Can I apply for the STV visa to stay in Thailand for 9 months, and what are my options for a long-term tourist visa?

ED visa in country with various Muay Thai training centers around the country?

I'm here on an STV. The visa itself & the extensions are cheap compared to normal visas. The 90 day extensions cost the same as 30 or 60 days on othet visas.

What is expensive is the insurance - its not normal holiday insurance, but then you're here for 9 months so you shouldn't expect it to be. Either way its not cheap.

The requirement that you have to pay up front for your next 3 months of accomodation when you do the extension is def a pain.

But mostly, like Covid extensions, the biggest pain is that each immigration office seems to have different requirements. So where I extended they wanted all sorts of stuff from the people who owned our hotel even though its not in the rules.

Your better off coming on a normal tourist visa & then swapping to an education one once here tbh.

You should be able to stay 270 days in Thailand on an STV. HOWEVER, the requirements to get the extension of stay are high, and you can not convert the STV to other types of visas.

Here's the official requirements for a 90 day extension of stay based on STV from Bangkok Immigration.

I *DO NOT* recommend this visa at all.