Visa Advice For Indians

[donajolie]

Hello friends! We're considering a move to Thailand from Canada, however being that my husband is an Indian national, we're worried about the feasibility of visa-runs. I've done some research and found that he can get visas for a few of the neighboring countries, but I guess I'm most worried about getting back into Thailand after his first tourist visa runs out. He works remotely for a Canadian company and we've got enough funds to support ourselves, but it's not usually as easy for non-western passport holders to get visas for most countries. Are there any Indian expats in Thailand with some advice? Many thanks!

[Mario2008]

As an Indian national he must apply for a visa in his home country (or country of residence).

His best option might be to get an educational visa and study Thai language for example for 4 hours a week at a language school, but could be anything (including full university study) as long as the course is recognised.

[marchawkes]

If your husband works "remotely" for a Canadian company and is not "working" in Thailand there are 3 ways to overcome visa issues 1) for over 50s a retirement visa can be obtained from the Thai Consulate in Canada. Obtaining a retirement visa in Canada where your husband has residency is far easier than presenting docs at a foreign embassy in India, I am told 2) Get a visa to teach English 3) Get a visa to stay & learn Thai (as explained in an earlier post). As these visa type's are for a minimum of 1 year they require some documents which one can best do when on home-soil eg. Canada.

Personal situations differ so going through the detail in each of the above alternatives is important so that you have no surprises. I am told that for Indian passport holders getting visa's arranged in a third country where they hold residency eg. Singapore, Canada, U.K. is faster & easier than were these same Indian passport holders to apply in India or Thailand. Also, from the way you've described your situation the tourist visa seems the least suited and could push you into a tight spot after the 3 months or whatever tourist visa expires.