New Visa Rules - Can Someone Check My Understanding Please?

[markwhite]

I've been digging through the posts here trying to avoid starting another thread, but many of the existing threads seem to have conflicting information in them. So I'll ask direct:

I am one of the undesirables. 38 years old from the UK, about 2million baht in a UK bank (which could be transferred to a Thai bank), taking a long term break from the west and any sort of work. I've been here 13 months and been doing visa runs after my first 60 days visa obtained in the UK expired. My time has been split between doing touristy things (parks, temples, etc), meditation retreats and laying on a beach being a wastrel. I probably average about 25k baht a month staying in guesthouses and the like. My current visa expires on 28th Sept, so I understand I'll get that one, and then 3 lots of VOA after the 1st Oct. So I've potentially got about 118 days left before I have to leave for 90 days.

I like Thailand, and I'd prefer not to have to leave for the foreseeable future. It irks me that this option seems to be rapidly diminishing in probability, but I accept it and am seeking clarification as to my options. Which I believe to be:

Continue with the 30 day visa run with a bung to the the official. Not something I want to do.

Apply for a 60 day extendable visa from a Thai embassy in a foreign country. This seems to be less likely to be obtained given recent posts, especially re Penang.

Fly back to the UK and go for a 12 month visitor's visa from Hull immigration office, which seems to have been successful for some. Expensive.

Marry a Thai girl. Nope. Silly idea just for a visa IMHO, and the chances of this happening for genuine reasons in the next 90 days are slim to none.

Setup a Thai company and give myself a working visa. Expensive but viable.

Get a working visa elsehow. I can't see much possibility, but who knows what might be available as people start looking for loopholes and visa-run companies start looking for other ways to recoup their lost income.

Have 90 days here and 90 days away. This is doable, but not a preference.

Right now it appears I'm best off trying for a 60 day visa from outside the country when my next VOA I'll get on 28th Sept expires on 28th Oct, just in case I'm successful. But otherwise running out the next 118 days on VOAs and see if the rules change after the effects start to be felt by Thai businesses or the changes get a wider press than seems to have happened so far. And if not, maybe it's time to range farther afield.

Constructive comments would be very welcome.

Mark...

[Firefan]

Mark; you have a brilliant grasp of the current situation and I must salute you for in fact studying the many posts prior posting like many newbies unfortunately foget to do.

I agree that a 60 day (+30 day renewal in Thailand) visa abroad seems to be your best solution for now. I believe it is mainly the double/triple entry tourist visas they have reduced/limited recently.

Cheers!

Edited September 18, 2006 by Firefan

[ovenman]

Nothing I have read thus far would indicate that you could not keep returning to Penang every three months for a single-entry tourist visa (assuming they do not start issuing double-entry and triple-entry visas again). Use the sixty days from the initial entry on your tourist visa, extend for another thirty days at an immigrations office, return to Penang, etc.

[markwhite]

Thank you both!

So Penang are still issuing single-entry 60 day extendable tourist visas, but have ceased issuing the multi ones. I'd misinterpreted the original post with that news I think.

I'm relieved. I'd avoided the 60 day visa and expenses involved in getting one before, but I'd happily (er...) pay for one and be prepared to clear off somewhere else if the mood took me after 30 days if it means that, potentially, I've got another 3 months covered.

I almost feel like celebrating. Shame I'm unlikely to find somewhere really banging in Nakhon Si Thammarat ;-)

[Firefan]

He,he - not the first choice place for wild partying I would guess! Congrats anyway! Cheers!

[whynot?]

Thank you both!

So Penang are still issuing single-entry 60 day extendable tourist visas, but have ceased issuing the multi ones. I'd misinterpreted the original post with that news I think.

I'm relieved. I'd avoided the 60 day visa and expenses involved in getting one before, but I'd happily (er...) pay for one and be prepared to clear off somewhere else if the mood took me after 30 days if it means that, potentially, I've got another 3 months covered.

I almost feel like celebrating. Shame I'm unlikely to find somewhere really banging in Nakhon Si Thammarat ;-)

[desmond]

Hi Mark, can you tell us why you like Thailand and what are the things in Thailand that attracted you ? I am just curious, if you don't mind telling us.

[astral]

My advice is to "go to Hull".

[Jockstar]

My advice is to "go to Hull".

Its grim up north!

[markwhite]

Hi Mark, can you tell us why you like Thailand and what are the things in Thailand that attracted you ? I am just curious, if you don't mind telling us.

Not at all.

I looked at my life in the UK and decided there was much that I was dissatisfied with, so I sold everything with the intention of doing something I'd not done before. Hence the reason why I'm travelling (I use the term loosely!).

As I have a fixed amount of money available, I wanted to be somewhere where the cost of living is cheap. Places that appealed included India, Laos and Thailand, mostly from what I've read about other people's experiences. Most of those experiences tended to say that Thailand was very easy to travel in for a first time traveller (though I've been on holiday here once before), that Laos was a little more basic, and that some people find India tough. I wanted an easy life for a while, so Thailand was the first choice.

The time leading up to making this decision involved a lot of personal development work, and in doing that I became interested in Buddhist teachings. So again, Thailand was an ideal place to find out more.

It's hot. I like this better than a temperate climate. I do not miss snow, sleet, hail or cold driving rain. I enjoy Thai food having mostly cooked Chinese and Italian food for myself in the recent past, but know that pretty much wherever I am I can always find somewhere to eat if I get the cravings for western food. Beautiful surroundings are never far away, whether it's a white sand beach, or a walk through a national park to a remote waterfall.

And though it's cliched, I find the vast majority of Thai people to be very friendly. People stop me in the street and talk to me, and I like that. On a brief visit to Cambodia, I found that people stopped me in the street and demanded I buy something from them. I didn't like that. I don't find that happens in Thailand unless I choose to go to a heavily touristy area, such as Patong. I like it when kids shout hello and wave. I like that I can go somewhere completely untouristy (I'm in Nakhon Si Thammarat right now for the festival and seen maybe 12 other farang in 7 days) and feel welcome.

Thailand is not exclusive in being the only country where I can have experiences that are new to me, so if I do have to leave for any length of time because of the new visa regulations, so be it. But I do prefer to make my own choices about when and where I stay and go, so I'll be disappointed if I'm forced to go.

The root reason why I came to Thailand and why I stay is because I want to. The above is all justifications and explanations. But I hope they tell you what you wanted to know. If not maybe this is best taken off forum, so feel free to message me.

[markwhite]

My advice is to "go to Hull".

:-)

If I end up back in the UK for any reason, it seems like the best way to do it. I'm surprised how cheap flights are at the minute (Bangkok Post classifieds quote prices of about 19,000 without tax), but it would still be a fairly expensive way of doing it.

Though if I do get declined for a 60 day visitor's visa, either in October or at any point in the future, it would certainly be an emergency option.

Hmm. Winter in the UK. <shudder>

[PeaceBlondie]

Well, I guess you're not the Mark White who was governor of Texas prior to George Bush and the recently deceased Ann Richards. That's okay, Mark.

[markwhite]

Well, I guess you're not the Mark White who was governor of Texas prior to George Bush and the recently deceased Ann Richards. That's okay, Mark.

Well that's a relief ;-)