staying in thailand year after year - visa

[JackThompson]

After reading and contributing to many a posts on Thai Visa, I will say that there are only a select few, and I stress a select few, members here that I would ever follow the advice of. The rest of the lot are either completely oblivious to the reality of things when it comes to visas or will purposely give you false information, because they themselves don't want you here anymore than the Thais do.

I've been here myself for 4 years already on a combination of visa exempt entries and tourist visas and have never once had any issue whatsoever. Had a red stamp in my old passport from Vientiane and solved that problem by getting a new passport and have been back since and received another visa.

You only have to learn how to play the game, and once you've figured that out it's smooth sailing from there.

I have a similar story, and have also purchased 1 new passport since arriving, for the same reason. If one's embassy is ok with this, it is just one more expected step in the process. I only wish I had come to Thailand sooner.

I would only disagree regarding what "the Thais" want. Setting aside personal relationships, I could list many Thais that want me here - namely all that regularly receive my foreign-sourced income for goods and services they provide - from business-owners, to bank-clerks, down to fruit-vendors in pickup-trucks.

Some farangs on other visas seem to delight in discouraging the young from enjoying Thailand on Tourist Visas. But if I had to live at the low standard-of-living I've seen many enduring here, while watching people like me live relatively well, to spite having not spent 40+ years of my lifetime at a painfully dull-job, maybe I'd be angry and bitter, as well.

At the same time, many people (of all ages) come to Thailand financially unprepared. Some caution thrown their way is not a bad thing, provided the actual cost of living and visa-process hurdles are not exaggerated.

[jspill]

And to be perfectly honest, if one is trying to stay here 'long' time (year + ) you are not really a 'tourist' anymore. I think this starts to fall under Immigrant.

Imagine if Thailand introduced similar rules that the EU/Schengen has: Maximum of 3 months in a 6 month period.

No METVs, No back-to-back SETV, not even constant border runs for Tourist Visa. No retirement visa, no investment visa (except maybe with 10M USD). What would happen then?

Foreigners trying to marry Thai girls like women trying to marry US men to get citizenship? Oh the irony.

It would be one way to boost sales in Thailand Elite

And again, to be perfectly honest: Staying here for more than 6months continuously you really are less a tourist and more a something else (immigrant, alien resident, etc.)

Well we aren't able to seek unrestricted employment here, get automatic right to remain and citizenship after a few years, buy houses and land, etc. It's nothing like Europe, we're basically always paying tourists and never really 'resident' here and haven't really 'immigrated' into the country at all- even on a long term visa it needs to be renewed yearly and comes with no special rights. We can't influence the country in any way.

A protectionist, developing country that derives a large proportion of its GDP from tourism, that sets itself up so all we can do is give, not take... I don't think tourist visas are going anywhere. It's a perfect set up, let us stay and pay for it every step of the way while kept at arm's length.

[jspill]

You just cannot walk into someone else's country and stay and that applies everywhere, some of the guy's have told you what is required , maybe , what you will be asked is to show a return ticket out, they may even ask that you show that you are financial also ,Thai immigration ( Like any other ) can be pretty serious when they want to be. .........................................

Well you pretty much can actually in many of Thailand's neighbors.

And in Thailand too... except you just have to fly out and back in periodically.

[jspill]

I consider getting red stamps and having to switch passports a "problem."

We have to renew our passports quite often anyway because the full page Laos stickers fill it up quickly. So it's not a big deal really.

[Rayk]

I consider getting red stamps and having to switch passports a "problem."

Not when the passport was already full and needed to be replaced as was the case with mine.

Also, replacing a passport is not a problem, it's an inconvenience.

[BritTim]

After reading and contributing to many a posts on Thai Visa, I will say that there are only a select few, and I stress a select few, members here that I would ever follow the advice of. The rest of the lot are either completely oblivious to the reality of things when it comes to visas or will purposely give you false information, because they themselves don't want you here anymore than the Thais do.

I've been here myself for 4 years already on a combination of visa exempt entries and tourist visas and have never once had any issue whatsoever. Had a red stamp in my old passport from Vientiane and solved that problem by getting a new passport and have been back since and received another visa.

You only have to learn how to play the game, and once you've figured that out it's smooth sailing from there.

Certainly, there are plenty of unhelpful and inaccurate posts here. Further, many (like you) have successfully remained here for years doing visa runs for tourist visas and visa exempt entries. Your solution of changing your passport periodically to avoid limits imposed by individual consulates has historically been successful. Recognize, though, that this circumvents those limits only because checking on the consulate's system for previous entries on other passports (while possible) is a pain, and the overworked officials do not bother. I think it quite likely that the Thai MFA will at some point decide this loophole needs to be closed, and will improve the consulate's computer system to facilitate this.

There is nothing wrong with attempting to stay, as you have done, with visa runs to various locations. It is a bit of a hassle, and not free, but a reasonable option for some. I would advise anyone doing this to have a contingency plan for when (if) there is a tightening up of the rules on perpetual tourists.

[elviajero]

There isn't a visa for you.

Since there are no official set limits on what a 'tourist' is or how long a 'tourist' can stay here with occasional trips out to a variety of consulates... then technically there is a visa for him. That's a simple fact, one that's often debated with opinions but is still a fact nonetheless.

Sure it's not a particularly easy visa, but many of us manage it.

I managed it for 14 years and probably could still be using tourists visa after 21 years, but as the numbers of tourists and expats grow I believe they will tighten up even more on people staying here long term on tourist visas.

We have already seen the door shut on visa exempt entry, 2/3 entry tourist visas have been withdrawn, multiple entry tourist visas are unavailable locally to Thailand to many, Embassies/Consulates limiting the number of back to back visas, all of which designed to make it harder for people to stay long term.

The way it's going the OP has little hope of making it 16 years on tourist visas. The loophole in the system is being closed.

Edited June 21, 2016 by elviajero

[JLCrab]

When I first arrived full time in Thailand, people living up in the Northeast would go to the bridge at Nong Khai every 30 days for years' worth of visa-exempt entries. The only cost was the Lao visa and the transport expense. Still I asked one of those fellows recently didn't that get a bit expensive traveling and A Lao visa every 30 days? He said NO -- he was able to buy enough liquor at the duty free shop to sell in Thailand so that the trip was made at a profit. Such times are long gone.

[JayBird]

And to be perfectly honest, if one is trying to stay here 'long' time (year + ) you are not really a 'tourist' anymore. I think this starts to fall under Immigrant.

Imagine if Thailand introduced similar rules that the EU/Schengen has: Maximum of 3 months in a 6 month period.

No METVs, No back-to-back SETV, not even constant border runs for Tourist Visa. No retirement visa, no investment visa (except maybe with 10M USD). What would happen then?

Foreigners trying to marry Thai girls like women trying to marry US men to get citizenship? Oh the irony.

It would be one way to boost sales in Thailand Elite

And again, to be perfectly honest: Staying here for more than 6months continuously you really are less a tourist and more a something else (immigrant, alien resident, etc.)

Well we aren't able to seek unrestricted employment here, get automatic right to remain and citizenship after a few years, buy houses and land, etc. It's nothing like Europe, we're basically always paying tourists and never really 'resident' here and haven't really 'immigrated' into the country at all- even on a long term visa it needs to be renewed yearly and comes with no special rights. We can't influence the country in any way.

A protectionist, developing country that derives a large proportion of its GDP from tourism, that sets itself up so all we can do is give, not take... I don't think tourist visas are going anywhere. It's a perfect set up, let us stay and pay for it every step of the way while kept at arm's length.

Same for Schengen (non-Europeans) Can not seek employment without being sponsored for a visa (same as in Thailand). Additionally, permanent tourists (who just want to spend spend spend in Schengen) can not as they are not allowed to stay continuously to do so. So the same really does apply in both Schengen and Thailand (depending on your passport of course, and I exclude UK (not Schengen) as it has different visa requirements).

Now the more valid point: It may very well be that Thailand believes the following:

The number of people who want to stay in Thailand for more than 60/90 days *AND*

are under 50 *AND*

have no ties (children/wife) *AND*

can not afford a Thailand Elite *AND*

are not seeking to work illegally

Is very small. (be it true or not, this may well be what Thailand believes). Perhaps so small that they can not be bothered to create new laws/visa types for them.

Sure there are plenty of people who can *EASILY* take care of a comfortable middle class life style in Thailand and enjoy adding to its economy by renting and purchasing goods and services and never take advantage of any of the services that Thailand offer *AND* are not in a position to afford (or wish to invest) 500k in a TE Visa (every 5 years!) *AND* are under 50. Yes, plenty.

But perhaps not plenty enough for Thailand to craft legislation around. Or for Thailand to care about.

Some thrown out numbers that are probably wrong: if 90% of all legitimate tourists are happy under the 30-day/SETV/METV/PE/O visas, there may not be enough incentive to tackle the remaining 10% who are the ones described above.

*ALSO* it is worth understanding: There are a considerable amount of people who are staying in Thailand and engaging in illegal work, and Thailand would probably like to restrict their ability to do so. Whether or not the Visa strategy they offer is effective is one topic, but this is probably how they wish to tackle it.

However, some *very* valid talking points are:

1) If you can get an SETV from a Thai embassy in a neighboring country why can you not simply do a 30/60 day report, in person, at the Immigration center each time instead (the verification & validation procedure would be effectively the same in both scenarios).

2) Why not consider adopting a 'Second Home' program similar to Malaysia/UAE where if you purchase a property you are granted a Visa to stay in the country. (note: this is covered in part under 'Investment Visa' but at 10M THB and is not 'quite' the same)

3) Extend the curtesy offered to neighbouring countries of 90-day visa on arrival to other countries as well (such as G7).

The above suggestions grant an ability to stay for a period of time that can be already obtained through other legitimate means so adopting policies like this would serve to simplify the process for both parties. And fees could be charged to cover fees that would be lost from Visa applications ensuring continuous income.

That being said, things seem to be changing in Thailand all the time (and those who have been here for ever probably know this best). It will be interesting how things are in 5-10 years.