I was originally going to take a year out, dossing around in Thailand. I've had a change of heart, and am now thinking about encorporating a trip to LOS within a RTW ticket. As part of a compromise, I'm intending to spend 6 months elsewhere and the final 6 months of my trip in Thailand, before jetting off back to the UK.

This presents me with visa difficulties - I originally planned to get a non immigrant b education category multiple entry visa (valid for a year) before I left the UK. What do I do now? If I still get this visa, but don't enter Thailand for 6 months after its issue, will it still be valid for the six month unused part of it?

Is anyone following this? Actually, I'm not sure I am...

If I were you, before arrriving in Thailand, I would fly into Penang and get a double or triple entry tourist visa. With a double, you could extend each of them for 30 days in Thailand and would only need one, one day visa run, to stay six months in Thailand. With a triple, you could make two visa runs and forget the extensions.

A multi entry non immigrant for one year is valid for one year. You can enter any time.