What are the best visa options for long-term stay in Thailand for a US citizen under 50?

You can do tourist visa 2 border run you will have around 7 months and later you can do 2 years education visa and after that you will be nearly 50 years retirement visa. If you can’t do elite visa.

Question? Can you apply for retirement visa when you arrive in Thailand. I already have thai bank acc. With a regular payment going in. Cheers

6 month METV visa where you can get 9 months out of the visa

Every time you stamp in you get 60 days at a time then you can extend each stamp for 30 days at a cost of ฿1,900 at your local

Immigration office for a total of 90 days in country at a time

With a tactical border bounce just days before it expires you get an additional 60 day stamp then with a 30 day extension at a cost of ฿1,900 at your local immigration office you get a total of 9 months out of the visa

There is no official limit on the amount of back to back 6 Month METV visas one can purchase.

Having this visa if you do land border bounces it does not count against your 2 land border bounces per calendar year (01 Jan - 31 Dec)

Downside to the METV is that you can only purchase the visa in a country you hold a passport in or are a country where we’re you are a legally recognized resident (permanent/other)

Good luck

There is a multi entry visa as well that will give you 9 months and 2 bounces if you time it right.

There are several visa options, if you're wanting to live here long term. I'm sure people on here will give you some ideas of options. You'd need to do a bit of homework and think through what suits you best.

If you aren't working for a company, can't qualify for retirement, can't qualify for LTR, aren't married to a Thai, and can't afford Elite, then you really cannot live here legally. At least not long term. ED visa is ok if you're actually studying, but you may not get more than a year. You are unlikely to get to your retirement age on ED.

That's why being able to stay long term in Thailand is the biggest issue for most people. But again staying or living long term(more than 90 days) in any foreign country is not easy. Long term solutions: work permit, LTR, retirement(over 50) Ed visa or Elite. It's like that everywhere in the world. Thai people can't even visit the US without doing an interview for a tourist visa.

If you come as a tourist then get a tourist visa. But if you come to live in Thailand then the elite visa is the best option for you

For you the right visa is 60 days tourist visa, can be extented 30 days to a total of 90 days without leaving Thailand.

Cheaper than extension of visa excempt, and without the demand for a ticket out of Thailand within the first 30 days visa excempt.

Apply thaievisa.go.th

LTR visa if you qualify or Elite visa. After 50 can go for retirement visa.