@Bobby *******
yeah i don't want to return to the states. It's expensive, time consuming, and I really don't want to go back to that place with what's going on right now.
The 800k baht does suck but what I've been doing to offset that is to use my bitcoin to leverage a long position in bitcoin that matches the THB i'm stuffing into a bank account. This effectivly creates a situation where my new position is still 1x long bitcoin, but allows me to have the 800k THB in a bank. Bitcoin's amortized yearly appreciation is 150%.
I already have health insurance from a Thai provider. Much cheaper than the US based plans I looked at to insure me here.
Finally I'll probably use an agent to handle the yearly extensions for me. It costs a little more but it avoids the trips to immigration (which I have to do almost constantly on this ED visa). I have a friend who's been doing it this way for many years and he's quite happy with it.
So beyond those items are there other issues I will have? Other reasons I do not want to go this in-country route?
Also thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed answer, appreciate it!