

Can anyone pls explain further the procedure n requirement for this kind of visa application? And definition of FRIEND too. (how to prof that one is a FRIEND...)

Also, many here mentioned abt "financial stability" as a good supportive point to get longer visa. How much is tht to be considered "financially stable"? Of one with this stable financial, what visa to be applied for (for longer stay), how many days will that be in total?

thank you

A multiple entry non-o visa to visit friends is not in any written policy. It is an interpretation of the category O visa which means other. If a consulate believes it falls under that category they will issue the visa.

In order to get a longer term stay requires much more than financial stability. You have to have a reason to get an extension of stay. Some of those reasons require proof of income or money in the bank to get the extension.

Other than for retirement no visa will allow you stay more than 90 days at a time.

In an earlier post you asked about getting a visa or extension of stay for study of Buddhism. I gave you a lot of information about that. If you wish to remain long term in Thailand that is probably your best option because it does not require any financial proof. That topic is here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Visa-Religio...88#entry2797288

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Slightly misleading. Unless I'm mistaken, you went about criticising Tourist Visa holders BEFORE the op clarified that he intended to live in Thailand indefinitely.

Even before he clarified his intentions further, the OP asked "Can I live in Thailand on a tourist visa?" It is the subject line of this post. The word "live" implies residence, hence my response.

It's pretty simple, if you want to live here forever, try getting something more permanent than a visa that requires you to leave every 90 days. Right now I use 90 day visa runs as an excuse for an adventure. I'd hate to make it mandatory for years and years. Ideally, I would only live in Thailand 6-9 months out of the year and the rest of the time elsewhere. My visa runs are used partly as scouting missions. So far, no place fits as well as Thailand for my needs.

Agreed. For you the type of visa you have makes sense, until you decide to stop adventuring and settle down :)

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Not only have I been through the system myself, but I have been following the rules since, and know a lot of people who are still going through the system. The bar gets higher, there's no doubt about it, and to claim otherwise shows that you don't know what you are talking about.

And you say that it has got easier since you arrived 3 years ago? What misinformed trash! Look what happened to land border visa running in that time. 30 days as many times as you like, then 30 days three times in 6 months, then 15 days as many times as you like, and now 15 days only 4 times. Back to back tourists could so easily be next, so be prepared.

You're the trash talker here, mate.

We are talking about tourist visas here, NOT visa-exempt border runs. Don't confuse visa-exempt entries with tourist visas as they are totally different. I never bothered trying to live here via visa-exempt border runs even when it was possible.

Tourist visas have been getting easier since October 2006. I know this, because I've LIVED in Thailand (and my Filipino gf) on tourist visas since then. Another poster has been doing it for 15 years already.

You're just a confused person who changed flags (Australian to Thai?) and doesn't have anything better to do than troll the visa forum. You're up to about 40% of replies here already, just trying to defend your position.

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