What are my options for extending my stay in Thailand after my initial 90 days on a tourist visa?

Thanks a lot, and yes I guess these uncertain times ask to be flexible in many ways, also with regards to a visa 🤷

Ok thanks. So you for a METV I can directly apply for 6 months (180 days) visa? And I need to cross the border every 60 days? I'm wondering which option will be smoothest in my case since I wish to stay 6 months and preferably don't stay in neighboring countries if not necessary, so only border runs if possible, to extend my stay.

But do I also understand it correctly that with this 60 days visa, I can extend with 30 days in Thailand. Then I can do a border run to laos, Cambodia, Myanmar or Malaysia and apply for a 60 day tourist visa again (without needing to stay there a certain amount of days?) and extend it again with 30 days in Thailand? And how often is it possible to apply for a 60 tourist visa in a neighboring country?

Hi Tod, thanks very much for your replays and helping me out. So what I understand from you is that I CAN apply for a METV for 6 months and do a border run every 60 days. This is what I asked when I called the embassy to check how to apply for this online and I did not get a clear answer and only suggestion was a 60 days visa. I would rather do a border run every 60 days and having my visa sorted for 6 months than still need to arrange applications whilst there. My experience when I had a 3x 60 days visa 10 years ago is that the border runs were very easy going, just getting a stamp and ready to go back again. I don't know if this process changed because of corona.

Hi Tod, thanks for your replay. I've checked the embassy website and could only find a 2 months tourist visa or a 3 months special tourist visa. This is why I did not apply for a longer visa, cause I assumed that it is not possible. I know I've had a 3x 2 months tourist visa before. But when I called the embassy to check they could not tell me it's possible. Now I doubt whether I could have applied for a multiple entry 6 months visa? I will fly on 30 december, so if it's possible to get a 6 months visa I'd like to change it asap. And the option of leaving and coming back, how long should I leave the country? And what kind of visas (how many days) can I apply for if I'd leave the country to a neighboring country?