What are the best visa options for a family traveling in Thailand for 6-12 months?

Depending on your citizenship, you can get 60 days, then pay a 1900 baht fee per person to extend for 30 days more. Then you can leave and generally repeat. However, since you need to leave anyways, consider doing a real trip somewhere else. Plug for Taiwan where I currently live, it is safe, clean, great public transportation, and you can experience Chinese culture without China! Taiwan gives 90 days on arrival to many countries. Also there are often very cheap flights to Taipei from Bangkok. I do the reverse for my 90 day border runs from Taiwan.

2 visa exemption entries with extensions and you’re sorted

With the new visa exemption, you could do 60 days upon entry, then extend for another 30 days.. do a border run and then do the same thing again.. a total of 6 months. I have a family of five with little ones the same ages.. we’ve done this same process.

To add: you can do a land border run twice in one year.. so you could do this for a total of nine months

The METV best option

A six months multiple entries tourist visa can easily give you up to nine months in Thailand used the right way. Quite straightforward to apply without any strict requirements.

As a true tourist only planning a year or less with no history of staying in Thailand you likely can pull it off with visa free entries and extensions if your nationality qualifies.

60 days + 30 extension

Do that 2-4 times.

If you are pulled aside (not likely till the 3rd or 4th time) just explain and show you are not illegally working and do not plan to stay long term.

Worst case you go to a neighboring country if they won’t let you in or warn you about next time.

But honestly for real tourists I think you will be fine as long as you don’t push a year.

Side note if you want less hassle consider the Philippines. Depending on nationality you can extend up to 36 months without leaving the country and just a flight in and out resets it.

You could also just travel around regional. Do 90 days to start and 90 days to end in Thailand. Just add a few months in the middle visiting one or more other countries.

Each Thai consulate (varies by where you at located) list the visas that are available for you. The current hot visa is the DTV, but requires you to be a digital nomad and enough money in bank to cover each person 500,000 baht each.

No, just no, focus on funds and family. Don’t get influenced by social media. 🙏🏼