Help with first visa

[Iandre]

Hi

 

I have just booked a one way ticket to Bangkok for November this year

 

My wife & I have *finally* made the decision to ditch and travel. 

 

We have good jobs and by then will have substantial savings and would like the possibility of staying in Thailand as long as possible. 

 

I will be 23 and her 25 when we arrive. We live in London.

 

Am stuck between tourist visa and non immigrant. Ideally we would like to volunteer through an app in exchange for place to stay, food etc 

 

After Thailand we will move on to somewhere else - in process of somewhat planning a route so we have an idea as we are looking to travel for a few years at least

 

What visa do we need to apply for the longest stay and what do we need to prepare for application?

 

Ps - not a moron. Have spent hours reading contradictory information so I'm now making my first ever forum post aha

 

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Don Mega]

Elite visa.

 

Bt.500k and you can stay 5 years !!

[Iandre]

Well we would ideally do 1 year in Thailand initially before moving forward. Looking to travel most of Asia

 

Struggling to understand what are current visas and what is best...

[mike787]

29 minutes ago, Don Mega said:

Elite visa.

 

Bt.500k and you can stay 5 years !!

Don mega is right...ELite is the BEST and easy way to go.

[ericthai]

You wont be able to get an long stay visa. You will have to play the visa game and keep getting tourist visas. You are not allowed to work on a tourist visa.

Trying to work in exchange for meals and place to stay is not going to happen in Thailand, most menial jobs are restricted employment for Thai's only!! (waiter, waitress, cashier, construction work, etc) 

 

If you can work online and have income you'll be ok. You can rent places as cheap as 3000B a month. I think you guys might be able to get 1 year in Thailand before things become really difficult in getting a visa to stay.  Hope you guys enjoy your trip!!! 

 

 

[Matzzon]

If you do not want to pay up 500k baht for an Elite visa, the only thing for you will be tourist visas. You can both apply for a Multiple entry tourist visa, METV and with that can get up to almost 9 month stay when used the right way. After that, unfortunately, nobody can for sure tell you if there is a possibility to get another visa for stay the full year. It depends on where you will apply for the new visa and what land border crossing you will use. 

I would recommend exempt entry with extension 30 days and a second exempt entry at a friendly land border such as mukdahan-Savannakhet for example or Chong Chom- Osmach in the NE of Thailand.

[baansgr]

Are Education visas a still available? They use to be up to 1 year.....and dosnt have to be learning only Thai. Of course there is the need to actually attend classes so would restrict long duration of travel out of Thailand.

[Iandre]

6 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

If you do not want to pay up 500k baht for an Elite visa, the only thing for you will be tourist visas. You can both apply for a Multiple entry tourist visa, METV and with that can get up to almost 9 month stay when used the right way. After that, unfortunately, nobody can for sure tell you if there is a possibility to get another visa for stay the full year. It depends on where you will apply for the new visa and what land border crossing you will use. 

I would recommend exempt entry with extension 30 days and a second exempt entry at a friendly land border such as mukdahan-Savannakhet for example or Chong Chom- Osmach in the NE of Thailand.

Thanks for the info. 

 

Would you suggest to enter via visa exemption, second exemption at friendly land border then to apply for metv following this?

 

Or to get metv from London embassy before?

[Iandre]

16 minutes ago, ericthai said:

You wont be able to get an long stay visa. You will have to play the visa game and keep getting tourist visas. You are not allowed to work on a tourist visa.

Trying to work in exchange for meals and place to stay is not going to happen in Thailand, most menial jobs are restricted employment for Thai's only!! (waiter, waitress, cashier, construction work, etc) 

 

If you can work online and have income you'll be ok. You can rent places as cheap as 3000B a month. I think you guys might be able to get 1 year in Thailand before things become really difficult in getting a visa to stay.  Hope you guys enjoy your trip!!! 

 

 

Thank you, figuring this out..

 

Am trying to wrap my head around the whole visa game. How to start and what steps to take after we are there to maximise the stay

 

My fear is that we would encounter some sort of problem not being able to stay more than initial visa aha. and we really want to have the possibility of staying as close to a year or so as possible 

 

Wow re rent. That's insanely low 

[Iandre]

Education visa and elite probably not for us, too much commitment and too much money for the first step in our travels

 

 

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, Iandre said:

Or to get metv from London embassy before?

You can only apply for METV at the embassy in London or one of the honorary consulate in the UK. They can only issued in your home country or a country where you have legal residency.

I would say the METV is the best visa to start with. You can get a total stay in the country of almost 9 months from it.

[Martyp]

1 hour ago, Iandre said:

Wow re rent. That's insanely low 

Where do you plan to go and for how long in each place? You are not going to find a house/condo for 3000/month unless you are in rural Thailand or a city slum. However, I am writing this from a hotel in Isaan near the Cambodian border that is 500 baht per day. 

[DrJack54]

OP, I will get slammed for this but reading your above posts you sound very naive. Asking about obtain METV in Asia after arriving visa exempt etc. Volunteering? Was that for accom etc. Doesn't often work that way. There are so many threads on Thaivisa based on how to stay in thailand for under 50 group using tourist visas and visa exempt. 9 months not difficult. 

Other countries such as Vietnam very easy to stay much longer.

You could consider 3 months in los 3 out etc.

[Matzzon]

2 hours ago, Iandre said:

Thanks for the info. 

 

Would you suggest to enter via visa exemption, second exemption at friendly land border then to apply for metv following this?

 

Or to get metv from London embassy before?

I think you do best in getting the METV in London before.

[TimBKK]

Thai Visa Centre is advertising a 1 year volunteer visa for 35,000 baht:

 

”We are happy to say that for 2020 we can now provide 1 year visa solutions to expats of all ages now.

 

If you are 50 or older we offer ฿14,000 yearly retirement extensions, and if you are younger than 50 years old we can provide a 1 year volunteer visa for ฿35,000.

 

If you know anyone that may be interested in such services we would greatly appreciate it if you could provide them with our contact information. ????”

 

From their Line

[Iandre]

10 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

OP, I will get slammed for this but reading your above posts you sound very naive. Asking about obtain METV in Asia after arriving visa exempt etc. Volunteering? Was that for accom etc. Doesn't often work that way. There are so many threads on Thaivisa based on how to stay in thailand for under 50 group using tourist visas and visa exempt. 9 months not difficult. 

Other countries such as Vietnam very easy to stay much longer.

You could consider 3 months in los 3 out etc.

 

haha won't get slammed - yes at the moment naive or probably better put - lacking knowledge

 

We have been to many places out of eu for short breaks so I'm surprised about the difficulty in understanding thai visas & how it all works . Vollunteering was an idea, there are a few services like 'Travelpackers' which seem good but our main accomodation will be couchsurfing & hostels

 

Will have a look through forum in more detail today, any links to said threads would be appreciated.

 

 

[Guest]

11 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You can only apply for METV at the embassy in London or one of the honorary consulate in the UK. They can only issued in your home country or a country where you have legal residency.

I would say the METV is the best visa to start with. You can get a total stay in the country of almost 9 months from it.

Dear Landre,  Here is my best advice ... UbonJoe is considered to be the best source of Visa related information you can possibly find.  Listen to him, and ignore pretty much what anyone else tells you.

 

There is no work for you here, unless you decide to become an English teacher and become rooted in one place.  This requires a work permit, and that can be quite a hassle unless done "above board" by ethical schools.

 

The person who told you 3,000 baht rent is referring to either a horrid little cold water flat in Bangkok, or something in a very small and remote village.  My advice for two adults is to budget for 12,000 Baht in Bangkok Condo and see anything less as a windfall.  You are not traveling here to hide out in some backwater village.  You are coming to have fun and adventure.  This generally means going to the more popular places .. they are popular for a reason .. so yeah ... cost more.

The visa thing is a monumental hassle ... so be prepared for that.  I have lived in Thailand for 9 very, very happy years ... but I have the luxury of being here on a Non immigrant O (IE:  "Retirement Visa) so relatively speaking, it is a very easy and simple visa to maintain year in and year out.
 

Wishing you every possible happiness here in The Kingdom.  Oh, one more thing ... Thai Visa is infamous for a rather dark, negative view of life here ... so complete your investigation on the visa (UbonJoe) .. get back to online research, and enjoy life!

 

 

[DrJack54]

35 minutes ago, bangkokequity said:

Dear Landre,  Here is my best advice ... UbonJoe is considered to be the best source of Visa related information you can possibly find.  Listen to him, and ignore pretty much what anyone else tells you.

 

There is no work for you here, unless you decide to become an English teacher and become rooted in one place.  This requires a work permit, and that can be quite a hassle unless done "above board" by ethical schools.

 

The person who told you 3,000 baht rent is referring to either a horrid little cold water flat in Bangkok, or something in a very small and remote village.  My advice for two adults is to budget for 12,000 Baht in Bangkok Condo and see anything less as a windfall.  You are not traveling here to hide out in some backwater village.  You are coming to have fun and adventure.  This generally means going to the more popular places .. they are popular for a reason .. so yeah ... cost more.

The visa thing is a monumental hassle ... so be prepared for that.  I have lived in Thailand for 9 very, very happy years ... but I have the luxury of being here on a Non immigrant O (IE:  "Retirement Visa) so relatively speaking, it is a very easy and simple visa to maintain year in and year out.
 

Wishing you every possible happiness here in The Kingdom.  Oh, one more thing ... Thai Visa is infamous for a rather dark, negative view of life here ... so complete your investigation on the visa (UbonJoe) .. get back to online research, and enjoy life!

 

 

Pretty much your advice is spot on. Yes ubon is the man and his advice is #1 go to. Especially for visa advice etc. 

To suggest ignore all other advice is bit simplistic. Many members (esp under 50) have a lot to assist others in same boat.

The OP (as I posted early) sounds very  naive to put it lightly. Mentions have "substantial savings" then mentions couch surfing.

Your on an O visa extensions of stay. 

The OP will get lot of advice from folk that don't qualify for one.

 

[jackdd]

On 1/15/2020 at 5:03 AM, Iandre said:

We have good jobs and by then will have substantial savings

On 1/15/2020 at 5:03 AM, Iandre said:

Ideally we would like to volunteer through an app in exchange for place to stay, food etc 

17 hours ago, Iandre said:

there are a few services like 'Travelpackers' which seem good but our main accomodation will be couchsurfing & hostels

 

What are substantial savings for you? 5000GBP each?

I guess after a few months you guys are broke and have to go back home, so i would not plan too far ahead.

Edited January 16, 2020 by jackdd