I need visa advice

[ITGabs]

I live in Krabi, Ao Nang and I want to stay longer.

I've been here with the 90 days tourist visa extemption for around 3 or 4 years.

My reason to stay longer in Thailand:

My girlfriend

The nature, people, culture and the low budgets to have a great life.

I am a Digital Nomad I work from everywhere, customers from everywhere plus passive income, with a budget very variable 1-20

I am not getting any money from Southest Asia, or third world in general.

I would like to get professional advice to the options that we have and actually I prefer this to be in talked in Thai directly with my gf first

I will be outside Thailand for a while :'( just to prevent any issue in the frontiers

If you know people that can help with the visa or legal stuff around Krabi should be great.

Edited August 2, 2014 by ITGabs

[Mario2008]

Your current situation simply does not qualify you for any visa.

You have basically three options:

- get married

- find a job in Thailand

- go and study in Thailand

[ubonjoe]

You could get tourist visas instead using the visa exemption. You can get a 2 entry in Vientiane Laos.

[ITGabs]

get longer visas in my situation is always complicated I am in an unknown middle between tourism, working, and business visas

[ubonjoe]

Perhaps the 5 year Elite visa would work for you. It would cost 500k baht but it would give unlimited one year entries for 5 years.

[ITGabs]

You could get tourist visas instead using the visa exemption. You can get a 2 entry in Vientiane Laos.

Thanks that is a good option. I never did that before.

if I get a tourist visa from a consulate the days of stay should be the same as with the visa exemption?? 90 days in my case for example. I will try to find more info about.

[ITGabs]

Perhaps the 5 year Elite visa would work for you. It would cost 500k baht but it would give unlimited one year entries for 5 years.

Interesting but is quite expensive, I am just a south american LOL

But thanks anyway, maybe is not that much if save all the hustle.

[Grindting]

Mario2008, why didn't you state the elite card as 4th in your list? It is the ideal solution to the OPs visa issues, if he could afford it.

[timmyp]

Get an ED visa to study. It is good for 3 years. It is a bit troublesome in that you have to go to immigration to extend the ED visa every three months over the course of those 3 years, in addition to the 90-day report, but it is a way to stay here.

Some schools expect you to study, others don't care if you come to class or not.

[TheRascal]

others don't care if you come to class or not.

Let's see how long they last.

[ScottMallon]

get longer visas in my situation is always complicated I am in an unknown middle between tourism, working, and business visas

How are you in an "unknown middle?" You either have the proper visa or you don't. If you don't, you don't qualify.

[pete66]

Get an ED visa to study. It is good for 3 years. It is a bit troublesome in that you have to go to immigration to extend the ED visa every three months over the course of those 3 years, in addition to the 90-day report, but it is a way to stay here.

Some schools expect you to study, others don't care if you come to class or not.

Dodgy schools abound in Bangkok and Pattaya, no surprise there. People not attending more than once annually is commonplace. Won't name the most prominent school where this is permitted but you can guess.

In Chiang Mai, the "ed visa culture" couldn't be more different. People actually attend regularly, can speak, read and write Thai, and after the first year, you don't have to extend the visa every 90 days, its for a full year.

I expect many of the dodgy schools to be closed down because they are "visa schools" not "language schools". Good.

[ScottMallon]

Get an ED visa to study. It is good for 3 years. It is a bit troublesome in that you have to go to immigration to extend the ED visa every three months over the course of those 3 years, in addition to the 90-day report, but it is a way to stay here.

Some schools expect you to study, others don't care if you come to class or not.

Mail in your 90-day report. It is no big deal. How troublesome is that?

Consider yourself luck those in charge are still allowing foreigners to have any sort of visa. That's probably a better way of looking at your "troublesome" problem.

[paz]

Get an ED visa to study. It is good for 3 years. It is a bit troublesome in that you have to go to immigration to extend the ED visa every three months over the course of those 3 years, in addition to the 90-day report, but it is a way to stay here.

Normally the office will adjust the reporting dates (that are kind of flexible) so to make them coincide with extensions.

[timmyp]

Get an ED visa to study. It is good for 3 years. It is a bit troublesome in that you have to go to immigration to extend the ED visa every three months over the course of those 3 years, in addition to the 90-day report, but it is a way to stay here.

Some schools expect you to study, others don't care if you come to class or not.

Mail in your 90-day report. It is no big deal. How troublesome is that?

Consider yourself luck those in charge are still allowing foreigners to have any sort of visa. That's probably a better way of looking at your "troublesome" problem.

I was told by my Thai school that I have to check in myself because of the ED visa I had (it's different from what university students get)... I just assumed that was required cuz of what they said. Mailing in my 90-day report would certainly be much easier than driving out there.

[timmyp]

Get an ED visa to study. It is good for 3 years. It is a bit troublesome in that you have to go to immigration to extend the ED visa every three months over the course of those 3 years, in addition to the 90-day report, but it is a way to stay here.

Normally the office will adjust the reporting dates (that are kind of flexible) so to make them coincide with extensions.

The reporting dates are every 90-days, and cannot be adjusted. If you leave the country, then it resets the 90-day time period. If you leave the country once every 3 months, then no 90-day report is required (cuz they have a record of your whereabouts from you entering and exiting the country).

If you don't leave the country at all, then of course your 90-day report and your 90-day extension can be done on the same day. If you leave the country, though, then they will be out of sync with each other, and you will have to go to immigration on different days (or leave the country to reset your 90-day report timeline).

[timmyp]

Dodgy schools abound in Bangkok and Pattaya, no surprise there. People not attending more than once annually is commonplace. Won't name the most prominent school where this is permitted but you can guess.

In Chiang Mai, the "ed visa culture" couldn't be more different. People actually attend regularly, can speak, read and write Thai, and after the first year, you don't have to extend the visa every 90 days, its for a full year.

I expect many of the dodgy schools to be closed down because they are "visa schools" not "language schools". Good.

Lots of folks in Bangkok are legitimate. I have attended Thai language classes for 3 hours per day, Monday thru Friday for 3 years. Although my ED visa has ended and I am now stuck on a tourist visa, I am still studying Thai at the same pace.

I know that there are lots of folks here on an ED visa who don't go to class, but I just see the ones who go to class like me.

I don't really care if the gov cracks down on such ED visa holders or not, but I wish that I could legitimately get another ED visa because I actually go to class and study. After 3 years, there is still lots I could learn.

[paz]

The reporting dates are every 90-days, and cannot be adjusted. If you leave the country, then it resets the 90-day time period. If you leave the country once every 3 months, then no 90-day report is required (cuz they have a record of your whereabouts from you entering and exiting the country).

If you don't leave the country at all, then of course your 90-day report and your 90-day extension can be done on the same day. If you leave the country, though, then they will be out of sync with each other, and you will have to go to immigration on different days (or leave the country to reset your 90-day report timeline).

Mod's post on how Immigration helped in a case of non aligned dates

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/438970-extension-of-stay-and-90-day-reporting/

Not to say that all the office will be the same.

One can also leverage the fact that reporting can be done up to 2 week before and 1 week after the due date.

[anon676545345]

The ED visa is probably the best option I got asked a few questions when I got mine due to the amount of tourist visa's in my passport they thought I was working in Thailand, I had to explain where I got my income from and show statements they didn't seem concerned that I worked online and gave me the visa.

[paz]

Lots of folks in Bangkok are legitimate. I have attended Thai language classes for 3 hours per day, Monday thru Friday for 3 years. Although my ED visa has ended and I am now stuck on a tourist visa, I am still studying Thai at the same pace.

I know that there are lots of folks here on an ED visa who don't go to class, but I just see the ones who go to class like me.

I don't really care if the gov cracks down on such ED visa holders or not, but I wish that I could legitimately get another ED visa because I actually go to class and study. After 3 years, there is still lots I could learn.

I find this limitation very strange. 3 years is barely enough to get into intermediate state, any language requires many more years to be mastered. There should be some higher level course (university) ? I would be surprised if there is none.

[ubonjoe]

Get an ED visa to study. It is good for 3 years. It is a bit troublesome in that you have to go to immigration to extend the ED visa every three months over the course of those 3 years, in addition to the 90-day report, but it is a way to stay here.

Normally the office will adjust the reporting dates (that are kind of flexible) so to make them coincide with extensions.

Some will make the report date the same as when your extension ends if the report date would of been after it.. Others don't though.

[timmyp]

Lots of folks in Bangkok are legitimate. I have attended Thai language classes for 3 hours per day, Monday thru Friday for 3 years. Although my ED visa has ended and I am now stuck on a tourist visa, I am still studying Thai at the same pace.

I know that there are lots of folks here on an ED visa who don't go to class, but I just see the ones who go to class like me.

I don't really care if the gov cracks down on such ED visa holders or not, but I wish that I could legitimately get another ED visa because I actually go to class and study. After 3 years, there is still lots I could learn.

I find this limitation very strange. 3 years is barely enough to get into intermediate state, any language requires many more years to be mastered. There should be some higher level course (university) ? I would be surprised if there is none.

I imagine that there are Thai language classes for students enrolled in university, but there isn't that much high level stuff at the Thai language schools around down.

Of course, "high level" is totally relative, but I fully agree with you in that there is still much more to study after 3 years.

I have been doing private lessons, and occasionally there is a group lesson at a school in which we read newspaper articles and talk about them, but there isn't much at the higher level.

Just to clarify this: I think 3 years is plenty of time to be very fluent and have decent written Thai (or whatever language), provided that you have studied full time over those three years. Although I took classes for 3 hours a day, I also had work to do, etc. after class, and subsequently never did more than an hour of homework outside class. I think people can be a very high level in 1-2 years, provided that they put in serious, serious time.

I have been serious about studying and faithful in class attendance, but I didn't kill myself trying to push my personal language acquisition limit, so after 3 years, I still have more to study, and sure wish the Ministry of Ed would recognize that and allow me to do it.

Sorry, this has gone off the topic of the thread. It is peripherally relevant in that foreigners can only get 3 years on an ED visa for studying Thai, and it would be nice if we could get more (for those who are legitimately studying).

[JDGRUEN]

OP ... I am enrolled and attend a Thai Language School in Ao Nang (it is on the main tourist road down to the beach road)... I find the school to be just fine... I do not attend there on an ED Visa (I am on non imm O) but the school Admin/Owner is quite experienced in processing ED Visas... The classes can be individual - as is mine or included in a group depending on your starting point... Never the less... you may just get in under the wire before ED Visa applications are very scrutinized...

PM me if you want the name of the school and other info...

Edited August 2, 2014 by JDGRUEN

[ITGabs]

Thank you all for all the answers, very helpful.

The Elite Card is 8.3K per month

Study thai 2-2.5k plus I get something back but less time too 16 hours per month

I was pushing my girlfriend to open a Limited Company but in the thai way she got an offer to get a work permit for me also, but was so black hat and still expensive than the Elite Card.

I would like to married her but it's not the moment or right just to get a visa, but I will do wherever for stay together.

Lots of folks in Bangkok are legitimate. I have attended Thai language classes for 3 hours per day, Monday thru Friday for 3 years. Although my ED visa has ended and I am now stuck on a tourist visa, I am still studying Thai at the same pace.

I know that there are lots of folks here on an ED visa who don't go to class, but I just see the ones who go to class like me.

I don't really care if the gov cracks down on such ED visa holders or not, but I wish that I could legitimately get another ED visa because I actually go to class and study. After 3 years, there is still lots I could learn.

I find this limitation very strange. 3 years is barely enough to get into intermediate state, any language requires many more years to be mastered. There should be some higher level course (university) ? I would be surprised if there is none.

I imagine that there are Thai language classes for students enrolled in university, but there isn't that much high level stuff at the Thai language schools around down.

Of course, "high level" is totally relative, but I fully agree with you in that there is still much more to study after 3 years.

I have been doing private lessons, and occasionally there is a group lesson at a school in which we read newspaper articles and talk about them, but there isn't much at the higher level.

Just to clarify this: I think 3 years is plenty of time to be very fluent and have decent written Thai (or whatever language), provided that you have studied full time over those three years. Although I took classes for 3 hours a day, I also had work to do, etc. after class, and subsequently never did more than an hour of homework outside class. I think people can be a very high level in 1-2 years, provided that they put in serious, serious time.

I have been serious about studying and faithful in class attendance, but I didn't kill myself trying to push my personal language acquisition limit, so after 3 years, I still have more to study, and sure wish the Ministry of Ed would recognize that and allow me to do it.

Sorry, this has gone off the topic of the thread. It is peripherally relevant in that foreigners can only get 3 years on an ED visa for studying Thai, and it would be nice if we could get more (for those who are legitimately studying).

Thanks for all your insights you almost answered all my question that I had about the ED visa
The ED visa is only to study Thai? what about Thai cooking or Muai Thai?

We will check with that new school in Ao Nang, was closed today

[kennypowers]

You'd do well to refer to this article about working online in Thailand: http://www.thethailandlife.com/working-online-thailand

As you'll see, the rules are antiquated but strict and very clear.

[KhnomKhnom]

Perhaps the 5 year Elite visa would work for you. It would cost 500k baht but it would give unlimited one year entries for 5 years.

Interesting but is quite expensive, I am just a south american LOL

But thanks anyway, maybe is not that much if save all the hustle.

Fess up, you are an undocumented worker in Thailand, hiding as a fake tourist. Stop polluting the system and just do the legal thing for a change.

[paz]

Fess up, you are an undocumented worker in Thailand, hiding as a fake tourist. Stop polluting the system and just do the legal thing for a change.

You are wrong on all accounts, to begin with, undocumented means someone that has no documents, while the OP as them.

Also, he's not a worker, despite what you want to think and will come back saying, by climbing on the mirrors of whatever Thai law interpretation suits your intolerance.

Anyway, forum wannabe officers like you are a dime a dozen here on TV. You guys should get out more, maybe have a ginseng together or something.

Edited August 2, 2014 by paz

[deepcell]

I have seen in the last few months, a lot of people worried about "working online" and "WP", well if you working online and earn money doing jobs overseas, I supposed you are smart enough to protect yourself with vpn and cryptography (basic stuff today), if not better you back home (people are watching over your shoulders lol).

Advice: Just use a good paid VPN and have sure you can encrypt your disc in case of it is needed, get the proper visa and nothing else to worry about.

Anyway good luck. For sure you can get a visa to learn muay thai, massage, thai cooking, and much more..

[theguyfromanotherforum]

You'd do well to refer to this article about working online in Thailand: http://www.thethailandlife.com/working-online-thailand

As you'll see, the rules are antiquated but strict and very clear.

What a bunch of crap.

What if I am renting my condo in Canada while travelling abroad? Am I also working illegally in Thailand?

Do I need a work permit for that? Especially since I am paying taxes to Canadian government?

Isn't this the whole point of a tax treaty?

[ITGabs]

You'd do well to refer to this article about working online in Thailand: http://www.thethailandlife.com/working-online-thailand

As you'll see, the rules are antiquated but strict and very clear.

What a bunch of crap.

What if I am renting my condo in Canada while travelling abroad? Am I also working illegally in Thailand?

Do I need a work permit for that? Especially since I am paying taxes to Canadian government?

Isn't this the whole point of a tax treaty?

"Working online" is that "unknown middle" everywhere except in your own country, but I guess soon everything will be part of the EUA or NATO and all the rest of the countries should replace that old rules... in wherever situation old jobs sitting in a office are just unnecessary with the technology that we have now.

Another thing to put in mind software architecture or other intelectual tasks are things that you can do without a computer, and with the eyes closed.

Blured lines.

I never hide to any officer that I am "working online" when they ask actually they like it, I tried in many countries to get a work visa and pay taxes for what I am doing (should be the right) at the end they tell me that it is ok, since what is considered "a work" have another meaning for the legal stuff, usually intangible services under ranges are extent of taxes like in Thailand if you are a Thai national with less than 1,5 million bath per year (I am not sure about this but is probably right) after 1,5 you need to pay 7%

playing futbol can be a work or a hobbie, painting. a lot of things inclusive playing games, testing wine, testing new medicines fancy drugs hhahaha

now there is a boom with social media and is just people sharing stuff pressing like buttons, incentivating people to share their ideas, helping each other etc.

I my case my hobbie and my work is exaclty the same, arguing about can be amazingly complex like what if my hobby is beta testing a open source software that is in US while I am Chilean with a Non ED visa while i am in Thailand and I get donations for that from New Zealand

and the intention of the visa rules is to protect the nationals the jobs, avoid cheap people and bad bosses deteriorate the quality of life of all the people surrounding or bad people trying to survive creating mafias or doing very bad things so in general there is a common criteria that help a lot.