Questions regarding visa types and possible duration of stay

[MrHaugen]

Hi

I'm considering moving to Thailand for around 6 months to two years. Most probably between 1-2 years. I've read the visa types and requirements, but I'm still not 100% certain what would be best in my case. And if they really apply to my case. I've got a steady income from appartment rentals in my country. So I will probably live pretty decently on that alone (income of about 50 000 bath monthly, and expenses can be cut if it has to be raised). The income are steady and can be documented for several years back. However, these income are not really entering Thailand at all. I'm also paying taxes on it to my country of birth. This will or can probably not be changed.

I'm planning on doing a bit of entreprenourship in Thailand. This will be within the direct sales category of jobs, or similar where I will be self employed. There will probably be a few months without a decent pay. And only a mediocre increase after this. This is far from garanteed though. And unless I open a bank account in Thailand, the Thai guvernment would not see any of that income either. Or the tax payment from the income. I could probably change the payment option to a Thai bank account, and pay taxes in Thailand if this is a problem. For instance regarding the O Non-Immigrant Visa.

Lastly, I do plan on learing Thai as soon as I have decided if I want to go there. I've seen the ED Visa options. Those might apply to me, if I sign up for a class. I would probably take a Thai class no matter what visa I get.

Could someone with a good visa knowledge please help me understand what my options really are. Like what visa I could go for. What advantages it would have over the alternatives. How often I would need to go for a visa run and so on. Longest possible stay would be priority number 1. The second priority would be how often I would need to leave the country. The third priority are regarding expenses and time/hassel to renew the visa.

Any help would be much appreciated! Thank you!

[paz]

At the present time you only qualify for a tourist visa, or if older with 50 for non-imm 'O' or O/A' visa. The other optoin would be ED visa but that would require you pre-pay a school, now it has become expensive and hassling to get extension, so I would not suggest it.

So you would get one of these, move here, then go from there.

[ubonjoe]

It seems your best choice is a tourist visa to start with. You should try to get one with as many entries you can get before you travel. Each entry gives you 60 days that can be extended for 30 days.

You mentioned being self employed in order to work here you need a work permit.

[Lozza]

Hi,

Could someone verify the 'tourist visa requirements' I have a friend wishing to come in June on tourist visa for 60 day then travelling onto the U.S.

Can he apply for the tourist visa NOW as he will be travelling. He is of the belief that he can only apply for the visa 90 days before he arrives in Thailand

He doesn't want to go the visa exempt and the 30 day extension path.

[ubonjoe]

A single entry tourist visa will only be valid for 3 months.

Perhaps he can get one where he is traveling to if they will do it for a non resident. See http://www.thaiembassy.org/main/ that shows all embassies and official consulate with a link to their websites.

[Lozza]

A single entry tourist visa will only be valid for 3 months.

Perhaps he can get one where he is traveling to if they will do it for a non resident. See http://www.thaiembassy.org/main/ that shows all embassies and official consulate with a link to their websites.

Thank you for reply

[MrHaugen]

At the present time you only qualify for a tourist visa, or if older with 50 for non-imm 'O' or O/A' visa. The other optoin would be ED visa but that would require you pre-pay a school, now it has become expensive and hassling to get extension, so I would not suggest it.

So you would get one of these, move here, then go from there.

Thank you. I'm in my 30's. So, a retirement visa would not be the best idea, no.

What about education visa? You say that one could apply, but it's expensive and a lot of hassel to get an extention. For how long of a period could you get the ED visa? A few months, 6 months, 1 year? Does it depend on your class and duration of that one? And what would be involved to get it renewed? If we're talking about a few thousand bath every 6 months, I have no problem with that. But it really depends what would be needed. I don't have a problem paying more either. I guess it would only take me some more time to save up for it.

As Lozza mentions, I don't really want a 30 day visa and doing all those via runs. It would take a lot I time. Especially if you live a bit away from the borders I guess. I have not decided where I want to go yet. But I think that a well populated city with a decent knowledge of English would be my first choise. At least for the first part of my stay. Perhaps Bankgok.

[paz]

Thank you. I'm in my 30's. So, a retirement visa would not be the best idea, no.

What about education visa? You say that one could apply, but it's expensive and a lot of hassel to get an extention. For how long of a period could you get the ED visa? A few months, 6 months, 1 year? Does it depend on your class and duration of that one? And what would be involved to get it renewed? If we're talking about a few thousand bath every 6 months, I have no problem with that. But it really depends what would be needed. I don't have a problem paying more either. I guess it would only take me some more time to save up for it.

As Lozza mentions, I don't really want a 30 day visa and doing all those via runs. It would take a lot I time. Especially if you live a bit away from the borders I guess. I have not decided where I want to go yet. But I think that a well populated city with a decent knowledge of English would be my first choise. At least for the first part of my stay. Perhaps Bankgok.

Cost of Thai course and related extension is now around Bt 50,000 per year with significant mandatory study and frequent extensions. That's why I do not really recommended, but if you could obtain a multi-entri non-imm ED visa aat an US consulate or honorary consulate, that could be a possible option because you would not deal with immigration for up 50 15 months, but would have to do border hops every 90 days.

As mentioned above with tourist visa you do 30 days extension at the 60th day for Bt 1,900, then a border hop to activate 2nd and 3rd entry. This is the cheapest option.

If you don't want anything of that you can get a Thai Elite visa card that allows 5 years of unlimited stay and travel for Bt 500,000.

Nothing else is available to your current situation unless you want to include dubious deals like false employment as offered by certain firms.

[MrHaugen]

The Thai Elite Card might actually be an option. But it's a bit of a steep price to pay if I only decide to stay there for 2 or 3 months

As far as I have gathered, this might be an option in my case:

1. Get a double entry Tourist visa for 60 days. Extend this by 30 days at an immigration office.

2. Leave the country, extend the tourist visa for another 60 days. Enter Thailand again. Extend it again for 30 days. Double entry visa are maximum today. Multiple entries are not allowed after december 2014 as far as I have seen.

The initial cost of the visa should not be high to high. There's also a cost to extend the visa for the 30 day periods Should be minimal as well.

If you go for the Education visa:

3. Apply for a MoE licensed school (30 000 bath+ for 120 lessons). You need to take a couple of classes each day for 4 days a week. This gives you a 3 month visa. Which can be extended for another 3 months if the course require it. Schools help you with the application process.

4. Leave Thailand to apply for another ED visa. This costs around 1900 bath. Extend again for another 3 months. This can probably be done for as long as you want to, as long as you are still studying.

And/Or if you go for the Thai Elite Card

5. Pay the 500 000 Bath, and get help during the visa application process.

6. Do what you want to do for 1 year. The Thai Elite office will do the extension processes. You only need to do a residence report if you stay longer than a year.

You'll get a Limousine transport and personal assistant to help you with arrival and departure in the major airports as well. For international flights. And you'll get a concierge service included. That's certainly a plus!

If this is accurate, this would give me from 180 days with tourist visa only. And IF I could go from a Tourist Visa to an Education visa, you could stay for years. And up to 6-7 years with Tourist Visa, ED Visa and the Thai Elite Card options in combination.

Have I gotten anything wrong here? I probably have

[TerryLH]

"2. Leave the country, extend the tourist visa for another 60 days. Enter Thailand again. Extend it again for 30 days. Double entry visa are maximum today. Multiple entries are not allowed after december 2014 as far as I have seen."

To activate your second visa entry, simply leave the country and return. Entering Thailand activates it.

There are probably still consulates that you can get t three entry visa from.

There isn't (wasn't) a 'multiple' entry tourist visa. 'Multiple' entry , when talking about Thai Immigration matters, means a visa that you can use to enter the country as many times as you want as long as the visa remains valid. Each of those entries will get you 90 days or a year, depending on the visa you have.

[MrHaugen]

Thanks, Terry.

Yes. You're probably right. I just read somewhere that they have become much stricter on the multiple entry sort of stuff that people do. Especially the 30 day visa runs I think. Good to know that there might be possible to extend the tourist visa a third time!

You mention the 1 year visa. It allows for stay up to 1 year, and require you only to re-enter Thailand every 90 days. It can also be extended a second year. But this is up to the immigration office.

Legal services like Siam Legal have this option. It seems like one of the more hassel free options, without paying the pretty hefty sum of 500 000 bath up front.

[steve187]

1 year extensions of stay are only allowed for retirement reasons over 50 years and Thai family matters

Elite is a different kettle of fish