Advice Needed On Visa

[kawaiimomo]

Hi there,

I'm 32 with spanish passport and working as mobile software developer. My Thai girlfriend is a ladyboy so marriage is not an option for us. I want to move to Thailand and work for a Thai company.

I am thinking of applying for a 3 month tourist visa and then going to interviews unti I get a job and they provide me with visa and work permit. My main concern is about visa runs or how to stay in the country for long time if it takes me some time to get a job there.

My main interest is not coming back to spain to renew visas and this kind of things. So my question is what is the best option for me to stay in the country. If I am not wrong you can only stay up to 9 months with visa runs; after that time is it mandatory to come back to my country to apply for another visa or I can do that from any Thailand neighbouring country? (maybe I can cross to Vietnam or Malaysia and get a new visa from there?)

If anyone has some other idea I forget, please share it. I am really lost and need some advice and help.

Thank you very much in advance!!

Victor

[Mario2008]

There is no official time limit on the number of visas you can get, you can just apply for a new visa in a neighbouring country if need be.

Many people come over on a tourist visa and look for a job. You cn try to get a double entry tourist visa, with extensions that owuld be good for up to 180 days before you would need to leave the country.

But finding a good job is hard. You need to have something special that a Thai doesn't have.

[kawaiimomo]

There is no official time limit on the number of visas you can get, you can just apply for a new visa in a neighbouring country if need be.

Many people come over on a tourist visa and look for a job. You cn try to get a double entry tourist visa, with extensions that owuld be good for up to 180 days before you would need to leave the country.

But finding a good job is hard. You need to have something special that a Thai doesn't have.

Thank you very much for clarifying things to me :-)

About the job, I guess 9 years of experience developing for mobile phones would be enough. Anyway I would be fine even if I have a standard thai salary, as I don't expect to leave the country anymore. I really don't care having a 30,000 baht salary, I think it is pretty fine for living there...

Thanks again ;-)

[TerryLH]

"You cn try to get a double entry tourist visa, with extensions that owuld be good for up to 180 days before you would need to leave the country."

No exiting the country on a visa run in the middle?

Do Spanish PP holders get longer stays?

[kawaiimomo]

Do Spanish PP holders get longer stays?

I am sure it is not the case. Sadly Spain does not have any agreement with Thailand...

[FarangBuddha]

There is no official time limit on the number of visas you can get, you can just apply for a new visa in a neighbouring country if need be.

Many people come over on a tourist visa and look for a job. You cn try to get a double entry tourist visa, with extensions that owuld be good for up to 180 days before you would need to leave the country.

But finding a good job is hard. You need to have something special that a Thai doesn't have.

Thank you very much for clarifying things to me :-)

About the job, I guess 9 years of experience developing for mobile phones would be enough. Anyway I would be fine even if I have a standard thai salary, as I don't expect to leave the country anymore. I really don't care having a 30,000 baht salary, I think it is pretty fine for living there...

Thanks again ;-)

Supporting a ladyboy (or any Thai bird) on B 30k per month...have you checked the price of hormones lately...good luck

[Mario2008]

"You cn try to get a double entry tourist visa, with extensions that owuld be good for up to 180 days before you would need to leave the country."

No exiting the country on a visa run in the middle?

Do Spanish PP holders get longer stays?

Ah yes, thank you, I'm almost falling asleep.

Indeed it is up to 180 days, with leaving the country and returning after 90 days. After the second entry plus extension the OP needs to get a new visa.

30,000 might be enough for the OP, but unless you make 50,000 a month you will have to leave the country every 90 days. As for an extension of stay an income of 50,000 a month is required.

[kawaiimomo]

Thanks again, everybody.

Now I know how much I should ask for while applying for a job

About the hormones, she does not take anymore. She (and me) think she took already too much :-P Anyway she also works ;-)

Thank you again, you're very kind and helpful!

EDIT: BTW, if I get a job in a Thai company and they arrange visa and work permit, is still the salary an obstacle about the visa?

[KamnanT]

Now I know how much I should ask for while applying for a job

EDIT: BTW, if I get a job in a Thai company and they arrange visa and work permit, is still the salary an obstacle about the visa?

Not an obstacle for the visa, but you won't get an extension of stay in Thailand unless you're earning at least 50,000 baht a month. That means you will need to leave Thailand every 90 days and obtain a new Non-Immigrant visa every 15 months (assuming you time your last entry on each visa to be just before it's expiry date).

If you have demonstrable software development experience in a field where there is demand (and mobile is one), then you should be able to find something for more than 50,000. Try the big 3 telecoms firms in Bangkok (AIS, DTAC and True) - they are constantly looking for qualified Thai staff (don't know how many non-Thais they hire). Chiang Mai also has a collection of independent mobile application developers.

[kawaiimomo]

Not an obstacle for the visa, but you won't get an extension of stay in Thailand unless you're earning at least 50,000 baht a month. That means you will need to leave Thailand every 90 days and obtain a new Non-Immigrant visa every 15 months (assuming you time your last entry on each visa to be just before it's expiry date).

If you have demonstrable software development experience in a field where there is demand (and mobile is one), then you should be able to find something for more than 50,000. Try the big 3 telecoms firms in Bangkok (AIS, DTAC and True) - they are constantly looking for qualified Thai staff (don't know how many non-Thais they hire). Chiang Mai also has a collection of independent mobile application developers.

Thanks for the info about Chiang Mai, I was not aware of that :-)